AlphaOneSix

Yay! Mystery solved.

Mi-17 = Mi-8MT Mi-17V-1 (or 1V) = Mi-8MTV-1

We already have Mi-17?

Ahh relay 28/5, I know it well.

Definitely not An-225, since there is only one of them flying in the world. But I would add Il-76 and An-124.

In-game? No, but maybe I need to try harder. In real life? All the time! Super-annoying, right? Our pilots just hold in the trimmer button and rotate the knob on the control desk to recenter the trim indicator.

The altitude channel can both increase and decrease collective pitch, not sure why it's not increasing if you are at low pitch. Do you mean when it's bottomed out? If so, try adding just 1 degree of pitch with the collective lever and try again. The increase and decrease switch you're talking about sounds like the test switch. When engaged, the altitude channel will attempt to hold the helicopter at its current pressure altitude, you cannot set a new altitude without depressing the collective trim release (collective brake), which disengages the altitude channel, and then re-engage the altitude channel at your new desired altitude once you've reached it and the aircraft is more or less stable (i.e. not climbing or descending too much when engaged).

They are on the rotor blades. Section 1: Inboard top side of blade spar Section 2: Outboard top side of blade spar Section 3: Leading edge of blade spar Section 4: Underside of blade spar Each section is heated for 38.5 (+/- 2) seconds. The total cycle time, therefore, is 154 seconds. Each section gets heated once per 154 second cycle. The tail rotor blades are heated in a similar fashion, but they only have 2 sections. One section is the "top" of the tail rotor blade spar, and the other section is the "bottom". When sections 1 and 3 of the main rotor are being heated, so is section 1 on the tail rotor. When sections 2 and 4 of the main rotor are being heated, so is section 2 on the tail rotor. Each section gets heated twice per 154 second cycle.

Truth.

Huey rotor tips can go supersonic, but that's bad, and is not the cause of the distinctive sound. The rotors won't explode, but you run into compressibility problems near the speed of sound. I'm sure you can find a definitive and reputable source to answer that if you choose to look for one.

It is true. Blade tips don't go supersonic on any helicopter, that's really bad. But anyway, in general, on the same helicopter, more blades allow you to reduce rotor diameter and blade chord and achieve the same amount of lift. Blade chord is a primary factor in blade noise, and so is tip speed, which is directly affected by rotor diameter.

I actually have very little time, and I agree that arguing would be a waste of time. We each have our own opinions and witty banter on this forum is unlikely to convince either of us that the other's opinion is more correct. I may or may not have been or am currently affiliated with the 2-101st. I see your point perfectly, I just don't necessarily agree with it.

Everything I post is either from a military publication that is approved for public release without restriction, or is available in the manufacturer's brochures. I would hope that anyone hoping to gain information would be smart enough to get it from those publicly available sources rather than trust me, I could be lying to you. I know the old argument "it may be publicly available, but you don't need to be one more source" argument, and I find it to be invalid. Mostly because the actual, authoritative sources are readily available and guaranteed to be correct, while my information is subject to my recollection and is inherently less reliable. I could refute your points individually if you'd like, but unless you ask me to, I won't.

It's the NGB (Nose Gear Box). You are correct, the power turbine drive shaft runs forward inside the compressor drive shaft, and into the NGB. The NGB just redirects that power 90 degrees into the main gearbox. Yes, the blades are constantly changing in pitch as they go around, but it's designed to do this, and the blades a "trimmed" and balanced so that the vibrations are typically not so bad. Nope, there are "normal" pitot tubes on the front outer ends of the wings. The PIC (Pilot in Command) is in charge. In most cases, that's the higher ranking/most senior pilot in the aircraft. Also, it's usually the guy in the back seat. As you mention, however, it's a team effort, so even if the pilot in the back is the boss, if the gunner needs the aircraft to move a certain way, he'll just tell the pilot what to do. The controls are cyclic and collective controls are identical in the front and back seats. Typically, the guy in the back flies, but it is routine for the guy in front to fly. Nothing wrong with flying from the front seat, and I'm sure when the guy in back wants a break, the guy in front is more than happy to fly for a while.

