March 2012 Archives

No that's not the corvette in the foreground, but that's definitely the soon-to-be-crashed AH-1F (N197LE) in the background.

According to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in a preliminary report, the pilot and his passenger had just completed a practice run of the race course when he experienced a control malfunction.

The sequence, at the Coolidge Municipal Airport (P08) in Arizona on 1 March, used the Cobra operated by the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation and Musuem for a segment to be aired as part of the Korean Top Gear television series.

The pilot and and mechanic onboard received "minor injuries", says the NTSB.

"The pilot stated that the next filming sequence, when the accident occurred, was to consist of a racing sequence with a Corvette," the NTSB says. "At 1205, they began a practice run/filming sequence that terminated at the start/finish line. The pilot initiated a right 150 to 180 degree turn reaching about 200 feet above the ground."

"He was attempting to neutralize the controls in preparation for a normal approach for landing when he realized the controls were 'locked and unmovable in any direction.' The pilot stated that the helicopter remained in the same rate of turn with the same collective pitch and cyclic input as when he had initiated the turn. The helicopter maintained the same arc through the turn and descent until it impacted the ground. The pilot further stated that he was reaching to activate the emergency hydraulic switch at impact." The investigation continues...

Here's a video clip of the accident in action.

A trick used by missionaries to drop and retrieve supplies to remote native villages in Ecuador more than 50 years ago is now the centrepiece of an innovative idea by Aurora Flight Sciences.

As suggested by the title of a 2011 patent application (#20120048996 published on 1 March), "System and method for the retrieval of a smaller unmanned aerial vehicle by a larger unmanned aerial vehicle", Aurora has proposed a method for a larger UAV to capture and potentially deploy a smaller, slower UAV in flight, allowing a holistic mix of the two in remote areas. Big UAVs are good for long-term stationkeeping and persistent surveillance while small, or micro, UAVs (MAVs) are best for short-term up-close-and-personal contacts.

"A system or method that synergistically combines the advantages of both MAVs and larger UAVs will yield a truly revolutionary capability," says Aurora, adding that a larger UAV that would deploy and capture MAVs would "create the capability of rapidly deploying MAVs at much farther distances than ever before".

But how to dock and undock the two given a large difference in flying speeds of the two?

That's where Aurora took the cue from the missionaries. In Operation Auca in Ecaudor (an endeavour that did not go all that well, as you'll note from the Wiki site), a pilot would fly a Piper PA-14 in a tight spiral over the drop point while an assistant would lower a basket to the ground below. The rope and bucket follow a helical shape, and when the bank angle is right and the rope long enough, the bucket, in theory, lands at a stationary position on the ground, allowing the transfer of goods.

A cartoon in the Aurora patent shows the principle in action:

What Aurora noted was that different locations along the helical have lower speeds than the main aircraft, which in this case is the larger UAV, which could allow the lower-speed MAV to link up with the rope at essentially zero forward speed, completing the capture or deploy.

This Boeing 737-200 (N219PA) that I spotted on approach to Runway 22 at the Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on 12 March will look quite a bit more tasty in the near future...

According to sources, the former Pace Airlines workhorse will be hauled in the near future to a location in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina metro area where it will be reunited with its wings and empennage to become a restuarant called "Plane Food". 

The winged "diner" is no other than Boeing aircraft S/N 19956 (according to the website Planespotter.net), which started life as a United Airlines passenger hauler from 1969 through 1997 before becoming the property of the new-defunct Pace Airlines. And, retirement as a food joint seems to be favourable to being banished to the bone yard, or worse yet, the scrap yard.

I know of a few similar ventures, including DC-6 diner at the Coventry Airport in the UK, the KC-97 Airplane Restuarant in Colorado Springs, and Boeing 727 doubling as a hotel in Costa Rica. Anyone been to any?

I wish the new owner of S/N19956 much luck, and hope to visit some time.