Safety advice

[avt007]

I''m an experienced fixed wing engineer, avionics and airframe, but new to helicopters. What are the golden rules about working around helicopters? I''d rather hear from you guys than learn the hard way, if I survived!

[downwash]

I''m sure it''s not restricted to helicopters but, you don''t do anything to the ship without telling me, and I won''t do anything to her without telling you.

 

You might get a few more trade-specific ideas on the AME forum.

[cap]

007 ---- get yourself a real long 'pigtail' so you can connect the headphones to the Comm system while the pilot is doing a 'run-up'. Connects you to the pilot immediately and prevents some scary incidents. When things are running at 30,000-60,000RPM yelling "shut it down, shut it down" may be too late. You didn't have quite the same/kind of noise around the fixed-wing on 'run-up' at full throttle. It also means you don't have to keep climbing up/down that bloody a/c and yelling at guys like me and Downwash.....'cause we don't like to be yelled at. See, we've been married too long.

[Elvis]

Spoken like a true pilot Downwash,correct and to the point,but I don''t think it''s what 007 is looking for after all I am sure the same rule applies to his fixed wing days.

 

007 You will have to be a little more specific in Your what You what to know.

 

 

 

[downwash]

Good bits, Mag Seal!

 

Who''s been married too long, Cap. At 40 years, I''ve still got my eardrums (or part of them). Check with me at 50!

[Guest Bullet Remington]

DeeDubya''s right.

Don''t fiddle with the machine unless ya have to. If the driver tells ya its working right, it is. If ya do fiddle with it, make sure you tell him/her BEFORE he starts the thing again. Pilots can be more annoying than ya Missus when ya surprise them with stuff!! Always remember you are going to need him as much as he needs you. To make money, to finish the contract and to get the heck outa the bush. Easier to do if ya both agree to disagree on the minor things. Plus, when ya work ya batootie off and ya get bored. It''s most entertaining to wake him/her up at 3:300 in the moring and tell him you need him to do a trun for ya. If ya wanna get really close and have a great relationship with the driver, make a habit of doing that for oh, about 5 nights in a row. You won''t believe the change in their personality!! Oh, one more thing. If the driver says he had a tail rotor vibe but it''s gotten better after a couple of turns, reach in and put ya finger on the pedals. If it feels like ya got a minor shock it''s because the vibe is still there. It hasn''t gotten better. In all probability his feet have gotten numb or used to it. Fix it as soon as ya can, or now! Whichever is earliest. Before ya start losing the instruments.

 

As for #### and the 500s. I don''t know about that. Could be he''s a biggun (horizontally exaggerated??) and can''t get under the engine to well??? I enjoy workin on those little suckers. No hydraulics, most snags are easy to repair and I''ve made some very nice coin working on them. I''d still go out if I got a contract that fitted into my schedule.

 

The best advice I can offer you is, go out to Crappy Tire and grap ya self a couple of sets of cheap wrenchs, both long and short sets. Then while you are back at base, and the machine is apart, ya modify them, with a torch, so you can change the bleed valve, the ignitor box, etc, without gruntin around for hours on end.

 

Oh, and it don''t matter how many "special" wrenches ya make, every trip you''ll discover ya should have made at least two more!!

 

You''ll have a lot more fun working the Fling wings than you will on the Planks!

[frenchwrench]

Plus you can walk around front with the engine running.

What you are fixxin , will determine what stuff you need. I fix the lights, and have a bunch of help sheets especially astar to help me,

If anyone has any 500 hints I would appreciate them as I am stuck on them until my contract runs out at months end.

Any good companies out there????????

Don''t wear a hat or leave anything loose around and especially keep an eye on the customers stuff for loose things. Watch walking uphill or waving or poles.

I keep all my stuff in pouches, so I know at all times what I took and did it go back in .So that at 4 in the am, you have tool control.

I painted all my stuff with orange paint dabs so that it won''t get left on the yellow 206 deck or in the grass.

and lastly,

Get a copy of Brockett 99.

 

[cap]

007 ---- as in fixed wing, one rule holds true......got too many pilot reported snags?......then change the pilot. The list will be greatly shortened in short order.

[Guest Bullet Remington]

frenchwrench:

 

Good idea, painting that bright orange on the wrenches. You keep work the "yellow decks" we'll have to call ya Highlander.

Cheat sheets are a good idea as well. As for the 500's, all the snags I've worked on have been pretty well standard and straight forward. Oh, one thing - if ya get a hot start on those puppies, check the bleed valve. If it ain't that check the armpit on the engines. Had a couple of those go away on me. First time was a bit of a challene to figure out what was wrong.

Other than that, nohing else comes to mind.

 

If you worked up in Inuvuk about two or three years ago, you probably know me. I'm one of the old Relics that used to flop around up there.

 

As for "good" companies, there's a hockey sockful of them out there. There is one company in the NWT that I won't work for - they don't pay diddley squat. Got some really nice people working for them, but the pay stinks and the per dieum is even worst. Did one tour and refused to go back.

 

As for the CYYC area, there are a couple running 500s but I haven't been out to see them. I did work for one company here, but they went down hill really fast after they removed their Ops Manager. He was the guys bringing in all the contracts andthey let him go. Have no idea why, he was a great guy to work with. The majority of the companies around here are floggin mediums. And I don't have an endorsement on those. Just 500s and S61. As soon as somebody buys/leases a 61, I'll go see them. Then again, if a company's looking for a Chief Wrench Bender and wants to send me on a course, I'm at that stage where I'd seriously look at that too. I don't believe in closing doors behind me. They're too danged hard to open.

 

Cap:

 

Been there - had a few like that. Most happy to state they were the minority. Worst ones? The SOB's that like to leave their candy wrappers, empty coffee cups and pop cans sitting in the bubble and expecting me to clean it out! The top of the list - the drivers that mark their lifts on the window and don't clean it off. I leave it there! Never sure if they've already recorded it or not!

 

Jeez, I do miss the fun of peeing in the porride of some of those people!!

[cap]

B.R. ----- you just dated yourself. The era I came from the cockpit was the pilot's office for him to dirty and CLEAN UP. He wasn't licensed to do anything else on the aircraft so the guy with all the 'highly testicle' knowledge and tools looked after the rest. Most pilots were 'checked out' on the wisk and so the cleaning of the 'office' was left to them. I remember an a/c coming south at the end of the season. It arrived at the company hangar with grass sprouting from the mud and dirt in the chin bubble. Engineer remained employed and after having 'strip torn off butt', pilot went on to find out what was happening down at the U.I. office. Nowadays, in most cases, the engineer would get the 'slap' or he and the pilot would. Of course, that was back when 'the air was clean and sex was dirty'.