I do not believe this…when I first saw this video, I had no hope of ever flying a helicopter. Now, I have my licence, on turbines, and this guy is posting the most amazing helicopter handling content available anywhere. Respect Sir.
I remember watching this years ago when I was a casual flight simmer and now I'm an airline pilot with some minuscule rotor time hoping to not get furloughed in a month and a half. How times have changed.
What a amazing video.. You never see just how long it takes to actually start one up in the movies and on television.. The MD500 has and probably always will be one of my most favorite helicopters..
Ahhhhh yessssssssssss! That sound. The sound of a turbine spooling up from 0 RPM. I swear, I grin so big every time I hear it - it's almost emotional. The only thing missing is the smell and the wind (at least on for me, on my side of the screen)!
Beautiful sound, love it and thanks for a really informative talkthrough of the starting procedure. The closest I get is manually starting my model gas turbine of which the starting procedure has its similarities despite it only having about 14lb thrust.
The ticking noise is the igniter, which ignites the fuel as it is introduced into the combustion section of the turbine engine. The igniter is energized until the turbine is up and self sustainable.
Most of my helicopter time is in Bell 206's, got a little time in a 500C about 300 hours worth- Good machine, but like all helicopters they need to be taken care of. You did a fine job in explaining the turbine start and what you need to pay attention to! Only thing missing was cool down and what happens when you don't do them over time, I use to fly a split shift with a guy than ever did the cool downs per the POH, Coking lead to some other things and it was not a good day! Throw in a weak battery and an even weaker batter cart and a Mich telling you try it again only to get that red light ( bell 206), lucky we were on the ground and at the base, some broken parts were found in the can- would have been a mess 200nm off shore!
I flew the OH-6 LOH in the military, but we few it from the right. I prefer to use the left hand to tune radios, etc. This being a C model, completely civilian version with the optional high skids. That Allison spooling up sure brings a lot of memories. If I had the funds, I'd get me one, but it'd be an E or F model. Thanks for sharing.
AKA Loach. "Mark the spot with a burning loach." They did crash well and saved a lot of pilots. Then the guard unit I went to got OH-58s.(Bell 206 for everyone else) They used to have a little joke that the people when they designed it they said it would be almost 10x better than the OH-6. Then when they tested it, the pilots called it the 5.8, and that it wasn't quite as good as the 6. Then when they used them in combat they called the the .58 because they weren't even a 10th as good as the 6. The OH-6 set amazing world records for helicopters for speed, endurance and time to climb. They actually both had the same engine. The difference was weight and the fully articulating rotor system, which is far superior. The angled tail was good for speed but even in a light crosswind the tail would bob up and down. The much later 500D with its T tail fixed that. I watched your TOT in terror just like you did. You don't have to put yourself or the engine through that much stress. LOL! One of the things I did to help it start a lot cooler was to run it up until the rpm stabilized and fell just a titch before I rolled the grip. It's very unnatural, but the engine starts WAY cooler which is especially important after you shut down for a short time and have to leave again. I learned that reading the GM engineering manual for that engine, so I tried it. It can save you up to 200 degrees. (BTW, the newer 250s have a computerized start system that start as gradually as large turbines now.) The early Allison 250s had plenty of teething problems. We had lots of failures between 70 and 90 hours total time since new, and I remember one only made 36 hours. Some were fuel control related causing the engine to surge back and forth and destroy itself. They fixed that with a check valve and they had a procedure to clean the valve routinely. Twice an air tube split, once causing the surging and engine destruction in flight, and the pilot landed it in a very small brush area in the middle of a forest. The other one was caught during preflight when the pilot snagged his fingers on a crack on feeling around the backside of the tube. Washing out the compressor, spinning them with epoxy inside, etc., anything to keep the power up and heat down. After a couple of years the 250 got better, and things got real solid with the C20 (420 hp). If you recall, they put in a big torque gauge then because the engine had so much power that the TOT and gas producer couldn't be a limiting factor unless it was awfully high and hot. What you needed to watch with the C20 was so you didn't over torque the transmission. The C30 had done away with all of the axial flow stages and a different centrifugal, and it has 650 hp. One would think they would have thought of that a lot earlier. The axial flows are the most expensive to build and the most prone to failure. The C40 is 715 hp. The engine, with axial flow, minus the accessories only weighed 140 lbs. all up, and it will run for thousands of hours at high horsepower. Rolls Royce bought them when GM needed the money. After that I went into Attack Helicopter. Those engines start so gradually that you can't tell when they start other than watch the temperature slowly go up. When I was transitioning I remember the IP saying to me, "Are you sure you want to do this? Flying these things is like flying the box it came it." The rockets, 20s, and TOWs was all a pride thing. He was sooo right. I regret it. Plus, you pick up another pilot with an ego you have to deal with, you are far more regulated and thus much less freedom. The smaller it is, the less regulated you are, the more fun you have. I also flew fixed wing, and it is the same story there. Mooneys, Yankees, and Skyhawks beat C7s because you can take people and go where you want and there doesn't have to be a reason.
