Brown out

[Skeeter]

This is a video of a dust landing (supposed to be a landing).
The final approach was not ideal so it ended in a go around.
It shows how fast you can have 0 reference to the ground in a brown out.

http://vimeo.com/69325143

[hand in pants]

Certainly didn't take long to arrive at zero vis........................

[mickjoiebill]

Is there a plan b in this situation?


Mickjoebill

[Doug44]

Stick your head out the door...

[Heliduck]

Is there a plan b in this situation?


Mickjoebill

Avoid it in the first place. Approach a bit faster, keep the "doughnut" of downwash behind you & touchdown just as it catches up with you. By the time everything goes brown you're already on the ground. This method has been successfully employed by mustering pilots for a very long time, followed by brushing a lot of dust off the instrument panel!

[Skeeter]

The video was taken during a training mission so there was no real need to land at this spot.
The next approach was to an area 20m to the right and although there was a brown out too, it was good to handle.

But you can always try it again on the same landing spot. The first approach can be enough to blow away most of the dust and once the wind blowed the "cloud" away you can land nicely!

Putting the head out would certainly help but not possible on this one.

Pictures are taken by a Swedish Unit we trained with and order is from bottom to top.

[Bedouin Prince]

Is there a plan b in this situation?


Mickjoebill

Avoid it in the first place. Approach a bit faster, keep the "doughnut" of downwash behind you & touchdown just as it catches up with you. By the time everything goes brown you're already on the ground. This method has been successfully employed by mustering pilots for a very long time, followed by brushing a lot of dust off the instrument panel!

This is a good option in my opinion. When I was a junior in the NT my Chief pilot at the time said that sometimes you can arrive in a high hover (power excepted) and hold it while the downwash blows the dust around under you until it has cleared enough to make a landing. Used this in the past however these days I just do what the Heliduck described.

Top video. Thanks for posting it. Great object lesson for everyone.