One crazy helipad

[rotormandan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZSep9lkfwQ

 

Must be creepy not being able to see the skids of pad. It'd look like you were landing in mid air.

[Mungo5]

The guys that fly this are contributors to Rotorheads on pprune.org - one of them described that landing not so long ago, in a post there.

[Gomer Pylot]

You can see the skids and the pad. You land like I did for 25 years offshore, and still do - by looking down through the chin bubble or down through the side window, and watching where your skids are. The way CFIs teach, looking at the horizon, is not optimal on land, and impossible offshore or on this pad, or when landing on trailers or anything else with restricted size.

[SToL]

That was a cool video, looks like landing there would be a hoot.

 

Now not to rag on the guy, but let's call a spade a spade.

 

As cool as it looks, he was not properly positioned on that pad. If you watch the video again, you'll see the rear of the skids are way to far back.

 

Always make sure the rear of the skids are supported. They are in fact the MOST important portion of the skid which requires support. If he had reduced power the way it was, the helicopter would have rocked back.

 

I have a few photos of a helicopter which someone tried to land in almost the exact position on a wooden platform. Needless to say, that helicopter did not fly away on it's own.

 

Now, in his defense I wasn't there and I don't know the whole story. Maybe he was demonstrating the way he'd do it as to make it easier for his passengers to embark/disembark onto the narrow walkway. Of course in that case he'd be constantly holding partial power and not going full down collective. That's plausible. In that case you'd be weighing the trade off between "is it safer to land properly, skids forward or is it safer to hold power, landing further back so the passengers have easier (safer more direct) access? Good argument either way.

 

As stated before, looking at the horizon in these types of conditions will not help you and can most definitely attribute to a bad landing. You must learn to look down at the skid and sometimes even backwards towards the rear of the helicopter/skids. Sound easy? Try it some time.

[helonorth]

It's not a pad. It's just a place to pick up drop off people. It's not a "shut down and go

have a cup of coffee" kind of place. It's a "light on the skids, don't linger too long" kind

of place.

Edited November 10, 2008 by helonorth

[SToL]

It's not a pad.

 

Ah, our mistake. We were all under the impression that it was an "Astar helicopter landing on catenary heli pad".

 

Thanks for correcting us.

 

Cool video non the less.

[helonorth]

My definition of a helipad has always been a place where you could shut down a helicopter,

walk away from it and be reasonably sure it would still be there when you came back.

This is not one of those places. Just because you center the gravity doesn't mean you

could shut down and go have a smoke. C'mon, man!

Edited November 10, 2008 by helonorth

[Wally]

SToL-

I had the same thought regards power, weight. But like the other poster said, it's not that kind of thing at all, in spite of the label. Don't know why he did it, didn't seem to load or drop anything. It looked competent and proficient to me.

Some allow the operation posted, or a toe in, or one skid on the slope. Training, practice and planning, it's not something to do carelessly. I'm glad I don't do it at my present situation.

[FutureHeliDriver]

http://www.canadianhelicopters.ca/intro_1.html

 

These are some cool vids. I first saw that crazy pad in one of these videos. They are mostly pictures but they show some interesing landing zones to. Or better to say "light on the skids!!!"