Often in software development I encounter code that seems overly complex. It's not always obvious at first glance whether that complexity is because it's solving a really difficult problem, or because the developers made it more complex than it needed to be. Having no domain knowledge of the problems of detecting cracks in blades, this sounds like either a genius solution to a super hard problem, or unnecessary compl…
The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
11–20 of 68 posts
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#12Often in software development I encounter code that seems overly complex. It's not always obvious at first glance whether that complexity is because it's solving a really difficult problem, or because the developers made it more complex than it needed to be. Having no domain knowledge of the problems of detecting cracks in blades, this sounds like either a genius solution to a super hard problem, or unnecessary compl…
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#13Often in software development I encounter code that seems overly complex. It's not always obvious at first glance whether that complexity is because it's solving a really difficult problem, or because the developers made it more complex than it needed to be. Having no domain knowledge of the problems of detecting cracks in blades, this sounds like either a genius solution to a super hard problem, or unnecessary compl…
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#14What if the helicopter would have to operate in a contaminated area? Wouldn't it cause false positives? > The CH-53 Sea Stallion first entered service in 1966 1966 is Cold War era, so, I think, an idea that a military helicopter would have to fly in an area that has been recently nuked wasn't totally inconceivable...
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#15What if the helicopter would have to operate in a contaminated area? Wouldn't it cause false positives? > The CH-53 Sea Stallion first entered service in 1966 1966 is Cold War era, so, I think, an idea that a military helicopter would have to fly in an area that has been recently nuked wasn't totally inconceivable...
The Strontium-90 is a beta radiation emitter.
The external radiation level of the IBIS [is] 75 mR/hr at 12 inches in the failure (extended) mode.Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exposure to a nuclear blast doesn't necessarily make things radioactive. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not radioactive wastelands. Even in Chernobyl, the other reactors continued to operate for a time after the accident, and nature is thriving. But, the radiation detector is on the upper surface of the rear fuselage. Hypothetical Beta particles from the ground will strike the underside of the aircraft and not the detect…
> Exposure to a nuclear blast doesn't necessarily make things radioactive Isn’t this neutron activation?
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#17JohnU says: "It’s all fun and games until helicopter crashes and what should be a minor incident turns into a nuclear emergency where you have to call very specialized decontamination units to remove radioactive material from the site."
Alan Reid says: "unless they shoot ’em down on your own territory
then you don’t have a helicopter but you have mini-hiroshima to clean up."
How much Strontium-90 do they think these things are carrying?
Do they have smoke detectors at home (I hope so...)?
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#18Terrible explanation
This is how the web used to work.
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#19Some really hyperbolic comments on there: JohnU says: "It’s all fun and games until helicopter crashes and what should be a minor incident turns into a nuclear emergency where you have to call very specialized decontamination units to remove radioactive material from the site." Alan Reid says: "unless they shoot ’em down on your own territory then you don’t have a helicopter but you have mini-hiroshima to clean up."…
Re: The Helicopter with Radioactive Blades
#20The article is very vague on how the radioactivity allows detection of leaking gas. The video at the bottom explains from 7:50 in. Gas pressure pressing on a spring holds a radiation shield in place. If the gas leaks the shield moves and the radiation can be detected.
The titanium spar is filled with gas. If there was a crack in the spar the gas would escape, therefore tripping the pressure sensitive radiation shield. Releasing radiation that can be detected inside the helicopter. Wireless systems aren’t used for opsec reasons.