We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:58:09 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Those of you who know Carborundum know he's a little twitchy. He should be, he spent a career as Bill's Guardian Angel. Things like this are why rotary aviation GA's are so twitchy. Whew! I suspect GA's are behind this, too. H/t, Jim C. BTW - Don't forget to Vote For Us! We're not gonna catch those punk El-Tees at The Officer's Club unless you guys quit voting for Matty (who is untouchable at this point) but we've got a shot at that Lawyer at Intel Dump. Oh, what the heck, let's make this a General Purpose Aviation Post.... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html Tue, 13 Dec 2005 08:35:17 -0600 Yeah, that sounds like Gary. It might be safer if they used the armored vehicle collections that some of the folk here have though. It's not South Central Los Angeles, but it's pretty bad. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36305 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36305 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:32:06 -0600 When my friend the "Church Lady" (she works for a company that makes desktop publishing software to do church bulletins) goes to Gary her husband drives and they are met at the locked gates of the church by an armed guard. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36298 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36298 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:22:47 -0600 Heh. Knowing Gary, Indiana you're safer off in Lake Michigan. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36295 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36295 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 16:08:57 -0600 Ah, this looks like Flutterby's Bedtime Stories... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36293 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36293 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:27:40 -0600 child's play... I love NASA. Really. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36292 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36292 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:07:24 -0600 Fred - I usually operated under the premise that we weren't on fire (at least, not *badly* on fire) unless 1. the crewchief and doorgunner were sitting up front with us and their flight suits were smoldering or 2. one of 'em asked if we remembered to bring the marshmallows... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36285 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36285 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:11:19 -0600 My guardian angel works on the motto "No joke is too cruel if it's funny." In '73 I was assigned to the Signal Corp unit attached to the 28th Air Defense Artillery at Arlington Heights, just outside Chicago. These guys were in charge of the Nike sites around Chicago. Mostly I worked the communications center but, occasionally I was a courier of crypto gub to the outlying sites. Usually two of us would just take whatever van was running that day and drive around. One day we got a helicopter for our rounds, an old Huey (Were they ever new?). Somebody needed flight hours. We started off headed North to make a clockwise circuit to the Nike sites in the forest preserves around Chicago. Had a great view of downtown Chigaco as we flew South along the lake shore. That's when the helicopter caught fire. Are we going down in Lake Michigan? Quick look down. That's Gary, Indiana down there. Oh. We are flying through steel mill belch. Guardian angel laughing, laughing, laughing. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36281 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36281 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 12:43:15 -0600 John from VA - The dive appears to be the pilot attempting to gain airspeed, for a couple of reasons. 1. In many helicopters, the pressure of the slipstream along the tailboom and stabilization surfaces in combination with a reduction in torque (reduce the throttle and/or collective--but you sacrifice lift) will stop the rotation. This will allow you to fly to an area suitable for a. a running landing, i.e., making a shallow approach with sufficient airspeed to keep the thing halfway straight, then controlling the transmission torque by using the throttle to get you completely straight the split-second before you touch down--otherwise, you roll over; or b. an autorotational landing, in which you reduce the throttle and turn the critter into a glider and control your heading using the internal friction of the transmission gearing and small increases in throttle. 2. Increasing your airspeed just might enable you to reach an area that is better suited for an autorotational landing--when the engine quits, you still have some options. Limited, but options. And if you're over water, or wooded or urban terrain, your options are even more severely limited. In this instance, he didn't have much choice; he was attempting to get to a clear spot (a parking lot) and saw he wasn't going to make it, so he went with his only other option--landing on a rooftop without hitting air shaft vents, TV antennas, telephone wires or satellite dishes and without dropping it through a skylight. And he almost did it, too--but he had the misfortune of landing too close to the edge of the roof. Forward momentum and friction set up a pivot point which threw his center of gravity outside the skid footprint, and at that point, they all became passengers. That said, I can tell you unequivocably that, if you lose your tail rotor in a Huey or a Cobra, maintaining your power settings and trying to streamline the critter (as in option 1) won't work worth a plugged nickel... Hey, AFSis--any time you get on a commercial starched-wing, it's flying itself. The pilot makes the takeoff and landing because the FAA says he's got to, but George is doing the enroute portion. The French discovered the biggest problem with computerized flying when that Airbus decided to land itself in the woods a few years back--by the time the pilots figured out the plane thought a gear-extended, full-flaps, low pass over the runway meant that it was in landing configuration, it was too late. Whole lotta "Mon Dieu's" in the videotape voiceover... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36278 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36278 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 11:43:34 -0600 I can't vote...work computer doesn't have a new enough Flash software...and I don't have Admin privilidges to install it. I'll try when I get home though. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36276 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36276 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 10:51:39 -0600 sang froid intact, but it was all downhill after the Wright Brothers. Then they had to invent helicopters -- apparently based on the premise that flying is throwing yourself at the ground and missing. If you look real close at the video clip, you can see first ANGSPC Credulous "Butterfingers" losing his grip on the stabilizer, then ANGSPC Atrium doing an outstanding (but ultimately futile) job of trying to keep the bird up all by himself, and finally Credulous redeeming himself by cushioning the landing with his own body. That's not smoke, it's finely shredded feathers. Courage and professionalism in the finest tradition of the Angelic Corps. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36275 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36275 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 10:35:26 -0600 I dunno..... Having an aircraft that can think and fly itself is scary to me. Think "Terminator".... and run. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36274 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36274 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 10:31:58 -0600 CW4(ret)Billt: Just curious, why do you say it was just the tail rotor? near the end I see the spiraling that indicates the loss of the t/r, but that first "nose dive" near the beginning may have played a role in the tail going out. If I were to venture a guess I'd say more than one thing went wrong, but I'll defer to the expert. Either way, a landing you can walk away from is a good landing, and kudos to the pilot. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36270 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36270 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:25:43 -0600 And *that* was only a problem with the tail rotor. Now add the rest of the drive train (engine with assorted accessory gearboxes, transmission with assorted add-ons, driveshafts and hangar bearings), control tubing and linkages, hydraulic system(s) and accumulators, electrical system, fuel system, etc. and the vagueries of the main rotor system and the innumeable quirks of aerodynamics. Shake well. Serve garnished with a high density altitude and you've got normal rotary wing flight. For combat operations, spoon in an over-max-gross-weight-on-each-mission, stir in a soupçon of sustained automatic weapons fire, drop in a pinch of RPGs, add of add a dash of large-caliber AA and a few IR-seeking missiles and stir. Serve garnished with Rules of Engagement. That's why, if you go into the O-Club bar late at night, you usually see helicopter pilots with a whole bunch of drinks in front of them. Heh. The extras are for the GAs. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36269 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/guardian_angels.html#comment-36269 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:09:21 -0600