Taking a leak...

[Bladestrike]

In twenty years of flying helos, I have never flown an aircraft that didn't have water dripping, and often flowing, all over myself, the paperwork and the electronics, everytime it rained.

Is this the norm or have I just been unlucky?

 

[Elvis]

You spend a few thousand $ to buy a car and if the windows/doors leak you go back to the dealer and it gets fixed.

You spend a few hundred thousand $ for your helicopter and the windows/doors leak what do you do??

Anyone have the answer??

Be polite in the replys

 

[Dan]

It's been 22 for me and yes most I've flown leaked aswell. Bell 212 leaked, Bell 222 leaked, Sk76 leaked, Bell 206 leaked, Ec 350 probably the only one in the world didn't.
The 206's I'm flying now did but now have stopped leaking from overhead and bubble windows. The key here is finding the right engineer that is handy with Proseal and door seals and doesn't say WELL IT'S A BELL they are supposed to leak.
For a price I'll give you his name.....lolol.

 

[412driver]

well elvis, if your helicopter only cost a couple hundred grand.....

the 412''s i fly in the gulf don''t leak...wait...never mind, it don''t rain there

 

[MagSeal]

Elvis was of course refering to the average cost of a Bell. And we all know that there is some price slashing going on in the industry and it''s only a matter of time before you can have a Robinson for the price of a small import car. As for the leaky windows...We better pool our money and ask Dan, who knows, maybe that special guy is me, I''m pretty handy with proseal. I''ve got proof since half my clothes still sport proseal from the past, and it''s still holding up darn good.
I will tell you though, some of that trim around windows acts just like a scoop for the water running off the window at 100MPH, the pressure of that alone will squirt water into the smallest crevis with ease. Do away with that window design and you''ve solved half the problem.

 

[gannet]

I thought that leaks were just character building. At least that is always what I told my co pilots (seems the forward bath tub always leaked at the drain in Labradors, right over the left seat.) I haven''t seen any leaks in my AStar, yet.

 

[CTD]

By far the worse I''ve seen were the otherwise venerable 500''s, especially between the front seats. That''s where I would always put my flight bag, and would always have to carry a plastic bag with which to cover it during rain. Of course, it rained so infrequently in Newfoundland, that the plastic was rarely used

Pretty much everything else I''ve ever flown has leaked like a basket. I must confess however, that the 350/355 seem to be comparitively dry - but then again, Tupperware is waterproof.....