Flight, again. This was my first real time flying in the ice and snow. The actual flying part is not really any different than normal. Landings are just like landing in dust, but you get white outs instead of brown outs. The really different part is the pre-flight. For instance we showed up four and a half hours prior to departure to get our helicopter ready. We couldn't get the pilot's or the crew doors open so we hap to climb in through a window and run the auxiliary engine for two hours to melt enough snow and ice so that we could get in them. Then when we finally got the main engines started we had to shut them down because there was too much ice on the blades. All my reasons for avoiding Ft. Drum were confirmed by this one day.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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Flight, again. This was my first real time flying in the ice and snow. The actual flying part is not really any different than normal. Landings are just like landing in dust, but you get white outs instead of brown outs. The really different part is the pre-flight. For instance we showed up four and a half hours prior to departure to get our helicopter ready. We couldn't get the pilot's or the crew doors open so we hap to climb in through a window and run the auxiliary engine for two hours to melt enough snow and ice so that we could get in them. Then when we finally got the main engines started we had to shut them down because there was too much ice on the blades. All my reasons for avoiding Ft. Drum were confirmed by this one day.
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4 comments:
How did you get the windows open to get in? And what do you do to get the ice off the blades - deicer like the airlines use?? do the helicopters sit outside all the time? Do you have heat?
Yea taxpayer dollars on fuel!!!
The helicopters sit outside all the time. The only thing we have to get off the ice are portable engines that are used for starting the aircraft or to provide power. They can also be hooked up with a hose to run the hot air over the aircraft.
so what is that, a light underneath? looks like it's about to blow
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