Oddities with the ground crew.

[Fri13]

 

Was reading some old reddit threads about Harrier, and in one thread someone said he was previously working as a ground crew for Harrier, in the topic about the wheel chocks. And discussion was about how many times someone forgets to request take the wheel chocks before engine is started, as then the ground crew denies to take them off. But that person said that it was normal to take them off while engine was running and because that he has the tinnitus as the engine keeps so annoying sound at close distance.

 

So shouldn't that be removed as denied task to take off the wheel chocks when engine is running? 

(a side note was that that the wheel chocks are so powerful that you can not roll over them or even get over with vertical power as they lock on you.)

 

The other oddity that I find is that you can have a canopy closed and engine running while requesting ground crew set you a NVG on.

 

1) Who would take the ladders and climb next to cockpit when that Pegasus engine is sucking all the air in just next to that person?

The wheel chucks can't be removed while the ground crew is below the airframe and safer place, but person can climb next to intake?

 

2) How does the ground crew install the NVG when you have the canopy closed?

Shouldn't pilot be required to open the canopy to get it done?

 

 

So other words, shut down the engine and open canopy to get NVG installed, and have possibility to remove wheel chucks at any time, only requiring the pilot to have the parking brake On before it is done?

 

 

 

 

 

[unlikely_spider]

Yes, I also found it amusing that I could not even VTO with the wheel chocks in place

[dorianR666]

if i understood it correctly, the wheel chocks conditions for removal are global for DCS as whole, based on rpm%. if true, razbam cant do much about it.

[Fri13]

On 1/22/2021 at 3:21 AM, dorianR666 said:

if i understood it correctly, the wheel chocks conditions for removal are global for DCS as whole, based on rpm%. if true, razbam cant do much about it.

 

 

If so, then ED should be fixing this, and Razbam explaining it here and requesting ED to fix it.

 

It is just bad to have wrong habit about removing chocks and engine startup.

 

So it is possible that chocks are part of the ship coding that aircraft wouldn't move on deck when they are locked in place.

 

But how difficult it is to change the RPM or engine status parameter so one can remove them at any given time?

[Hodo]

On 1/21/2021 at 8:21 PM, dorianR666 said:

if i understood it correctly, the wheel chocks conditions for removal are global for DCS as whole, based on rpm%. if true, razbam cant do much about it.

Funny I can remove the chocks on the Hornet and Mirage with the engine running and the brake off.  

 

Engine rpm on the Mirage at idle is 49% and the Hornet is around 60.

 

 

[Dragon1-1]

I think it's more that it would start moving without chocks. Removing them seems to be inhibited in case that would happen, even if the parking brake is on.

[Fri13]

16 hours ago, Hodo said:

Funny I can remove the chocks on the Hornet and Mirage with the engine running and the brake off.  

 

Engine rpm on the Mirage at idle is 49% and the Hornet is around 60.

So it is completely up to Razbam to set the procedure correctly to be done.

 

 

You don't see chocks to be taken off, but they are there through engine start-up procedure etc.

1 hour ago, Dragon1-1 said:

I think it's more that it would start moving without chocks. Removing them seems to be inhibited in case that would happen, even if the parking brake is on.

 

I think it wouldn't move, but you just make sure that the aircraft will not move while the ground crew performs checks and their tasking under and around the Harrier while engine is running. Only just before taking-off the chocks are removed so it can freely start moving.

 

So it is more like a ground crew protecting themselves from accidents.

 

On the above video from 5:25 to 5:45 you can as well see that they walk front of the intake checking airframe.

 

@RAZBAM_ELMO It is time to move this to the bugs section so it will get fixed in future that chocks are suppose to be removed only before taxiing (can be removed before too but...)

Edited January 26, 2021 by Fri13

[Dragon1-1]

The Harrier would move without chocks, in idle power with nozzles aft it starts taxiing immediately, unless the parking brake is on. That's what I meant. DCS checks for that somehow, without accounting for neither brakes nor nozzle angle.

[Fri13]

Sure it would start rolling without chocks but you have the wheel brakes On by default.

So requiring to remove the chocks before engine is started is wrong, as can be seen.

And likely exactly that ground crew safety that they can be sure Harrier doesn't accidentally move when they are under it while engine is running, checking weapons etc.

 

As the Harrier one key features is the hot-arming and hot-refueling. So you land on ground and you don't need to turn engine Off to get quick turnaround. I would think that in those moments the ground crew will again place chocks in place just so it isn't stopped by parking brake alone. And then when refueling and rearming is done and pilot is ready to roll, chocks are removed again. All without turning Engine Off.