...B Troop 7/1 Cav loach pilot here...experienced a *real* Hughes tail spin (along for the ride on that one...but what a ride it was) into the ground. We walked out right through the bubble, went to the club and had a few beers and laughed because we had an automatic three days off because we "went in!" LOL, what a great airplane, even though our job was to draw fire, I'd do it again in a second.
Very cool 😎 I’ve loved the “killer egg”🚁 ever since I first saw them in “Magnum PI”. And I was really happy to see them also appear in big films like “Blue Thunder”, “Speed”, “Outbreak” and “Black Hawk Down”. They’re basic look hasn’t changed all that much, in 50 years, but they still look fast & stylish.
When I was a lot younger and very impressionable, and watching 'Magnum PI' every week, I could never make up my mind as to which was the cooler, more desirable piece of machinery: Robin Master's Ferrari 308, or TC's Hughes helicopter. The both looked and sounded great in their own respective ways. Great memories...
Lots of time in these. First as a low level scout in RVN. Later on flying offshore in The Gulf of Mexico then flying shake blocks and burning units on the Olympic Peninsula and even logging Alder to a portable chipper for clean white paper for dot matrix printers. Always a blast to fly. I moved on to other, bigger machines but I always looked back with fondness. Many adventures in a Hughes/MD.
I was fortunate in the Army Guard to get stick time in OH-58's. We were the last of the flying Sgt's as Scout Observers. The sound of that startup...really brings back the memories.
This helicopter was designed by Howard Hughes as the OH-6A Cayuse (Model 369), as a light observation helicopter for the Vietnam Conflict. It was used in conjunction with the AH-1 Cobra on hunter killer (Pink Teams) teams in Vietnam. Very fast and maneuverable helicopters. Later marketed in the civilian sector as the Hughes 500. Awesome little helicopters. Army Special Forces still use them with the nickname "Little Bird". I would love to fly one of these helicopters! Thanks for posting.
I had a good friend that was a “ Little Bird” pilot in Vietnam. He described the experience as being “bait” for the Cobra’s! He was shot down twice but survived to come back home.
Some helicopters the PIC is in the left. Most on the right. Most 500's are left seat PIC some are right. EC-130's are all left seat PIC. Some Astars are left seat for certain reasons. Some are decided based on the job they perform. Hughes 500's and MD-500's do a lot of utility work.
good stuff guysalot more complicated than i imagined i used to fly around with my grandpa in old piston pounders alot more to helo than i thought but love getting to see and learn this stuff thank you for the great videos very informative
The 500c is a awesome machine, and Vietnam and the boys in New Zealand have proved that, but I prefer the 5 blade head of a D model a little different sound not sure about performance difference, but I can't afford either one so what I think doesn't matter.
