33InchChord

A Bell 214B was hovered at 29,000 feet (peak of Everest) in 1976 by Sultanate of Oman's Air Force (now RAFO) during testing for an attempt to land on the top of Mount Everest. Unfortunately the Nepalese government cancelled the permits at the last minute. A B3 landed on the top of Everest in 2005.

Here is one example from the 407 manuals: "THIXOGREASE NLGI No 2 (C-561) replaces the Corrosion Preventive Compound MIL-C-16173 Grade 2 (C-104) at all areas, except on bolts shank, indicated in the BHT-407-MM-6, Chapter 62 and in to the T.B. 407-99-16 Part II to perform the installation of the main rotor hub assembly." As you can see its only approved in certain areas though. Contact your PSE for specific approvals on other models.

Thixosyn and Thixogrease are 2 different products. Thixogrease, Bell consumable C-561 is an alternate for CPC grade 2 and approved in the manuals for use on certain non-moving splines on 206, 407, and 412. Your Bell PSE most likely give your company approval for use on other models in certain areas. Thixosyn has a wider/lower temperature range than thixogrease and from what I hear is now approved for the lights as a replacement for mobil 28 in certain areas. Approvals for the mediums has not come yet. It's available from Western Equipment here in western Canada.

Link not working sometimes, try this one and then go to Part 7: http://ntl1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?websearch&site=dot_cars

The answer is actually found in the type certifcate H1SW under the certification basis which states: CAR 7 dated August 1, 1956, Amendments 7-1 through 7-4, Category B, and Special Conditions for Turbine Powered Rotorcraft dated June 16, 1961, and amended June 21, 1967. No exemptions CAR 7 can be found here: http://ntl1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=3&name=Q%3A%5CDOT%5CCARs%5CWEBSEARCH%5CCAR7.PDF Section 7.611 on page 28 lists the required instruments and placement which includes a gyroscopic pitch and bank indicator (artificial horizon) centered in front of each pilot seat.

This appears to be N914RM s/n 28022 in the early 90's now C-FXNI. Where did you find this pic?

There has been only 3 documented fuel starvation incidents in the 214B fleet. These incidents were not considered "engine failures" but were pilot or maintenance errors or a combination of both. 2 of the fuel starvation incidents were posted earlier in the thread, the 3rd happened to the 'original Transwest' in approx 1980 when they were moving a tank at the Pitt Meadows airport and ran out of fuel.

Just to be clear I was talking about 214's actually engaged in logging at the time of the accident. There has been other accidents by companies that use 214's for logging but were not logging at the time. Helilog, the stats come from accident reports published by the respective government agencies. Most, but not all are available on the internet. I consider them a valuable training tool. I know pilot errors and maintenance errors are a broad categories and both usually involve multiple human factors. For the purpose of the discussion I was separating the mechanical failures of the machine from the human errors (both pilots and engineers).

Here are some stats when it comes to 214's and logging There have been a total 18 crashes of machines actually engaged in logging at the time resulting in 11 machines being wrote-off. 4 were fatal resulting in 7 fatalaties. 9 of the crashes were Rocky Mountain Helicopters. Of the 4 fatal crashes 2 were maintenance errors, 1 was pilot error, and only 1 was mechanical failure. The mechanical failure happened in 1977 when the vertical fin seperated from ship #004 (214B's were first certified in 1976). This resulted in an AD that mandated the replacement of one of the original aluminum fin spars to a steel one. Since 1977 there has not been a fatal 214 logging crash as a result of mechanical failure. This cannot be said for most all other logging machines out there. Here is how the causes break down for the logging crashes: Engine failure - 6 (Improvements made to failure prone parts) Maintenance error - 4 Cluth failure - 3 (Bell introduced a better clutch in 1980, no failures since) Pilot error - 2 Tailboom failure - 2 (See above for the 1 failure) Tranny spindle failure - 1 (Now time-lifed) Through improvements and experiance the 214 is one of the best suited and safest helicopters in the logging enviroment.

Bell214 that is s/n 28024 N214R while owned by Chet Rasberry Inc (CRI) of Apple Valley California. Later owned and crashed by Black Tusk as C-FVJE in about 1996.

Anybody out there use Becker VHF-AM com units. How are they for reliability and product support? Thanks.

Mark, check your PM's

Anyone know if someone manufacture's a mouning system for mounting a Garmin 296 in a Bell medium? Seen lots of them out there mounted on the windshield center post. Are these all made in house, or can you buy one premade?

Special condition 29-65-SW-5 as referred to in the Basis of Certification in TCDS H80 (Canada)and H6SW(U.S.) for the 214B relates to the rate of climb restriction in the flight manual. Maybe this can help define 'normal'?