High altitude Helicopter work

Thanks for the info guys. I checked out a web site with articles by the
crews of the CH-47Ds that worked the mountain ranges in Afghanistan.
They frequently did landings at 17000 - 20000 ft. All very interesting
and informative.

In about '68 my brothers saw a Chinook lift a broken Huey from the summit of
Mt. Rainier -- greater than 14,000 feet. My brother lent the photos to one of
the pilots to copy and we never got them back. OTOH, I still have the Huey
pilot's helmet.

If anyone knows who to was I'd love to get the photos :-)

BTW, one of the brothers (Jim Springer) was in all the papers last month in a
story about a big rescue in the Tetons. He gets dropped in on the end of a long
tether at all altitudes of the Tetons. I can ask him what helicopter they use
if anyone is interested.

-- Charlie Springer

steve gallacci wrote:

Actually, that was a windy situation on a very steep slope that ended
with a rotor strike (if I remember correctly). The footage clearly
showed the machine hovering, attempting to get in close, then things got
bad. It was on Mt Hood or Mt Rainier.

Mt. Hood. There was a fierce cold air downdraft like a microburst and I recall
some other problem.

-- Charlie Springer

On 20 Nov 2003 04:10:22 GMT, (Regnirps) wrote:

steve gallacci wrote:

Actually, that was a windy situation on a very steep slope that ended
with a rotor strike (if I remember correctly). The footage clearly
showed the machine hovering, attempting to get in close, then things got
bad. It was on Mt Hood or Mt Rainier.

Mt. Hood. There was a fierce cold air downdraft like a microburst and I recall
some other problem.

-- Charlie Springer

January 13, 2003
"The Army Reserve company of Fort Lewis-based CH-47D helicopters has
been called up to active duty. The unit's 200 or so soldiers and most
of its 15 Chinooks will head out to an undisclosed assignment overseas
sometime in the next ..."

Jun 26, 2002 Mt. Rainier, Washington 14,408 feet.
"Unlike a similar crash last month on Oregon's Mount Hood, the crew
members involved in Tuesday's accident walked away uninjured. The two
rescuers in the Bell Jet Ranger later trudged up the mountain to
assist an injured climber.
Both the twin-bladed Chinook and the smaller Jet Ranger helicopters
are routinely used during rescues on Mount Rainier. Chinooks, capable
of flying to Rainier's summit, are provided ..."

May 30, 2002 Mt. Hood Oregon 11,240 ft.
"The helicopter could be seen wobbling before rotors apparently
clipped the edge of the mountain as it attempted to maneuver for a
rescue above 10,000 feet shortly before 2 p.m. PT..."
"...The Pave Hawk helicopter, a highly modified version of the Army
Black Hawk, plummeted into the snow on the side of a ridge where it
rolled over and over until it came to a stop at the bottom..."
"...The helicopter was part of the 939th Air Force Reserve Rescue
Wing, and was in training for assignment in the war on terror
overseas, Pentagon officials said. Pave Hawks are most often used in
combat rescue missions..."

On 19 Nov 2003 18:32:38 -0800, (The
Enlightenment) wrote:

The French built a High Altitide Helicopter called the Aerospatiale
SA-315B Lama. Hovered at 17000 ft. It was for the Indian Airforce.

I think this airplane ended up being used on Denali by the US Forestry
Service rescue folks. I read a book by a woman who had climbed Denali
at the time of a rescue effort and she mentioned seeing this helo. If
only I could find the book again--the only thing I remember is that
she used both her first and middle names, which isn't much help when
trying to track a book down on Amazon.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

"The Enlightenment" wrote in message
om...
(B2431) wrote in message
...

SNIP

The French built a High Altitide Helicopter called the
Aerospatiale
SA-315B Lama. Hovered at 17000 ft. It was for the Indian Airforce.
http://www.evergreenaviation.com/EHI...eets/lama.html

It involved installing the Rotor and Mechanicals of the Allouette III
into the body of the Allouette II.

The Russian Helocopters (eg Mi 24 Hind) becuase of their 5 blade
rotors have better high altitude performance than their 4 bladed US
equivalents.

Some Russian sounding guy posted stuff from a Russian AF General with
Grudging but usefull Advice on this just before the Afghanistan
invasion.

FYI:

http://www.globalaircraft.org/planes/mi-24_hind.pl

Check out the max altitude numbers.

Allen

Regnirps wrote:

Thanks for the info guys. I checked out a web site with articles by the
crews of the CH-47Ds that worked the mountain ranges in Afghanistan.
They frequently did landings at 17000 - 20000 ft. All very interesting
and informative.

In about '68 my brothers saw a Chinook lift a broken Huey from the summit of
Mt. Rainier -- greater than 14,000 feet. My brother lent the photos to one of
the pilots to copy and we never got them back. OTOH, I still have the Huey
pilot's helmet.