The button on the collective is the starter engage button. It also energizes the ignitors (Very Expensive spark plugs). Once he rolls the throttle to the idle stop to introduce fuel, it just sits there and you continue to hold the starter button to a certain N1 Percentage (Not Saying) Then you let go of the starter and the engine is self sustaining and the ignitors de-energize. Once the engine is warmed up is a silly saying. They start at 700 to 800+ degrees CELSIUS.
If she were mine, I’d call her Gnatalie! She really is a lovely ship! I made the decision to start pursuing my dream of flying helicopters a week ago, and now I can’t stop watching every dang video there is on UA-cam about it. Oh, and when he was complimenting the camera guy, I thought for sure they must be twins 😂.
I heard long ago the reason helicopter pilots fly from the right seat is because that is the side of the transmission that the winch would be run off of and the pilot had to be able to see the cable while he was flying. I love my Loach. Scouts out
I fly piston airplanes, but my buddy has a Jet Ranger. I'm always amazed at how he starts it up. But sometimes a cold piston engine start can be a bear if you don't do it right.
Damn that Michael is one beautiful dude and he made that beautiful bird fire up so beautifully and it sounded just so beautiful. Now I don't know about that beautiful man behind the camera as we didn't get to see him, but that beautiful dude Michael was hotter than that turbine engine on that MD500 and that baby was pretty hot though it could use some pin-striping or graphix.
Hey great pilot , reminds of Vietnam crazy pilots would hit the VC with skids. I work for Bristow and hold door open for one pilots on md 500 hovering around check hot weather sabine pass tx
Next time I'm in the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge TN. area, I will take a tour with you guys! Do you go over Dollywood? I agree; nice ship! I took off in a red, white and blue 500C tour back in '94 out of PIE... yours is a much better ship!
I'd get side seats welded and bolted to the frame to have that complete look ha ha. Maybe even mount some prop M-134's and some "pods" if not mounting the side seat platforms ha ha.
My first ever job in aviation in 1991 was a full rebuild of a Hughes 500D that was used as a tuna spotter, all I did was glass bead panels and if they weren’t BER paint them with green zinc primer from a can, I was doing it for free trying to get an apprenticeship, but I didn’t care, that helicopter has never been usurped as my favourite, either fixed or rotary wing
Love it.............oh, to be able to have one of those and just do that! Living in N Ireland during the troubles gave me the chance to see lots of military heli's close up very frequently..........sadly the peace process has robbed me of that luxury! Sometimes the price of peace is just too high!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, love your vids!
@c6rocks unless the helicopter has a cabin and not doors, and you enter the cockpit from the rear, then theres no way to avoid the collective from getting in the way on the pilot side. and then the copilot (left) side has the benefit of not having collective in the way.
It's to do with the rate a camera takes shots for the video. If the rotor moves 370 degrees between two frames, it will only appear to have moved 10 degrees in the video. However, it's actually done multiple circles in between each frame of the video. This is why helicopter rotors often appear to be moving slowly (or even backwards) in videos.
These guys mess around but when it’s time to start her up, they’re all business. Well done! I thought the PIC always sat in the right seat or is that only when both front seats are occupied?
Not sure how a left handed PIC position can handle the radios, etc when his right hand is on the cyclic. I flew both the Huey and the OH-6, military version of the video subject, and we flew from the right and using the right hand to fly and using the left for radios, baro setting, with the collective frictioned in place. Still love that little bird.
Always wanted to try a 500. Been a long time since I flew something with a manual start, but it seemed to take a long time to spool up after he lit it off...
@MegaHighflyer10 Fixed wing Captains fly in the Left seat.... Most Chopper Pilots are seated in the Right seat. (Look at the Base models for the Bell 206s and Eurocopter AS350 AStars. They only have controls on the right side (Unless specified by the customer))
That's a 1970 model per the FAA Registry site. Just like an old classic car. Take care of it, don't abuse it and keep up with the regular maintenance it'll last a long time.
