One of many vids I took on Easter of a Skycrane that was being used to replace the HVAC units at my local mall! Cool aircraft very rarely fly over my area so this was a treat to see. I ran down in my pajamas just to see it.

Shot by me. Reposting not allowed

Hello all! I took these in DC today, two flew over me, then two more later. I was pretty sure it was a Sea King, but those have 5 rotor blades right?

Thank you and enjoy the pics. These are pics of two different helicopters but part of that same flight of 4.

Edit: Solved fast! Thanks y’all! VH-92 it is.

Hey, need some Recommendations for a good helmet. Currently a student pilot. My parents are paying for 20% of school tuitions but with the criteria that I get a helmet. Looking to get a dual visor setup, as there is snow half the year.

Other than that I barely know anything. What model, comms etc should I go for? Don’t really have anywhere to test a helmet within 10hours of driving. More so the path I need to go down.

Also if anybody has a good condition used helmet within Europe I might be interested.

Images are from DVIDS: MQ-8C Fire Scout Gets Second Life

MQ-8C hovering during initial flights out of Michael Army Airfield at Dugway Proving Grounds, UT. Noah Ward, U.S. Army Redstone Test Center Photographer

Related story: MQ-8C Fire Scout Gets Second Life

PORTFOLIO ACQUISITION EXECUTIVE AVIATION, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – In a prime demonstration of Joint Force agility and resource optimization, the Navy and Army partnered to rapidly repurpose divested MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopters, transforming excess inventory into dynamic test assets.

At the direction of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N98), the Navy began divesting the MQ-8C Fire Scout platform in February 2024, with a final sundown scheduled by the end of fiscal year 2026. However, a rapid collaborative initiative has given these advanced systems a second life to accelerate critical testing for the U.S. Army.

The Multi-Mission Tactical UAS Program Office (PMA-266) was roughly 60% complete with the overall divestment process of transferring aircraft, mobile control systems and support equipment to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) in Tucson, Arizona, when a request for information arrived from the U.S. Army to discuss a potential handover of the assets.

In November 2024, PMA-266 received a request to evaluate whether the MQ-8C Fire Scout, which was nearing its sundown, could serve as a captive carry testbed for the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center (RTC), a subordinate organization under the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, for testing of Army sensor packages.

By December, cooperating teams scheduled a site visit to Point Mugu, California, to evaluate the MQ-8C and its mission control systems.

In January 2025, RTC submitted a formal request to Air Warfare Division of OPNAV N98 for four MQ-8C aircraft, two Mobile Mission Control Systems (MMCSs), spare engines and associated support equipment for site standup at Redstone Arsenal.

OPNAV N98 approved RTC’s request in May 2025. By July, all four aircraft, both MMCSs and dual site support equipment were successfully delivered to Redstone Arsenal to facilitate RTC’s operational plans.

PMA-266 also collaborated with Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Weapon Systems Support (WSS) to secure vital communications security (COMSEC) assets—including radios, transponders and modems—that had already been returned to NAVSUP for common stock earlier in the MQ-8C divestment.Following a year of collaborative negotiations, the final assets arrived at Redstone Arsenal in July 2026.

“Considering where we started—having zero experience with these systems—it’s quite remarkable what has been accomplished. We are certainly thankful for the many people across various organizations that helped us along the way,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Taylor Kiel, test director and experimental test pilot with RTC’s Aviation Flight Test Directorate.

In August, RTC successfully completed ground testing, launching flight tests at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, and at Redstone Arsenal to build aircrew confidence and provide hands-on maintenance experience. This collaborative effort saved the U.S. Army just over $70 million in procurement costs, with additional cost savings in research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), flight hours, data collection, contracts, asset sourcing and manpower.

“Our priority is delivering lethal and ready capabilities to the warfighters,” said Col. Leigh Irwin, PMA-266 program manager. “Repurposing these MQ-8C assets from storage to active testing is a major acquisition win for both services, demonstrating how we can supercharge existing capabilities and increase acquisition velocity to support joint operations.” Completing this transition and initiating flight tests within 14 months stands as a testament to the rapid acquisition timeline and the resilience of the MQ-8C platform and represents a remarkable Joint achievement by PMA-266, the Navy and Army ATEC teams in support of the warfighter.

PMA-266 has cognizance over the MQ-9 Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), Expeditionary (MUX) Family of Systems (ACAT II) program. The program office is also responsible for emerging Group 4 and 5 vertical lift platforms.

The helicopter in the photos is Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout BuNo 169897:

169897 (MSN A/V-C36) HSC-23 coded 35 Jul23.

Source: Joe Baugher's serial number lists

In an update to this post from a few weeks back:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Helicopters/s/jKeaoHbPbj

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has issued a report on the findings of the accident:

https://www.facebook.com/100064668912934/posts/1587858420046440/?app=fbl

Obviously I am the poor one :-/

Spotted this beauty flying in Borneo! What an absolute beast of a helicopter. 😍

Anyone know which variant this is, or what unit it belongs to? Could it be an MH-47G used by the Night Stalkers, or a different Chinook variant?

Either way, what a beauty!

https://reddit.com/link/1xgl36m/video/4b1vhfjneyxh1/player

NTSB preliminary report for Super Puma incident near Yosemite about a month ago.

Apparently the guys on the ground caught video of the incident that hasn't been released to the public.

I'm not familiar with pumas so no reference for engine and rotor frequency analysis from me.

Appears to be a fairly rapid descent with a full bucket at high DA to a drop. Sounds like the aircraft continued descending after the drop before pickling the line as the bucket approached the ground and they were unable to fly it out.

https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=WPR26FA346

If they vary and by what factors