Helicopter altitude record broken - on top of Mt. Everest

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On May 14th, and again on May 15th, a French testpilot successfully
landed a helicopter on top of Mt. Everest, according to the German
News magazine, Der Spiegel. On the 14th, the pilot, using a
Ecureil/AStar AS350 B3 from Eurocopter, remained on the mountain for 3
minutes and 15 seconds.

During one of these record flights the pilot also rescued a mountain
climber in trouble.

Now people are worried that these flights will lead to further
commercialization of the mountain.

OK - can we get a FS chopper up to that peak??
Just wondering ...

If you read German, here's the article:
<http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,357704,00.html>

-=tom=-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Tom Orle <xspam.torle@comcast.net> wrote in
news:r64i91h7k9cjvms2o9fp32m5898nk9p2s4@4ax.com:

> On May 14th, and again on May 15th, a French testpilot successfully
> landed a helicopter on top of Mt. Everest, according to the German
> News magazine, Der Spiegel. On the 14th, the pilot, using a
> Ecureil/AStar AS350 B3 from Eurocopter, remained on the mountain for 3
> minutes and 15 seconds.
>
> During one of these record flights the pilot also rescued a mountain
> climber in trouble.
>
> Now people are worried that these flights will lead to further
> commercialization of the mountain.
>
> OK - can we get a FS chopper up to that peak??
> Just wondering ...
>
> If you read German, here's the article:
> <http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,357704,00.html>
>
> -=tom=-
>

Flew to the top of Mt Blanc in France/Italy in the C172. It wasn't
pretty, wasn't fast but made it with just enough lift (speed) to keep the
wings flying.

Landed the C208 with floats on a slope in the snow (Sounds like a country
and western song!). Up hill landings slow u down, turn around and use
the slope to catapult u up and away.Write yer name in the snow with
yellow snow (wink,wink).



--
e v e n S k y

Athlon 266Ghz
1 G Ram
GeForce FX5900XT
160G H-D
80G H-D
WXP, FS9
CH Products Yoke and Rud Ped's

 

[Goran]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

A new challenge for the NG maybe?
How about we try it?
Real weather of course. None of this manually increasing barometric
pressure to make the air thicker.
"evenSky" <evensky1@hotmail.com
> wrote in message news:Xns9664E2241E915evenskycomcastnet@216.196.97.131...
> Tom Orle <xspam.torle@comcast.net> wrote in
> news:r64i91h7k9cjvms2o9fp32m5898nk9p2s4@4ax.com:
>
>> On May 14th, and again on May 15th, a French testpilot successfully
>> landed a helicopter on top of Mt. Everest, according to the German
>> News magazine, Der Spiegel. On the 14th, the pilot, using a
>> Ecureil/AStar AS350 B3 from Eurocopter, remained on the mountain for 3
>> minutes and 15 seconds.
>>
>> During one of these record flights the pilot also rescued a mountain
>> climber in trouble.
>>
>> Now people are worried that these flights will lead to further
>> commercialization of the mountain.
>>
>> OK - can we get a FS chopper up to that peak??
>> Just wondering ...
>>
>> If you read German, here's the article:
>> <http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,357704,00.html>
>>
>> -=tom=-
>>
>
> Flew to the top of Mt Blanc in France/Italy in the C172. It wasn't
> pretty, wasn't fast but made it with just enough lift (speed) to keep the
> wings flying.
>
> Landed the C208 with floats on a slope in the snow (Sounds like a country
> and western song!). Up hill landings slow u down, turn around and use
> the slope to catapult u up and away.Write yer name in the snow with
> yellow snow (wink,wink).
>
>
>
> --
> e v e n S k y
>
> Athlon 266Ghz
> 1 G Ram
> GeForce FX5900XT
> 160G H-D
> 80G H-D
> WXP, FS9
> CH Products Yoke and Rud Ped's
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Hi
I just tryed with a Boeing vertol Chinook,just entered the coordinates
Latitude 27° 59' N.....Longitude 86° 56' E It's summit ridge seperates Nepal
and Tibet.
Altitude 29900.It would not hold the altitude,was descending about 500 feet
min and I hav to run away north down a valley,landed on a top that readed
20500 feet .The helicopter was strange to control up there,like it is when
descending fast with very low torque.The torcue was reading about 52% on the
top on full power and raised to about 55% when landing at 20500 feet.I think
it's impossible to get it up there by flying it up.It climb's only when I
pull back at high speed but was not able to reclimb and go back up to where
I started.
Funny
Geir

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

This is why we have 'slew' in real life.