Another question,if you have a hot start,will that cause the turbine to fail? And,I see you're holding the black button down on the collective,is that the ignitors you hold down?
It's caused by interferences between the rotor and the camera's shutter. The camera shoots every frame of the video at precise intervals (the camera's framerate) which differ from the human eye, capturing the rotor in different spots and giving the illusion of a slower, sometimes reverse rotor movement. You can recreate this phenomenon in real life by using a similar rotating apparatus and a stroboscope to simulate the decreased framerate.
Mike,I noticed you're wearing the seatbelt..is that required for startup? I also noticed at 3:42 that the tot was at about 180F...is that acceptable?????
I thought that the reason the Pilot sat on the right side, was to protect his left/throttle hand in a war scenario where the left/throttle hand would be less likely to be injured by ground fire. As compared to if the Pilot is sitting in the left seat, his throttle hand is closer to ground fire with the door off or on. Is this correct?
I do not believe this…when I first saw this video, I had no hope of ever flying a helicopter. Now, I have my licence, on turbines, and this guy is posting the most amazing helicopter handling content available anywhere. Respect Sir.
I remember watching this years ago when I was a casual flight simmer and now I'm an airline pilot with some minuscule rotor time hoping to not get furloughed in a month and a half. How times have changed.
Nice, that's awesome!
Hows it going for you now?
@@tanicwhisper0647 I’m a legacy CA.
What a amazing video.. You never see just how long it takes to actually start one up in the movies and on television.. The MD500 has and probably always will be one of my most favorite helicopters..
I love the original 500's ever since they showed up in Vietnam. Solid pretty ship. Design was way ahead of its time.
The Loach
Ahhhhh yessssssssssss! That sound. The sound of a turbine spooling up from 0 RPM. I swear, I grin so big every time I hear it - it's almost emotional. The only thing missing is the smell and the wind (at least on for me, on my side of the screen)!
BluntForceTrauma666 tick,tick,tick,tick wrrrrr!
BluntForceTrauma666 I would have to agree...perhaps a jar of jet A1 while watching this...and have the entire experience !
BluntForceTrauma .
So so True...
who needs Viagra?
man I love the sound of a turbine starting up it never gets old
Beautiful sound, love it and thanks for a really informative talkthrough of the starting procedure. The closest I get is manually starting my model gas turbine of which the starting procedure has its similarities despite it only having about 14lb thrust.
The ticking noise is the igniter, which ignites the fuel as it is introduced into the combustion section of the turbine engine. The igniter is energized until the turbine is up and self sustainable.
So at what point is the turbine self sustaining?
Bryan Seitz in his other video I think he said the turbine is self sustaining when the N1 (gas producer) gauge reads 58% and higher
@@parkersmithson6667 it takes A LOT of electricity to spool up a turbine
@@codmott286 I bet! Guess you better check your battery power before you ever think about trying to spool one up
Most of my helicopter time is in Bell 206's, got a little time in a 500C about 300 hours worth- Good machine, but like all helicopters they need to be taken care of. You did a fine job in explaining the turbine start and what you need to pay attention to! Only thing missing was cool down and what happens when you don't do them over time, I use to fly a split shift with a guy than ever did the cool downs per the POH, Coking lead to some other things and it was not a good day! Throw in a weak battery and an even weaker batter cart and a Mich telling you try it again only to get that red light ( bell 206), lucky we were on the ground and at the base, some broken parts were found in the can- would have been a mess 200nm off shore!
I flew the OH-6 LOH in the military, but we few it from the right. I prefer to use the left hand to tune radios, etc. This being a C model, completely civilian version with the optional high skids. That Allison spooling up sure brings a lot of memories. If I had the funds, I'd get me one, but it'd be an E or F model. Thanks for sharing.
