Osama raid helicopter - Identify this part

[anonymous-user]

eccles said:

Crossflow Kid said:

bulldong said:

Crossflow Kid said:

GrahamG said:

Not the tail rotor - there are other pics of that at the crash site and they do look like a Pave Hawk

So if it's not the tail rotor what is it then?
Can't be the main rotor as it's not attached to a fuselage but more of a tail pylon.
Other photos show a t-tail, so maybe it's a <Something>hawk with some funky new semi-silenced tail rotor, since they're notorious for being the noisiest thing on the aircraft.

Due to the nature of the operation, I would say that the cover is probably more of a protection against incoming fire, rather than a silencer (although this could be a secondary application) as the components holding/controlling the tail rotor together are susceptible to small arms. i.e tiny control rods etc. Googling heavily, and can't for the life of me think what it is.

Never, ever heard of armour-plated rotor hubs. They're usually pretty solid chunks of metal all bolted together, and armour plating the hub would do little to protect the control rods - they go up the tail rotor pylon and are invariably made of titanium or similar to make them ballistic resistant.
UAV perhaps?

Funny that, the control rods on the helicopter I work on are very thin wall alloy tube....Parts of the main rotor head are made from ESR (electro slag remelt) for ballistic resistance.

Eccles - you beat me to it. For further proof of the fragility of even the most sophisticated tail rotor head see here:

Would definitely make sense to cover them up.

[doodles19]

http://uk.jalopnik.com/5797856/the-berzerker-black...

[GilbertGutbucket]

Do the US have/use 'Drone' type helicopters, and if it was one, explains the lack of casualties when it crashed/was shot down?

[BigS]

GrahamG said:

tank slapper said:

I was wondering if it might be off an MH-6 but it doesn't look quite right for that, and it would be a bit small for carrying troops.

But ideal for inserting a small raiding party inside a walled compound!!

As for the tail rotor, a bit of searching has turned up these picture on http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/13043... where from what I can gather by skim reading some guy seems to be insisting that the raid was carried out by the Pakistani Army using a Puma


I'd guess at some modified/new version of the MH-60 going by the horizontal stabiliser position

[anonymous-user]

The confusing thing is that it is starboard side mounted, with 5-6 blades (can't tell because its bent and the head is covered).

[Oily Nails]

To be honest I haven't the foggiest






And I'm seeing lots of composites and muffling in that man's hand...

[mko9]

I would guess that the disc over the center of the tail rotor provides some RCS reduction in addition to protecting the hub assembly. The naked assembly is pretty dirty looking.

[anonymous-user]

eccles said:

Crossflow Kid said:

bulldong said:

Crossflow Kid said:

GrahamG said:

Not the tail rotor - there are other pics of that at the crash site and they do look like a Pave Hawk

So if it's not the tail rotor what is it then?
Can't be the main rotor as it's not attached to a fuselage but more of a tail pylon.
Other photos show a t-tail, so maybe it's a <Something>hawk with some funky new semi-silenced tail rotor, since they're notorious for being the noisiest thing on the aircraft.

Due to the nature of the operation, I would say that the cover is probably more of a protection against incoming fire, rather than a silencer (although this could be a secondary application) as the components holding/controlling the tail rotor together are susceptible to small arms. i.e tiny control rods etc. Googling heavily, and can't for the life of me think what it is.

Never, ever heard of armour-plated rotor hubs. They're usually pretty solid chunks of metal all bolted together, and armour plating the hub would do little to protect the control rods - they go up the tail rotor pylon and are invariably made of titanium or similar to make them ballistic resistant.
UAV perhaps?

Funny that, the control rods on the helicopter I work on are very thin wall alloy tube....Parts of the main rotor head are made from ESR (electro slag remelt) for ballistic resistance.

Funny that, the one I fly in has titanium control rods where it matters.

[Methuselah]

some more info here: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index...

[eccles]

Crossflow Kid said:

eccles said:

Crossflow Kid said:

bulldong said:

Crossflow Kid said:

GrahamG said:

Not the tail rotor - there are other pics of that at the crash site and they do look like a Pave Hawk

So if it's not the tail rotor what is it then?
Can't be the main rotor as it's not attached to a fuselage but more of a tail pylon.
Other photos show a t-tail, so maybe it's a <Something>hawk with some funky new semi-silenced tail rotor, since they're notorious for being the noisiest thing on the aircraft.

Due to the nature of the operation, I would say that the cover is probably more of a protection against incoming fire, rather than a silencer (although this could be a secondary application) as the components holding/controlling the tail rotor together are susceptible to small arms. i.e tiny control rods etc. Googling heavily, and can't for the life of me think what it is.

Never, ever heard of armour-plated rotor hubs. They're usually pretty solid chunks of metal all bolted together, and armour plating the hub would do little to protect the control rods - they go up the tail rotor pylon and are invariably made of titanium or similar to make them ballistic resistant.
UAV perhaps?

Funny that, the control rods on the helicopter I work on are very thin wall alloy tube....Parts of the main rotor head are made from ESR (electro slag remelt) for ballistic resistance.

Funny that, the one I fly in has titanium control rods where it matters.

Care to expand on that....am genuinely interested...

[Zad]

eccles said:

Care to expand on that....am genuinely interested...

He could, but he'd probably get Walloped by his senior officer.

[daveparry]

Are Blackhawks still in use?

[eccles]

Zad said:

eccles said:

Care to expand on that....am genuinely interested...

He could, but he'd probably get Walloped by his senior officer.

I hardly think it's a secret or anything.

[Roberty]

Crossflow Kid said:

I never said it was a Comanche, just Comanche-ish.

What's more Comanche'ish than a Comanche?

[anonymous-user]

Zad said:

eccles said:

Care to expand on that....am genuinely interested...

He could, but he'd probably get Walloped by his senior officer.

Oh do be serious, on two levels
CH47 has titanium control runs in the more exposed areas.

[eccles]

Crossflow Kid said:

Zad said:

eccles said:

Care to expand on that....am genuinely interested...

He could, but he'd probably get Walloped by his senior officer.

Oh do be serious, on two levels
CH47 has titanium control runs in the more exposed areas.

I'd have thought that was more to do with fire resistance than ballistic resistance.

[Mojocvh]

eccles said:

Crossflow Kid said:

Zad said:

eccles said:

Care to expand on that....am genuinely interested...

He could, but he'd probably get Walloped by his senior officer.

Oh do be serious, on two levels
CH47 has titanium control runs in the more exposed areas.

I'd have thought that was more to do with fire resistance than ballistic resistance.

ballistic protection comes from size [mass] titanium can be extremely strong but it is also very vulnerable to surface effects (stress risers) and can be disrupted by impact.

whew this is getting the brain cells moving after a layoff

[anonymous-user]

eccles said:

I'd have thought that was more to do with fire resistance than ballistic resistance.

Believe me, if a fire takes strong enough hold to threaten the controls, the rest of the airframe will be way past it by then...

[davepoth]

The movie of this is going to be awesome.

[anonymous-user]

davepoth said:

The movie of this is going to be awesome.

Yep, tie it in with a Prince marrying his Princess the same weekend, get Elton to do the song and Disney are on to a winner!