Oldies but goodies?

[Goldy]

What's the oldest helicopter you've flown? Is it still flying?

 

Some people get a new car every 3 years, but helicopters go decades with good maintenance. Some go 50 years and are still flying. So I went back to my old logbook..

 

N83721 was the oldest R22 I ever flew (c/n 0317), built in 1982. The next one was N8491A (1984, c/n 0404) which, last I heard was still up at JT flying.

 

I flew a B47 built in 1953 and it's still around in 2013. That's 60 years!

 

Last week I flew the 4th R44 to come off the line, and our Sheriff's Department just retired their H3H's, designed in 1961 and one of ours was built in 1966.

 

So what's the antique in your logbook? And what's the oldest ship you still flying out there?

Edited March 19, 2013 by Goldy

[Gomer Pylot]

Oldest when I flew it, or oldest now? Some of the TH13s I flew back in flight school were a few decades old when I flew them, but they're a LOT older now. I don't even have any idea how old they were back then, but they're well over 40 years older now, if they're still flying. I doln't even have any record of any of the tail numbers. The machine I fly now is a 1981 model. I've flown 206s a lot older than that, though.

[Eric Hunt]

One interesting bird in my logbook is B412, serial number 1.

 

A B47 from the 50s, piston planes from the 50s, Hueys from 1963 onwards (old 300 Series UH-1B).

 

Oldest B206 was a 1970 model. Newest had 3 hrs on it. Newest R22 was brand spanker. The rest of my 8 logbooks comprise machines with up to 20,000 hrs. May have been some older machines which had been zero-timed.

[Astro]

The oldest prize in my logbook goes to my first turbine flight, an MD 500 from 1970. The newest was an R-44 at 6hrs flown at the factory course.

[delorean]

My initial training was in an '82 R22 HP (s/n 330 N8372B.) It was sold in 1998 and destroyed in a training accident in 2002.

 

I flew a B47G once--not sure if it's still around. Also, the first B206 sold to the civilian market (s/n 007, something-69X). It was still around a few years ago.

[d10]

I was flying nothing but 83 and 84 UH-60As for a while, but it's been a couple years since I've flown anything with over 1,000 hours on it.

[Rogue]

The Bell 47 I fly ( still do from time to time ) was built in 1947 if I remember correctly though it was rebuilt into a D1 model. Can't imagine how they used to fly those things all day with no hydraulics before the D1....

[Wally]

Flew a couple 206B models in the Gulf of Mexico with 20,000 or so hours on them in the mid eighties... They flew just like Jet Rangers are supposed to fly. Data plates aren't my thing and I don't recall ail numbers.

[turbotay]

Sikorsky 55, built in 1954. Still had the straight tail boom on it.

[Renaud]

From my short experience, the oldest one is an R22.... 1979, SN0011... 10000+ hr TTSN

Youngest one is a Cabri G2... 2012, SN 1037... 46 hr TTSN

 

[Goldy]

The Bell 47 I fly ( still do from time to time ) was built in 1947 if I remember correctly though it was rebuilt into a D1 model. Can't imagine how they used to fly those things all day with no hydraulics before the D1....

 

The 47 is a lot to handle hydraulics off......no way I would want to fly one without them!

[Goldy]

From my short experience, the oldest one is an R22.... 1979, SN0011... 10000+ hr TTSN

Youngest one is a Cabri G2... 2012, SN 1037... 46 hr TTSN

 

 

That's one for the books! S/N 11 !

 

Put up a new post on what the Cabri G2 is like.....lot's of us wondering.

[pilot#476398]

From my short experience, the oldest one is an R22.... 1979, SN0011... 10000+ hr TTSN

 

If I remember correctly (from the Robbie news letter I got the other day) #11 is up with Jerry Trimble Helicopters. I think it said he worked on it, or test flew it, or something?,...back in the day.

[Renaud]

Yes, I got m'y PPL with JTH

I've been there when Jerry take 15V for a ride to pass the symbolic 10 000h... 30 years after Jerry test fly it in Torrance!

 

@ Goldy: I will put a short flight report about G2 ASAP, but excuse me about my short experience so maybe you will stay on your heels!

 

Fly safe!

R

[mausermolt]

Sikorsky S-58 built in 1958 N9043N was the oldest ive flown. destroyed last year. second was S-58 N504 built in 1959 she is gonna be drying cherries this summer. newest was N989SM a 2012 AS350B3E with 58 hours on it.

[Nearly Retired]

The oldest one I was most recently flying full-time was a 206B that left the Bell factory in 1975. The airframe has 13,000 hours and it's still going...well...it's still going, anyway.

 

My part-time gig is flying a Sikorsky S-55 which is as old as I am, and I'm 57. No, I take that back, the specific one I was assigned was built in 1957 so it's a whole two years younger than me.

