Pilots "Starting" Younger These Days

When I need to program my cable box, remote control, etc. the first thing I do is ask one of my grandchildren. I think that they are born with this knowledge, but it is quickly lost when they go to school.

Time to pass a law that all rescue helicopters need to be childproof!

Co-pilot: Fire up the chopper, we have a call...

Pilot: I'm trying, but I can't get the child-proof cap of the ignition.

Easy, the kid does not have helicopter parents. He got into the helicopter and pushed some buttons.

I'm mildly stunned the phrase "helicopter parents" doesn't appear anywhere in the report.

Just flip a few switches...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DcU-v7Joso

On you tube about a year ago, I saw the start up sequences an a WWII B17 bomber. Took about 30-45 minutes.

I watched it because you know,...... It can come in handy someday.

I know that if you are a 10 year old and a caterpillar D? is just sitting there at a construction site, minding its own business, and you climb up and notice this rubber covered button, it is possible that this button will somehow be pushed, and the pony starter engine will come to life, scaring the poop out of the 10 year old, and causing him to bail out. The kid will be in anguish until his father notices it running and shuts it down. The father, being what seems to be claravoyant (to the kid) will know, somehow, that his kid was involved. Just saying......

Too bad they didn't have YouTube at the time, that 10 year old kid, could cover his tracks, and sweat it out hoping his father claravoyant was limited. Which sweating it out not knowing if his father knew or not is even worst

Yeah, because those B-17s are for sale at every 2nd hand clunker yard!

Really? Either you know something others don't or your being sarcastic, otherwise its quite evident you're just uninformed.

I pick sarcastic.

Thanks for maintaining my faith in CR4 option 2 was the right one. . Although you are unlikely to put all of that programme to use I am sure that snippets will be of use / interest in all sorts of ways. Just in my time I am still entertained by how quickly we get a picture on an LED screen compared to waiting for a CRT to warm up.

However if there were a junk yard with a B-17 can you imagine the queues of CR4ers and similar wanting to have a play with all the cool bits

The EAA flyin in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin is awesome. Being from Green Bay, Wisconsin myself, I only got there once. I love it.

Boy, this new X-BOX flight simulator game sure is realistic.

Man, that could have gotten ugly!

The pilot will be in deep sh*t with and I don't think the EC145 has enough lifting capacity to him/ her out of it. Most all gas turbine aircraft will start spooling up with a flick of a switch, but you also have to add fuel through power lever or throttle control for a successful start.

The aircraft should have been powered down, main electrical circuit breaker pulled and the doors closed and secured- especially at an air show!

Maybe the ambulance package is unlockable and good to go to with minumum delay.

Saves running to the aircraft and then running back to get the keys, then trying to start it with the main breaker "pulled" a few times before realising what is wrong...time saved could save a life.

That aircraft may have been on operational standby if required so it would be left in a state that minimises startup time.

Just guessing.

Real question is why is a 6YO child left unsupervised in a public place?

Darwin was thwarted this time...

Operational stand-by or not, the pilots still have an engine pre-start check list to perform which includes verifying all circuit breakers set (closed). The pilot(s) should have pulled (opened) and tagged the engine start circuit breakers and made note in the aircraft log book. Thus preventing someone doing this exact thing. At least that's what I had to do when I crewed aircraft at an air show.

First let me say that I am not familiar with the operations of a helicopter.

Many devices usually have a fuel and electrical lock out Valve and switch.

An aircraft on display at an airshow should have a qualified person in attendance to over see the vehicle.

A vehicle left in an operational status, should be placed in an area that is not within reach by the general public.

The ntsb should be concerned with any injuries if those injuries are the direct result of an aircrafts intended or unintended operation.

The liability for claims arising from such a situation arising falls within the realm of the event coordinator, including their staffing personnel.

Most sanctioned events have rules in place such as : weight, height, age limitations, guardian and or parental supervision, prohibited items, smoking, alcohol consumption, firearms etc.

• Main switch panel contains these items:

DC power control

VARTOMS control

Start switches

So simple even a child can start it.

I imagine these choppers are "on call" at all times, but I wonder where the pilot was.

What I don't get, is the fact that according to the report, the rotor was engaged. Is this direct drive? How does this work? The kid had to do more than just "Start it up".

I think these are direct drive choppers. Not 100% sure, But I know some are.

Where's one of our chopper pilots?

If direct drive is the case, it took some brass ones to run out there and shut it down.

No, I doubt it it was direct drive, because of its lack of stability, you need redundancy for failure, in that case you need auto rotation, direct drive would prevent that.

These engines use a "free turbine" to drive a gear reduction that's coupled to the transmission. The video SE posted you can hear the engine come up to idle and see the rotors are still spooling up. It's one of the nice things with dual shaft turbines, the engine can shell out and not lockup the transmission. Unlike Garrett TPE 331-xx that is a single shaft direct drive that will freeze up.

Not recommended but with free turbines engines, you can hold the prop or rotor blade while the engine is spooling up to idle, but when you let go, you'll need to get the hell away from it! That always got a lot of attention at the air shows

Thanks for the clarification. Hot gas coupling, very interesting.

Pretty reliable too.

The SH3's on board the carrier I spent time on, required high man hour to flight time statistics, because of problems with transmissions due to rotor balancing.The engines were extremely dependable.

Rotor balancing/tracking is one of the biggest problems with any helicopter and why I rather not deal with rotors. Insanity is tying to track rotor blades with a stick and cloth. I have gotten pretty good at smoothing out my ceiling fans tho. Just don't use felt pens to track the blades, makes a hell of a mess on the walls! The ex didn't see the humor in it

Technical data on EC145:

http://www.helicomontagne.fr/photosecour/DOC_EC145_data.pdf

I don't see anything about clutch except a "freewheel clutch".

My guess is it is direct drive with a clutch that would allow autorotation landings in case of both engines out.

My guess too.

I'm looking at the clutch on my RC heli that does just that.

If the IC engine (on my toy) stops it stops and brakes itself on compression but the rotor keeps spinning as you crash gracefully....

I figure the same would be a good thing on a real one, a turbine/gearbox failure could cause a lock up.

Dunno.

Surely there is heli pilot or tech or builder CR4 member that would know for sure.

Could google it or not.

Inattention by the parents, inattention by the pilot, and a curious kid who will be a CR4 member some day.