HSL-33 SH-2F
Mission: SH-2F Pilot Training
Aircrewman: AW2 Don Cox
Pucker-factor of 1 (normal ops) (Assume standard Hooky-Took Pucker Factor scale 1-10)
There I Was... on a day training hop in an SH2-F out of NAS North Island, HSL-33 'Snakepit'. We launched to do some concurrency training for the HAC who was getting ready to deploy on a Det.. We got to the designated op-area with the HAC in control. He pushed a piece of card stock up under his visor cover creating a 'hood'. This was to block the view outside the cockpit. We climbed to 2000' and entered an instrument auto. IAW standard procedures, I was in the gunner's belt, and opened the cabin door. The air was somewhat cool, so the HAC ordered the door shut. I closed it as ordered, and squatted down between the pilot's and copilots bulkheads where I could see what was happening up front.
Pucker-factor of 2
We descended to 1,200' in normal autorotation and began the pitch up maneuver. The HAC pitched up to about 60-70 degrees nose-up and let the airspeed drop to 0.
There I was: out of control, 10 miles from the beach, 65 degrees nose up, 0 airspeed, 1,100' in the sky, in the gunner's belt and with the cabin door closed.
Pucker-factor of 4 (and rising)
We began to accelerate backwards; that is tail first. The HAC pushed the cyclic forward to the stop to no affect. The airship was rocking side to side as it descended. I released the cabin door latch wherein it opened and slammed and latched in he full-open stop. The pilot was yelling for someone to get his hood off. His yells were so loud that I didn't need the ICS to hear him or the copilot. I heard the copilot start making some radio calls back to Snakepit, and giving the pilot instructions at the same time in a very 'assertive voice'. I remember reaching up to grab the hood off the HAC's helmet, but don't remember if I pulled it off or the copilot did.
Pucker-factor of 9+
We were all pretty excited by this time. The noise on the ICS was confusing with all the shouting going on. I was almost hanging from to the pilot's bulkhead when I looked out at the water surface just a few hundred feet below. What I saw did not comfort me. The water surface was coming rapidly up to meet us. Funny how strange that looks. We had been in the maneuver for only 30-40 seconds, but your brain works very fast during occasions such as this. Once the hood was off the pilot's helmet, he rotated the helo using the rudder, and recovered somewhere around 100'.
The bottom line: we descended 1000' in 10-15 seconds (4,000+ FPM) backwards!!!!
Pucker-factor of 4 (and falling)
It took a few seconds for us to get our 'stuff' together. We discussed the fact that the helo was out of control, and would not respond to control input. This is not a good thing. Now that I am a pilot, (1000+ hrs) I think we were caught in power settling condition. This is a condition of flight where the helicopter settles into its own downwash. The condition may also be referred to as the vortex ring state. I also think we are three lucky squids.
To the HAC's credit, we climbed back to altitude and repeated the auto, this time, he leveled the nose just before the airspeed hit 0, and completed a book-perfect instrument auto. The Hooky-Took pucker-factor remained at 2 as we returned to the Snakepit without further incident.
By the way, during the trip back to North Island, I left the cabin door open.
Lessons Learned:
Now that I am a pilot, (1000+ hrs) I think we were caught in power settling condition. This is a condition of flight where the helicopter settles into its own downwash. The condition may also be referred to as the vortex ring state. I also think we are three lucky squids.
Fly safe and come back dry
Don P. Cox
Former AW2