CH-53 and CH-54

[Hobbes]

Have any of you seen the recent National Geographic program "Aircrane: Extreme Helicopter", part of the 'Man-Made' series?

It features the S-64 civilian version of the CH-54:


It's worth watching, lots of footage of fancy flying with these beasts.

Apparently, one user of army surplus CH-54s was so impressed with it that they purchased a Type Certificate from Sikorsky and are now allowed to produce new CH-54s. Order yours here 

[elmayerle]

Yep, Erickson is regarded favorably in Stratford.  They still occassionally deal with Silorsky to sort out the odd problem or so.  The folks in Stratford are proud of what's being done with their "baby".

[jcf]

To be accurate S-64 is the Sikorsky model designation.
CH-54 is the military designation of the S-64A, the civil aircraft is the S-64E.

[blue520]

Was there any examination of arming the CH-54 beyond dropping large ordnance like the BLU-82 (daisy cutter) for landing zone clearance?

Just thinking that a CH-54 with an armoured cockpit and a GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon would be a interesting match-up, or would it just be infeasible due to the amount of power involved when fired causing instability and there for inaccuracy.
Other issues I can see is how to mount the GAU-8/ammo drum while maintaining balance and not cause the Aircrew to go deaf. 

[coolpop6307]

I just wanted to bring this up since I was working on the rotodyne skycrane and see if anyone else had some wonderful ideas for the skycrane.

Thanks
   Joshua

[McColm]

I was thinking of an AEW version of the CH-53, using the 'dustbin' from a Airfix Sea King kit and painting it in Royal Navy colours. Parts from a Revell Rotor Dyne have been fitted to a Revell CH-54 in another build.

[John21]

Lol, didn't that site in the defunct geocities link used to belong to good old "sparky" of armor magazine and the Tank-net forum? I always figured we retired the sky-cranes way to early, I'm sure with up-rated engines and a few survivability features like flares and light armor that can/could still have a use in today's conflicts.

[rickshaw]

Lol, didn't that site in the defunct geocities link used to belong to good old "sparky" of armor magazine and the Tank-net forum? I always figured we retired the sky-cranes way to early, I'm sure with up-rated engines and a few survivability features like flares and light armor that can/could still have a use in today's conflicts.

Problem was, the US Army went to an "armour heavy" mix after Vietnam and the utility of the Skycrane in that sort of force was limited.   Once they turned back to an "armour light" mix in the 2000s, there were other choppers which could lift as much or more.   What perhaps they should have done was bought some Mi26s from Russia.

We use the improved Ericsson Skycranes downunder to fight bushfires.   They've been quite successful in and around Sydney in the gullies and ridges.  They lease them for six months of the year.  The other half of the year they spend in the US, fighting forest fires there.   The Victorian state government last year leased one as well, as a response to the devastating "Black Saturday" bushfires in 2009 where 173 people lost their lives.   

[PR19_Kit]

Do they FLY them out to Oz and back each year, or send them by ship or An-124? That's a LONG way for a chopper flight!

[rickshaw]

Do they FLY them out to Oz and back each year, or send them by ship or An-124? That's a LONG way for a chopper flight!

An-124 I think.  Apparently they disassemble and re-assemble very quickly.  Off come the rotors, off come the engines and transmission and off come the rear undercarriage and onto a trolley.

[jcf]

By ship, press blurb from ANL dated June 26, 2012:
http://www.anl.com.au/docs/showcase/Erickson%20Skycranes.pdf

http://www.anl.com.au/index.php

[AS.12]

Digging-around to see what info I can find about the Austrian selection of the S-65.  Always seemed to me like "too much helicopter" for them, and they sold the pair onto Israel barely a decade later.

This Flight article mentions the S-65Oe being ordered, but no explanation why.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1969/1969%20-%201966.html

I would assume that the Vertol Chinook series were contenders.  Anything else?  Super Frelon has suitable cabin but SAAF found it wheezy at altitude.

[SebastianP]

While we're on the topic of the H-53 family, has anyone given any thought to converting a CH-53E or MH-53E into an SH-53, with a belly mounted search radar, dipping sonar, RHAWS sensors, and torpedoes/depth charges? I'm thinking that either an SH-60 or a Merlin would be a nice place to loot some of the gear from, or an SH-3. (The SH-53 would be powerful enough to carry air-dropped Mk48s... o.O )

[Father Ennis]

Just this past weekend,I got to see one of those in action. It was in Tulsa to put a/c units on top of a very tall building in downtown. It would park in the parking lot between lifts !!!  Small lot with buildings on three sides ,tricky but during the TV interview the pilote said "it was easy. We do it all the time, we're used to the crosswinds of buildings.". It was very impressive ,if noisy !!!

[Captain Canada]

One flew over us whil we were working out in a field a few years back. The noise ! It was low and fast, and the angle with which she flies was truly incredible ! In truth. it was almost  creepy, like a giant bug  !