Start APU. (The APU provides pressurized air to the engine starters to start the engines). Move the start switch for one of the engines to START. The APU will deliver air to the air turbine starter on that engine which will cause the engine to start spinning. When the engine starts to spin, move the power lever for that engine from OFF to IDLE. The engine will automatically spin up to a certain RPM, fuel will start flowing into the engine, the igniter will light off the fuel, and shortly thereafter the starter will cut out and the engine will spool up to idle on its own. Assuming the rotor brake is off, as soon as exhaust gasses start flowing through the power turbine, the rotor will start turning. Note that there is no physical connection between the power turbine and the compressor (gas) turbine. The only thing turning the rotor blades is the force of the exhaust gasses flowing through the power turbine blades. Anyway, you can then start the second engine just like the first. There is a freewheeling clutch that prevents the power turbine on the opposite engine from being turned by the main rotor. Both engines have this kind of clutch. In fact, all helicopters have a freewheeling clutch that allows the engines to drive the rotor, but the rotor cannot drive the engines (that would be bad). Once both engines are started, the power levers are advanced from IDLE to FLY and and that's it. The engines can be started with the rotor brake locked, in which case you can start the engines up to IDLE and the rotor will not turn. When the rotor brake is unlocked, you get that violent-looking jerk and fast spin up of the blades. This is done primarily to impress onlookers, but it has a secondary use during high wind operations to prevent the rotor blades from flexing up and down too much (and possibly striking the tail boom) during engine start when there is not much centrifugal force acting on them (or centripetal force, whatever, not an argument I want to have). If not obvious from above, the second engine just sits there doing nothing until it's started. It doesn't spin. It's an air data sensor for sensing the direction, velocity, and temperature of the outside air. Either pilot can use either sensor. Typically, the pilot uses the PNVS (the one on top) and the copilot uses the TADS (on the bottom). They have very different ranges and capabilities. The PNVS only has a FLIR sensor, but it's very good. The TADS has a FLIR (with more magnification capability than the PNVS, IIRC), and also houses the LRFD (Laser Rangefinder/Designator), and the DTV (Day TV) optics. Nightmare will be able to answer this better than I can, but yes, if the aircraft and crew are standing by, they could probably get airborne within 5 minutes if absolutely necessary. Another one for Nightmare, but when I was in it was about 15 minutes for all the preflight checks and whatnot. It depends? But I would think this one is obvious, the vast majority of engagements are unplanned...at least the missines these days are. They occur during an escort or something where they act like scouts and just troll for bad guys.Of course there are also preplanned attacks, but not on a specific target, but more of a target area. In current conflicts, the bad guys simply do not make themselves available for preplanned attacks, generally. When ground troops call in support for apache's how long do they usually expect to wait? Like if there is an emergency and they are under fire do they sit back for a solid 30 minutes or something? It seems like unless there were 1000 apache's flying all over iraq every day it could take quite awhile to reach assistance on occasion. Everyone needs time to catch up on Walking Dead and Game of Thrones! Anyway, I left some stuff out that maybe Nightmare can answer better. I got out of the Army a long time ago and I was only really involved with the A-model, although I had had numerous opportunities to become rather well acquainted with the D-model, including the Block III (E-model now). Disclaimer: I was not a pilot, but a mechanic on the AH-64A, which may or may not cause you to discount everything I just wrote, but that's up to you to decide.

The monocle HUD, it's called the IHADDS...well that's what the who system is called, the display on the helmet is called the HDU (Helmet Display Unit). The gunner's thing you're talking about was the interface for the HDD (Heads Down Display) and the ORT (Optical Relay Tube). It allowed you to see the display from the selected sight as well as some additional information on what was called a HAD (High Action Display) below the sight picture. It also allowed use of the DVO (Direct View Optics) which allowed a magnified view through the day sight that was purely optical with no electronics in the way (all mirrors/lenses). The DVO and ORT were removed on the Block III AH-64D, which became the E-model, and was replaced with another display. The upturned exhaust is just to improve passive IR protection, I don't think it would help much (if at all) with icing, and it is certainly not designed with that in mind.

We just got our 2015 calendars from Dillon Aero, and guess who is featured for September! (Note: You may have to concentrate, but there is a helicopter in the picture.)

I don't remember the whole setup weighing that much. I'll have to check at work tomorrow to see what ours weigh.

They do exist. I've shot about 10,000 rounds on the range so far this week! (And I get paid to do it.) I'm getting really good at clearing jams that we keep inducing on each other, too.

It does not. It should, however, be an axis...not sure why it's not.

Okay, I see where the numbers come from now. I was looking at a different chart. Our organization would never consider removing them, since we land off-field all the time, but I can see how it might be helpful if all you do is fly near max weight from improved airfields.

The only savings I can see is a very slight weight difference. You aren't *required* to turn them on. And it's NOT a 7% power loss. No way. I'd be curious about how that number was determined. I would calculate a 1.5% power loss with PZUs operating. No power loss with them not operating. The weight savings is 33.8kg for both PZUs combined.

I've never heard of the clamshells being removed for weight reasons. They don't weigh enough to make a difference, and they reduce the top speed of the helicopter. They are, as you already mentioned, routinely removed to make access easier for things coming into and out of the rear of the helicopter.

The rear clamshell doors are not heavy, maybe 40-50 pounds per side, so maybe 100 pounds total. I could probably look up the actual weight, I'm just guessing based on how heavy they feel. They are easily lifted by one person, except it's awkward as heck due to their size. The dust protectors on the front of the engines are a feature of the TV3-117 series engines, and are removable for maintenance but are required for flight. Your picture above is an older model Mi-8 with TV2-117 series engines. They did not have the dust protectors as an option, as far as I know.

Is that for real? I have never seen lights on those fairings, ever. Is that a graphics glitch or a skin problem? I am pretty confident that no Mi-8s ever had lights installed in those main gear fairings, but I'd love to be proven wrong.