Starting a military helicopter without the ignition key

[Tracy68]

Hi! I'm writing a screenplay. A group of people are isolated, their only means of escape a military helicopter and someone has made the ignition key disappear. Can the pilot start the helicopter some other way without the key? Like crossing wires or something?

[Disguise Delimit]

.....Unless you are talking about a Robinson or other piston engine, they don't have ignition keys. Hard to even find a door lock.

Find the flight manual (often under the seat) or abbreviated check list (in a pocket on the side of the centre console) and read how to start it. But if the person starting it doesn't know how to fly a helicopter, then the other people on board should get off and stay isolated, as their life expectancy would be counted in seconds.

[helonorth]

6 hours ago, Disguise Delimit said:

.....Unless you are talking about a Robinson or other piston engine, they don't have ignition keys. Hard to even find a door lock.

Find the flight manual (often under the seat) or abbreviated check list (in a pocket on the side of the centre console) and read how to start it. But if the person starting it doesn't know how to fly a helicopter, then the other people on board should get off and stay isolated, as their life expectancy would be counted in seconds.

Did you even read the question?

[Disguise Delimit]

17 hours ago, helonorth said:

Did you even read the question?

Well did YOU?

 

...a group of people... military helicopter...ignition key...

What piston helicopters do the military have these days? Any 2-seat trainers left? How many will take a group?

[Wally]

My experience is that there is no 'ignition key'. Usually no lock on doors either. Often, one merely pushes a single button.

 

The checklist would be vital, I think all US military helicopters are turbines and they can be tricky to start, so one should absolutely find and use the checklist.

The joke in Vietnam was "checklist complete with 'item 39 (41? 43? whatever) after one had flipped that switch.

Checklists, everything in flying has drawbacks, too. You see what you expect to see in many cases after thousands, tens of thousands repetitions of the same task. A copilot or trained passenger with the checklist is valuable life insurance.

Stop! is a valuable word.;

[SBuzzkill]

It's fiction, just make something up.  

Edited October 17, 2022 by SBuzzkill

[Thedude]

We 100% have keys in military helicopters and the engines will not start without them. 
 

 

[ElPee]

May be a dead topic but... Not all military aircraft have keys.  Most (if not all now) US Army helicopters do.  Some have keys for securing doors, some do not.  Army's Keys goes back when someone stole an Army helicopter around 1974 (see Robert Preston) and caused such embarrassment, keys were subsequently installed.  US Navy helicopters did not make that transition.  Depending on which model UH-1 and engine (T-53: 700, L-13,...), they key may be for starting sequence unlike a car where the key is basically a relay for the starter.  I have access to a UH-1 with the L-13.  It has a key (lower right side of center console (where the 700 is topside center console and works) and goes absolutely nowhere.  Hot wiring is as with anything.  Sure it can be done.  Even picking a lock.  Big thing is knowing when to introduce fuel.  If done too soon with the engine not turning fast enough (Bell 206), you could be stuck on the island with a flaming mass of molten metal dripping through the engine deck.