 

There's still a lot of old aircraft out there.

[aeroscout]

The oldest one I was most recently flying full-time was a 206B that left the Bell factory in 1975. The airframe has 13,000 hours and it's still going...well...it's still going, anyway.

 

My part-time gig is flying a Sikorsky S-55 which is as old as I am, and I'm 57. No, I take that back, the specific one I was assigned was built in 1957 so it's a whole two years younger than me.

 

There's still a lot of old aircraft out there.

 

Are they old, or are they timeless ?

[Nearly Retired]

I wrote: "There's still a lot of old aircraft out there."

 

Aeroscout wondered:

Are they old, or are they timeless ?

 

Well, that 206 I flew had 13,000 hours, so it certainly wasn't timeless. It was actually time-full.

 

Which brings up a pet peeve of mine: Should "old" things be replaced simply for the sake of having something new? Bell discontinued the 206B product line right around the time Robinson was introducing the R-66 product line. Was the 206B that bad? Was the tooling not already paid-for? Could Bell not have continued building and selling it at a profit?

 

Like Cessna with that silly 162 Skycatcher. It was originally intended that the engine be the uncertified Rotax 912. But what engine did Cessna end up using? Right, the same dang Continental O-200 four-cylinder that powered every Cessna 150. So WHY couldn't Cessna have just updated and 152 with a fiberglass cowling (and some other weight-saving items), a castoring nosewheel, the latest avionics and the Continental engine? Ohhhhhh, because people want new! Even if "new" isn't necessarily "better." (And by the way, Cessna reports that sales of the Skycatcher have tanked...as in, "gone to zero" with a surplus of 90 unsold 162's sitting there waiting patiently for buyers.)

 

That 206B I was flying...it suited my boss perfectly. Yeah, sometimes he'd put a 206L-sized load in it, but 99.9% of the time the JetRanger was just perfect for him. We operated it economically and it never let us down. And it looked stylish to boot, something that can NOT be said of the R-66.

 

I don't want to drag this thread off-topic, but the subject *is* old aircraft. All aircraft get old, but helicopters are the easiest to keep "young" because we keep replacing all the spinny bits. The S-55s I fly are sort of "timeless" like a DC-3 (and a BH206!), but even the DC-3 eventually got replaced.

[SBuzzkill]

DC-3s may be old, but they're still working:

 

http://www.transnorthern.com/team

 

The oldest 58D that I'm flying right now was originally built as an OH-58A in 1969.

Edited March 23, 2013 by SBuzzkill

[aeroscout]

I've got quite a bit of time in a Beech 18. I don't know the date of manufacture but I'm confident it was in the middle to late 40's. On the rotary side it would be helos manufactured during the Vietnam era .

[Goldy]

I wrote: "There's still a lot of old aircraft out there."

 

Aeroscout wondered:

 

Well, that 206 I flew had 13,000 hours, so it certainly wasn't timeless. It was actually time-full.

 

Which brings up a pet peeve of mine: Should "old" things be replaced simply for the sake of having something new? Bell discontinued the 206B product line right around the time Robinson was introducing the R-66 product line. Was the 206B that bad? Was the tooling not already paid-for? Could Bell not have continued building and selling it at a profit?

 

I was at the HAI when Bell announced the end of the 206B program.(It think it was Houston or Dallas) They had 12 orders on backlog and new sales had tanked. Once Robinson announced the R66, that was the final nail in the coffin.

 

But you're right, with a proven airframe, and a new upgraded B4 model, they could have introduced the Van Horn tail rotor, maybe a new RR500 powerplant, new avionics and a few weight saving ideas and then compete head to head against the 66. Instead they decided to turn tail and run.

 

I agree with Bell at that time, they had too many models, but the JR and the LR are not the same bird serving the same market.They thought getting rid of the JR would boost sales of the LR.....wonder if that came true? I doubt it.

 

Maybe Scotts new Jet Ranger 4 is in the works for some day?

[Superman]

1963 Bell 47-G2....did my initial training and first solo with her in '98. She was lost a few years later in a training accident. Latest classic I flew was a '73 Fairchild Hiller FH1100 last year. Not sure how many of these are still flying, but this one flew nice, and is still flying with its owner/pilot today.

[Dragbrace]

I still own two Bell 47's that were built in 1947. Serial # 10 & 71. The old non hydraulic ships were not all that bad if they were kept smooth and the Irreversables were properly greased and maintained.

[Goldy]

I still own two Bell 47's that were built in 1947. Serial # 10 & 71. The old non hydraulic ships were not all that bad if they were kept smooth and the Irreversables were properly greased and maintained.

 

S/n 10? Holy crap, that is amazing! Mind posting a photo? or send it to me via email? Love the B47.

 

Thanks,

[Dragbrace]

Goldy ,tried emailing you pictures but came back undeliverable. new address?