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stephen1547 t1_ixbx68s wrote

Yeah… don’t do an 80° bank in a Robinson. Or most helicopters actually.

Edit - Let's call it 65°

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alaskafish t1_ixcgxcl wrote

Pilot here.

Guarantee that’s not even close to an 80° bank. It looks that way because the camera being held is probably co-seat’s phone.

Secondly, you can do an 80° bank. FAA says it’s completely fine, though 60° is better for beginners to learn.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at, perhaps Reddit fear mongering. Airplanes and helicopters are designed to go through a lot worse.

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Jesus_Hong t1_ixcj8cd wrote

Yup. I fly in R44s for some of my work and our pilots regularly bank like that lol. She'll be fiiiiine. It ain't even close to 80°

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stephen1547 t1_ixd73yz wrote

If you are working in an R44 and your pilot is doing greater than 80° turns with passengers on board, they are frankly an idiot, and this is coming from another helicopter pilot. If I did that even on a bush utility job with passengers and my chief pilot found out I would be in some shit.

Have a look at the attitude indicator next time. My guess is that you aren’t actually baking that hard. A quickly inducted 45° turn can feel very strep. The guy in this video was doing around 75-80 (look at the attitude indicator).

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Jesus_Hong t1_ixd9d8h wrote

That isn't an 80° bank, my guy lol. That's maybe 45, 50. Our pilots are younger, but they are good. I pinky promise.

Though you're right, we don't bank harder than THIS clip, but we do bank hard for specific reasons (e.g. lidar stuff), albeit with minimal payload

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stephen1547 t1_ixdbkrr wrote

I do want to change my observation. It looks like he is only at about 65* or so degrees. Have a look at the ADI. The last white line is the 60* and he goes past that. Still too aggressive for normal flying around a city.

Nothing wrong with baking 45-50 degrees for utility/production stuff if you need to get the job done efficiently. But I highly doubt you guys are doing greater than 60* turns. Have a peak next time and see. My guess is they cap it around 45 degrees.

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Jesus_Hong t1_ixdhogb wrote

No, I'd agree to that. We likely don't go much over 50, 55 tops in sharp turns. R44s are little airborne tractors, so anything excessive will make you pucker up pretty hard.

It's hard to tell from this one. Maybe aggressive for a civvy flight, but 🤷‍♂️

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gazongagizmo t1_ixesrml wrote

> Have a look at the attitude indicator next time.

Not with that altitude, young man!

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housebottle t1_ixckll5 wrote

are you allowed to fly over the city like that if you have a licence?

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alaskafish t1_ixctve9 wrote

Yes and no. It depends on clearance. For instance you can fly freely without squawking over the Hudson River right alongside the Manhattan skyline. There are routes where you have to get clearance for prior. I’m assuming this pilot is one of many who fly VIPs around LA, since that’s a place full of that

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stephen1547 t1_ixd6hww wrote

I’m also a pilot.

In fact I’m a commercial helicopter pilot holding an ATPL license. I'm adjusting my observation to be a 65° turn. Had a better look at the video on my computer vs my phone, and I can see the ADI go past the 60° white mark while still turning a bit more as it goes out of view.

A turn this steep can be dangerous due so the high G-loading of the disc, as well as the risk of getting into a low-g situation and inducing mast-bumping.

Doing aerodynamic moves in a two-bladed teetering hinge rotor system like the Robby is always a great way to get killed. Although 65 degrees is substantially less dumb than the 80 as I originally stated.

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HauserAspen t1_ixctakf wrote

Possible low-gee situation in a Robinson. Not something for a noob.

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alaskafish t1_ixcugys wrote

Thanks for the input, but why are people assuming the pilot is a noob?

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emmettiow t1_ixcdqlj wrote

If you do, make sure it's at 200' over a built up area with no landing options for extra fun factor.

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