407's

[firehawk]

Hey 407 driver, Maybe with all you inside pull at bell you could get them to clean that dam 407 flight manual up, I just did my recurrent and that thing is a mess. :blink:
Ask Hollywood if he found his dash mounted note I left in his 206 when he came through, he probably didnt notice it until he was 30 minutes out. 🙄
To bad I missed him I was out scaring myself doing autos.

 

[407 Driver]

No chance of that FireHawk, if we make the 407 manual too simple to read, we'll have every Astar pilot out there trying to fly a 407, now, we don't want that, do we? :huh: 😛 :wacko:

 

[Nomex]

Sorry 407, I knew what the answer was and didn't want you to take all the heat.

Talking about heat, Astars do have good heaters though, just don't stuff anything under the pilot & co-pilot seats, otherwise you will soon start to smell something burning or melting.

 

[407 Driver]

Yes, great heater, but no defog. No heat on the ground either, since it was bleed air heat. Those darn heat/defog knobs always used to seize, and being located between the seats, it was difficult to free them. The 407 heat system is much more user friendly, switch on, switch off.
With all of this Astar reminiscing, it's Time to up the Meds, and back for more therapy..... :blink: :wacko:

 

[Blackmac]

407, go to alpines home page and tell me what you see.

I see a picture of an A-STAR, or am I off my meds again.

 

[407 Driver]

BlackMac, everyone makes mistakes...
I think it was the 5 straight weeks of downtime one summer that was the last straw on those bad girls. After that long expensive wait for parts, they all went on the chopping-block.
Of the 3 - B2's that they operated, the first 2 were low-time aircraft ( from europe I think) and the last one was a cream-puff from Guatamala, the first 2 went on to a small company based at YLW and the 3rd went to an upstart company in YVR. They were replaced by a 3 - 407 purchase in the US.

After I jumped over from CHW, I did have the opportunity to fly the 3, and they were good sound aircraft, the Guatamala ship was excellent. 2 were in the low 'teens, the 3'rd in the high '00's in hours when purchased. Of course, I'm comparing them to my time in 10,000+ hr BA's :blink:

The B2's were initially bought for Heli-Tours, but an interesting fact...the 2 largest Heli-Tour companies in Canada (Alpine and Niagra) now run 407's .
Alpine also found that a B2 cannot effectively work at altitude with 6 passengers unless you are on a tour, and even then, weights and CG are always issues, These aircraft had the Dart double seat mod installed, not the 3-across LH drive, it may be better (?) The 407 fleet routinely skiis with 6.

 

[N.O.E.]

The 407 is a dream to ski with compared to a B2; Faster ,Stronger and able to hurdle high mountains without an S- turn. :: Not to mention awesome tail authority.

 

[Nomex]

Astar fwd C of G is always an issue with the love seat installed - 2 x 150 lb front seat px, with the pilot and other 4 px at 170lbs each + 50 lbs in rt side & 50 in tail + any fuel load and you're out of c of g, unless you add weight to the tail - then you are stuck with too far aft c of G when you are alone.

But, their lateral c of g is great

Those love seats are good at allowing that middle pax to give you some auto-rotation practice by hooking their clothing on the fuel control lever, plus it allows the same pax to adjust the heating controls for you 407D, unless you cut a hole thru the collective guard then you still can crawl thru with your hand and work those knobs....

 

[MagSeal]

whoosh...more fuel added to the fire....

http://www1.faa.gov/avr/aai/J_1117_N.txt

 

[CTD]

Yes, the 407 is enjoying a less-than-sparkling record these days, mostly engine problems with a potentiometre in the HMU. These pots have been unreliable from the start.

The vast majority (all?) of these accidents are happening in the Gulf of Mexico, or to GOM operators. Granted, they operate a large portion of the worldwide fleet of 407s, but this makes me wonder about environmental issues...read salt.

 

[Elvis]

Does this mean that a Canadian operator on the east or west coast should be nervous?

:elvis: :elvis:

 

[CTD]

I don't know, I'm speculating since there seems to be a virtual 100% concentration in a very small geographic region - one with warm salty air, and aircraft that fly over it all day every day, and the problem is with an electrical component in many of these accidents. I haven't seen or heard anything official or otherwise that makes this connection, but if I were the investigator, I'd have one eyebrow raised about now.

As for the guys in th east and west of Canada - anyone flying a helicopter should be nervous :blink:

 

[407 Driver]

Thanks for the update MAG, I was aware of that incident. I have heard nothing as to the cause through my sources, but I will let you know if I hear anything. The good news, all passengers and crew are OK.

 

[VERTICAL REF]

The only reason there is a 1200 hour/24 month time life on TT straps is due to PHI and the gulf...CTD is exactly correct on the "Salt" thing!

407 if you missed the 42 degree gearbox on your DI then yours strapping on the wrong ride! hehehe. Any aircraft that the m/r overpowers the hydraulic system or chopps its own tail off I personally would stay away from! 😛 😛 😛

Let me know when the spotted owls are getting out of hand over there again and we'll clean i'm out fur ya! Have fun in the snow mate! Cheers!

 

[MagSeal]

Vertickle Ref_

as long as your rotor system stays put....you're making the sounds that everyone loves. I don't mind waking up to the sound of a medium thumping overhead. 😀