Navy Pilots Caught On Camera Grounded Over Lake Stunt

Navy Pilots Caught On Camera Grounded Over Lake Stunt

SAN DIEGO -- Two Navy helicopter pilots from North Island Naval Air Station have been grounded over a YouTube video that allegedly shows them dipping the $33 million aircrafts into Lake Tahoe.

In the video taken Sept. 13, both helicopters hit the water and one seems to spin out of control and crash into the water before its pilot apparently pulls the craft back into the air.

what is strange to me is that ,how did this pilot pull his helicopter out of the water like that ? FTW ?

anyway another dumb post by Nephi

enjoy

www.liveleak.com...



Mod Edit: No Quote/Plagiarism – Please Review This Link.
Mod Edit: External Source Tags Instructions – Please Review This Link.

reply to post by Nephi1337


Cool video! Thanks for posting.

The pilot is awesome. I'm not sure every pilot could handle the helicopter like that after being in the water.

ya i was thinking the same ,was that like some kind of secret maneuver ? never have i seen that before ,maybe strange strange ,


many thanks

Nephi

Thats just totally assenine and I'm glad the Navy grounded those idiot pilots. He was LUCKY he was able to pull it out of the water before water got into the engine and stalled it out, then there would have been a wreck, possible lives lost and the loss of a multi-million dollar helicopter all for pulling a frikkin stunt like that

The helicopter doesn't enter the water. It gets hidden by the spray it's kicking up. Doesn't look out of control to me.

Originally posted by Phage
The helicopter doesn't enter the water. It gets hidden by the spray it's kicking up. Doesn't look out of control to me.

edit on 9/25/2010 by Phage because: (no reason given)

I don't think it's out of control either but the helicopter definitely did hit the water.

Originally posted by Phage
The helicopter doesn't enter the water. It gets hidden by the spray it's kicking up. Doesn't look out of control to me.

edit on 9/25/2010 by Phage because: (no reason given)

Phage as much as i would like to agree with you here ,i simply cannot ,if you look in the video the shadow serves as a reference point ,and you can clearly see that it was not the spray of the water that covers the helicopter

reply to post by Nephi1337

I see no shadow.
Simply put, a helicopter cannot submerge and recover.

Black box reveals (IMHO) Pilot sais "Ohhh Frak!" Then, "thank you God"

If anyone does not think Helicopter sometimes do not go into the water.
wn.com...

reply to post by Phage


Helicopters can come down on water and take off again, Chinook's pull a similar manoeuvre for special forces, see the video below


There are also an number of helicopters that can land and take off from water, Such as the Seadragon, Seaking etc

Wee Mad

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Nephi1337

 

I see no shadow.
Simply put, a helicopter cannot submerge and recover.

their is a shadow , you just choose not to see it ,but of course you will not claim to be wrong here in this thread , but please i urge you to look very closely at the video their is a shadow on the water ,i can edit the video and prove it to you if you would like ? and simply put who said it submerged ?

reply to post by Phage


I disagree.

I have seen another video of a helicopter submerging and recovering. It was during a rescue in choppy seas.

This video shows a helicopter rolling. The rotors may have sprayed the water up, but it started to roll, and seems to have gone under water.

Regardless, these are the kind of people who show you why show offs tend to live short lives.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan



i agree with you my good man , if you look on the video you can clearly see the shadow of the helicopter on the water witch will give you a an exact distance and point of view of how deep the chopper went into the water

reply to post by Phage


Phage...it clearly hits the water.

It splashes down, tilts backwards/side ways and backwards, and somehow gets pulled up.

I never knew helicopters could do that, but hey we got video of it happening and that these jokers are getting punished helps prove that it did indeed hit water.

settling under power, and loss of tail rotor effect, looks to me he was very lucky to have recovered the aircraft. from the video looks like he took on some water but only part of the helo was under water, turbines dont run submerged.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

....why show offs tend to live short lives.

Or, as an aviation saying sometimes goes, "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. But, there are very few OLD BOLD pilots".

The Chinook video? Clearly,the lower part of the fuselae is in the water, but it's hardly "submerged"!!

The Lake Tahoe stunt? IDK....wish there were telephoto/closer look.

Basically, since the Main Rotor never entered the water, that helped prevent disaster. I'm wondering about the tail rotor though. The blades, if they struck the water, would definately be damaged. And that impact would have reverberated back to the rotor drive mechanisms too.....

Maybe that's how the guys got nailed, on their return to base??

Originally posted by weedwhacker
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

....why show offs tend to live short lives.

Or, as an aviation saying sometimes goes, "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. But, there are very few OLD BOLD pilots".

The Chinook video? Clearly,the lower part of the fuselae is in the water, but it's hardly "submerged"!!

The Lake Tahoe stunt? IDK....wish there were telephoto/closer look.

Basically, since the Main Rotor never entered the water, that helped prevent disaster. I'm wondering about the tail rotor though. The blades, if they struck the water, would definately be damaged. And that impact would have reverberated back to the rotor drive mechanisms too.....

Maybe that's how the guys got nailed, on their return to base??

That is kind of a kicker. They were reported to have between 50k and 500k in damage to the machine.

Just like the government. So clueless that they can only estimate up to 2 decimal points. No wonder the US is broke.

From watching the video again it shows clearly that the heli hit the water heavy and rolled slightly, there must be a lot of damage to the under carriage and lower fuselage and i wouldn't be surprised if the rear roter blades are damaged to, must be a pilot with lightning reactions to get the chopper back level and off of the water before the main blades bit into the water.

The Chinook if i remember rightly can come down officially into 3ft of water, but i have seen them with the water about 2 ft below the rear engine nacelles, so probable double the official limit, it also depends on the flight model, the newer breed have larger fuel tanks which increase the square footing of the lower of the aircraft, I have also seen them land on a river and sail like a boat up the river,





Wee Mad

I would say that Seahawk pilot should be thanking his respective creator. To hit the deck (be it solid or liquid) at that rate of descent and recover is 1 in 1000. I can see why phage would want to claim hoax (I'm inclined to agree just from knowledge of the machine), as a UH60-based chopper is not built in any way, shape or form to withstand an impact with water like that. Furthermore, the seahawk is not designed to "float" at all. The only time you will see this bird in the liquid is if its crew is ditching. I am still skeptical to be honest, but the video DOES look legit.

The only explanation I can come up with is that the pilot pulled hard on the collective and the combined force of uplift from the main rotor with the "bounce" coming off the water allowed the helicopter to become airborne once again. I've taken quite a few rides in blackhawks/seahawks/even a jayhawk a couple times...if a pilot pulled this sh_t with me in-cargo, he'd be swallowing some teeth after we RTB.

And for those making the comparison to ch-47's (chinook's) or their smaller equivalants, please stop, as the two helicopters could not be more different. A chinook dipping its rear door into the surf to recover SOC teams is much different than a seahawk SUBMERGING. The chinook is a cargo-horse, and is designed to handle the force.

What I would truly enjoy is an expert video analysis that could determine the helicopter's rate od descent and subsequent ascent. That could clear up a lot in and of itself.