Aviation BS and Photo Thread

nice thing about rotary, no power lines, sorta flat, a pair of brass ones and ya can go put down almost anywhere

 

Pretty much! As long as your rotors clear! One of the fun things about my job is that we rarely land at an airport. Usually land in someone’s back yard or a farm field

 

This video has me rolling

 

A few of my favorite photos that I’ve taken from this rotation at work.

 

^^^I got ride in a Hughes, such a badass helicopter!!

 

They’re so much fun. I smile every time I fly the 500.

 

We had a bunch based at an airport I worked at in high school for powerline patrol and the pilots and mechanics loved them. Which is surprising, mechanics hate everything they work on LOL!!

 

The 500 has a cult following. We have 1 aircraft that has 37,000 hours on the airframe. You don’t get an aircraft with that many hours without someone having a love for it. It also happens to be one of my favorite in the company that I get to fly.

 

They seem to be the early Toyota truck of helicopters

 

The Hughes corporation developed it for the US military at a financial loss, from my understanding. They way underbid the contract, were awarded the contract and proceeded to build the most stable, nimble, resilient, bad ass flying machine they could build with a slide rule and endless pots of coffee. Everything about that aircraft is bad ass!

 

Using your analogy, that would make the Bell 47 the Jeep of helicopters.
Though I would call the 500 the Chevy or Ford, your choice, of helicopters.

While three japanese corporations make helicopters they are all variants of US designed aircraft.

 

Considering that the famous 2F engine was originally a Chevy engine, I think that we’re on track with the early toyota analogy

 

Except chevys and fords are piles of shit!!

Former owner of both

 

80 B52's? Holy cow...

 

Bucket list helicopter to fly FOR SURE. One of my all time favorites

 

My dad has a picture he took when he was in Guam at the end of the war. Almost 300 D-model B-52 tails.

He said they delivered bombs by the container ship load. It was nuts.

 

That's incredible. Wow!

 

Magnum PI!!

 

He was probably flying some of these missions with a "ditty-bop" (thats what we maint. guys called some of the guys in the back end of our planes) who I met later in life.
By that time this guy was a captain in the MSHP (high rank) . He had a pict on his office wall of one of these EC-47's. He was amazed that I knew exactly what it was. I wish I could remember his name. Of course he said "us guys" (RC-135 bunch) had it easy way up north and at 35K.
Also you are right -we "built" a whole bunch of ponds for the Viet Nam people. I saw these from the air many times.

 

He got his first DFC for being quick with the fire extinguisher when some puddle farmer with a 70 year-old rifle put a bullet right into the capacitor bank. He then repaired the solid-state triangulation computer in-flight and in time for them to get on station and complete the mission. He always referred to his Electric Goons as "slow moving targets."

He would often "return fire" with his .38 from the open door. He's 100% certain he didn't hit anything. But, he's in Vietnam, he's got a gun, whatchagonnado?

He also said the worst was listening in to the CSAR radio traffic. That still occasionally gives him nightmares almost 50 years later.