Shrieking Gazelles

[Savoia]

Originally posted by Zishelix
Grazie Sav, we already have G-BBHW photo in 'Shrieking Gazelles' post #520 !

Yes indeed, and here is another shot of her taken at Hayes, probably within a year of so of Elipix's photo of G-BIVP on the Nostalgia Thread:


SA341G G-BBHW (cn WA1098) as seen at McAlpine's Hayes Heliport in 1980

[Zishelix]

Interesting one, as well.

By the way, today we reached 50th page and almost 1500 posts on this thread! Must say this little project exceeded my expectations and gives me great joy of meeting other Gazelle fans. GO (SHRIEKING) GAZELLE!

[Savoia]

Indeed, most encouraging! A big thank you to our 'Shrieking Gazelles' readers and contributors.

[Savoia]

Another take on G-BBHW ..


SA341G G-BBHW (cn WA1098) as seen at Glasgow's Abbotsinch Airport in 1975

[Savoia]

Originally posted by GazEngineer
The thing I like about the gazelle is its beauty. The fenestron has been used on other helicopters but it'll only ever look the part on the gazelle. The only thing I dislike about them is they don't have many years left in them due to costs.

GazEn, many thanks for your response. I agree that the fenestron looks neatest on the Gazelle. It's just a hunch of mine, but I'm guessing that the Gazelle's fenestron was perhaps a little too small for the craft, and I wonder if this isn't the primary contributing factor in the type's notorious 'tail swing bite' tendency?

Concerning the Gazelle's escalating operating costs, is this mainly associated with the Astazou?

[GazEngineer]

I've not taken pictures of the panel yet but with regard to costs it's not just the aztazous that are costly, g reg machines are coming to the end of their lives where things like rotorheads are becoming time expired and with costs in the region of £150.000 opwards it's not cost effective.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel if you have your machine put on the Serbian register, as all the military parts (which are no different to civilian parts) can be used breathing life back into the gazelles for years to come.

[GazEngineer]

In response to your comments on yaw divergence.

Here is an article written by a pilot which explains the myth behind what people call tail swing bite.....

Having flown the Gazelle in a wide variety of flight regimes ..... and during a time where many pilots were coming unstuck with Fenestron related problems .......and during a time when some very telling tests were done with Aersospatiale using some Fleet Air Arm instructors. I have a few views and observations which would suggest that FENESTRON STALL is infact an excuse used to describe MISHANDLING,rather than a Stall of the blades. Mighty Gem – makes a point with regard to this and I’m sorry that it happened to you …. As long as you only dented the pride as opposed to yourself …. Do we know each other???

1. The term FENESTRON stall became obselete within the RN when - as a result of careful examination of circumstances surrounding the departure from controlled flight of a number of aircraft being flown by student pilots and some very expereienced instructors at low speed or in the hover.

The Navy severely damaged several airframes as a result and felt compelled to look deeper into the problem …….. they visited Aerospatiale and carried out some extreme flight tests in the hover …….all captured on video and all VERY ALARMING to watch. The aircraft was put in a spot turn to the left and then allowed to continue to turn …… the rotation was allowed to accelerate and at a point where the rotation was becoming almost disorientating the opposite (RH) pedal was applied using FULL deflection. It caused a massive sustained overtorque but the aircraft rotation stopped (as I recall) pretty much as described by Mighty Gem(within about 270 – 360 deg). These test were carried out at differing rates of rotation and different amounts of opposite pedal were used. The final outcome – illustrated that the aircraft is able to recover from a high rotational left turn but needed FULL APPLICATION of the opposite pedal. It would also cause a massive overtorque and was obviously a flight regime to be avoided.

2. The RN then decided that the term FENESTRON STALL – was no longer valid and the term YAW DIVERGENCE was born – which actually described the problem fairly well. The recovery action required from any apparent loss of control in a LH spot turn was to apply – FULL Right pedal. If FULL RH pedal was not applied – there was a risk that the aircraft might not recover and continue to suffer the YAW DIVERGENCE – which manifested itself as an increasing acceleration to the left. By way of demonstration – I used to show student pilots an incipient level of the problem:

I used to sit in the hover into wind and I would apply……1-2 inches of RH pedal, the aircraft would Yaw right and settle reasonably quickly within 20 – 40 deg of I/W heading (approx). I would then return the aircraft to the I/ w position and repeat the process with 1-2 inches of left pedal ….the aircraft would continue past the 40 deg point and begin to accelerate, if left uncontained, the rotation would continue to accelerate in a dynamic and unstable way. I used to start recovery after 360 deg before any excessive yaw rate had developed. The demonstration was effective and illustrated the caution required in handling low speed left hand yaw applications.