AKA Loach. "Mark the spot with a burning loach." They did crash well and saved a lot of pilots. Then the guard unit I went to got OH-58s.(Bell 206 for everyone else) They used to have a little joke that the people when they designed it they said it would be almost 10x better than the OH-6. Then when they tested it, the pilots called it the 5.8, and that it wasn't quite as good as the 6. Then when they used them in combat they called the the .58 because they weren't even a 10th as good as the 6. The OH-6 set amazing world records for helicopters for speed, endurance and time to climb. They actually both had the same engine. The difference was weight and the fully articulating rotor system, which is far superior. The angled tail was good for speed but even in a light crosswind the tail would bob up and down. The much later 500D with its T tail fixed that.
I watched your TOT in terror just like you did. You don't have to put yourself or the engine through that much stress. LOL! One of the things I did to help it start a lot cooler was to run it up until the rpm stabilized and fell just a titch before I rolled the grip. It's very unnatural, but the engine starts WAY cooler which is especially important after you shut down for a short time and have to leave again. I learned that reading the GM engineering manual for that engine, so I tried it. It can save you up to 200 degrees. (BTW, the newer 250s have a computerized start system that start as gradually as large turbines now.)
The early Allison 250s had plenty of teething problems. We had lots of failures between 70 and 90 hours total time since new, and I remember one only made 36 hours. Some were fuel control related causing the engine to surge back and forth and destroy itself. They fixed that with a check valve and they had a procedure to clean the valve routinely. Twice an air tube split, once causing the surging and engine destruction in flight, and the pilot landed it in a very small brush area in the middle of a forest. The other one was caught during preflight when the pilot snagged his fingers on a crack on feeling around the backside of the tube. Washing out the compressor, spinning them with epoxy inside, etc., anything to keep the power up and heat down. After a couple of years the 250 got better, and things got real solid with the C20 (420 hp). If you recall, they put in a big torque gauge then because the engine had so much power that the TOT and gas producer couldn't be a limiting factor unless it was awfully high and hot. What you needed to watch with the C20 was so you didn't over torque the transmission. The C30 had done away with all of the axial flow stages and a different centrifugal, and it has 650 hp. One would think they would have thought of that a lot earlier. The axial flows are the most expensive to build and the most prone to failure. The C40 is 715 hp. The engine, with axial flow, minus the accessories only weighed 140 lbs. all up, and it will run for thousands of hours at high horsepower. Rolls Royce bought them when GM needed the money.
After that I went into Attack Helicopter. Those engines start so gradually that you can't tell when they start other than watch the temperature slowly go up. When I was transitioning I remember the IP saying to me, "Are you sure you want to do this? Flying these things is like flying the box it came it." The rockets, 20s, and TOWs was all a pride thing. He was sooo right. I regret it. Plus, you pick up another pilot with an ego you have to deal with, you are far more regulated and thus much less freedom. The smaller it is, the less regulated you are, the more fun you have. I also flew fixed wing, and it is the same story there. Mooneys, Yankees, and Skyhawks beat C7s because you can take people and go where you want and there doesn't have to be a reason.
...B Troop 7/1 Cav loach pilot here...experienced a *real* Hughes tail spin (along for the ride on that one...but what a ride it was) into the ground. We walked out right through the bubble, went to the club and had a few beers and laughed because we had an automatic three days off because we "went in!" LOL, what a great airplane, even though our job was to draw fire, I'd do it again in a second.
Even starting that engine must be one hell of a rush! AMAZING!!!!
Very cool 😎 I’ve loved the “killer egg”🚁 ever since I first saw them in “Magnum PI”. And I was really happy to see them also appear in big films like “Blue Thunder”, “Speed”, “Outbreak” and “Black Hawk Down”. They’re basic look hasn’t changed all that much, in 50 years, but they still look fast & stylish.
I think the MD500 is the best sounding helicopter when being fired up! It's like...Mozart!
mwolverine1969 the huey has a great sound
The oh-58's sound great too
or the Gazelle ua-cam.com/video/OZBsy5kVU-M/v-deo.html
Agreed
Or the Siskorsky S64 twin turbines, 9,000 hp total!
