Ask a helicopter pilot anything

[Siko]

Blatantly stolen from the other "Ask a etc" type posts I'd be happy to answer any questions on military or civilian helicopters if anyone is interested, or not of course My background is 17 years as a military helicopter pilot/flying instructor, with last 9 years flying commercially offshore in the North Sea/Atlantic (oil rigs, boats etc).

[Mr MXT]

Do you think there will ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a shark?

[Muzzer79]

Which was better - Airwolf or Blue Thunder?

[florian]

What's your opinion on multi-rotor VTOL aircraft for passenger transport such as Lilium? Do you think they will succeed and compete successfully with helicopters for short to medium range passenger transport (e.g. < 200km)?

https://lilium.com

[GroundZero]

First of the 'proper' questions.... (ok 2nd, was just beaten to it by above poster)
Have you ever encountered engine failure on any copter that you've flown?
Is there any merit/practicality of fitting a parachute fail-safe system to copters to protect against engine failures?

[Siko]

Mr MXT said:

Do you think there will ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a shark?

[Siko]

Muzzer79 said:

Which was better - Airwolf or Blue Thunder?

That's like saying which was the best 80s Cop show.....CHiPs or Juliet Bravo For the record Airwolf by a countrymile.

[The Mad Monk]

Is there a maximum/minimum height when flying in built-up areas?

The copters over Surrey always seem to be so low and therefore noisy, do they have to do that?

[Siko]

florian said:

What's your opinion on multi-rotor VTOL aircraft for passenger transport such as Lilium? Do you think they will succeed and compete successfully with helicopters for short to medium range passenger transport (e.g. < 200km)?

https://lilium.com

Great question. My company is trying to get into them but it's fair to say the technology isn't there yet. There are issues with obstacle clearance etc from tiltrotors and as we land offshore on some fairly small platforms/boats I am not so sure they will work in my current role. Also, the key advantage of a tiltrotor is speed and to maximise that you really want to be using them over a long range, Most of the flights in the North Sea are fairly short at 45mins - 1:30 or so and the modern generation of helicopters cruise pretty effectively (and very cheaply) at 150kts, so not as much of an advantage as you might think over a short range.

Also, the problem as ever is pure lifting ability and tiltrotors effectively trade lifting ability for speed - the AW tiltrotor I think can only lift 9 whereas most Med/Large Helos will left 17-19 easily. Obviously doing two fast trips in a tilt compared to one slower in a helicopter is probably not economically viable. Long term, like Garlic Bread, it's the future imho and I suspect we'll get there but not just yet.

[steveo3002]

whats a good white gloss for my internal doors ?

[Siko]

GroundZero said:

First of the 'proper' questions.... (ok 2nd, was just beaten to it by above poster)
Have you ever encountered engine failure on any copter that you've flown?
Is there any merit/practicality of fitting a parachute fail-safe system to copters to protect against engine failures?

Touch wood no - although I had an engine flameout on a ground run once which was weird....it just shutdown. Started fine again afterwards.

Possibly but the weight of such a device would hinder the performance/safety/payload drastically. Offshore we fly to PC2e, which means the weight is restricted such that in the event of an engine failure at Takeoff Decision Point (30' above the deck), we could takeoff safely but would potentially only miss the deck edge with the tail rotor by 1 foot. So carrying a heavy parachute around that could carry a 12 tonne helicopter would either impact your performance (see above) or your payload - I suspect you could carry a parachute or a payload but not both

[Siko]

The Mad Monk said:

Is there a maximum/minimum height when flying in built-up areas?

The copters over Surrey always seem to be so low and therefore noisy, do they have to do that?

Yeah 500' or 1000' if it's built up eg a town.

Yes they do it just to annoy people

[Siko]

steveo3002 said:

whats a good white gloss for my internal doors ?

Dulux

[jamiem555]

steveo3002 said:

whats a good white gloss for my internal doors ?

I recommend Dulux Satin white.
Maybe I should start an ask a helicopter engineer anything!
I hope you are well Simon &#128521;

[hidetheelephants]

How often do you inspect your jesus bolt?

[Siko]

jamiem555 said:

I recommend Dulux Satin white.
Maybe I should start an ask a helicopter engineer anything!
I hope you are well Simon ??

hey buddy! I'll defer any engineering ones to you mate

[jamiem555]

hidetheelephants said:

How often do you inspect your jesus bolt?

He doesn’t, that’s our job! The answer for an S92 is between 5-15 hours after it’s been fitted. If it’s stable then that’s that. If it’s not then it’s retorqued and checked again. Max 3 times and then it’s head off and start again. I’ve never seen one fail that many times. Oh and the torque is on the jacking bolts, not the nut itself. That goes on hand tight.

[TO73074E]

What's the biggest animal you could single handedly cling film to a lampost?

[Siko]

hidetheelephants said:

How often do you inspect your jesus bolt?

I look at it on my walkround like you would look at your wife going through your internet browsing history....

It scares the pants off me that it would come off but there are wonderful chaps such as JamieM who make sure it doesn't.

[jamiem555]

Siko said:

jamiem555 said:

I recommend Dulux Satin white.
Maybe I should start an ask a helicopter engineer anything!
I hope you are well Simon ??

hey buddy! I'll defer any engineering ones to you mate

I’ll do my best!