Dramatic mountain helicopter rescue

[red750]

Watch this rescue.

 

 

[M61A1]

Looks great, but I reckon they (Airbus Helicopters) might have really good stability (ESAS) and flight control systems. I am always amazed at how rock solid a Tiger can hover even in very gusty conditions using Radalt and Doppler.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Looks great, but I reckon they (Airbus Helicopters) might have really good stability (ESAS) and flight control systems. I am always amazed at how rock solid a Tiger can hover even in very gusty conditions using Radalt and Doppler.

That's right. And they did a great job but it does look more impressive than it really is. Even with an old Jetranger or Hughes 500, neither of which have any artificial stability augmentation, if you stick a leg into a snow or mudbank it's not difficult to hold the machine stationary even in gusty conditions - you just gently fly the machine at the point of contact. Much harder in turbulence is to hold the machine just away from the surface.

 

At first it's a bit unsettling running the blade tips really close to objects but if you're going to be doing a lot of confined areas ops you practice with an external observer calling out clearance distances to you and very soon you realise that before you're going to do any damage it almost appears as if you could reach out of the door and touch the cliff face with your hand. With a bit of practice it's not too difficult to work with your blade tips within a metre of obstacles. Tailrotor clearances can be a lot more disconcerting though, where you're working from spatial memory rather than visibility.