ApacheDoctors Real Profession

[ApacheDoctor]

Hey all I figured this would be a decent place to enter my first posting. I recently noticed the DCS A-10 BETA coming out and just had to get it. Now that I have it, and saw the forums, I saw an oppurtunity. I currently serve in the US Army as a powertrain mechanic, and I work on everything that spins on the helicopter except for the engines.

Some of the items I work on:

Rotors, hubs, swashplates, transmission gearboxes, driveshafts, tail rotors, transfer cases, accesory drives, etc...on the following aircraft.

OH-58D Kiowa Warrior

CH-47 Chinook

UH-60 ALL MODELS Blackhawk

AH-64 A/D Models Apache

 

Anywhose, if you d like help on anything helicopter related and US Army related I can be your go to source. I look forward to speaking with all of you.

Cheers

Apache Dr

[topol-m]

Welcome to the forums :thumbup: The info from you mechanic guys is always nice to have.

[AlphaOneSix]

ApacheDr, You work at CCAD by any chance?

 

I used to be an Apache doctor back when it was still 67 series....

[Mikoyan89]

Hi ApacheDoctor!Welcome to this great forum!

Since you want to be our source for helicopter related questions,i would ask some things about the ah 64,just for start:

-For the pitch/flapping movements there's a pack of steel plates like the MD500 or the rotor head includes elastomeric bearings?

-Is it true that the main gearbox can work without lubricating oil for some minutes?

-The tail stabilator is linked with the collective(IIRC it's so in the agusta 109A)?

Sorry,but you said you'd like to help...:music_whistling::D

[AlphaOneSix]

-For the pitch/flapping movements there's a pack of steel plates like the MD500 or the rotor head includes elastomeric bearings?

-Is it true that the main gearbox can work without lubricating oil for some minutes?

-The tail stabilator is linked with the collective(IIRC it's so in the agusta 109A)?

 

1. For lead/lag and flapping there are elastomeric dampers. There are strap packs to take up the centrifugal load so the load is not placed directly on the flapping/feathering elastomeric bearing.

 

2. Yes, the main gearbox can run for up to 30 minutes without fluid due to a wick system that retains a small amount of oil even if the sump is empty.

 

3. The stabilator is controlled manually by the pilot with a separate switch, or (normally) automatically based on airspeed. No connection to the collective.

 

Sorry if I was not meant to answer your question. ;)

[Mikoyan89]

:D Don't worry...the questions were a "gift of welcome" for Apachedoctor,in any case your answers are well appreciated

[ApacheDoctor]

Like Alpha One Six said, theres a few things I can elaborate on:

 

1. Im not sure if its different for the A vs D models, but I know the Delta models theres the elastomeric dampers. Those "steel plates" you are referring to arent plates at all in fact, and have one purpose. They are called shims, and they are placed there in order to ensure optimum spacing between the lower and upper plates to hold the hub in place. The long and short of it is that it ensures very small tolerances (we have to use micrometers to make sure theres less than .002 " difference between all four plate spacings). Its a really fun job and very time consuming.

 

2. The gearbox is entirely self sufficient without lube for 30 minutes. As A16 said, theres a wick. Works well and I hope I never get in the position where I ve gotta find out how reliable it is.

 

3. I wouldn t be able to really speak authoritively on the stablizer at all as its a different area of the helicopter. As I said stated earlier I deal with everything that spins and provides control surfaces for the helicopter. The stablizer would usually be the pneudraulics guys or the crew chief. The only thing I really deal with in the tail is the gearbox, the tail rotor hub, and the tail rotors themselves.

 

Alpha One Six, Im currently at USAALS in Ft Eustis. I wont be with CCAD at all as I am National Guard. My home unit is the 1/285th Attack Helicopter Recon Bn in Marana Arizona. I will be working on the Longbow and the Kiowa primarily.

[Mikoyan89]

I didn't understand very well...i think that the steel plates i was referring to are the strap packs mentioned by a16...because i have worked with a md 500 in a helicopter maintenance organisation,and i've seen those strap packs in the hub,and the maintenance technicians said me that those packs were made of layers of steel sheets and another material that i don't remember,and they were flexible.Since i never understand how the apache rotor hub is made,i thought it could be similar to the MD 500's one.

 

However it seems easier to work in armies and airforces,beacuse even in the italian air force there are specialists that are employed only in some parts of the aircraft,while for the civil side in the EASA countries a maintenance guy have to work with every parts of the aircraft,and plus he has to study too many things,not always strictly linked with the job

[AlphaOneSix]

Yes, the 500 and the AH-64 use essentially the same strap pack design. Both were built by Hughes aircraft originally. When you said "steel plates" I initially thought of the flex plates on the newer Bell helicopters, but that was my misunderstanding...you were talking about the strap packs to begin with. :)