Chinook stuck in the mud

[tiermat]

Uxbridge? The RAF station (never an airfield) closed in 2010. The 7th SOC Sqn at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk is the only unit in UK that is home to the V-22. I'm not sure what the European Air Command Centre is, or why it should attract V-22s.

Shows how out of date my info is.  Back in the days when I worked in Uxbridge Ospreys were regular flyovers.

As for the other thing, RAF Leeming FYI

[Jaded]

Here we do get whomp-whomp-whomps going over, but far more of the tooled up dangerous looking things going to Fairford.

[Regulator]

We mainly get the various air ambulance choppers over our house (we're on the flightpath to Addenbrookes) but we do get the occasional military chopper - either going to Marshalls (albeit for not much longer) or from one of the various bases in the East of England. Last saw a Chinook last year.  We mainly get Sikorsky-style choppers (I'm quite possibly wrong in the description) or the odd Apache.

[nicknack]

Whirlybirds are fairly common round here. Air ambulance, police looking for prison absconders, coastguards looking for distressed sailors or unwise ramblers stuck in our super sticky mud, and the occasional pair of Chinooks trundling down the North Kent coast.

[orraloon]

I got buzzed by a Chinook a few months back.  I was on the Ridgeway above Harwell on my gravel mud bike.  Heard the thump - thump getting louder, then there it was about a 100m to my left, flying level with me.  Must have come up over the ridge and started to drop back down into the Valley.  Caused a certain sensation in me.

[Regulator]

I got buzzed by a Chinook a few months back.  I was on the Ridgeway above Harwell on my gravel mud bike.  Heard the thump - thump getting louder, then there it was about a 100m to my left, flying level with me.  Must have come up over the ridge and started to drop back down into the Valley.  Caused a certain sensation in me.

Admit it...  you tried racing it, didn't you?   

[Jaded]

Not sure if this will work...

Chinook

doesn't have sound for me... but there is sound there.

I've changed the link - should open in a new window

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Given the power they have I would have thought that they could just take off from the bogged down situation?

..

Unless it was fully laden. Guess it would be hard to unload in those conditions.

[TimC]

Uxbridge? The RAF station (never an airfield) closed in 2010. The 7th SOC Sqn at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk is the only unit in UK that is home to the V-22. I'm not sure what the European Air Command Centre is, or why it should attract V-22s.

Shows how out of date my info is.  Back in the days when I worked in Uxbridge Ospreys were regular flyovers.

As for the other thing, RAF Leeming FYI

RAF Leeming's current units (Yorkshire Universities Air Sqn is shortly due to move in to join Northumbrian):

No. 1 Group (Air Combat) RAF

    No. 100 Squadron – Hawk T1A
    Joint Forward Air Control Training and Standardisation Unit (JFACTSU)
    No. 607 (County of Durham) Squadron (Royal Auxiliary Air Force)

No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) RAF

    No. 2 RAF Force Protection Wing
        No. 2 Force Protection Wing Headquarters
        No. 34 Squadron RAF Regiment
        No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron (Royal Auxiliary Air Force) Regiment

No. 22 Group (Training) RAF

    No. 11 Air Experience Flight – Tutor T1
    Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron – Tutor T1
    Operational Training Centre[34]

No. 38 Group (Air Combat Service Support) RAF

    No. 90 Signals Unit
        Operational Information Services Wing
            No. 1 (Engineering Support) Squadron
            No. 5 (Information Services) Squadron
            Capability and Innovation Squadron
            Operations Squadron
        Tactical Communications Wing
            No. 2 Field Communications Squadron
            No. 3 Field Communications Squadron
            No. 4 Field Communications Squadron
    RAF Leeming Mountain Rescue Team (MRT)

I've never heard of a 'European Air Command Centre' and there's no mention of such an organisation on Wikipedia or the RAF's site.

[JonBuoy]

Some more details of the recovery operation: https://www.forces.net/news/chinook-stuck-mud-leaves-oxfordshire-raf-benson

[Regulator]

Wasn't 'European Air Command Centre' or something similar a US military thing that used to be in Germany?

