407's

[407 Driver]

**** it Nomex, I'm the one that should be running down Astars ! Here you jump in and steal my thunder, . Correct on all counts, they just don't clear rain and snow very well. I recall some very scary moments when we skiied with those old BA's......couldn't see anything outside, and the only info inside was the NG guage increasing through xxx% and the A/S indicator working like an altimeter since the belly mounted pitot tube was always frozen.....These memories are going to set my therapy back a few months ....

I saw wiper posts on a lot of Astars, but never ever saw a wiper blade. It would wreck a windscreen in a few swipes anyway.

 

The Native Air B3 that rolled up was said to be "much more difficult" to control W/O HYD assist than other Astars? that report came from a US pilot that flew that aircraft for 6 months...... What was going on iside that set of servo's??????

[Firehawk]

Hey 407 driver, Maybe with all you inside pull at bell you could get them to clean that dam 407 flight manual up, I just did my recurrent and that thing is a mess.

Ask Hollywood if he found his dash mounted note I left in his 206 when he came through, he probably didnt notice it until he was 30 minutes out.

To bad I missed him I was out scaring myself doing autos. :shock:

[407 Driver]

No chance of that FireHawk, if we make the 407 manual too simple to read, we'll have every Astar pilot out there trying to fly a 407, now, we don't want that, do we?

[Nomex]

Sorry 407, I knew what the answer was and didn't want you to take all the heat.

 

Talking about heat, Astars do have good heaters though, just don't stuff anything under the pilot & co-pilot seats, otherwise you will soon start to smell something burning or melting.

[407 Driver]

Yes, great heater, but no defog. No heat on the ground either, since it was bleed air heat. Those darn heat/defog knobs always used to seize, and being located between the seats, it was difficult to free them. The 407 heat system is much more user friendly, switch on, switch off.

With all of this Astar reminiscing, it's Time to up the Meds, and back for more therapy.....

[Blackmac]

407, go to alpines home page and tell me what you see.

 

I see a picture of an A-STAR, or am I off my meds again.

[407 Driver]

BlackMac, everyone makes mistakes...

I think it was the 5 straight weeks of downtime one summer that was the last straw on those bad girls. After that long expensive wait for parts, they all went on the chopping-block.

Of the 3 - B2's that they operated, the first 2 were low-time aircraft ( from europe I think) and the last one was a cream-puff from Guatamala, the first 2 went on to a small company based at YLW and the 3rd went to an upstart company in YVR. They were replaced by a 3 - 407 purchase in the US.

 

After I jumped over from CHW, I did have the opportunity to fly the 3, and they were good sound aircraft, the Guatamala ship was excellent. 2 were in the low 'teens, the 3'rd in the high '00's in hours when purchased. Of course, I'm comparing them to my time in 10,000+ hr BA's

 

The B2's were initially bought for Heli-Tours, but an interesting fact...the 2 largest Heli-Tour companies in Canada (Alpine and Niagra) now run 407's .

Alpine also found that a B2 cannot effectively work at altitude with 6 passengers unless you are on a tour, and even then, weights and CG are always issues, These aircraft had the Dart double seat mod installed, not the 3-across LH drive, it may be better (?) The 407 fleet routinely skiis with 6.

[N.O.E.]

The 407 is a dream to ski with compared to a B2; Faster ,Stronger and able to hurdle high mountains without an S- turn. :: Not to mention awesome tail authority.

[Nomex]

Astar fwd C of G is always an issue with the love seat installed - 2 x 150 lb front seat px, with the pilot and other 4 px at 170lbs each + 50 lbs in rt side & 50 in tail + any fuel load and you're out of c of g, unless you add weight to the tail - then you are stuck with too far aft c of G when you are alone.

 

But, their lateral c of g is great

 

Those love seats are good at allowing that middle pax to give you some auto-rotation practice by hooking their clothing on the fuel control lever, plus it allows the same pax to adjust the heating controls for you 407D, unless you cut a hole thru the collective guard then you still can crawl thru with your hand and work those knobs....

[CTD]

Yes, the 407 is enjoying a less-than-sparkling record these days, mostly engine problems with a potentiometre in the HMU. These pots have been unreliable from the start.

 

The vast majority (all?) of these accidents are happening in the Gulf of Mexico, or to GOM operators. Granted, they operate a large portion of the worldwide fleet of 407s, but this makes me wonder about environmental issues...read salt.