Chinook in the sea……

I can’t view your pic at the moment, but we used to regularly view Chinooks dipping into the sea at Watergate bay, launching and recovering boats with special people on. Great to watch as the plume coming of the water got bigger and bigger.

They do indeed get a full wash down afterwards…

I don’t think a helicopter would necessarily have to land in the water to need a wash. Any helicopter would need it after a low hover over the sea because of the salt spray kicked up by the rotor wash. Hovering over the North Sea in a Woodbridge-based HH-53 was almost like being in a snowstorm with the reduced visability.

When I attended the USAF Ocean Survival school, after landing in the ocean (via parasail) you had to inflate a dinghy and await a helicopter.
They’d hover over you and winch you to the door….then lower you back down because they didn’t want to get that much salt water in the aircraft.
They’d fly off, leaving you quite alone to wait for a launch to pick you up.
Fun stuff…:D

They do indeed get a full wash down afterwards (as do the SF Hercules after their beach landings / take offs), I’ve seen them doing this in quite choppy conditions, but as the aircraft approaches and settles in the water the wash from the rotors calms the water around it.
One thing I hadn’t realised is how little room there is for the ALMs in the back when those RIBs come speeding in!

doesn’t save them being washed as on return to base they’d probably need a desalination wash on the wash pan

saves having to wash them I suppose, have any ever got a bit too low and ended up ditching to anyone’s knowledge?

Blimey.. that reminds me of the Mini Coopers going into the back of the coach in the original Italian Job movie. That salt water can’t be much good for the airframe though i would’nt of thought.

If designed for the job im sure the metal airframe is up to scratch with a “little” salt water, was more like a tidal wave.!

Blimey.. that reminds me of the Mini Coopers going into the back of the coach in the original Italian Job movie. That salt water can’t be much good for the airframe though i would’nt of thought.

They do indeed get a full wash down afterwards (as do the SF Hercules after their beach landings / take offs), I’ve seen them doing this in quite choppy conditions, but as the aircraft approaches and settles in the water the wash from the rotors calms the water around it.
One thing I hadn’t realised is how little room there is for the ALMs in the back when those RIBs come speeding in!

Well having done Majors on SF C-130’s after they’ve been used to recover boats and do beach landings I can categorically state that washing down doesn’t work!
The last one I worked on required 8 lower beam caps and 7 belly skins due to corrosion!

Hi guys
On SARWING Wessex the aircraft were washed and sprayed with PX24 every 3 days whether they had flown or not. Just for the coastal envoirenment if they had been winching from the sea I think it was after every flight
Rgards

Jon

Just look at the water colour – real ale brown, that’s a lake not seawater.
What you don’t see is the bow wave making its way up the fuselage towards all the electrics at the front. 😮

If I’m correct this may not be sea water, because a few years back tests took place here in North Wales on a lake up in the hills. For about a week or so, remember it well cos the Chinook flew straight over the top of my house on the way to the lake.

Paul

Not saying that it works but I have seen both types washed down after these SF ops. It seems slightly superficial given the grand scheme of things, but I guess it gets most of the accessible deposits off.

JB, having worked on a SAR and maritime base I know aircraft need regular wash downs, Nimrods get them and they don’t get quite that close to the sea! Just being parked at some coastal stations is enough to attract a salt build up on the structure.

They do indeed get a full wash down afterwards

Not too critical in this case (see comment below).

One thing I hadn’t realised is how little room there is for the ALMs in the back when those RIBs come speeding in!

That’s because it is NOT a CH-47 Chinook… it is a CH-46 Sea Knight.

While they look similar to Chinooks, they are much smaller (carry ~2/3 the personnel or half the payload weight).

You know, the ones the USMC & USN operate from ship (and which are fully marinized with corrosion-resistant materials, coatings, and increased anti-corrosion maintenance schedules.

This was discussed on another forum recently, and several former RAF Chinook crew agreed it was not a Wokka, being too narrow, and with too low an overhead (as well as other differences).

Don’t feel too bad, though… the “Official website of US Army Aviation” has two pics of CH-46s (one USN & one USMC) that are labeled “CH-47”, so even those who should know better confuse the two.

CH-47s:

CH-46: