Vortex/ Whiteout

[MINI]

Just recieved mine.Another good one Mr. CTD.

The story on the whiteout really caugth my eye.That story of the Canso has really been around a long time.True or false its a good read.The other story of the 206 on fixed floats bouncing off the ice really caught my eye. For I too flew a helicopter into a frozen lake at cruise in whiteout.Bell 47 C FMWH,Wawa Ont.I was in a slight turn to the left,vis and depth perception fading fast when the S hit the fan.The left float hit the ice only a millasecond after the blades had hit.The bubble then was taken out by the pretzel shaped blades and so was the tail boom.We slid about 500 feet upright on the ice coming to a rest rightside up.Left flaot was flattened on impact,right float looked brand new.Ever since then Ive had the greatest respect for Whiteout and or poor vis.for the past 31 years.I was lucky. Dont push the weather.

Now back to the Canso story.A few years back a S61 helicopter was on a search and rescue mission over the Cambria icefield south of Stewart B.C. The weather was at its worst.As the helicopter was flying over the ice and snow vis and depth perception were going down hill fast.The helicopter was slowing down when the keel of the boat style hull came in contact with the snow and came to rest.It was decided to shut the machine down and spend the night as the whole world looked like a milk bowl.A broken spot lite, couple of dents flew back home the next morning.I was not flying but a good friend of mine was.Again very lucky.

Now everyone say 100 times I WILL NOT PUSH WEATHER I WILL NOT PUSH WEATHER I WILL NOT PUSH WEATHER

[twinstar_ca]

sage advice, mini... i don't think you can repeat that mantra often enough!! :up:

 

p.s. you can add "or myself" to it too....

[CTD]

Thanks Mini,

 

Found the Canso story in an old issue of Vortex when I was researching the topic. The LongRanger on floats story is a guy I know.

 

Check your PMs, Sir.

[Bush Bunny]

Scraped the remains of a C210 flown by an American priavte pilot off a frozen lake in Yukon a few years ago, made the cardnal sin of turning away from the shore/mountain when trying to get back to the airport.(at dusk, blizzard) The really sad thing is, he lived through the night, walked around, bled everywhere and died before SAR found the wreckage in the morning. He didn't have the ELT armed and crashed a kilometer from a house on the shoreline. Whole town heard the accident, no one realized what it was...

[CTD]

Not easy, is it. Spoke to another guy on the phone today who'd found a wreck four days after the fact. There's something in the voice that we all recognize.

 

"Turning away from the shore/mountain when trying to get back to the airport.(at dusk, blizzard)" was his second mistake.

[Bladestrike]

I was number 3 in that 6 bird group, 1/8 mile behind the guy that flew it into the ice. It bounced and rolled, but luckily everyone walked away from it. Quite the show and a lesson learned! If its the same one mentioned, I know the guy that bounced the 206 on pop-outs; same day/same area if I recall correctly. Hoisted a few that night!

[deuce bigalow]

The odd thing about this phenomenon is trying to explain it to someone who has not had the experience. It's kind of like telling a little kid that fire is hot. My scary story is about lifting off an ice strip in Uranium City in a 206. Very heavy of course and about one inch of fresh powder on the ice. Some frost on the screen to add to the fun. I had a tree about 20 in front of me and though I expected the snow to fly I figured the tree sould get me going. Lift into the hover about two feet and......nothing outside. Nothing at all. I might as well have had a bag over my head. All that was left was to put the pole down and hope for the best. The first thing I saw was the ice out the right side window and my blade about two feet away from it. My passenger said he didn't realize there was a problem until he saw the look on my face. :shock: After shutdown got out to inspect. About a 20 foot sideways skid in the snow. One bearpaw torn off and one flipped 180 degrees. So.............thats what a whiteout is. The second one happened in Iraq at night at the Basra airport. You don't really expect whiteout when it's 40 degrees above but a couple of inches of dust at night will do it to ya. Be carefull out there folks.

[CTD]

The odd thing about this phenomenon is trying to explain it to someone who has not had the experience. It's kind of like telling a little kid that fire is hot.

 

Ain't that the truth.

 

Hmmm. Brownout. I should have put something in the article about that.

 

When we first got to Somalia, very early in the program, one of our ships got in trouble up in Bardera. My engineer buddy RB headed up there in another 212 to see what he could do.

 

The landing area was covered in serious dust - the talcum powder type - and a slight running landing was accomplished without any problem. After all, staying ahead of a dustball, and staying ahead of a snowball, are the same thing, right?

 

When it was time to leave, I was full of fuel, had several more people on board, and it was 45ºC. The dust was so fine, that even with one engine running, the rotor was kicking it up. I knew the take-off would be fun.

 

I tried using the old 'fresh snow trick' - pulling power slowly and letting the snow blow away. Forget it. The dust was endless, and I could almost feel it chewing away at my 212's engines and creeping into the grease, fuel vents, and clogging my coolers.

 

I lowered the collective again, and waited for the dust to clear. There were 4 Mi-17 helicopters on the ramp, just off my 2 'clock, about 100 metres away, everything else was flat and clear. So, I figured I'd just do a towering takeoff, get above the dustball, and rotate away. Easy right?

 

Well, the captain here hadn't really factored in the performance of the old girl at 45ºC.

 

I pulled and got airborne, and was immediately engulfed in dust. I stayed on the dials (like that mattered) and was horrified to see the radar altimetre stall out at about 50'.

 

So, as the story goes, there I was. What are you going to do now, Sky God?

 

Fifty feet, full power, hovering (or at least, hoping I was hovering), and completely IMC. I nudged the cyclic forward (a 12-inch jab constitutes a 'nudge', doesn't it?), and waited. And waited. And waited.

 

Finally, I could see some blue above me and I began to break out of the dust. Then I saw the main rotor system of an Mi-17 pass about 10' below my skids as I staggered away.

[CTD]

OK, so here's a secret - you're going to see that story in the next Vortex. There is always AT LEAST ONE of my many screw-ups (moderated forum) in every issue.

 

I know for a fact that at least one of you has screwed up before, and I want to get those stories in the Tips and Tails section. A couple of members here have contributed excellent pieces (can you believe how dumb these guys were?), and I'd love to have more. I'll edit, write, withhold names etc....