2:30 that is one badass sound. aircraft are so cool
If Han Solo did a cold start in the Millennium Falcon this is what it would sound like...
Awesome!!! First time I see my fav chopper being started up. Thanks for the video!
When I was a lot younger and very impressionable, and watching 'Magnum PI' every week, I could never make up my mind as to which was the cooler, more desirable piece of machinery: Robin Master's Ferrari 308, or TC's Hughes helicopter. The both looked and sounded great in their own respective ways. Great memories...
Lots of time in these. First as a low level scout in RVN. Later on flying offshore in The Gulf of Mexico then flying shake blocks and burning units on the Olympic Peninsula and even logging Alder to a portable chipper for clean white paper for dot matrix printers. Always a blast to fly. I moved on to other, bigger machines but I always looked back with fondness. Many adventures in a Hughes/MD.
If I ever hit the lottery
I'm going to put one of these engines in a project truck
Very good video. First one I've seen of many explaining how to interpret the gauges when starting up. Didn't know about "hot start" 'til now. Thanks!
I was fortunate in the Army Guard to get stick time in OH-58's. We were the last of the flying Sgt's as Scout Observers. The sound of that startup...really brings back the memories.
This helicopter was designed by Howard Hughes as the OH-6A Cayuse (Model 369), as a light observation helicopter for the Vietnam Conflict. It was used in conjunction with the AH-1 Cobra on hunter killer (Pink Teams) teams in Vietnam. Very fast and maneuverable helicopters. Later marketed in the civilian sector as the Hughes 500. Awesome little helicopters. Army Special Forces still use them with the nickname "Little Bird". I would love to fly one of these helicopters! Thanks for posting.
I had a good friend that was a “ Little Bird” pilot in Vietnam. He described the experience as being “bait” for the Cobra’s! He was shot down twice but survived to come back home.
Designed by designers working for Howard Hughes…
I loooove the sound of that turbine! But no one ever started an MD500 like my man TC!
You are so fortunate to fly such a beautiful bird. Take care and happy flights!
Sure has been fun watching your journey Mike, going from dreaming in Dec 09 to 407 PIC today. You made it happen....
The MD500 the sexiest of all civilian helicopters! Awesome video!
I have the audio of both the cold and warm starts as a ringtone. ALWAYS turns heads when my phone rings!
Can you send it me? Belfast082@gmail.com
SAME! Nobody gets it though unless I'm around turbine pilots lol
neonhomer I would kill for that ringtone! It would be as good or better as the Infidel ringtone!
That's Hilarious.
@@ictpilot email me at gmail
Some helicopters the PIC is in the left. Most on the right.
Most 500's are left seat PIC some are right. EC-130's are all left seat PIC. Some Astars are left seat for certain reasons. Some are decided based on the job they perform. Hughes 500's and MD-500's do a lot of utility work.
Every time I see one of these at the airport I start humming the Magnum, PI theme. . .
av8r500 Not me I hum the Valkerie !!!
@@TheDave570 Fortunate Son
good stuff guysalot more complicated than i imagined i used to fly around with my grandpa in old piston pounders alot more to helo than i thought but love getting to see and learn this stuff thank you for the great videos very informative
The sound is pure magic. The 47 and this one are my favorites.
It is amazing how roomy is the cockpit-fuselage. Maybe much more as it is Bell 47G. Both, are a beauty.
Actually, this is a Hughes 369C, before it became a MD. At least I believe so.
Every time I hear an MD500 start, I think of the Tasmanian Devil from Loony Tunes.
Similar, but the devils' sound was an inertial starter. ua-cam.com/video/3zXkVQnVmuo/v-deo.html
The 500c is a awesome machine, and Vietnam and the boys in New Zealand
have proved that, but I prefer the 5 blade head of a D model a little different
sound not sure about performance difference, but I can't afford either one
so what I think doesn't matter.
