When the last post about Charlie was made, she was in the middle of the "Lost in 50's" Parade through downtown Sandpoint. Immediately after turning left from 1st Ave onto Cedar Street, Charlie blew a tail wheel tire.!!!
We had anticipated that by beefing up a furniture dolly to serve as a spare tire, so that we could at least get the helicopter out of the parade so as to not impede the progress of the parade.
We got the furniture dolly out of the belly of the beast to place the tail wheel on it. Rather than slow the parade by getting out the hydraulic jack, we simply went to the side of the road and asked for volunteers to lift the tail up. Six beefy guys instantly lept out to assist. As they lifted the tail up, we placed the dolly under it. The dolly crushed down through it like it was made of toothpicks!
Now we had a dilema--if we continued on until we were no longer choking the parade to a halt, we risked ruining the magnesium rim, an item we thought was irreplaceable. There was also a small risk that scooting the magnesium rim on the street might generate enough heat to ignite the magnesium, with the very real possibility in that event that this could ignite the entire helicopter! Once ignited, this entire helicopter will become ashes in less that 15 seconds. I have seen this happen.
What to do?
We knew that we were only two blocks from a place where there would be room for us to edge over and let the parade pass, so we decided to take the risk and proceded on the crushed dolly with only the ruined tire rubbing on the road at first.
Soon the weight wore through the old tire, and the mag rim began to leave a silver streak on the pavement. It looked like we might be able to save the rim, but it was wearing down fast. This could be the end of Charlie's public appearances if we ruin the rim and cannot find a replacement.
We did make it to the wide spot in the road, and were able to let the rest of the parade pass. Now we had a problem of what to do with our H-34. A neighbor who lived right there came out with a metal dolly and offered it for our use. We got the same volunteers to once again lift the tail and placed the flat tail wheel tire on this second dolly. Once again the dolly was crushed! see picture below of second, crushed dolly. Finally, after much consideration, we decided to call a tow truck.
The nice folks from Clyde's towing showed up almost immediately, and rigged a wide strap sround Charlie's tail, and moved her only about 100 feet into a small triangular city park. We figured that since we were so very close to our assigned show spot for the car show the next day, there was no sense in taking the helicopter all the way back to the hangar at Sandpoint airport, and then returning her all the way back into town the next morning by tow truck. The thought also was that if we towed her home, she was done for a while and would not be in the car show. at all.
Of couse we could not leave Charlie out in the open in the park without a guard, so some one had to spend the night with her.
All you H-34 drivers out there, eat you hearts out. I got to sleep in an H-34 for the night.
I know that many times in my flying career I had naps in various helicopters, but
this may very well have been the first time I ever over-nighted in an H-34.
Afterr a short and very miserable night's sleep, Clyde's folks showed up again at 0530 and towed Charlie backwards the two blocks to our assigned static display station on Cedar Street.
After the car show, we got yet a third tow, this time all the way back to the hangar at the far side of the airport. All the time we kept thinking, "What is going to be the cost of not one, nor two, but three tows and about two hours of the time of the tow-truck crew?" This was going to be one humoungous bill, we kept thinking.
As it turns out, Clyde's did not charge us a bit for the three tows.
If you are ever in the Sandpoint area and need a tow, please call Clydes.
The three members of the Clydes crew were awarded "Charlie crew" hats for their superior service.
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