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Random Griz Aviation Musings

ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
wink said:
Yep, underpowered shorty. HAL-3 flew piece of crap cast off Bs as gunships.

View attachment 41191
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These were indeed surplus UH-1B (Bell 204) from Army inventories. At first these were aircraft already in Army service in theatre and later Army airframes in CONUS and transferred to Navy and assigned a BuNo. The Army upgraded to the UH-1C which had a vastly improved rotor system. Retreating blade stall and poor high DA performance was a big problem in the B - and HC-1/HAL-3 discovered the hard way.

But in true Naval Aviation fashion the crews developed very effective local training programs to counter and ultimately made the aircraft very effective in its mission. Through sheer force of will and trial and error.


The ultimate short cabin Huey was the AF UH-1P flown by the 20th SOS Green Hornets! GE T58 engine from the H-3 and H-46 with the dynamics and blades of UH-1C and a rotor brake and avionics upgrades.
 
ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
There is a Congressman from Florida trotting around Asheville NC disaster area in a privately owned S-76 helo. I cannot tell if he is legit or not. Maybe someone can comment.

I have a good friend who is the senior leader on the ground coordinating interagency rescue and recovery. A lot of helo hoist ops going on - USAF, USCG, Army Guard and Reserve H-60's and CH-47F. Air Center Helicopters has a Super Puma doing hoist ops as well.

N328PK S-76C

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1841125088361361896

x.com

x.com x.com
 
R

Random8145

Registered User
Contributor
wink said:
Yep, underpowered shorty. HAL-3 flew piece of crap cast off Bs as gunships.

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Curious, but were they considered underpowered for the time? I've read the UH-1s were considered a major step-up power-wise when they first debuted, being among the first helicopters to use a gas turbine engine. But Vietnam showed them still to not be powerful enough or protected enough, leading to the Blackhawk.
 
Griz882

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Random8145 said:
Curious, but were they considered underpowered for the time? I've read the UH-1s were considered a major step-up power-wise when they first debuted, being among the first helicopters to use a gas turbine engine. But Vietnam showed them still to not be powerful enough or protected enough, leading to the Blackhawk.
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It was really a case of design intention vs. military utilization vs existing regulation. At the time the army wasn’t allowed to test off their own aircraft - they got what the USAF approved. The UH-1B was designed and approved specifically for the medivac mission but some army guys decided to see how many troops could fit in one. The B could easily take nine troops and initially air assault tactics used artillery to prep landing zones, but ingenious soldiers thought it would be better to arm a helicopter to do that work. Those weapon systems are quite heavy and the B’s struggled to keep up with the troop ships. Thus the more powerful C model. The story is the same for “slicks” (troop transport), the speed was acceptable but the army wanted more troop capacity thus we get the D model.

So, a whole lotta words to simply modify what @taxi1 wrote…you always want more power…and more carrying capacity.
 
ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
In the right seat of a Phrog. American Helicopter Museum.

Docent permitted me to open cabin door and climb in the front office.

This is one of the last CH-46E serve active duty and has the very latest AFC and AVC's of the type. Fairly impressive and a far cry from the old school D's of my HC days.

PXL_20241012_181401748~2.jpg
 
ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Some interesting observations of this Phrog:

Collective has a dedicated "HUD" 4 way coolie hat. To control brightness and declutter the symbology. I assume this is a NVG monocle based HUD. Maybe @phrogdriver or @PhrogLoop can comment:

PXL_20241012_181013999.MP.jpg
At some point Marine H-46 audio system was converted to the standard "quick disconnect" helmet jack that was introduced on the TH-57B/C. Brilliant.

PXL_20241012_180640682.jpg
 
JTS11

JTS11

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
ChuckMK23 said:
Collective has a dedicated "HUD" 4 way coolie hat. To control brightness and declutter the symbology. I assume this is a NVG monocle based HUD
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Yeah, that's what we had in the 53. It's more of a helmet mounted display (HMD), and consists of a monocle that affixes to the end of one of your NVG tube's.

Takes a bit to get used to, but once you get proficient, it's very helpful. I'd declutter it down to basically GS and RadAlt.
 
ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
MH-53E decommissioned at 10k airframe hours?


October 16th, 2024. Valiant Air Command air museum in Titusville, FL. This MH-53E helicopter hit 10,000 flight hours on the airframe and was retired from service and sent to be a fully functional static display. The serial number on the airframe is 163066.

Enjoy!
 
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