In-flight Emergencies W/ Class D Loads

[bleed air]

Thanks, JL! That's what I was looking for. I'm curious to know where you did the Class D course.

[Jammed left]

Sorry for the delay...

 

Course was done in Ft. St. John, we did the course with Vertical Systems International rescue folks based out of Canmore AB.

 

JL

[RDM]

Just finished doing some training today Class D, what is all the fuss....

 

Techie on the hoist, ya blow a jug, pull power on the other one and fly away at 700' per minute....I do not see the problem :up: :up:

 

Have to admit, would be scary in a single though.

[vortex]

Have to admit, would be scary in a single though.

Not a lot different for the pilot on the top of any 100' line in the hover and the "techie" wants to be there anyway

One of the boys did one (recovery) yesterday at Keremeos...its a pretty handy tool to get people into tough spots.

[Cole]

Well, all of the videos I have seen that were of class D, the pilot is solo...

 

so a point to think of (keep in mind im a low time fw pilot that hasnt yet done any rotary) would be- why not see about putting your techie down relatively softly and just punchin the load and doing your best, even if it means trashing the machine, trying to save the lives, im imagining that you would soon be running outta rpm if you flared to save your dummie, mabey launching stick forward and trying to initiate another (much scarier) auto from a high hover

 

Another question an outsider like me would ask- What do you do if you loose power with a normal load that is on the ground (during loading etc), again in most of the vid's I have seen with class D's you are rescueing someone so they are close to the ground anyway.

 

I think a class D would be some kinda nerve racking if you kept thinking about having to drop him

 

Well now im wondering :up: Cole :punk:

[Cole]

Well I thought I might dig up a cool website thats is somewhat remotely pertainent to this topic

 

Henry 1

 

Check out the class D at night! the first video is pretty sweet aswell

 

Cole

[Singing in the rain]

I thought I would throw in my two cent's on the topic, seeing how I am still current in the Class D world. Hey Jammed Left you said you trained with VSI in FSJ me too three years ago now, did all my training with D.West there, for work with Shell. I must say that he is a great salesman on this system on remote extraction. More and more larger company's are starting to use his system, and as other's have said this system is very fast in getting a injured person to a save mode of transportaion to the hospital, but with that said it is also very dangerous and has it's flaw's namely single eng failure. The rescurer does acknowledge that he will be released if it means saving his life or the lives of the two people in the helicopter, as well as the helicopter it's self, but that is not my concern saving the machine. As far as emergency's with a 150' long line and a dummy on the end of it, well we never did suscessfull drops with the load in my training. VSI was going to go down to Penticton to hamer out some sort of SOP but to this day I know of no one who has susessfully acompplished such a task with an A-star. VSI does have a belly band for the 212 which I used on a job this summer as the load on the end of the line will only be 600Lbs even with a OEI situation using a twin would have a more faverable outcome. This is only my opinion, any more thought's out there bring them on..

 

Fly smart boy's

[Skids Up]

... and has it's flaw's namely single eng failure.

 

While the need to be prepared is always there, why is the first thing we say, "but it's single engine..." Yes they quit, but but how many guys on here with over 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 or more hours, that haven't had the stove quit yet?

 

I guess it kind of like flying over water and the old girl starts feeling a bit rough, and the noises are a bit more noticeable, until we get to the other side and then things are back to normal again.

 

Maybe it depends on the emergency, but I would think that the odds are better that it won't quit, than it will, for the short period of time in the actual rescue.

 

And NO, I won't hang on the rope! (Must be some sort of double standard here I guess)

 

(No "Class D" either so go easy on me.....)

[Blackcomb]

We use to do simulated autos in the A-star at Blue river with a 100' line and a 100 lb weight on the bottom to represent the rescuer I assure you that the first few times you do them you are either very high on the flare or bumping the weight on the tarmac. The idea was to initiate the flare high, swinging the load out front, getting over top of it to reduce the forward speed, punching the load and continuing with the auto. Not very pretty but you do what you can for the people on the bottom.

Hard fact is, they will lose if things do not go exactly as planned.

We do a fair bit of Class D in Whistler but don't spend a lot of time on emergencies. However, we have a 355 fx now so it makes life easier.

[Cole]

I guess It would all have to depend on where, and what you were doing when you loose your stove, I would think that- you as PIC have a big metal box protecting you, buddie down the line is just dangling, do what you think is right,

 

 

Blackcomb- I would love to see photos of the 355 if you got 'em

 

 

Cole