Quilljar
see http://client.webshots.com/album/194691959rhDQFi
Do not reply personally, all such emails go into my spam filter

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"Geir" <geinospam@online.no> wrote:

>Hi
>I just tryed with a Boeing vertol Chinook,just entered the coordinates
>Latitude 27° 59' N.....Longitude 86° 56' E It's summit ridge seperates Nepal
>and Tibet.
>Altitude 29900.It would not hold the altitude,was descending about 500 feet
>min and I hav to run away north down a valley,landed on a top that readed
>20500 feet .The helicopter was strange to control up there,like it is when
>descending fast with very low torque.The torcue was reading about 52% on the
>top on full power and raised to about 55% when landing at 20500 feet.I think
>it's impossible to get it up there by flying it up.It climb's only when I
>pull back at high speed but was not able to reclimb and go back up to where
>I started.
>Funny
>Geir
>

I wonder what the solution to high altitude flying is in RL? It
doesn't seem to be a power issue. It's just that the rotor blades
don't have enough air to get a grip.
Would spinning themain rotor faster help out here? But there's a
limit to that also, since you don't want the blade tips go supersonic.

Hmmm - interesting ....

-=tom=-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

What is "slew" Quilljar?
Geir

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Geir wrote:
> What is "slew" Quilljar?

er ...press Y when you are flying the sim (sigh - nothing like RL
actually )

> Geir

--
Quilljar
see http://client.webshots.com/album/194691959rhDQFi
Do not reply personally, all such emails go into my spam filter

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Here is a video of the landing
http://www.eurocopter.com/everest/video/MC_NET_ZICOFF.mov

Geir

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"Tom Orle" <xspam.torle@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:4ubs91ljrdjf19qa20igaepgapp010it1j@4ax.com...
> "Geir" <geinospam@online.no> wrote:
>
>>Hi
>>I just tryed with a Boeing vertol Chinook,just entered the coordinates
>>Latitude 27° 59' N.....Longitude 86° 56' E It's summit ridge seperates
>>Nepal
>>and Tibet.
>>Altitude 29900.It would not hold the altitude,was descending about 500
>>feet
>>min and I hav to run away north down a valley,landed on a top that readed
>>20500 feet .The helicopter was strange to control up there,like it is when
>>descending fast with very low torque.The torcue was reading about 52% on
>>the
>>top on full power and raised to about 55% when landing at 20500 feet.I
>>think
>>it's impossible to get it up there by flying it up.It climb's only when I
>>pull back at high speed but was not able to reclimb and go back up to
>>where
>>I started.
>>Funny
>>Geir
>>
>
> I wonder what the solution to high altitude flying is in RL? It
> doesn't seem to be a power issue. It's just that the rotor blades
> don't have enough air to get a grip.
> Would spinning themain rotor faster help out here? But there's a
> limit to that also, since you don't want the blade tips go supersonic.
>
> Hmmm - interesting ....
>
> -=tom=-

I guess there is also the important issue of engine performance at that
altitude and hover stability. Not sure if the blade angle is limited to
prevent stall ( at lower altitudes)

I can recall the embarrassing case of a pilot when I was in Papua New Guinea
in the 80's who landed his helicopter on an 8,000ft peak to drop off parts
at a radio repeater site and cut the engine. No chance of starting the
engine at that altitude as he found out! Had to get a big brother from an
oil rig to lift it to a lower altitude.
A rather expensive mistake.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"John Ewing" <none@needed> wrote in message
news:429ec524$0$16857$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
>
> I guess there is also the important issue of engine performance at that
> altitude and hover stability. Not sure if the blade angle is limited to
> prevent stall ( at lower altitudes)

Blade angle is limited, but not against stall, as that would need daily
calibration according to atmospheric conditions and weight loading of the
aircraft. Basically the density/altitude calculations should reveal how
much available power the machine is going to have, and from that flight
characteristics, i.e. max hover height and surpluss power at take-off are
going to be known. As the pilot applies power to "pick up" (bring it to the
point where the weight and thrust are neutral and it's floating on the
ground), the pilot knows how much reserve power he has to spare. He can
either lift off into a hover and push forward into forward flight from there
if surplus power permits it, or he can (carefully) take a running takeoff
utilsing the lower power requirements withn ground-effect, aiming to break
into translational lift at about 30 knots where the disc itself will
generate lift above that of a hovering disc at the same speed and pitch
setting.

So in flight the pilot can see how much torque he's using to climb or
maintain altitude and how much he has to spare. That surplus determines how
aggresive he can be on applying pitch (and using torque) to climb.

