Air dust seriously complicates the work of aviation in the desert

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Air dust seriously complicates the work of aviation in the desert

The US Army is keen to tackle the biggest threat faced by helicopter pilots in Afghanistan, Iraq and other dry climates - dusty air and other poor visibility conditions, which from 2002 to 2015 caused nearly 400 aviation incidents in military operations, which cost 152 lives, and all at a cost of approximately one billion dollars.

“Of these incidents that occurred in conditions of poor visibility, more than half occurred during a dust storm,” said Colonel Matthew Hannah, who presented the statistics at the US Army Association AUSA round table. “The rest is related to low light, low contrast or blindness, which is mostly caused by snow.”






Hannah, being the project manager, proposed to solve this problem using a technology called BORES (Brownout Rotorcraft Enhancement System - a system for improving visibility conditions for helicopters), informing that she would spend all two days of the annual AUSA meeting in Washington in negotiations with contractors that could help.

“Here at AUSA there are a lot of ideas and solutions for dealing with poor visibility, as well as many developers. The problem of insufficient visibility has a high priority in the Center of Excellence for Army Aviation. ”

That is why technical specialists in military structures also talk about a program to develop a better helicopter engine. But, as in the case of the program for an improved gas turbine engine, which has been in development for more than five years and will not go into mass production in the next ten years, the process of developing a technology for reducing air dust pollution is progressing very slowly.





Inadequate visibility conditions have been recognized as a serious and costly problem since the outbreak of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and therefore various solutions have been proposed that have been tested in actual operation. Radar, lidar and thermal imagers and the like. But Hannah’s office will not issue a BORES technology proposal call, at least until 2017.

How long will it take to develop a system and how much will it cost? “We do not discuss financing strategies. We are currently developing our development and procurement strategy. ”





The next step, according to Hannah, will be the process of “evaluating the exploiters”, which will take place next spring at the Yuma range. Pilots with different skill levels will fly with installed sensors that measure the adverse conditions on the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in order to collect data that will help in developing promising technologies. The plan is to, first of all, develop a system that will allow the pilot to see in conditions of insufficient visibility. This is how to drive a car without side mirrors and rear-view mirrors, and then expand visibility to 360 degrees. “We want to be lighter than air and at the same time we want to see how superman,” added Hannah. “We will achieve these goals and see what happens.”






Better hurry. With the reduction of military operations and shrinking budgets, the problem of poor and insufficient visibility is easily overlooked.



And video without comment. "When your pilot is either experienced enough or slightly insane."



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    1. INF
      +7
      6 November 2015 07: 43
      The pilot is handsome :)
      1. avt
        +5
        6 November 2015 09: 35
        Quote: INF
        The pilot is handsome :)

        This one is on a banana? And at least at what height did it sit? Well, what did our guys do in the Eight and practically at an incredible height almost from overclocking in Afghanistan, you know?
      2. +2
        6 November 2015 10: 24
        Quote: INF
        Handsome pilot

        The pilot, of course, well done, successfully used the layout of his helicopter. Our eights also worked wonders, they stood on a stone with one wheel, and this will be more complicated when building our helicopter!
      3. +2
        6 November 2015 22: 24
        There is a story about Afghan called "DUST", you don't have to fight with it, you just need to get used to it!
    2. +3
      6 November 2015 08: 47
      And in my opinion, there is nothing for you, gentlemen, Americans, in Iraq, Afghanistan and other "dusty" countries, sit at home and there will be no problems.
    3. +4
      6 November 2015 09: 05
      Tie a water barrel to each aircraft. Nail the dust. Well, or there, let the watering before each takeoff and landing laughingCreate such a "watering and sweeping" NATO battalion. Or, next year, put in the US military budget an article "for cleaning sand and dust from the Syrian desert" trillion so in 12))))))))) And with a tough personal (!) control by Babama! So that, yeshkin cat, to a grain of sand! That the melting deserts of Syrian shone like a cat's eggs)))) Yes, there are many options for kakbe.
      1. +2
        6 November 2015 13: 31
        Quote: Kunar
        Tie a water barrel to each aircraft. Nail the dust.

        They are already written hard, does not help. laughing
        But in addition to jokes, the problem of dust is quite serious. Look even at tanks on gas-turbine engines from dust blades spoil. We shouldn’t chuckle, but take a closer look at the enemy, all of a sudden they’ll come up with something practical. Yes, and the brain itself does not interfere with the movement.
      2. 0
        7 November 2015 11: 22
        not, dust must be fought radically; I suggest that Americans think about rolling desert into asphalt.
    4. +1
      6 November 2015 10: 17
      Dust is an inevitable evil in a sandy desert, and also kills the resource of engines.
    5. +1
      6 November 2015 10: 59
      Chinook pilot - well done. But it’s the British, I wonder if the Americans are capable of this?
      Our helicopters are better suited for dusty conditions; I don’t even see dustproof devices on NATO ones.
      1. +2
        6 November 2015 14: 07
        Quote: Maksus
        But it’s the British, I wonder if the Americans are capable of this?

        Why do you think Americans are bad pilots? Are there grounds or purely out of a feeling of cheers-patriotism?
        1. 0
          6 November 2015 14: 35
          I do not think so, but I have not yet seen the skill of American pilots like this. Here the pilot master, the helicopter did not move at all the entire unloading.
    6. +1
      6 November 2015 11: 30
      We will achieve these goals and see what happens. ”
      You won’t succeed. I wonder how they can and how they are going to deal with sand dust, if only asphalt the entire desert area? recourse
      1. 0
        6 November 2015 11: 55
        They will print another hundred billions of green candy wrappers and asphalt. So they will succeed.
    7. 0
      6 November 2015 13: 11
      So, I understand the landing on a military operation, or whom they land there.
      But part of the photos landing on their own base. Is it really so difficult to concrete the site and sweep it before landing ?! !!! Or brave American soldiers are not friends with a broom? I'm already silent about landing on the primer of Hercules. Such a bird unsuccessfully bangs right away on 10 Lyamas purely for crew insurance.
    8. +1
      6 November 2015 13: 18
      If they go blind from the snow, and here it lies for six months ... crying
    9. 0
      6 November 2015 14: 01
      Quote: Kunar
      Well, or start up a sprinkler before each takeoff and landing. Create such a "sprinkler-sweeping" battalion
      - In Soviet times, it was called an airfield company under a support battalion)
    10. 0
      6 November 2015 15: 49
      I wonder how times and epochs are changing. Nothing interfered with ours in 80. And now it interferes with this. A whole study is carried out, specialists sit thinking how to deal with dust. Money is allocated. And some 25 years ago, this was not a problem worthy of even a cursory mention.
    11. 0
      6 November 2015 16: 46
      Yes, something always hinders a bad dancer, but have you tried to live in peace and harmony with other countries on planet Earth?
    12. +1
      6 November 2015 18: 07
      The interesting thing is:
      "... in conditions of poor visibility, more than half occurred during a dust storm, ... The remainder refers to low light, low contrast or glare, which is mainly caused by snow."

      Those. sand, snow, night and ... "low contrast" - twilight or what? From this I conclude: it is good to fight in the gym on the floor and with artificial lighting. So who doubts? laughing "Invincible" SEALs "" Damn!
    13. +1
      8 November 2015 20: 24
      How is our aviation in Syria transferring sand and dust?
    14. 0
      9 November 2015 15: 30
      American shit

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