3. YAW DIVERGENCE – incidents were significantly reduced as a result of the increased awareness and if encountered were prevented by using the FULL application of the RH pedal. It is believed that many of the occurrences and incidents involving alleged F/STALL were infact errors or misinterpretation in handling; and whilst many pilots believed they had applied FULL RH pedal it is considered likely that they never achieved FULL DEFLECTION in order to counter the problem. Many of the incidents were dealt with as if they had experienced a TR FAILURE – ie shutting the engine down . The subsequent high rotation – perceived as a TR FAIL’ and the ensuing EOL combined to make a mess of several airframes.

[Zishelix]

Very informative! Thanks a lot, GazEngineer.

[Savoia]

Nigerian Gaz ..


Recently seen in a hangar in Lagos, Nigeria

[Zishelix]

Indeed, at least six former AH.1 (UK machines) are there since begining of this year.

Still looking for their IDs...

[Zishelix]

Few posts ago we mentioned G-ZELE went to Australia and become VH-OIW. So here she is, vividly flying again in Down Under!


(Photo courtesy of Steve)

P.S. I wonder what regulation says about size of the registration letters on a/c there.

[Savoia]

Personally, and in terms of aircraft aesthetics, I would say that size of registration is just right!

[smify]

So, my account finally got activated. I see one of my photos (N901B) has been posted here before (thanks for the credit ) Below are my contributions to the forum.

Does anybody know who owns YU-HEV and where it lands when it's in Sheffield/Rotherham, UK?

Cheers,
Curtis

(sorry for potato resolutions, still learning how to use the forum. Pictures should be 2000+px wide, apparently not...)

[Savoia]

Smify! A warm welcome to Aviafora!

Our apologies if your account activation was delayed, this is probably associated with some recent so called 'upgrades' we installed from our software provider according to our Administrator Phil Croucher.

We very much enjoyed your photo of Aviaforan md600driver's latest acquisition N901B on page 46, well done!

You may read about uploading photos to the site here but, in a nutshell, for anything other than 'thumbnails', photos need to be externally hosted then pasted into one's post.

Regarding YU-HEV, we featured her on our 'Gazelles for Sale' page in June at which time she was being offered on the market by MW Helicopters, but it is quite possible that she now has a new owner. Perhaps one of our members will be able to shed a little light on the matter for you.

Once again welcome aboard!

[Zishelix]

Welcome aboard, Smify!

[smify]

Smify! A warm welcome to Aviafora!

Our apologies if your account activation was delayed, this is probably associated with some recent so called 'upgrades' we installed from our software provider according to our Administrator Phil Croucher.

We very much enjoyed your photo of Aviaforan md600driver's latest acquisition N901B on page 46, well done!

You may read about uploading photos to the site here but, in a nutshell, for anything other than 'thumbnails', photos need to be externally hosted then pasted into one's post.

Regarding YU-HEV, we featured her on our 'Gazelles for Sale' page in June at which time she was being offered on the market by MW Helicopters, but it is quite possible that she now has a new owner. Perhaps one of our members will be able to shed a little light on the matter for you.

Once again welcome aboard!

I see, thank you.

[xbdt]

Last Saturday I had to drop off some VIP's

[Savoia]

Ah .. at last .. some news from the Benegaz crew - but oh the irony of the X-Craft flying Black Pete !!! LOL !!! You couldn't make it up! Ah XB, I shall laugh about this for some time to come! Great stuff, and many thanks for sharing.

[Zishelix]

Do you always attract such attention when appearing in public, Santa's driver?

Nice footage, thanks for sharing!

[Savoia]

Cyprus Air Force SA342L with Mi-35 Hind

And from Ecuador ..


Ecuadorian Army SA342L (cn 2068) as seen with Ecureuils at José Joaquín de Olmedo Airport, Guayaquil, Ecuador on 9th October 2013 (Photo: Santiago Chavarria)

[Zishelix]

Welcome to Aviafora, Nigel

Outstanding photos, much appreciated! Pity the pics are so small, but I'm sure we'll find a way to enlarge them.

Your images remind me of this photo of N125ME:

[Savoia]

Dear Nigel, a warm welcome to Aviafora!

Brgds

Sav

[Savoia]

Puma and Gazelle helicopters from France's 5th Regiment Combat Helicopter division have been engaged in shipborne operations this November during which night time take-offs and landings as well as night time re-fuelling operations were practiced. The exercises were carried out aboard the Mistral-class Helicopter Carrier Dixmude.

[Savoia]

Three new photos of cn. 1006, F-WTNA, as seen during her trails with the Dutch 'Rijkspolitie' which began on 15th April 1977:







To see more F-WTNV, go to page 1.

[Zishelix]

Great finding, Sav Well done!

