http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n104/tuolumnejim/ex76.jpg

:eek:

One of my fav helo pics :D

what is the story behind this one, supper?

Optical Illusion ;)

I'll post the full article later.

details. now.

wtf??? details or fail!

The Hover Barge Tow

In June 1982, Columbia Helicopters was hired by Sohio to participate in a test on Alaska's North Slope. The purpose of this test was to evaluate the ability of a helicopter - the Boeing Vertol 107-II - to tow a fully-loaded hover barge over water, snow and ice.
The test began in Prudhoe Bay on June 17. The Vertol's 600-foot long line was connected to hover barge ACT-100, jointly owned by Global Marine Development and VECO. Air blowers on the 170-ton barge forced a cushion of air under the barge, which was kept in place by rubberized skirt material. This first test was run around Prudhoe Bay with an empty barge, and was successful. During this and subsequent tests, the aircraft often flew with a nose-down angle approaching 25 degrees.
Next, ACT-100 was loaded with 40 tons of cargo for another close-in test run. Once more, the helicopter showed it could move the barge despite the additional weight.
The final aspect of the test was to tow the hover barge over a 50-mile course to a drill site named Alaska Island where Sohio had just completed an oil well.
During the tow to the island, headwinds over 30 knots were encountered, and snow and ice buildup were also factors. Regardless, the Vertol was able to bring the empty barge to the island successfully.
On the return trip to Prudhoe Bay, when this photo was taken, the barge carried 50 tons of cargo, bringing the total weight to 220 tons. As with the previous tests, this task was accomplished successfully.
This photograph is one of longtime Columbia Helicopters' photographer Ted Veal's most famous photographs. The use of a powerful telephoto lens makes it appear as though the helicopter is closer to the ice than is actually the case.

Look at the reflections.

fucking crazy:eek:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/amishboy/ex76.jpg

Still "balls of steel" though. I would hate to see what would happen if that cable broke.

It'll continue flying upwards.

I don't know it's pulling that thing pretty hard. I would like to see a side picture of that. I bet those rotors are bowed up pretty bad.

I was thinking if you took all that off at once that they might slap down pretty hard.

It'll continue flying upwards.
no it wouldn't.

read the article again

approaching 25 degrees

at that much angle, if you go to essentially a zero load environment, your rotors don't have any lift anymore and you hit the ground. A friend of mine that has a helo pilots liscence made a comment a while back about difficulty flying much past a 20° angle with the small two seaters they flew in the school.

edit: the reason I say a zero load environment is that with how badly bowed the rotors are when towing that sumbitch, if you were disconnected your rotors would just go into a popwash area, pretty much nothing for them to grab onto. At least thats the way I understood it, but I don't proffess to be a helicopter pilot and all my info is second and third hand.

no it wouldn't.

That's what I think too. Even though it's not as low as it looks it's still too low to pull that out.

no it wouldn't.

read the article again



at that much angle, if you go to essentially a zero load environment, your rotors don't have any lift anymore and you hit the ground. A friend of mine that has a helo pilots liscence made a comment a while back about difficulty flying much past a 20° angle with the small two seaters they flew in the school.

edit: the reason I say a zero load environment is that with how badly bowed the rotors are when towing that sumbitch, if you were disconnected your rotors would just go into a popwash area, pretty much nothing for them to grab onto. At least thats the way I understood it, but I don't proffess to be a helicopter pilot and all my info is second and third hand.
So its like launching a rubber band?

They do it in the Army also.
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/Vertical.jpg

They do it in the Army also.
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/Vertical.jpg
In the army they are also trained to "Pull it till it breaks" instead of having some finess ;)

And a chinook like that without towing something under full acceleration... :blah::blah::blah:

Lets just say it has a much higher probability of survival.