Dauphin 246

[SousaTeuszii]

Again the Government. Like buying the Styer with butter the Dauphins were offered at a discount for Irish votes in an EU (EEC?) Vote. Clever French never mentioned that they were once off avionics testbeds, just played on the fact that they were the worlds first five screen EFIS helicopters. Frankly i dont think the government would have cared, but ask any tech what the main proplems were A&P or avionics?

[pilatus]

Quote (SousaTeuszii @ 20 Nov. 2005,13:47)

Again the Government. Like buying the Styer with butter the Dauphins were offered at a discount for Irish votes in an EU (EEC?) Vote. Clever French never mentioned that they were once off avionics testbeds, just played on the fact that they were the worlds first five screen EFIS helicopters. Frankly i dont think the government would have cared, but ask any tech what the main proplems were A&P or avionics?

where they actually the first 5 or are you just saying that?would have they not have got the pumas cheaper also as they were made by the same company?!

[SousaTeuszii]

Pilatus,
Believe it or not these actually were the worlds first 5 screen EFIS helicopters! however remember that these were bought as Naval support helis therefore the Puma was unsuitable, the SAR role was tagged on later.
These Dauphins were also cheaper as they were avionic testbeds, hence only 5 of this fit ever existed making spares procurement for the avionics a nightmare. There were also suspicions that one of the airframes had been used in floatation tests for the USCG Dolphins, they got extra rear floats, hence the corrosion in 244 i think.

[Tech Crew]

Where did you hear that one!! That is the first time I've ever heard that mad idea

[pilatus]

well lets see the evidence before we start rubishing the claims!interesting indeed!

[Tech Crew]

So you honestly think that Eurocopter submerged a dauphin airfrme for test purposes and then pawned it off on the dumb paddies. Maybe Turbomeca gave them two Arriel engines to to ditch aswell!! Lads come on. Whatever about selling us an unsuitable ac for the role we required its a big leap to claim we were sold ac that weren't airworthy.

You can't beat a good conspiracy theory!! '>

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi all
I'm not so sure about the Dauphins being the first 5-screen EFIS helis.Maybe so, in Ireland....I did hear that the avionic fit was unique to Ireland and that the only customer with anything similar were the Saudis....The story I heard was that the Don's Dauphins had the first fully integrated computer system, driving the avionics (NADIRs,ADIRUs?), which was similar to the set-up in Airbuses.The stuff is old hat now but at the time, it was brand new and the Don was, in effect, the testbed.Stupid for such a small air arm,really.
regards
GttC

[Tech Crew]

Correct Gttc. The saudis had the closest version of the Dauphin to us. They were designated as 365F whilst the Irish version was the 365Fi.  " i " obviously standing for irish. Ours where so unique that a French engineer who had been a supervisor on the original Dauphin assembly line back in the seventies and was still an engineer with Eurocopter was very keen to get a close look at the 365Fi in the flesh whilst he was over in the Don. This guy instructed on the 365 all over the world but had never seen in the flesh the combination of gizmos on the irish ones. He knew the 365 like the back of his hand from practical experience and teaching yet was amazed at the version we had bought.

maybe he could have told us if we had got shafted with dunked airframes!!!! '>

[SousaTeuszii]

Tech Crew,
You are correct that the Irish Daupihns are modeled on the Saudi F models, even down to the weapons hard points on the aircraft but the Irish aircraft are full five screen EFIS, unheard of at the time.
As for the dunked airframes it only relates to 244. Unfortuately I have no proof of this as it was just talk amoungst senior techs. I believe however that 244 has suffered from a lot more corrosion problems then even 245 which was the other Naval variant. Perhaps you could check it out and let us know?

[Tech Crew]

Sousza Teuszii

I've been out of the Don for a few years now so I have to rack my brains to try and remember stuff. I can't think off hand of  specific corrosion probs with 244. A huge percentage of the ac was composite which made running repairs a disaster as we didnt have a composite repair shop.

As regards exposure to a saltwater environment the naval variants had no extra exposure over the non naval ones. This was due to the fact that all ac were used for marine SAR and suffered equal exposure to saltwater.
When on a stint in  Finner we would do an engine wash on the ramp after the last planned flight of the day before the the ac shutdown.The airframe would then be hosed down with freshwater before hangering. Great fun at 1.00am in january!!

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi all
TC, I remember seeing the heli lads trying out repairs on damage to the doors.They were trying to get the repairs to set in the open hangar floor, which was a complete waste of time.Such repairs are very temperature-critical.It led to a lot of parts being scrapped, that might otherwise have been repaired.
Another thing that puzzled me about the Dauphins was the replacement rate of oil tanks.They seemed,to my untutored eye, to be scrapped at a fierce rate.Any clues, TC?
regards
GttC

[Tech Crew]

We used to carry out more repairs on A111 panels than Dauphin ones. Because the A111 ones were coming on and off all the time for maintenance they took a right hammering. I remember when we were still in the old hanger repairing A111 panels with Araldite in the winter and having to put a dozen panels with slowly curing araldite in Clippers prefab. This was a small prefab office within the hangar used as a logbook office but it had the benifet of a small electrical heater. High tech stuff !!!

Dauphin panels were stronger and took less abuse from vibration and during maintenance so less repairs were required

I 'm trying to remember about the oil tanks. I think the way the were affixed the transmission deck sometimes caused chaffing which over time caused leaks. I stand to be corrected on that

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi TC
The oil tanks were made of very light-gauge "aloominum" and were dented very easily.I remember the welders being asked to try and repair them and failing.
regards
GttC