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New user
Posts: 2
| hi, i'm new to the forum today. i'm real interested in the two-seater. here is my project. i'm currently building a 120 ft steel seagoing trimaran. ( motor-sailer)
we are planning to circumnavigate, and explore several remote regions, including outlying islands in the antarctic circle, like Georgia, for example.
a miniature pad is being designed in on the stern. the helicopter would be stored in a watertight fiberglass container. i've got a million questions, and i could write a book on them, about what might or could be done to customize a mosquito for this.
one novel concern is the deck, i might take off in a clam, but come back to a pitching deck. the concern i have, is not landing on it, it's STAYING on it long enough to secure the bird. i've considered everything from an electromagnet to a hooking mechanism that could be activated up landing. any thoughts? |
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Mosquito Owner
XE3 1042
Posts: 337
 
| Yep, don't land on a pitching deck, there ain't no future in it 
Skeeter |
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Mosquito Owner
MXE 1048
Posts: 189
Location: Caloundra QLD Australia | Further to what Skeeter said: Anything more than 2-3 degrees is poison.
I once landed on a hatch cover at sea - before I knew the danger - in a JetRanger and nearly rolled it over. Into the sea.
Then I worked for years on the North Sea and 3 degrees was the limit. Hope you have a REAL big SHIP!
Rob1 |
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 551
Location: Uvalde, Texas 78801 | Hey Rob1 and Skeeter, how's it going guys? I was watching one of my favorite
shows "Whale Wars" the other evening, and was surprised at the amount of rolling and pitching the large boat, "The Steve Irwin" does. Yet that little chopper would come in and set right down, and I think apply just a touch of negitive pitch, or at least zero pitch. Seemed to stabilize the thing and then they'd secure it to the deck before winching it into it's little hangar. So, that's all I know, and I really don't know a thing about the amount of degrees the Irwin was doing. May not have been that much, but it sure looked like it was judging from the boat relative to the swells.
Now for me, myself, no way. Born and raised in Texas, I like everything flat! Well, almost everything.
Rob2 |
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 43
Location: Lisbon, OH | An electromagnet big enough to do you any good may cause a magnetic field big enough to kill the electronic ignition of the helicopter.... not a good idea.
Putting the landing pad in the middle of the boat would be the most stable place, but since that's usually the cabin location, at least keep it in the center of the rear.
I'd think having the pilot wear a survival suit on take-off would be wise, and the ability of the pilot would be extremely important... no 50 hour pilot for this job.
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 551
Location: Uvalde, Texas 78801 | I would think that floats, no matter how contraversial or inefficiant, would also be in order.
Rob2 |
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Veteran
Posts: 233
| I agree that it should not be done, but with that said, lets get to your question. Magnets would be very bad just for the electrical components and their memory. A hook is one idea buy not one i would go with also. The size of the boat will help a lot. It shouldnt be pitching and rolling very fast due to the size and weight. I would get with Mr. Uptigrove and talk about a way to lower the aircraft to only a few incheses (the less the better) from the ground. This would mean that you could only land on an improved surface. Also, you would want to make the skids as wide as possible yet narrow enough to fit on the boat. This should give you a great improvement in Center of Gravity (CG). I would also point out that your bow will most likely always be pointing into the wind when anchored or underway. As you approach from the rear or 45 degrees off the stern, keep in mind that once you are close enough to the cabin/cockpit of the boat, you are going to lose ETL and requir a large power demand not to crash. Also i would encourage you to read the "Air flow in a Hover" thread. Note what can happen when in close proximity to a wall while hovering. |
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New user
Posts: 4
Location: Neah Bay, WA |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beartrap...
http://www.readyayeready.com/timeline...
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/... |
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 281
Location: Southern Oregon USA | Make a 20 foot diameter round bowl. Put rollers on the 3 landing pads of a Mosquito Air. Takeoff and land in the bowl. I'm pretty sure this has never been done and probably won't work. It's like a 3D spherical rocker - and not flat. Most of the best things in life are not flat. |
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 551
Location: Uvalde, Texas 78801 | Wow Larry! Now that took some heavy thought! A bowl, a spherical
rocker (I like that!). Not sure about the overall concept, but like you said, probably hasn't been tried, so who knows!
You flying your "TURBINE AIR" yet? I've all but stopped for the time being.
C U L8-ter.
Rob2 |
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Member
Posts: 21
Location: Orange Park, FL | I'm partial to burl's third link above. I did that for ten years in the Navy. Unfotunately, that is a VERY expensive system. Landing on a moving deck during the day presents several challenges. 1) Keeping the helicopter over the landing spot as the deck rolls, pitches and yaws beneath the helicopter. On smaller ships (say frigate size and smaller) the stern can move around quite a bit, The tensioned cable on the RAST system the Navy uses keeps the helicopter centered over the trap while hovering. Also, the RAST capable ships have a horizon bar to aid in identifying a wings level attitude while hovering close to the superstructure without sight of the natural horizon. Without a steady horizon, a pilot will end up following the movement of the ship and will have great difficulty holding a steady hover. 2) Landing the helicopter on a slope that may exceed its static and or dynamic rollover limits. With the RAST system, the additional tension applied during landing pulls the hellicopter down from underneath, artificially lowering the center of gravity of the helicopter while pulling it down to the deck. Once on deck, the trap is activated by another pilot on the ship and it locks the helo in place. 3) Keeping the helicopter attached to the deck and upright prior to takeoff and after landing. The RAST trap holds the helicopter on deck during startup and shutdown. It also slides on a track for traversing the helicopter in and out of the hangar. I have been in the helicopter while waiting to shut down as the ship made a turn. One main landing gear actually raised off the deck as the other compressed. All the time the trap held the helicopter down on deck. |
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New user
Posts: 2
| hi, thanks for all the responses! we are hoping not to have an account of a night landing, underway, in a bobbing cork landing in our obituary! i like the bowl idea and will look at those links. the boat is 120 ft steel sailing trimaran, with the landing pad center aft. we are hoping for most times that we are able to beach the the stern and fly in and out from there, but absent that, we wouldn;t take off unless we knew we had calm seas. the pontoons are an excellent thought, if need be, could land in the drink and fish it in with a line. |
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 551
Location: Uvalde, Texas 78801 | Whoa! I'm sorry but I did't mean to imply the use of the pontoons for fishing etc. They would be for emergencys only. Some of the guys on the forum can tell you about floats
and the dangers associated with them.
Rob2 |
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Mosquito Owner
MXE 1048
Posts: 189
Location: Caloundra QLD Australia | Capsize.
One word says it all
Edited by Rob Hall 7/31/2010 2:06 AM
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Mosquito Owner
Posts: 551
Location: Uvalde, Texas 78801 | Rob Hall - 7/31/2010 4:05 AM
Capsize.
One word says it all
YES |
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Member
Posts: 27
Location: Bartlett, TN USA | Check this:
http://www.vortechonline.com/specials...
or
http://www.vortechonline.com/specials... |
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