What a beautiful chopper and that purrrrrr of the blades...ahh yes...but i would not advise distracting the pilot during his startup checklist
The button on the collective is the starter engage button. It also energizes the ignitors (Very Expensive spark plugs). Once he rolls the throttle to the idle stop to introduce fuel, it just sits there and you continue to hold the starter button to a certain N1 Percentage (Not Saying) Then you let go of the starter and the engine is self sustaining and the ignitors de-energize. Once the engine is warmed up is a silly saying. They start at 700 to 800+ degrees CELSIUS.
I have 30 minutes in a loach. A national guard unit happened to be doing an AT near my airfield. Lots of power and very nimble.
Pure music! There should be a concert of just turbine powered heli's starting up! Love that MD.
Love the sound of a turbine spooling up.
Beautiful sound! It's music to my ears!👌
Collective , cyclic , tail rotor management right 👍 ! Pitch and degrees of direction!
If she were mine, I’d call her Gnatalie! She really is a lovely ship! I made the decision to start pursuing my dream of flying helicopters a week ago, and now I can’t stop watching every dang video there is on UA-cam about it. Oh, and when he was complimenting the camera guy, I thought for sure they must be twins 😂.
god I love hearing this bird start...so so so good..
Love that initial spool up sound!!! AND I DONT KNOW WHY!!!!
Best engine start sound that I've come across on youtube so far.
N369AV is a Hughes 500c and not anything else during its majestic rein!
very interesting video and just a right pilot attitude... subscribed! Cheers
Beautiful, strong, safe and quiet helicopter. Not to mention a true military vehicle lol.
french truck driver AH-6 Little Bird lmao
I heard long ago the reason helicopter pilots fly from the right seat is because that is the side of the transmission that the winch would be run off of and the pilot had to be able to see the cable while he was flying. I love my Loach. Scouts out
Gotta love the sound the turbine starting up
I fly piston airplanes, but my buddy has a Jet Ranger. I'm always amazed at how he starts it up. But sometimes a cold piston engine start can be a bear if you don't do it right.
Great video. That turbine outlet temperature was close
3:35 or 3:36 love that clicking sound as turbine whining
I seen this Helicopter down at Allegheny County Airport 8 months ago. N369AV was the tail on it.
Damn that Michael is one beautiful dude and he made that beautiful bird fire up so beautifully and it sounded just so beautiful. Now I don't know about that beautiful man behind the camera as we didn't get to see him, but that beautiful dude Michael was hotter than that turbine engine on that MD500 and that baby was pretty hot though it could use some pin-striping or graphix.
BEAUTIFUL sound❤❤❤❤❤❤ ALLISON 250-C-18???
Hey great pilot , reminds of Vietnam crazy pilots would hit the VC with skids. I work for Bristow and hold door open for one pilots on md 500 hovering around check hot weather sabine pass tx
sounds like music to my ears
awesome i love the hughes, she is stunning, i fell in love after watching 240 robert in the 70's
Next time I'm in the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge TN. area, I will take a tour with you guys! Do you go over Dollywood? I agree; nice ship! I took off in a red, white and blue 500C tour back in '94 out of PIE... yours is a much better ship!
I'd get side seats welded and bolted to the frame to have that complete look ha ha. Maybe even mount some prop M-134's and some "pods" if not mounting the side seat platforms ha ha.
3:41 fuel was introduced at 19% turbine RPM. Is every turbine built with different parameters like fuel introduction RPM?
My first ever job in aviation in 1991 was a full rebuild of a Hughes 500D that was used as a tuna spotter, all I did was glass bead panels and if they weren’t BER paint them with green zinc primer from a can, I was doing it for free trying to get an apprenticeship, but I didn’t care, that helicopter has never been usurped as my favourite, either fixed or rotary wing
Always did love the Littlebirds. Pretty bird indeed
Nothing more prettier than a Hughes 500
Excellent film footage commentary and sound.
Love it.............oh, to be able to have one of those and just do that!