[Zishelix]

I think the Rijkspolitie wanted to make sure their helicopter complimented the high performance (and interior finish) of the Porches they drove!

[Savoia]

Lol, yes!

Nice interior shot of 'NV'.

[Savoia]

GazEn many thanks for your response. I suppose this also applies to Hungarian registered craft? What about US registrations, can they also benefit from military components?

Regarding the 'Tail Swing Bite' syndrome, it would indeed seem from several of the accident reports (see partial summary here) that there were obvious issues of mishandling/lack of experience involved, however, I contend that this phenomenon 'may' be the Gazelle's 'weak point' and I believe that a larger and more effective fenestron would probably have resolved the matter.

One of the most curious incidents (to me) was number (8) on the list linked above, involving G-SFTA, and in which the craft seems to have entered this phenomenon from merely entering into a gentle left turn .. with forward speed! I should love to have someone explain that to me one day.

Finally, I wonder just what one might have to do to get a copy of those videos in which these tests with Aérospatiale were conducted!

[GazEngineer]

Any helicopter can suffer this problem but I'll admit it highlighted more on the gazelle.
The tail rotor on the gazelle is more powerful than a standard tail rotor so if pushed too far it will bite and in some cases cause accidents. In my opinion when the fenestron was first fitted too it less pitch on left pedal should have been used as how it's set how it is is far too much but it's one of those things where the gazelle was the first to have the fenestron but didn't improve it until it was put on other helicopters

[Nigel F]

Whilst on the way up to Kelso early one morning in Oct, there was Fog in the Tweed area, so I had to wait on the Hill, was a stunning morning and there was not a sound as every one was inside and not working out and about.

Nigel


Just South of Kelso in the Cheviot Hills





Just a bit foggy

[Savoia]

Great stuff .. lovely!

[Savoia]

Gazelle in snow in Serbia

Yes, there's a Gaz in there somewhere!

[Savoia]

..........

[Savoia]

Buffalo Gaz

REG: C-GOCA
YOM: 1973
CN: 1072


Buffalo Airways SA341G Aérospatiale Gazelle C-GOCA (cn 1072) as seen by the Mackenzie River, Fort Simpson, in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1980


Buffalo Airways SA341G Aérospatiale Gazelle C-GOCA (cn 1072) as seen at a microwave tower pad just north of Fort Simpson, in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1980


Buffalo Airways SA341G Aérospatiale Gazelle C-GOCA (cn 1072) as seen at Old Squaw Lodge, in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1981

[Zishelix]

Great find, Sav! Some nice vintage North American Gazelle pics indeed

[Savoia]

Grazie amico. A couple more 'classic' North American Gazelles in 'orange tones' to post ahead, some of them I am sure you already have but maybe there is one, or perhaps even two, that you don't.

[Savoia]

RAF GAZ

'Noses High'


SA341D HT3 XZ936 (cn 1743) as operated by QinetiQ and as seen at Salisbury Plains Training Area on 4th March 2011
(Photo: Rick Ingham)

Sadly this photo turned out to be somewhat prophetic in that XZ936 was to suffer a 'hard' landing' at Boscombe Down on 2nd June 2014 in which she struck her tail. To see a photo of '36' with her tail detached click here.

[Savoia]

Noses High Too!


SA341D HT2 ZB625 (cn 1905) as operated by QinetiQ and as seen at Salisbury Plains Training Area on 27th March 2012
(Photo: Jonathan Coombes)

[Savoia]

Gazelles Off Piste!


Posted by Nicole Louise de Blaquière (everything else unknown)

[Zishelix]

Oh, a photo quiz!

If we assume the photo was taken in France, and according to the antenna on her tail fin, it could be either F-GIBU, F-GEHF or F-GDXX.

[Savoia]

Grazie. Hopefully one day we will find out! Unfortunately Nicole's leg is obscuring the stabiliser end-plate which could have helped to narrow down the choice given that F-GIBU and F-GEHF are stretched types.

[Savoia]

SA342L in Syria, 2015

[Savoia]

Following on from the Gazelle with Hind in Cyprus near the top of the page, herewith 'Gaz with Mi-8':


Mi-8 with Gazelle 'shadow' as seen at Batajnica Airbase, Serbia, in September 2015 (Photo: Ivan Bukvic)

And a little update (below) of Peter Unwin's XZ934 (G-CBSI) but no date and location details unfortunately.


SA341D G-CBSI (ex-XZ934) cn. WA1736 (Photo: Keith Abnett)

[Savoia]

Gazelle mechanics at work!

Hopefully Zis may be able to help us pinpoint which country this craft belongs to.

[Zishelix]

Montenegro's bird on maintenance works, Ikar Air Service in Banja Luka.

She's in good hands, I'd say

[Savoia]

Grazie Zis. I was sure you would know!