Bell 206 Sliding Door

[kjw57]

Flew and L3 for years with a sliding door, yes to the, it's a pain to close, open, lock, maintain (daily cleaning and lubeing required), top rail made a good handhold when climbing on top, although one wouldn't want to hang off it or stand on it, daily and more frequent breifings and reminders of the peril of ****ing up my baggage door were also needed.

 

On the plus side getting in and out, loading cargo on the floor, scanning, camera work, AIDS machine (even though the controls were backwards to the operator) and loading a stretcher were all made simpler. From my experience the utility of the aircraft with a sliding door and a basket was improved overall, especially on fires. The basket did slow you down at cruise but hey that worked for me too...

[Skidz]

Flew and L3 for years with a sliding door, yes to the, it's a pain to close, open, lock, maintain (daily cleaning and lubeing required), top rail made a good handhold when climbing on top, although one wouldn't want to hang off it or stand on it, daily and more frequent breifings and reminders of the peril of ****ing up my baggage door were also needed.

 

On the plus side getting in and out, loading cargo on the floor, scanning, camera work, AIDS machine (even though the controls were backwards to the operator) and loading a stretcher were all made simpler. From my experience the utility of the aircraft with a sliding door and a basket was improved overall, especially on fires. The basket did slow you down at cruise but hey that worked for me too...

 

I'd definitely agree that a sliding door on a longdog for AIDS would be a definite plus. Just ask the poor guy flying the metallic green L4 on fires in Key Lake earlier this summer. He took his non-sliding door off and not having a crew truck to stow it, he his it behind a tree just a ways off from the ramp. While he was out igniting, the mine safety people decided to widen the fire break around the airport and brought in a D10 and a D6 to do the job. Dozer operator never saw the door and the pilot never found it under all the dirt and trees... :shock: