Magnum Mania!

Well, I went back through nine pages of posts and couldn't find a subject thread for the helicopter, so I'm posting this question here (again, James can move it if it needs to be somewhere else, I just can't find the place right now).

In some early episodes, TC's helicopter had the "V" tail, which I think indicates the MD500C instead of the MD500D with the "T" tail.

Which episodes show a scene or scenes with the V tail? Screenshots and ID of episode of any of these are welcome.

golf

Golf,
This is from 1.8 "The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii" you can find it in the episode caps

http://magnum-mania.com/images/1_8_f_full.jpg

Sam,

THANKS! I need to go back and view that episode again! Yea! I"m so excited to see that! You're the helicopter's rotors!! (best substitute I could think of for "cat's pajamas" -- and I never knew what that meant anyway!)

golf

P.S. Can anyone zoom in and see the aircraft's ID number?

P.P.S. And who the H*LL can land on that TINY pad?????

golfmobile wrote:In some early episodes, TC's helicopter had the "V" tail, which I think indicates the MD500C instead of the MD500D with the "T" tail.

Which episodes show a scene or scenes with the V tail? Screenshots and ID of episode of any of these are welcome.

golf

Golf,

"Underworld" (season 5) is another episode where you can see the chopper with the "V" tail and "T" tail in the same sequence which we identified as a flub. You can see this at the beginning of the episode when TC is flying the honeymoon couple to the hotel and later on in the episode too.

Golf,
IH gave you one,I'll also add another .Near the end of "China Doll" there is a good shot of N58243.In the screen cap I posted,it appears to be N58243.

I'm sure you've seen this but I'll post it anyway.

http://magnum-mania.com/Articles/The_Chopper.html

The one thing I question from the Kux crash ( say that 3 times ) is the date.I searched the NTSB records for 1997 crashes in Hawaii,there were 7 crashes.Two involved helicopters and in both there were multiple injuries.Kux was solo.

In 1988,N4943T crashed and the description fits the Kux crash.N4943T was used in MPI..Here is the report.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_i ... 5726&key=1

Sam,

Thanks for all that detail. I was just trying to find each episode that the V tail was shown in, I knew it was early -- and interesting that they used some OLD footage of the V tail as late as the fifth season!

Another thing that has always irritated me about the use of the chopper in the storylines is that poor TC frequently comes back with holes in the plexiglas. Now this is PATENTLY ridiculous! If you look at the holes, where the bullets would have gone through, the bullets couldn't have missed hitting TC or anyone in the chopper (Yes, I am aware that one entire episode WAS about him being shot.) And still, if the bullets managed to miss hitting a person, they would have gone on through and hit SOMETHING else (the windows weren't bulletproof, though maybe TC should have thought of that . . . . but that would probably mess up the dynamics of the aircraft due to weight considerations) -- the ceiling, some piece or pieces of equipment, even potentially the rotors if shot at from the ground up, should also be damaged with every shot that goes through a window! But nothing else ever gets damaged. Go back and look at some of the episodes where TC is standing beside the helicopter looking at the holes and complaining (rightly so!). Where the holes are -- the bullets couldn't have missed anyone sitting in the two front seats of the chopper! Or if it did miss, where did it go? TC never complains about it going out the other window, which would require a horizontal shot anyway, which it never was. Usually the chopper was shot at from below, so if the bullet went in through TC's window, where did it exit? Or where did it lodge?




Just something that has always puzzled me.

golf

Golf,
Flying for a TV series was a piece of cake for Kux.

Scroll to page 23.

http://www.usmc.mil/directiv.nsf/56ec37 ... 9600_2.pdf

Sam,

That was a BIG chopper he was flying! Yeah, makes the MD500 look like child's play.

I practiced some more flying of the Robinson 44 last night (since I can't fly the MD500 while in Hawaii, darn it) . . . . .

At Kauai's Port Allen Airfield

golf

Hey Golf, What song is that?

Sheesh, you don't recognize it? It's Jimmy Buffett's "Fins." I'm a big Jimmy Buffett fan. I thought it was rather apropos for a flight along the coastline.

golf

golfmobile wrote:Sheesh, you don't recognize it? It's Jimmy Buffett's "Fins." I'm a big Jimmy Buffett fan. I thought it was rather apropos for a flight along the coastline.

golf

Sorry, I'm not a big Jimmy Buffett fan. I don't dislike him, just not enough of a fan to know this one. I liked it though, and you're right. It went great with the flight.

In 1988,N4943T crashed and the description fits the Kux crash.

I've actually seen this crash on one of those programs that shows disaster-type videos. Kux is the only one in the aircraft. It shows it veering off to the right and then it spins to the left and lands in a ditch filled with about 5-6 feet of water. This HUGE Hawaiian dude named "Tiny" goes over and actually lifts the front of aircraft out of the water (amazing!) and grabs Kux, half hanging out of it, unconscious. Kux's left arm is dangling at an odd angle when Tiny is carrying him up the embankment and on to some grass. His arm was almost severed. They interviewed Kux some months after the crash and Kux credits Tiny with saving his life.

Just thought I'd share!

Golf,

I too thought it was not realistic that the only damage to the chopper was a window.Where did the bullet go? Chalk it up to TC's clean living or..

We know that TM rarely paid his debts so maybe the writers didn't want him in a hole with no escape.

What do you mean Thomas..You still owe me gas money,a window and a new radio.Plus repairs to the tailboom,two seats,one vertical fin and one skid.lol

Poor old Thomas would need to get a REAL job at the Day-N-Dark and with TC's..Pickled-egg,please...would only lead to trouble.

Golf,

That is pretty cool..Hey! you only missed the H,by that much.

I have the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004.Does it included a helicopter in the program?

I know you have the real set-up for the programs.I have a cheesy joystick and gave up trying to fly anything.I spent more time crashing than flying.

Sam,

A Robinson 22 comes with the MSFS2004, along with the Bell 206, and maybe some others, I've forgotten because I usually fly a freeware downloadable add-on of TC's chopper. But since I'll be flying the R44 in Hawaii, I wanted to practice with it. It came with Abacus WhirlyBirds (a payware add-on) I bought right after I started accumulating all the equipment to do this -- or more accurately, ATTEMPT to do this.

I also couldn't figure out flying with only the joystick, and since I got the program only so I could get an idea of what it would be like when I got to fly a real one, well, then, of course, I had to get all the other EXTRA, EXPENSIVE stuff so I could see what it would be like (my spouse suggested getting the computer program -- he may have begun to regret his brilliant idea when I had to get all the OTHER stuff!). For what all I spent, I probably could have taken a real lesson at $350/hour. But that would have been only one time! So with the Saitek X52 joystick set (two "sticks," one to be the collective/throttle and one to be the cyclic) and the CH pedals (to which I added cut-off brass towel rods to be like the tubular "pedals" on a real helicopter), I could more accurately simulate flying a helicopter. It really is fun, and addictive. But it is NOT easy!!

I really got ridiculous about getting all the extra stuff. Add-on scenery programs and build-your-own-scenery programs (that's how I built my attempt at Robin's Nest). I even have the programs where you can fly live online with other simmers. (That's one of the neat things about FSX, the latest version, because in it you can actually have someone in your aircraft WITH you -- virtually! That is really cool! I was flying with one of my virtual instructor pilots one night and he did an autoration on me! )

Enough flight sim stories . . . .

golf