Ask d10 about flying helicopters and win $$$ - Page 5

d10 · #41 05-07-2006, 05:17 PM

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Do you think the Commanche project should have been canceled?

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Yes, the Commanche had no practical advantage over the Army's current fleet of helicopters given our current operating environment. It would have been cool to have, that's about it. The money was much better spent upgrading what we already have.

I might be a bit biased because I think the Apache is also an unnecessary helicopter. When the Apache won the contract for the Army's attack helicopter, it had been outperformed by the Black Hawk. The Black Hawk didn't get the contract for bureaucratic reasons related to the fact that we were already using the Black Hawk for a wide range of other missions, particularly medevac. When the 160th decided they needed an attack helicopter, they could have taken whatever they wanted, and they took a modified Black Hawk. They can load it up with more firepower than an Apache can carry and still maintain the versatile utility aspects of the helicopter.

MelchyBeau · #42 05-07-2006, 05:32 PM

Jihad,

I think you are thinking of the Commanche, they canceled that helicopter already

d10 · #43 05-07-2006, 05:32 PM

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Why are helicopter pilots, and even more specifically Army helo bubbas, TERRIBLE on the radios? Do they not teach you guys comm brevity? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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Nice thinly disguised shot-taking post [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

Our radio commo procedures aren't very strict at all. You could ask 10 different pilots what their call would be for something very routine and standard, and you'd probably get 10 different answers.

Another theory might be that helicopter pilots actually have to fly instead of cruising on autopilot at 30,000 ft, so talking on the radios is a bit further down on our priority list. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

d10 · #44 05-07-2006, 05:42 PM

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Can you do a full loop in a helicopter? How fast do you need to be going?

I'm not shooting for the $25; I just want to know.

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It wouldn't be a very well rounded loop, but you can turn 360 degrees around the pitch axis at a constant heading. The flight path would be really compressed once you got 90 degrees up and you'd lose a ton of altitude by the time you got it back around to level, so it wouldn't look great.

Sponger. · #45 05-07-2006, 05:51 PM

d10, not to sound like a dick, but you sound pretty smart, why are you flying helicopters for the army?

stickyman · #46 05-07-2006, 05:54 PM

Amount of lift provised by the 60s horizontal stab?

stickyman · #47 05-07-2006, 05:55 PM

Type of oil used in TRGB? Type of hydraulic fluid used?

stickyman · #48 05-07-2006, 05:56 PM

MRH dampner failure procedures?

stickyman · #49 05-07-2006, 06:00 PM

PIO problems? How do you prevent?

Explain settling with power versus power settling?

How do you correct for either?

d10 · #50 05-07-2006, 06:24 PM

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d10, not to sound like a dick, but you sound pretty smart, why are you flying helicopters for the army?

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I was working towards a CS degree at one point, but it was really boring and I didn't enjoy it much. I was only working on it because I had been into programming ever since middle school when I found out I could make games on those TI-whatever graphing calculators. I ended up getting pretty good at it in high school and it was a well known fact that programming=good money, so I just went with it. When the job market fell apart I started to realize that without all that guaranteed money, programming was a pretty boring job. I always thought being a pilot would be cool, but never really considered it as an option in the past because I felt like my life had already been mapped out. That eventually led to the decision to drop out of school and join the Army to fly helicopters.