Folding Helo Rotor Blades For Lhds

One thing I also thought of is that now we have an "Aircraft Carriers" all for Helos at this stage are adjustments being made to any Helos from so can Army helos like the new MRH 90, Tiger ARH, CH-47 Chinook? Likewise with the RAN FAA S-70B-2 Seahawks and the Brand New MH-60R Romeos so they can be folded up so that the rotorblades all are in a straight line running along the tail rotors as to not take up so much real estate on the Flight deck or in the hanger and thus carry more A/C?

Or does our MRH 90/NH 90s already have this feature and our new CH-47Fs on order? Picture below:

(IMG:http://www.nhindustries.com/site/docs_wsw/RUB_47/NFHAF-1.jpg)

(IMG:http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc239/writchie_2007/CH-47/dnsc9501588fb3.jpg)

Regards.

They're not CVLs, but LPD's.

The Army Aircraft concerned have "manual" folding;..... take out certain number of Rotary head pins and rotate, supported by a man or woman with a Broom (I'm kidding) walking the blade back to individual blade cradle positions. Same as the procedure in putting them in a confined hanger on terra firma.

Chooks take around half an hour in practice but can be performed faster under fatherly guidance of a cranky Warrant Officer (RSM) or in fear of errant air attack.

All others take less time,..but all,..more or less depending on sea state. Plenty of erks, space and spanners on the deck to do it, unlike on a Destroyer Helio Deck where a powered folding system is a premium requirement.

On the LPD, except for the Chook,...they actually don't need to fold blades when using rear elevator as it is big enough to clear all rotor diameters, and tail rotor height,.... it may be needed only when space in the hanger is required per numbers, when it would be required.

What's needed, and our present CH-47D+'s were modified as such a few years back,..built into per CH-47Fs, are Rotor Brakes, to slow and stop the spinning of the Blades on landing to facilitate folding in a hurry, or in the Army's parlance and needs, throwing a Camouflage net over them.

Not sure per 4 "Army" bladed ARH or MRH-90's are fitted with. With either when stopped, it could only require just folding or removing two blades (90 and 270 degree), and aligning two remaining ( 0 and 180 degree)with the fuselage.

Damage can be incurred doing this de-blading repeatedly by using a crane and jib, and at $500,000 plus per blade,...not a good thing per bolt and hole tolerances wear and blade risk per dents and scratches.

Best
Gordy

I do not know why LHD is not easy to remember. The Canberra Class are LHD.

Landing Helicopter Dock.

Thanks Gordy for that info. However on the LPD, except for the Chook,...they actually don't need to fold blades when using rear elevator as it is big enough to clear all rotor diameters, and tail rotor height,.... it may be needed only when space in the hanger is required per numbers, when it would be required.

I would have thought the Chinooks take up enough real estate on the flight deck as it so turning all the rotors from both ends down along the fuselage which mean more A/C that can fit on or in the LHD.

Sorry you lost me on that one buddy, I don't know what the difference is between the the D and the F model we have on order other than it has new engines, avionics, maybe a little quicker however it can't carry as heavy a payload.

So I actually found a picture of one of our Blackhawks with folded in rotor blades:

Nice job for the Aviation mechanics to do this... :P I guess they follow the bird where she goes even be it a LHD :D


(IMG:http://www.davisaircraftproducts.com/assets/images/Blackhawk.jpg)


I have been going through pages of Google Images and have come up with no pictures of Blackhawks that can have a folding tail boom.

However the HH-60H Rescue Hawk and SH-60/HH-60H/MH-60 Seahawks can, so I'm guessing our new MH-60 Romeos will have a folding tail boom and folding rotors? Obviously not to make up such a footprint aboard the LHD deck and Hanger.

This is a picture below is of a folded Seahawk I'm pretty sure, any helicopter experts on here please correct me if I'm wrong...


(IMG:http://www.highgallery.com/carrier/carrier-sh-60/carrier-SH-7-SH-60_616_back_trak-a.jpg) B)


Pictures below:

You've got to check out this page with a cool video showing how easy and quick it is to fold up the blades and fold in the tail rotor of a NH 90 AUTOMATICALLY!, The RAN FAA has already got 6 I wonder if 808 Squadron's MRH90s can do this?


NH 90 AUTOMATICALLY folds itself up video

From research you know your *beep*
Folding the blades like you see in the pictures is not terribly complicated, but by no means is it automatic. The blade dampers have to be removed (just two bolts on each) on the blades that are going to be folded over the aircraft. Once the dampers have been disconnected, the blade is free to swing about on its pin. There is a lot less friction between the blade & its pin than you would think because of its size. Also, inside the aircraft, the number 9 driveshaft has to be removed (not to hard, 10 bolts...) so that two blades will sit over the center of the aircraft at the same time.

The blade support stands are installed & the crew just rotates the blades into the stands.

This is where it gets ambiguous because they (HMAS Canberra) are ALSO Amphibious Assault Ships able to land Marines along with armor and artillery to assault a beach not just land helos.

The US Navy has called it's decommissioned Tarawa-class Amphibious Assault Ships except one.

Then when it was succeeded by the Wasp class the classification was changed to a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships. Now with the new America class warships they have changed the name back to a LHA, for Landing Helicopter Assault ship.


Regards.

This post has been edited by F/A-18 Super Bug on Sep 10 2014, 01:41 PM

I do not give a rats arse what anyone else says. The RAN refers to them as LHDs. As simple as that:

http://www.navy.gov.au/fleet/ships-boats-craft/lhd

This post has been edited by Luig on Sep 10 2014, 05:08 PM

Ok Ok Ok,..,.......I'll say "Canberra Class" Naval Ships from now on as a compromise fellah .


Still confused by the Spanish calling their five AWD look alikes,...,...err FRIGATES,..not Destroyers like "RAN" . No difference aside from small issues like ala remote 25-30mm Guns,...... and they're in NATO so the typing must be right! Answer that one?????? FFG or DDG??????? or AWD,..US Typing would be DDG? Walks like a duck,.,........

But mind you,....with only 6 Navy "Army Camo" MRH-90's spilt around the fleet, dare say our LHD's are more of a Army Landing Barge with a flat LZ on top, with a big mobile Army Vehicle servicing and storage Garage below the hanger, for the Army :P

Back to seriousness,. Our Army Blackhawks have SH-60B Flight controls Systems rather then UH-60A/L typewedge shaped tail planes,..hence the square tail plane that folds



"Go Army"

Funnily enough we are talking about LHDs - not anything else. I would be quite happy to refer to all the RAAF aircraft by other erroneous names if you wish. And some of those names would not be complimentary - nor accurate.

And strangely the Spanish say do a lot of things lost in translation. However the RAN describes what they have; and that is that.