I've just tried landing on Everest in an AS350 B3 in FS2004. I set the
atmospheric pressure to standard 29.92 at sea level, set 20% fuel load and
pilot weight at 180 Ibs and I managed it, but I had to maintain forward
speed all the while to climb, about 35-40 kts. Any lower than that and I
found I could not climb. You'd think that it'd take less power to
hover-climb than forward-climb, but due to the benefits of translational
lift, that's not the case. I'm going to turn crash detection off now, pitch
forward over the edge and ski the helicopter to the bottom!

Cheers,

Si

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"Simon Robbins" <simon@NOSPAMsjrobbins.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:d7q6rv$jl6$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> I've just tried landing on Everest in an AS350 B3 in FS2004. I set the
> atmospheric pressure to standard 29.92 at sea level, set 20% fuel load and
> pilot weight at 180 Ibs and I managed it, but I had to maintain forward
> speed all the while to climb, about 35-40 kts. Any lower than that and I
> found I could not climb.

Incidentally, I just found that having approached at 40 kts before landing,
I had no power available to lift off again. I had to apply all that was
available which brought the helicopter light enough on the skids that I
could perform a rudder turn rotating with the torque of the main rotor,
(which because I'm reducing anti-torque by turning that way should free up a
smidge more for use by the main rotor and give me slightly more lift -
however I don't think FS models this accurately), and turn downhill. I
could then push forward, attaining 30 kts just before I fell off the edge
and was able to descend under control.

Si

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"Simon Robbins" <simon@NOSPAMsjrobbins.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:d7q7rl$msh$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk...
> "Simon Robbins" <simon@NOSPAMsjrobbins.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:d7q6rv$jl6$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
>> I've just tried landing on Everest in an AS350 B3 in FS2004. I set the
>> atmospheric pressure to standard 29.92 at sea level, set 20% fuel load
>> and
>> pilot weight at 180 Ibs and I managed it, but I had to maintain forward
>> speed all the while to climb, about 35-40 kts. Any lower than that and I
>> found I could not climb.
>
> Incidentally, I just found that having approached at 40 kts before
> landing,
> I had no power available to lift off again. I had to apply all that was
> available which brought the helicopter light enough on the skids that I
> could perform a rudder turn rotating with the torque of the main rotor,
> (which because I'm reducing anti-torque by turning that way should free up
> a
> smidge more for use by the main rotor and give me slightly more lift -
> however I don't think FS models this accurately), and turn downhill. I
> could then push forward, attaining 30 kts just before I fell off the edge
> and was able to descend under control.
>
> Si

Simon - just wondering if in the RL landing on Everest whether the standard
heli was modified to achieve the record. For example modified blades, mods
to the engine for high altitude operation and removal of items to reduce
weight.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"John Ewing" <none@needed> wrote:


>Simon - just wondering if in the RL landing on Everest whether the standard
>heli was modified to achieve the record. For example modified blades, mods
>to the engine for high altitude operation and removal of items to reduce
>weight.
>
>John
>
This is not Simon -
But according to an article in the latest Aviation Week magzine (May
30, pp 30): " ... the helicopter was a series produced machine ...
and the flight was carried out in normal operating conditions.
Although the machine had been stripped of interior fittings and
unneccessary equipment to lighten the load, it could easily have
carried a passenger. The weight savings, about 120kg reduced gross
weight to 1,200kg including 80kg of fuel"

Other items cited were: "...he made a hover landing after a flat
approach and vertical final descent." And he was fighting strong
updrafts and gusty winds. The helicopter had an "... innovative yaw
anticipator that increased rudder pedal authority in difficult
conditions." which helped the pilot fight these winds. "The flight to
the top in -36 degrees C and gusts of 500-1000ft per min took 10-12
mins. It was recorded by an underbelly camera (the overhead camera
froze up during the ascent), a GPS receiver and a barometric sensor."

Departure was from the base camp at Lukla (alt. 2866 meters).
The top of the mountain, unlike the one in our FS, is not flat enough
for a standard landing. However the pilot touched down for 3min 50
secs to meet the minimum of 2mins required to get approval for the
record from the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale).

-=tom=-

 

[amband]

I didn't happen. Info has emerged contradicting this. Sounds like a marketing exercize that bacjfired. World aeronautical records haven't changed

 

[Mousemonkey]

I didn't happen. Info has emerged contradicting this. Sounds like a marketing exercize that bacjfired. World aeronautical records haven't changed