Just an Earth-Bound Misfit: The Rantings of an Aging, Armed, Pinko Chick

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Your Sunday Morning Rotor Noise

A Kamov Ka-26:

11 comments:

Ten Bears said...: Amazing little helo, 👍; 12/22/2019 7:28 AM
Deadstick said...: Couple of questions...

-Why the bladeless runup?

-Is it a good idea to line up a critical, high-load joint by hammering the bolt?

-Do piston engines still have a role in helicopters?; 12/22/2019 9:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Very cool little bird. Your video made me go find out more about them, thanks for the Sunday morning education.; 12/22/2019 10:20 AM
Comrade Misfit said...: Deadstick,

They certainly do. Piston-engined helicopters are used for training, light transport and for photography platforms, among other things. A R-22 is less than $300K, a R-44 is under $500K. To compare with turbines, a new MD-500 (think Magnum, P.I.) is well over a million. Probably the cheapest turbine is a R-66, which is almost a million bucks.; 12/22/2019 10:53 AM
bmq215 said...: Deadstick, tail rotors are necessary to cancel torque from the main rotor. The coaxial (stacked double) main rotors are self cancelling and eliminate that need. It's a signature Kamov design element.; 12/22/2019 11:24 AM
seafury said...: You stole my thunder. But I would add the Enstrom F28. I think they're still in business up in Menominee MI.
One has to wonder how clean the sheet of paper was when they designed it. Possibly got it mixed up with some
sort of septic tank transporter, and remembered they still had to turn in a helicopter design by 500pm.; 12/22/2019 11:29 AM
Deadstick said...: bmq, I know about the coaxial rotors, but why the runup with no blades on it?; 12/22/2019 12:01 PM
Old NFO said...: Obvious that that bird hadn't been started in a while. Probably checking to see if the transmission had been reinstalled correctly. Had an up close view of a KA-27 once, when they popped one up off the Kirov to keep us from rigging the ship... That pilot was @#$# CRAZY!; 12/22/2019 12:54 PM
Comrade Misfit said...: Seafury, I forgot about the Enstrom F28. Bit more pricey than a R22, at $370K. The Brantly B2B filled a similar role, but they may be out of production.

Robinson pretty much owns the training marker.; 12/22/2019 2:11 PM
bmq215 said...: Good question, Deadstick. Never considered that before. Maybe the extra control surfaces help with low speed/high maneuverability situations like crop dusting? The seem to provide a convenient mounting location for equipment in some of the variants but I'm guessing that wasn't the original purpose. Perhaps they just couldn't stomach making something that looked as ludicrous as a tailless ka-26 would?; 12/22/2019 9:22 PM
Sikhandtake said...: @ Deadstick:

At the 6 min mark in the vid, the pilot tests rudders by putting them over to rotate the chopper.

A windtunnel view of just what is going on there would be interesting. It does not look as if, being stationary, there ought to be much air being blown across the tail rudders in the front-to-back direction.; 12/23/2019 1:52 AM