For the obvious reasons, I invariably get too busy to blog exactly when things get interesting...
Engine 58
Here’s our ship – ain’t it gorgeous? You can tell this helicopter is well loved and content with its life.
A quick status report:
Yesterday we met with Sam, one of the two pilots that will fly the helicopter, and worked on the flight procedures – all to be tested out over the coming two weeks.
We then scooted down to Dryden for a full day of work - we had an airfield management briefing meeting, (the actual airfield is part of Edwards Air Force base, not Dryden), laser safety and operations meetings, watched a cable pull test to confirm that our cable meets its specifications (The cable is rated to hold 4200 lb, it started breaking at 5500 lb, so we’re good!), and worked on the parachute configuration.
Edwards is a very exciting place to drive in, since you get to see all sorts of airplanes you don’t usually come across at your community airport – F-22s and Global Hawks for example, just going about their business in the taxiways just across the fence. I really enjoy these visits.
The aforementioned parachute is a safety device we have at the top of the cable, which will slow it down in the case where the pilots for any reason have to jettison it. (There will be a handful of us within our 1-km safety radius, and we’ll appreciate this safety measure a lot if it is ever invoked)
The parachute is actually a drogue chute that is used to pull the main chute of a fighter pilot when he ejects. The reason we like using a drogue chute is that it is intended to be used at high air velocities. Our cable, along with the mass of the hook assembly at the end will weigh over 400 lb, but as it nears the ground, the weight of the cable pretty much disappears and only the hook assembly remains, at well under 100 lb. This means that when the cable starts collecting on the ground, the parachute will move at about twice the speed as when the hook reaches the ground. (We’re mainly concerned about the hook, since our cage has no problem handing the cable).
This is one more of these devices we truly don’t anticipate ever being used, but that makes us feel safe knowing that even if the unanticipated happens, there are still extra measures in place take care of us.
The person helping us with the parachute, btw, is Sean Wilscam at the life support division at Dryden – they take care of such things as parachutes, oxygen masks, pilot protection… They also have the coolest insignia, I’ll post the image soon. Sean clearly knows his way around parachutes – it’s good to know that we’re relying on a lot of proven expertise that’s just part of what Dryden is.