[tiermat]

@TimC. I swear I saw an article in the local rag (when we used to get them).  Must be mistaken Told you my RAF history etc was a bit carp.

Thanks for the details of who lives there now.  All I know is that one noisy bunch bugger off to be replaced by another.

<shrugs>

Meh

[Wobbly John]

Given the power they have I would have thought that they could just take off from the bogged down situation?

The undercarraige is probably optimised for supporting the mass above it rather than resisting the pulling force of the rotors - The Chinook may have enough power to damage itself if anchored by it's wheels...

[spesh]

Given the power they have I would have thought that they could just take off from the bogged down situation?

The undercarraige is probably optimised for supporting the mass above it rather than resisting the pulling force of the rotors - The Chinook may have enough power to damage itself if anchored by it's wheels...

Ground resonance, y'all:

Ground resonance is an imbalance in the rotation of a helicopter rotor when the blades become bunched up on one side of their rotational plane and cause an oscillation in phase with the frequency of the rocking of the helicopter on its landing gear. The effect is similar to the behavior of a washing machine when the clothes are concentrated in one place during the spin cycle. It occurs when the landing gear is prevented from freely moving about on the horizontal plane, typically when the aircraft is on the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_resonance

Here are a couple of videos of a Wokka in a ground resonance test:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RihcJR0zvfM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-LFLV47VAbI

[JonBuoy]

Given the power they have I would have thought that they could just take off from the bogged down situation?

The undercarraige is probably optimised for supporting the mass above it rather than resisting the pulling force of the rotors - The Chinook may have enough power to damage itself if anchored by it's wheels...

Ground resonance, y'all:

Ground resonance is an imbalance in the rotation of a helicopter rotor when the blades become bunched up on one side of their rotational plane and cause an oscillation in phase with the frequency of the rocking of the helicopter on its landing gear. The effect is similar to the behavior of a washing machine when the clothes are concentrated in one place during the spin cycle. It occurs when the landing gear is prevented from freely moving about on the horizontal plane, typically when the aircraft is on the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_resonance

Here are a couple of videos of a Wokka in a ground resonance test:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RihcJR0zvfM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-LFLV47VAbI

That definitely looks sub-optimal   

[TimC]

Wasn't 'European Air Command Centre' or something similar a US military thing that used to be in Germany?

The United States Europe Command has recently moved from Stuttgart to Belgium, and is the seat of SACEUR. The move was part of Trump's revenge on Germany for not spending enough on NATO, and was tied to the removal of 12,000 US military personnel from Germany (incidentally guaranteeing the future of RAF Mildenhall through the 2020s).

@TimC. I swear I saw an article in the local rag (when we used to get them).  Must be mistaken Told you my RAF history etc was a bit carp.

Thanks for the details of who lives there now.  All I know is that one noisy bunch bugger off to be replaced by another.

<shrugs>

Meh

You lost the (extremely noisy) Tornados of 11, 23 and 25 Sqns about 15-18 years ago. The (quieter) Hawks of 100 Sqn have been there for many years. The University Air Sqns fly little puddle-jumpers (currently Tutors but being replaced by something equally plastic and farty-noised); Northumbrian has been there for about 40 years, and Yorkshire (which I used to be Chief Instructor on) is moving up from Linton on Ouse as it closes. You just missed out on the Red Arrows coming to live there, but they've gone to Waddington just the other side of Lincoln from Scampton where they're moving from.

My guess is that the 100 Sqn Hawks have only five years or so of life left in them, and they'll be replaced by a civilian contract based at one of the under-used civilian airports in the north-east. Leeming will close at that point, and the several ground units will move to Catterick - where they'll build a whole load more new accommodation for them. I don't see the UAS system lasting very much longer either - I might bid to buy one of their little put-puts when they fold!

[SteveC]

Working next to the Westland aerodrome we get quite a lot of helicopter traffic. An Apache going past the windows lower than the level of our roof is quite a sight.
We occasionally get Chinooks over as the aerodrome is one of the fairly few places helicopters can do certain types of test flying. If one goes overhead, the entire three-storey building shakes. Very impressive.

