Cargo flight
The transport of loads that are attached to the outside of a helicopter is called cargo flight . The term external cargo flight is also common for the air transport of civilian external loads. A distinction is made between passenger flights , air rescue by helicopter and the carrying of external military loads such as reconnaissance containers and drop tanks .
Helicopter as a replacement for crane
In inaccessible areas, in unsuitable ground conditions or at great heights, setting up a crane or driving over with a truck crane is not possible or unsuitable. In these conditions, a helicopter can act as a load lifter. Especially when the load only needs to be lifted or maneuvered once. If, for example, an inaccessible building project is located within a nature reserve or on a mountain with no access road, the required building material can be flown in by helicopter. Other areas of application for cargo flights are the removal of felled trees from impassable forests, the supply of alpine pastures and huts in the mountains and the liming of large forest areas. In most cases loads up to a total weight of 5 tons are transported.
In 2012 a helicopter in Wuppertal transported special concrete during the renovation of the chimney top of a heating power plant at a height of 200 meters. This cargo flight was necessary in order to be able to lay the concrete as quickly as possible. The power plant could only be switched off for a few hours.
Assembly flight
When setting up antennas, cranes and other high or high structures, helicopters can transport assembly parts and maneuver them on the construction site to make assembly work easier. In 2014, a wind measuring mast was erected on an 872 meter high plateau in the Reutlingen district with the help of a helicopter. Another example is the installation of air conditioning on high-rise buildings. This can be done quickly and economically by helicopter. Here, the load suspended under the helicopter is flown directly onto the high-rise roof and assembled and put into operation at its destination by fitters on site.
Special missions
In spring 2014, Swiss army helicopters supported the emergency services during the severe floods in Bosnia-Herzegovina . With their help, a dam was repaired. 18 cargo flights with 23 tons of material and drinking water were carried out.
External load harness
The entire substructure on the helicopter, which is used to transport loads, is called the external load harness. For every type of assembly and cargo flight, the required crockery must be designed in advance according to the use for the expected load.
Freight flight by helicopter
A cargo flight is usually the transport of cargo within the cabin or cockpit of the helicopter. This type of transport (helicurier) is used in the area of production security for the automotive industry. With its flexibility, the helicopter can land directly at the respective production site and deliver urgently needed spare parts without wasting time. On cargo flights, the nature of the goods (weight and dimensions) must be carefully observed. For larger shipments, the seating can be removed from the helicopter.
Aircraft
Helicopters that are equipped to take on external loads are called crane helicopters . Common designs are Sikorsky S-64 , Mil Mi-10 and Mil Mi-32 as well as Kaman K-Max . These aircraft have a driver's seat that can be swiveled towards the external load.
Accidents
In August 1998 a German Bo 105 police helicopter had an accident . As part of an exercise by the diving group of a hundred police force, during which the rescue of people swimming in the water was simulated, the external load vibrated so strongly that the load rope came into contact with the main rotor. As a result, three of the four rotor blades broke off in flight. The helicopter hit the water and sank. All five people on board were killed. "The accident was caused by the fact that the connecting cable between the load hook and the below the helicopter-mounted rescue operations network, came into the main rotor after the external load had fallen into vibrations that increased uncontrollably." On September 5, 2005 had in the ski resort Sölden in Tyrol Ötztal, a helicopter lost a 750 kilogram concrete bucket that fell on a cable car. Nine people were killed. At the end of September 2009 a 600 kilogram concrete part fell from a height of 50 meters from a helicopter in Defereggental, Austria . Nobody was hurt. Also in East Tyrol in 2013, a pallet with bricks and plastic pipes fell from a height of 1500 meters on a stream embankment when the load hook opened. There was no personal injury.
literature
- Mads Andersen: Super fliers in the world: the most sensational aircraft of all time . Bassermann, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8094-2347-8 , pp. 165–185 ( d-nb.info [accessed February 23, 2016]).
Web links
- The cargo plane - five tons under the helicopter (documentary HD) on YouTube video (47:35)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Spectacular chimney renovation at a height of 200 meters. (No longer available online.) Concrete Information Center, July 4, 2012, archived from the original on February 23, 2016 ; accessed on February 23, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Marion Schrade: Construction site between heaven and earth. Reutlinger General-Anzeiger, August 22, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Swiss army helicopters provide support in Bosnia-Herzegovina. admin.ch , May 21, 2014, accessed on July 14, 2019 .
- ^ Wolfgang Näser: Aviation Technical Glossary English-German. (No longer available online.) University of Marburg, August 2004, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved on February 23, 2016 (No. 265). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Airbus Helicopter BO 105. DLR flight experiments, accessed on February 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Sikorsky S-64 & S-65. Airvector.net, accessed on February 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Mi-32 helicopter. Globalsecurity.org, accessed February 23, 2016 .
- ↑ K-Max. Kaman Aerosystems, accessed February 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Investigation report. (PDF) Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU), September 2003, p. 14 , accessed on February 23, 2016 (Annex 6).
- ^ Next accident at Salzburg Heli. OE24.at, October 6, 2009, accessed on February 23, 2016 .
- ↑ 1.1 T load crashes to the ground during helicopter flight. Today.at, June 7, 2013, accessed on April 11, 2020 .
