Whatsis? Is This...

Some valiant efforts at trying to figure out which helicopter had a water pressure gauge on the instrument panel. Sorry, but no cigar, not even to John--although he gets an Attaboy for not snooping around Fototime...

You're gonna screech like a scalded owl when I tell ya, but before you form the lynch mob, just remember that you gave John a pass when he posted a pic of a WWI Rooskie rifle grenade used only by corporals nicknamed "Sasha" in odd-numbered trenches on alternate Thursdays between March and June of 1917.

Now, there's a reason that the water pressure gauge

looks like the oil pressure gauge which looks like the fuel pressure gauge which looks like the torquemeter.

That reason is this --

It's a multipurpose gauge. Press the magic button twice and you're looking at any one of four labels. You'll find this particular model in most of the UH-1C/-D/-H/-Ms that got busted up in Vietnam and went to the depot at Corpus Christi for rebuild (evidently, the depot got a good deal on a manufacturer's overrun). The newer gauges have a setscrew in place of the button, so it's impossible for the puckish Instructor Pilot to mess with a nervous pilot's mind.

Preflight: *double-click behind the instrument panel while you're checking the electrical compartment in the nose*

During Flight:

Option One: "Okay, what are your normal torque limitations?"
*victim scans frantically for anything saying "torque" and blows right past the "water gauge"*

Option Two: "Water pressure's a tad high--did you check the overflow reservoir for crud?"
*victim knows damwell there's nothing in the Huey that uses water except the crew, but sees the "water pressure" gauge and panics*

Option Three: "Hey--this gauge is marked bassackwards. Water pressure redline is 45psi, not 35..."
*victim tries to assess information, starts blinking in confusion, gives himself a case of flicker vertigo*

Okay--next snipe hunt won't be quite this esoteric. And the pics will at least be in focus *crossing eight fingers and both thumbs*

Heh! Can't wait to see what Neffi comes up with when he tries to figger out what an intervalometer is...