[Jurek]

The only "helicopter" that I hear regularly around here that is noisier is the Osprey

May I ask where there are Ospreys in the UK?

Chinooks regularly take the route up the Thames in London. Fair shakes the windows.

We used to get regular lunchtime visits from them flying down the Lea Valley, though I ent noticed them recently.  I think they were keeping an eye on Jurek.

I confess to quite enjoying every item on the desk bouncing around as they passed overhead.
These days I'm esconced in Londres Sud, and well south of Woolwich Barracks - so, a bit out of reach.
The only place I've ever seen airborne Ospreys was over south east Kent.

[ElyDave]

Given the power they have I would have thought that they could just take off from the bogged down situation?

The undercarraige is probably optimised for supporting the mass above it rather than resisting the pulling force of the rotors - The Chinook may have enough power to damage itself if anchored by it's wheels...

Ground resonance, y'all:

Ground resonance is an imbalance in the rotation of a helicopter rotor when the blades become bunched up on one side of their rotational plane and cause an oscillation in phase with the frequency of the rocking of the helicopter on its landing gear. The effect is similar to the behavior of a washing machine when the clothes are concentrated in one place during the spin cycle. It occurs when the landing gear is prevented from freely moving about on the horizontal plane, typically when the aircraft is on the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_resonance

Here are a couple of videos of a Wokka in a ground resonance test:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RihcJR0zvfM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-LFLV47VAbI

I was just thinking "that looks like it could break things" when bits started to fall off.

Another reason to not like helicopters.

[rogerzilla]

If you just spool it up to maximum power, you get the same effect as when your welly is stuck in mud and you pull hard.  You get your foot back, and a sock if you're lucky, but no welly.

[Davef]

If you just spool it up to maximum power, you get the same effect as when your welly is stuck in mud and you pull hard.  You get your foot back, and a sock if you're lucky, but no welly.

Having looked at the ground resonance test video above, it is more akin to pulling hard and your leg coming off at the knee and arterial blood spraying everywhere.

[Giraffe]

Not far from home I was riding along minding my own business when a Chinook caught up. It was about a hundred feet up and doing around 25 mph ground speed - I was doing about 15. I did race it but a) too fast for me and b) in the pile-driver/pile scenario I was on the losing end.

[De Sisti]

RAF Leeming's current units (Yorkshire Universities Air Sqn is shortly due to move in to join Northumbrian):
        No. 34 Squadron RAF Regiment        Tactical Communications Wing

No. 34 Squadron RAF Regiment:

Used to be at Akortiri when I was in the mob.

Tactical Communications Wing (TCW)

I once served on TCW when it was at Brize Norton.

[Wombat]

The only "helicopter" that I hear regularly around here that is noisier is the Osprey

May I ask where there are Ospreys in the UK?

Chinooks regularly take the route up the Thames in London. Fair shakes the windows.

Uxbridge mainly

I believe Dave is in the flatlands which would make some kind of sense, airfield wise

Uxbridge? The RAF station (never an airfield) closed in 2010. The 7th SOC Sqn at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk is the only unit in UK that is home to the V-22. I'm not sure what the European Air Command Centre is, or why it should attract V-22s.

Hopefully we won't get any more of them flying over our house terrifying the livestock at barely above treetop height in a non-low flying zone in very rural Powys.  I'm happy to see our own defence forces training. but bloody Americans breaking the rules does not impress me.  When I queried this with the MOD low flying enquiries thing, I got a "please tell me your postcode" response, despite me giving them the exact latitude and longitude in the initial enquiry. "how close were they to this location?" between our house and next door, as I originally told you. Muppets.  Helicopters just aren't natural, and Ospreys seem to be the bastard lovechild of a Fairey Rotodyne and something out of Thunderbirds.

[orienteer]

Residents of the island of Okinawa, Japan have complained about Ospreys since they first arrived on the large US base there, not least because there have been several crashes.