Living in N Ireland during the troubles gave me the chance to see lots of military heli's close up very frequently..........sadly the peace process has robbed me of that luxury!
Sometimes the price of peace is just too high!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, love your vids!
@c6rocks unless the helicopter has a cabin and not doors, and you enter the cockpit from the rear, then theres no way to avoid the collective from getting in the way on the pilot side. and then the copilot (left) side has the benefit of not having collective in the way.
It's to do with the rate a camera takes shots for the video. If the rotor moves 370 degrees between two frames, it will only appear to have moved 10 degrees in the video. However, it's actually done multiple circles in between each frame of the video. This is why helicopter rotors often appear to be moving slowly (or even backwards) in videos.
Awesome sound!
super nice Mike, what a dream to fly the 500C, Sky Porsche
Favorite video. I made the starter my alarm years a go
I love the sound of a buzzing.
These guys mess around but when it’s time to start her up, they’re all business. Well done! I thought the PIC always sat in the right seat or is that only when both front seats are occupied?
Mike, I flew as a door gunner/crew chief on a Loach in Nam. I was wondering, how much does it cost to get a ticket in one of these?
@michaelmiller85 not just md500 pilots unlike fixed wing aircraft the main(captain) seat is the left seat in most helicopters
Not sure how a left handed PIC position can handle the radios, etc when his right hand is on the cyclic. I flew both the Huey and the OH-6, military version of the video subject, and we flew from the right and using the right hand to fly and using the left for radios, baro setting, with the collective frictioned in place. Still love that little bird.
Love that helicopter. Isn't he sitting on the wrong side?
it is a beautiful ship.....
Press 4 for instant eargasm.
Always wanted to try a 500. Been a long time since I flew something with a manual start, but it seemed to take a long time to spool up after he lit it off...
That is the ferrari of helicopters for those who don't know about this chopper. Its a beast.
That is a Hughes 500c manufactured before MD took over.
@MegaHighflyer10 Fixed wing Captains fly in the Left seat.... Most Chopper Pilots are seated in the Right seat. (Look at the Base models for the Bell 206s and Eurocopter AS350 AStars. They only have controls on the right side (Unless specified by the customer))
A bunch of little blades spooling up to spin the big blades!
Dont get the title. To my knowledge, all Hughes/MD-500 are turbine powered by an Allison/ RR 250
That's a 1970 model per the FAA Registry site. Just like an old classic car. Take care of it, don't abuse it and keep up with the regular maintenance it'll last a long time.
Thanks for the answer man!
Have good flights!
I am a fan of videos, Michael Miller.
I thought McDonnell Douglas didn't buy Hughes out until the E model, meaning these are Hughes 500s, not MD500s like a lot have written here
I smashed that like button cuz i like!
Another question,if you have a hot start,will that cause the turbine to fail? And,I see you're holding the black button down on the collective,is that the ignitors you hold down?
That's a Hughes 369 if I am not wrong. The tailfeathers I believe...
very nice video, love that old 500
It's caused by interferences between the rotor and the camera's shutter. The camera shoots every frame of the video at precise intervals (the camera's framerate) which differ from the human eye, capturing the rotor in different spots and giving the illusion of a slower, sometimes reverse rotor movement. You can recreate this phenomenon in real life by using a similar rotating apparatus and a stroboscope to simulate the decreased framerate.
best sound ever!! on start up.
2:32 That sound is amazing.
Mike,I noticed you're wearing the seatbelt..is that required for startup? I also noticed at 3:42 that the tot was at about 180F...is that acceptable?????
I thought that the reason the Pilot sat on the right side, was to protect his left/throttle hand in a war scenario where the left/throttle hand would be less likely to be injured by ground fire. As compared to if the Pilot is sitting in the left seat, his throttle hand is closer to ground fire with the door off or on. Is this correct?
Oh I know what he meant at 4:36. I adore jet fumes. I wish they'd make a cologne that smells just like it. Sweet Jet A.
They do, it's called Jet A.