During my era, forgive me for keeping on repeating 'my era', we had never heard of such occurrences. If they actually happened, we should know because such incidences should be reported in 'SOR' (Special Occurrence Report). Depending on the severity of the incident, these SORs would be published in the 'Flight Safety' magazines. But then, those days all the servicing were done by our own technicians, either within the base or AIROD before its privatisation in 1985. Something must be terribly wrong with the servicing if the doors keep on falling from the sky. It makes me wonder on the standard of maintenance, be it performed either at 1st or 2nd Line, nowadays!
I was also told that the hoist is now electrically operated instead of being powered by hydraulic system. Well and good for keeping abreast with the new technology. However, the problem faced by the crewman is that after winching about 10 feet, the hoist stops since the motor becomes over heated; 'motor hot' caution light illuminates. You don't have to be an aeronautical engineer to analyse why...the hoist's drum and electric motor are located so close to the exhaust (see pic). I shudder to imagine what would happen if the Nuri aircrew were to operate like what we used to operate during the counter insurgency warfare those days. Winching was the role of the day...hovering at 200 feet over the jungle in hostile environment with the hoist stopping at every 10 feet...A real shooting duck!
Fortunately, those adventurous days were over. Nowadays, winching is more for SAR role only and most of the time over the sea. So, Nuri Captains...hover less than 10 feet over the sea to counter this effect...He...He...He.
Top Management Of RMAF...Why not once in a while listen to what the people on the ground have to say. Remember, they are the ones who are flying the helicopters and will have to face the consequences of your decisions. I hope appropriate actions would be taken to ensure incidents, such as the falling cargo doors, would not happen again.As for the effort to 'improve' the quality of the proven systems...Your intentions may be good, but the end result....? Think about it. Enough said......
PS: You're right...This article was airflown to the following addressees....
Nuri Cargo Door
Monday, 5 July 2010 6:35:29
From: nor ibrahim sulaiman
To: PTU ptu@mod.gov.my; PTU rodzalinov@hotmail.com; Tan Sri Azizan cdf@mod.gov.my
Cc: Latip IG collatip@yahoo.com; Maj Kamarul RMAF RMAF webmaster@airforce.gov.my; Dato' Zahid Hamidi ro.ppm@mod.gov.my; Hamzah Hussin MoD hh.ppm@mod.gov.my
Assalamualaikum,
Fikir-fikirkanlah....
NOR IBRAHIM BIN SULAIMAN
Expecting reactions? What a joke ...He...He...He.
3 ulasan:
dear nor,
,,,the old nuri door/airframe might get distorted with age as most airframe does with time and it happens to the Super Puma too unfortunately ! But a slight modification to strape it in-flight internally might provide the extra safety feature to secure the sliding door from peeling off, would be a possible long term solution. (it may sound funny but i think it might just work..cos. that is what was added to the Super Puma sliding top cowling but externally)
,,,with regards to the electrical winch, perhaps a screen sheel to deflect the engine exhaust heat away might also be useful as a consideration but it should be aerodynamically shape to prevent parasite drag in flight ?.
,,,Maybe a simple water spray system for cooling might help too ?.
,,,slower winching rate or speed might also helps ?.
my 2 cents worth-lah
uban
note;
,,,eerrmm a 10 ft hover over sea water will generate lots of salt for the kitchen hehehe !!
Nothing new, cargo door, air brakes, cermin plastik terbang, etc dropping from the sky....we used to have that reported quite "regularly" over in Butterworth especially those staying around the base area.
Remember an incident back in the 80's, where the Skyhawk airbrake dropped off and landed on the golf course after some ground attack sorties. Luckily no one was hurt while playing golf, just something like durian dropped from the tree.
Another incident where the Nuri Chopper or Cessna (cannot really recalled) dropped its door / window
onto the squatters reban ayam just when the aircraft about to land at Runway 36(just before the base), resulting in helter skelter in the chicken coop.
Best of all Skyhawks dropped its live bomb (luckily unarmed) during the ground engine run and also one incident where a "bomb" were dropped unintentionally over Kuantan town causing some concerned, luckily this time it was an unexploded a fuel tank !!!
No records official records though to prove all the above incidents.
Dear Sharif,
Your suggestions are worth considering. But do you sincerely think those in authority is interested to even read them?
Dear Mirage,
Why worry...Rakyat Mudah Lupa!
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