A little off-topic, but still dealing with Helicoptors...

I was kinda teasing.....it's hard to get the facetiousness one is expressing in his own head, onto the screen!!! I'm an avionics tech by trade....and it truly amazes me how many people DO NOT pay attention....which is one of the reasons I don't have any desire to get my own pilot's license (besides $$$$ ) And No, I wasn't "yankin and bankin" too much....I was flying the CH-53E (a pretty big no-no), and I was nervous as hell!!! I took her through a couple of canyons, but I wasn't about to auto-rotate her!!!! That's for sure!!! I didn't mean to offend any pilots, or make light of what they have done!!! I have the utmost respect for any pilot who gets into a "flying machine".....but just like a driver's license.....it doesn't gurantee anyone's intelligence!!!

Mel, Redbird,
Thanks, but no big deal. The crew chief would have got his panties in a twist if I had pranged his bird. I've got a photo of that incident; access panels wide open with a great big wet slick down the starboard side. If I can find it I'll post it up for ya'll to look at.
You guys have been around aircraft so you know the pilot doesn't really read the gauges (except for the navigation thingies). After a while you just know when everything "looks right". If an indicator is off just a wee bit, it sticks out something fierce. A quick scan is all it takes. I never counted, but I'll wager the average military pilot looks at his panel as often as he blinks.
Our instructors at Wolters and Mother Rucker were very fond of popping circuit breakers when they thought you were distracted. It made for some interesting exchanges on the intercom. I had a "stick buddy' in primary who asked our instructor who was in charge of the aircraft in flight. The instructor replied that the pilot on the controls was responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft. They went up on their training flight and as soon as the instructor said, "You have the aircraft'', the student responded, "Roger, I have the aircraft and for your safety and mine keep your mitts off the circuit breakers...sir!!!"

"Tombstone Epitaph" "Guages! I don't need no stinking guages!"

Thanks to those little round guages the pilots of a ChevronTexaco S-76 were able to make an emergency landing on a Production Platfrom in their flight path went they noticed loss of transmission pressure. Their quick response saved not only a muti-million dollar helicopter but 10 souls as well! You not only need guages but have to look at them often and trust them. It will save your life one day! Guaranteed!

Amen Snake!!!!!!!!!

Atta-boy! Snakedriver.

Those little guages might seem like an inconvenience to those cowboys out there
who think flying is something you can do with a beer in one hand and a chunk of blonde in the other, but I'm going to tell you to think twice before adopting that attitude
while you have a chopper strapped to your back. I owe my life(and that of my front seater) to those little gizmos.
In a prior life, during a tour in Vietnam (Republic of), I was preparing to lift off on an
emergency Medevac escort mission. Kick the tire, light the fire type of thing. Got the snake up to a hover at max power and scanned the guages one last time before pushing the nose over. The transmission oil pressure went from "green to gone" in a
fraction of a second. Put it down , rolled off the power, and within a dozen or so turns of the rotor it came to a rapid stop. We had experienced a catastrophic seal failure with
the subsequent loss of all transmission oil. Unlike today's sleds, the snake tranny would not work without the old petroleum lubricant. Had it not been for that instructor screaming at me in primary to "scan the gauges, Moron!" I would have rolled that bird up into a flaming ball in about 20 seconds. Two more names on the wall.
Some advice to you would be pilots... if you are about to board an aircraft with a pilot who tells you what a daredevil hotshot he is; and how he "don't need no stinkin' gauges", turn on your heel and run, do not walk, run as far away from him/her as fast
as you possibly can. Remember, "there are old pilots and there are bold pilots; but, there are no old bold pilots".

I once had an engine flame out with 100 pounds indicated.
Luckily we were on the ground and taxiing in.
In the 'old' days you flew by the seat of your pants, now you fly with your fingres as you hunt and peck on the computer screen.

Don

Heath,

Were you able to hover with a quartering tail wind up your "tail"? How about an approach to a hover? Pick it up into a hover with out swinging left or right more than 5 degrees? Now straight and level with some airspeed it's similar to an airplane, almost and anybody can fly it if they had previous fixed wing experience. However, it's never easier than they make it out to be! I'm sure you could glide your fixed wing to a survivable crash landing, but I doubt you could survive an autorotation without a lot of practice! I had F-4 "jocks" in my Huey in Nam and they did fairly well until they tired to hover. They were great pilots, just not trained in helicopters! It takes a lot of training to safely operate a helicopter and bit more dexterity and coordination. Frankly some "trained" helicopter scare the hell out of me! As in all professions there are the "naturals", the good, the fair and the marginal. I tried not to fly with the last two!

I totally agree with him....I flew a helicopter once, and it was a lot easier than they make it out to be....until they start ragging on ya to look at these....keep the needle right there in the red....etc, etc. I haven't tried to fly one since.

One thing is true: in cars you don't have gauges that indicate if you have a flat tyre or the pressure of the brake-oil and you can still drive around without any trouble.
Except those pedestrians poping out ev'rywhere!

What the heck is he doing flying at barn and telephone pole level?????

Something tells me he's missing the BIG picture!