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When you forget about that whole "rotor wash" thing. Oops . . .

nittany03

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
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Posted for the helo drivers and law enforcement types amongst us. Looks like some undergrads at my alma mater got a bit overserved prior to last week's matchup with Ohio State. Which, in theory, should surprise precisely no one. But this particular bout of drunken buffoonery got bad enough for the cops to intervene. Which then led to a scuffle. So the cops finally called a helo in to use its loudspeaker to tell the crowd to disperse.

They didn't just get the loudspeaker, they got the oversized leaf blower. Causing shenanigans in excess of those already happening. And now the FAA is investigating.

I'm no helo pilot, but I'm fairly sure using rotor wash for crowd control is generally frowned upon, yes?
 
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Treetop Flyer

Treetop Flyer

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Chopper dudes: isn’t that dangerous? Obviously it’s dangerous for the people on the ground, but isn’t there a real risk of the rotor eating a tent?
 
nittany03

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
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Treetop Flyer said:
Chopper dudes: isn’t that dangerous? Obviously it’s dangerous for the people on the ground, but isn’t there a real risk of the rotor eating a tent?
Click to expand...
My thought was they brought them in just to use the loudspeaker to tell all the drunk frat douchebros to disperse. Then they got too low, and shit went sideways . . . literally.
 
Jim123

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
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Treetop Flyer said:
Chopper dudes: ... isn’t there a real risk of the rotor eating a tent?
Click to expand...
It can but I think you gotta get lower than they did. Never done it myself but I've had a couple different friends either suck up tarp (one) and come close (another), both quite unexpectedly. One or both were on goggles and neither were dispersing college students in broad daylight.

Dumb kids don't disperse? Add dumb helicopter pilot to the mix! Is that fight fire with fire or is it try to beat them at their own game?

The article says a couple of police horses were "assaulted." That can be anything from a drunk frat boy patting a horse (I knew a flight student who got arrested for that in NOLA) or anything on up from that. I'm really not mad at the cops for this one. You know it's one helluva party if the cops get called and they bring their helicopter!
 
IKE

IKE

Nerd Whirler
pilot
That was stupid low, but probably not low enough for ground effect to cause things to flow around the tip vortices and into the rotor.
 
DocT

DocT

Dean of Students
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Treetop Flyer said:
Chopper dudes: isn’t that dangerous? Obviously it’s dangerous for the people on the ground, but isn’t there a real risk of the rotor eating a tent?
Click to expand...
Yeah that’s dangerous. When your rotorwash is interacting with all that shit on the ground you can’t predict the results. That guy was flying like an asshole.
 
insanebikerboy

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
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In the helo world, we call that a “thump”.

FAA says no lower than 500’ above populated areas. It does make me wonder if the cops are permitted to fly lower in performance of their duties?
 
HAL Pilot

HAL Pilot

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I believe police helicopters are considered "state" aircraft just like military and therefore can dodge the FAA if their superiors want to protect them.
 
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