French Helicopters

Message
Author
User avatar
FD2
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5110
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2015 10:11 pm
Location: New Zealand
Gender:
Age: 76

Re: French Helicopters

#41 Post by FD2 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:10 am

I think he was past the stage of flying circuits by numbers Seen.

Seenenough

Re: French Helicopters

#42 Post by Seenenough » Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:28 am

FD2 wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:10 am
I think he was past the stage of flying circuits by numbers Seen.
I generally stuck to those lessons and it served me well as I had and equal number of successful landings and takeoffs when I decided to call it a day.

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#43 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:08 am

CharlieOneSix wrote:
Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:03 pm
Have a look at 5.12 in this video - I couldn't find a video of this AS355(?) incident on its own. I don't know the cause of the accident but I suggest it was down to jack stall. A fast pull up followed by excessive roll, then when he tried to straighten out the roll and pull collective and cyclic everything froze on him. Far too low to relax on the controls and fly out of it. Another case of "Watch this!"
RETRACTED---

I thought I had found the details relating to that video here Copterline 103 but this aircraft took off elsewhere before it crashed into the Gulf of Finland.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081115141 ... php?322962

This Russian "report" relates to that video I think... (not much detail, typically Russian)...
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#44 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:28 am

Airbus Helicopters AS350 Ecureuil/Astar

The AS350 was originally designed to replace the aging Sud Aviation / Aerospatiale Alouette II light utility helicopter series. The AS350 appeared first under the Aerospatiale brand label but is now known under the Eurocopter name. First flight was achieved on June 26th, 1974 with introduction of the system taking place in 1975. The helicopter has been in production ever since and has become a fixture in the inventories of dozens of nations around the world.

The AS350 maintains an impressive streamlined appearance. The pilot and (optional) co-pilot are seated in the forward portion of the fuselage with excellent visibility forward, below, above and to the sides. Entry is via a hinged automobile-style door. The passenger cabin - with room for six - offers hinged doors to either side of the fuselage with large windows. The Turbomeca powerplant sits atop and to the rear of the passenger cabin with exhaust jettisoned out through a cylindrical system aft. The rotor mast fits the main rotor high away from the fuselage and is made up of a three-bladed main rotor system. The empennage, adding to the AS350's distinct look, is long and slender and sports horizontal planes at about midway. The tail section is made up of a dorsal vertical tail fin with a shorter ventral fin below. The tail rotor sits to the starboard side of the aircraft. The undercarriage features a fixed skid arrangement.
Eurocopter AS350

How to showboat in an AS350...

Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#45 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Jul 01, 2020 7:17 am

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:08 am
This Russian "report" relates to that video I think... (not much detail, typically Russian)...

https://sputniknews.com/russia/20140919 ... etersburg/
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#46 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Jul 03, 2020 6:36 am

Airbus Helicopters AS332 (Super Puma / Cougar)
The Super Puma was developed by French-based Aerospatiale (formerly Sud Aviation) from the successful AS 330 Puma series of medium-lift utility helicopters. The newer Super Puma design was essentially a base Puma with an improved avionics suite, enlarged fuselage, new Turbomeca-brand Makila-type 1,700 shaft horsepower turboshaft engines, intake fitters, ventral fin structure along the tail boom, revised nose assembly and a composite main rotor blade. Since the type entered production, Aerospatiale had merged with Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA) to become Eurocopter in 1992. The Super Puma is now marketed under the Eurocopter brand label though it still retains the "AS" (for Aerospatiale) designation in its model number.

The Super Puma prototype achieved first flight on September 13th, 1978. The prototype was designated as the AS 331. The new design, being larger than the Puma, was allowed greater cabin space for more passengers and more fuel for greater ranges. The nose featured provisions for the Honeywell Primus 500 or Bendix/King RDR 1400 series weather radars. Super Pumas were eventually produced in short and long fuselage versions. Early users of Super Pumas became the commercial oil industry where the large helicopter proved popular in shuttling oil rig workers to and fro.
AS332 Super Puma


Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

fareastdriver
Snr FO
Snr FO
Posts: 130
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:41 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: French Helicopters

#47 Post by fareastdriver » Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:38 am

November 30th/1st December 1977 I flew XW207, a Puma HC1 from Odiham to Marignane to be fitted with the first of the filter intakes which are now a feature of all RAF Pumas. Whilst we were there the aircraft was parked outside their development hanger.

Inside was the AS331 Super Puma prototype. It consisted of an early 330 prototype with the blunt Huey type nose. Alongside the engine side panels was emblazoned 'Super Puma' and the mainwheels featured the single wheel undercarriage of the AS332. It had a one metre plug in the fuselage; aft of the main gearbox instead of forward as in the 332. The cockpit instrumentation was pretty basic, not much advanced of that on a Allouette.

According to Wiki it had first flown three months before but judging by the junk around it it had not flown a lot since. With the plug at the back possibly the handling was not as good as they expected and they marked time until the 332 was ready

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#48 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:12 am

Airbus Helicopters X3 (X Cubed)
The Eurocopter X3 (or simply as the "X-Cubed") was a developmental rotary-wing platform intended to validate a helicopter design for speeds exceeding 250 miles-per-hour (typical operating speeds for modern helicopters range from 150 to 160 miles-per-hour). The design was based on a highly-modified Eurocopter EC155 airframe yet differentiated by the addition of side-mounted pusher-propeller engine units and fuselage protrusions not common to the EC155 design. The X3 undertook flight-testing with the prospect of the design being used in a future commercial- or military-minded rotary-wing platform (though weapon placements on wingstubs would have proven problematic in the X3's standard engine arrangement). The X3 was set to usher in something of a new age for helicopters considering its high-speed qualities.

A first-flight of the Eurocopter X3 was completed on September 6th, 2010 and, on May 12th, 2011, the X3 undertook a recorded flight with speeds in excess of 267 miles-per-hour. For its time, the X3 was billed as the "World's Fastest Helicopter" though there were (and have been) other similar competing helicopter designs in the works elsewhere (the Sikorsky X2 demonstrator being one such competitor). All told, the X3 did prove itself a sound concept with excellent agility and impressive speeds during its presentation flights meaning that its application in the real world would have been rather limitless as helicopters go.
Eurocopter (Airbus) X3 Compound Helicopter

Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#49 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:28 pm

On June 21, 1972, in an Aerospatiale SA 315B Lama that was lightened as much as possible, I reached an altitude of 40,814 feet, establishing a helicopter altitude record which remains today. That flight also wound up being the longest autorotation in history because the turbine died as soon as I reduced power. With a -63°C temperature that day, the engine flamed out and could not be restarted. Jean Boulet, former Aerospatiale chief test pilot “Rotor & Wing International Magazine,” 1991
SA 315B Lama
The Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama is a French-Indian single-engined helicopter developed to meet hot and high operational requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. It combines the lighter Aérospatiale Alouette II airframe with Alouette III components and powerplant. The Lama possesses exceptional high altitude performance; on 21 June 1972, the type established a helicopter absolute altitude record of 12,442 m (40,814 ft), a record which was broken by Fred North on AS350 B2 on 23 March 2002.

The helicopters have been built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India, known as the Cheetah; HAL later developed an upgraded variant, powered by the Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 engine, which is known as the Cheetal. An armed version, marketed as the Lancer, was also produced by HAL. It was also built under licence by Helibras in Brazil as the Gavião.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: French Helicopters

#50 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:01 am

Eurocopter (Airbus Helicopters) Tiger



Airbus EC665
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

Post Reply