Chopper Chat Thread

[Michael Knight...]

I still don't understand why the government bought a civil version (AW139) for a military SAR unit.

The military version is the AgustaWestland AW149, a medium-lift MultiMission Military helicopter.

The AW149 is suited to battlefield support, combat SAR, reconnaissance, surveillance, medical evacuation, search and rescue (SAR) and command and control support roles.

Maybe they fear that an aircraft such as this could fall into the wrong hands? I don't understand it either.

[NorStar2K]

yes indeed there are 2 BO's now, so it's viper 1, 2 & 3...

whats the other BO registration?

IW

Once any civil registered aircraft is 'transferred' to SAUTT or any branch of the military, the aircraft is 'de-registered' from the civil registry. So technically 9Y-TIW no longer exists.

The bird shall thereafter be known as 'SAUTT-XXX' or by its call sign.

[hoverauto]

didn't realise that Panama had use for so many R22's and 44's. What are they used for?
training?

Training, crop dusting, private flights...you name it and its being done! General Aviation is huge in Panama, particularly with helicopters. The number of helicopters I have seen in Panama being used on a daily basis is unbelievable. Even the president owns his own helicopter, an EC130. The state didnt pay for it, he did. And he goes flying at least once a week. He uses it to visit the different territories.

Also the flying here is brilliant, most of the time its uncontrolled. Check out this flight we did in an R44:

[pablo_tt]

*shouts over the sound of the breeze*

It seems to be very windy in here!!!!!!

[hot blue]

please tell me that^ R44 is equipped with floats!!!

[lexx]

Hmmm... that r44 is in need of a track and balance...

[foss]

^yea he need a alignment and camber

[hoverauto]

Hmmm... that r44 is in need of a track and balance...

Not really......the camera I used is really shitty....I actually used my phone to film it. I don't remember it vibrating that much...i don't think it was excessive.

[hoverauto]

please tell me that^ R44 is equipped with floats!!!

Pal, I tell yuh, I didn't know we were going to the river beforehand. So when we got there and we started our decent into the river valley....the question of the floats popped into my mind as well. But nobody seemed to care that the heli didn't have any....so its a damn good thing nothing happened.

[hoverauto]

Same flight, just earlier. We are flying en-route to the training airport:

[lexx]

Hmmm... that r44 is in need of a track and balance...

Not really......the camera I used is really shitty....I actually used my phone to film it. I don't remember it vibrating that much...i don't think it was excessive.

LOL... well then your hand shaking plenty there boy... you was scared or what??

[hoverauto]

Hmmm... that r44 is in need of a track and balance...

Not really......the camera I used is really shitty....I actually used my phone to film it. I don't remember it vibrating that much...i don't think it was excessive.

LOL... well then your hand shaking plenty there boy... you was scared or what??

LOL....ah guess so.

[SUPAstarr]

VIPER1 lift off from nipdec car park

[triniboy92]

anyone know anything about a brazilian army/navy helicopter landed at piarco today??

[hot blue]

I believe they are these
Black Hawk with Aux tanks

[triniboy92]

I believe they are these
Black Hawk with Aux tanks

yeah it definitely looked like that

[pablo_tt]

Was taken on November 12 departing piarco and flew over the northern range

[triniboy92]

I believe they are these
Black Hawk with Aux tanks

yeah it definitely looked like that

tower get blow out from bristow and national because they didnt advise them that the hawk was in there area in radix and it fly 200 feet above them lol

[pablo_tt]

It's not a nice feeling when yours TCAS gives you a traffic advisory

[pablo_tt]

[homeboy]

Hey do they have any S62 in Trinidad, now i flying on these alot and they look like they have 200 years...lol....can hold 20 pasengers though.

[triniboy92]

Hey do they have any S62 in Trinidad, now i flying on these alot and they look like they have 200 years...lol....can hold 20 pasengers though.

not that i know of...there's the s-76 though...but the 76 can hold 12 passengers.....where u flying that??

[triniboy92]

It's not a nice feeling when yours TCAS gives you a traffic advisory

yeah boy pablo i could imagine..

[hot blue]

I believe they are these
Black Hawk with Aux tanks

yeah it definitely looked like that

tower get blow out from bristow and national because they didnt advise them that the hawk was in there area in radix and it fly 200 feet above them lol

think about it... your TCAS goes off and you start frantically looking outside.
Now imagine what the view is like from a couple thousand feet. Looking for a small spec of an aircraft heading toward you. You see something, but then realise it's a bird. WAIT... there is it... oh no that's a spec of oil on the windshield

It can really freak you out when something is heading your way at your altitude(or close to it) and you can't see it!

[hot blue]

BTW... did anyone see the Embraer 500 Phenom that had the tail reg VH-PNM ?
I couldn't help but laugh...
didn't get a chance to take a pic, but looks like this

[homeboy]

Hey do they have any S62 in Trinidad, now i flying on these alot and they look like they have 200 years...lol....can hold 20 pasengers though.

not that i know of...there's the s-76 though...but the 76 can hold 12 passengers.....where u flying that??

Thai Aviation Services out from Songkhla base in Thailand, they also uses the S76 but these big ones i think they want to keep because it takes 20 persons and i never saw anyone bags get bumped so may be good for weight also.

[Type Rated]

or when you do see it and it's THAT monster.....

[hot blue]

^EXACTLY!

[speedbird777]

dont u guys pick up targets on your tcas? sort of like radar?
if you picking up a target then ask the twr if there is any other traffic out there.
from an atc point of view, it is sometimes difficult to give full traffic info during the busy traffic.
from my point of view.. my main aim is the prevent collisions..so you can be ifr or vfr..same diff to me so i try to give traffic regardless.. but there are times when u are so overwhelmed that u make a general transmission once or twice about irregular traffic on the east coast..not everyone will hear it because not everyone monitors the frequency like they should.
national and bristow pilots out there...i'm sure there are times u get airborne camden or cross the coast inbound and the 118.1 frequency is so busy that you dont get to establish contact with the twr until 5 mins later or so.. and all the twr has time to say is roger..

i wasnt around for the past 4 days or so.. so i dunno about that chopper

[hot blue]

speedbird, I fully understand and agree but I was under the impression that ATC did not know what the traffic was. Please correct me if I am wrong... I too was not present at the time!