Things have been a little sedate on the helo forum of late. In an attempt to liven things up and provide new inspiration I propose a thread dedicated to all the jobs Hueys have been put to over the years. We’ve basically focused only on Vietnam birds but there are a lot more colorful Hueys doing civilian work. I thought we could post a photo of a Huey performing the job and a description. I will keep a running tally here so you don’t have to read the whole thread to know if your idea has already been posted.
Ray
I’ll start with a Bell 205 of the King County Sherrif’s Office. Caption says “King County Sheriff’s Huey, newly fitted with the Boundary Layer Reserach Fast Fin and Tailboom Strake modifications. These modifications reduce the power required by the tail rotor and improve tail rotor effectiveness.”
One reason, I think, is that there are other helicopters out there besides the Huey. Oh my gosh!!! Blasphemy!!! Why not open the discussion to a variety of retired military helos doing civilian work?
I’ve got lots of Hueys and others. But, I can always use more.
But, I’ll start with Hueys and see where the thread goes from there.
Hevilift of Australia.
3 from the California Division of Forestry.
And, Los Angeles County.
Gee! Who woulda thunk I’d come up with fire fighting? [:D]
Thanks for the pics and getting this thread started! I know there are lots of other helos than just Hueys, but I like Hueys and I was curious just how many tasks the old girl has been put to over the years. You may recall that there was a thread started for Vietnam era non-Hueys. Why not start one yourself? I’ll leave it to the Blackhawk fans, Heavylift fans, etc. to start their own thread. I would be curious to see if any other single type of helo has been put to as many uses as the Huey, however. Besides, I think there are more kits in more scales of the Huey than any other single helo so there should be inspiration for everyone from the HO modeler to the super-detailer who wants a 1/24 scale firefighting bird. However, I will admit I’m a little biased!
Ray
Edit: How about we open the floor to Vietnam Era birds that have been put to other uses? I say this because I just found thsi video of a Hughes 500 that officially qualifies as the coolest thing i have seen a helicopter do in a while. Now this pilot has some SKILLS!
Thanks for the pics!! I guess you like firefighters like I like Hueys of all kinds. Sorry about the link. The video still works fine for me, but here is the original YouTube link:
It’s not water. I believe it’s Phos-Chek®. But, I’m not positive. I know they were experimenting with different dyes at one time. It’s to make it more visible to help the pilots in alignment for the next drop.
Phos-Chek® is normally red but, it has been used in it’s undyed form which is an off-white. They also have a red dye that turns to a neutral color after a period of time. It is normally used ahead of the fire and on vegetation around structures. I have seen pictures of them dropping it directly on structures to protect them, also. Sort of a chemical fire break.
Phos-Chek® also serves as a fertilizer to promote rapid regrowth to avoid erosion.
The blue is usually gel, it is a water based foam product, thicker than water or foam but not as long lasting as retardant (phoschek). I think they chose blue to make it easier to tell it apart from the phoschek for evaluation purposes. CDF was evaluating gel in their S2T airtankers for a couple of years, not sure if it is still being used or not. It was found to be effective in light fuels like grass but not as good as retardant in heavy brush or timber.
The undyed phoschek is not very common but when it is used its usually in wilderness areas so it doesn’t stain the rocks red.
For the original post
Rescue
This is Yosemite Helitack 551 and it does it all, law enforcement, search and rescue, rescue, medivac and fire. Here they are short hauling an injured climber off a ledge.
Lemoore used to be a regular visitor but their rescue unit got closed down a few years ago (2002 or so). CHP has picked up the slack and we get them in the park quite a bit between actual use and training.
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