I have a photo poster of a Russian Mil Mi--26 'Halo' lifting a downed MH-47 Chinook
in Aghanistan.

I don't know the altitude - but the capability of the Mi-26 is impressive.

It makes the Chinook look like a Huey !

If anyone knows who to was I'd love to get the photos :-)

BTW, one of the brothers (Jim Springer) was in all the papers last month in a
story about a big rescue in the Tetons. He gets dropped in on the end of a long
tether at all altitudes of the Tetons. I can ask him what helicopter they use
if anyone is interested.

-- Charlie Springer

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
Ken Duffey - Flanker Freak & Russian Aviation Enthusiast
Flankers Website - http://www.flankers.co.uk/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++

Mary Shafer wrote in message . ..
On 19 Nov 2003 18:32:38 -0800, (The
Enlightenment) wrote:

The French built a High Altitide Helicopter called the Aerospatiale
SA-315B Lama. Hovered at 17000 ft. It was for the Indian Airforce.

I think this airplane ended up being used on Denali by the US Forestry
Service rescue folks. I read a book by a woman who had climbed Denali
at the time of a rescue effort and she mentioned seeing this helo. If
only I could find the book again--the only thing I remember is that
she used both her first and middle names, which isn't much help when
trying to track a book down on Amazon.

Mary

One of the targets or challenges for Helicopter designers should be an
out of ground effect hover of 30,000 feet with a usefull load (1
stetcher patient and medical orderly). This in theory would allow
landing on Everest.

In a world of bizzare records this must be one of the more usefull
quests as it would allow helicopter rescue anywhere.

Can Steve Fosset or Richard Branson be interested?

The other quests is some sort of ducted fan platform that can hover
along side buildings or land in very confined urban environemnts. We
need to be able to land on a suburban main road or city road.
Helicopters can't do it because of rotor clearence and safety issues
while ambulences can't do it because of traffic.

To save peoples lives you must get there within 10-15 minutes.

I am suprised that this hasn't been achieved. The Pieseki flying
Jeeps worked although they couldn't land on uneven ground or in high
gusts.

When modified with modern quadraplex fly by wire controls and
stability augmentation systems (accelerometers and solid state MEMS
and laser gyros), modern gas turbines and lighter modern materials
they must surely be able to solve the problems of the earlier Pieseki
Jeeps.

Modern 3rd Generation Cellphones will have "location serivices".
Imagine being able to load emergency call coordinates into the
naviagation system of such an air-ambulance jeep. A rooftop in a
small hospital could provide a takeoff to touchdown response of 5
minutes out to 10 miles.

That even makes economic sense. If every city in the USA with more
than 1 million people had one of these what would the market be?

Mary, Amazon has 150,000 books in digital form so a text search can be made. I
don't know if the system is online yet but they are aiming for over a million
books. They think it will be the best way to sell books ever, and they may be
right.

-- Charlie Springer

On 21 Nov 2003 03:58:25 GMT, (Regnirps) wrote:

Mary, Amazon has 150,000 books in digital form so a text search can be made. I
don't know if the system is online yet but they are aiming for over a million
books. They think it will be the best way to sell books ever, and they may be
right.

They well could be, I think. However, I'm not interested enough in
the Lama helo to go to any effort to find the book.

The book I would like to find is too old, and too insignificant, to
ever show up in digital form on Amazon. It's a schlocky story about a
bunch of fighter pilots, flying F-15s out of Langley AFB, I think,
with some sort of contrived drama and happy ending. The reason I'd
like to find it is the description of the "dead bug" game, which I
think was a "dead Klingon" version. The author's first name may have
been "Maggie" and the title may have had "Eagle(s)" in it. Or maybe
not. I don't expect to ever find this book, obviously.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

"Mary Shafer" wrote

The book I would like to find is too old, and too insignificant, to
ever show up in digital form on Amazon. It's a schlocky story about a
bunch of fighter pilots, flying F-15s out of Langley AFB, I think,
with some sort of contrived drama and happy ending. The reason I'd
like to find it is the description of the "dead bug" game, which I
think was a "dead Klingon" version. The author's first name may have
been "Maggie" and the title may have had "Eagle(s)" in it. Or maybe
not. I don't expect to ever find this book, obviously.

Mary

Might this be it:
http://www.maggiedavis.com/file/eaglesinfo.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook1127.htm
Maggie Davis - Eagles 1980
[excerpt]
"Ladies and gentlemen," a voice said from the overhead loudspeakers, "on
your right you will see the F-15 Eagle, the Air Force's new supersonic air
superiority fighter, taxiing to the runway for takeoff. In a few minutes,
the F-15 will perform a thrilling flight demonstration to illustrate to all
of us here today this remarkable aircraft's capabilities."

available in various forms of eBook for $7

Pete
embrace the google maggie+eagle+f-15 = the above link