Or a Sherman tank for that matter.

You might be thinking of 240 Robert with Joanna Cassidy, from Blade Runner.

I played around with the idea of writing a bit of fan fiction about an airwolf reboot about a year ago where someone finds airwolf hidden in a cave someplace. Probably the original "valley of the gods" location. Gets it back flying, (since repairing it was always easy). And uses it to once again to fight the forces of evil.

Then cut to a retired FBI agent who was assigned to investigate all these mysterious blown up police stations, industrial facilities and downed armed aircraft on US soil. "Dear god, it's back, the monster helicopter is back!!!"

go with it, it would be phenomenal.

I watched the 2-part pilot episode(s) with David Hemmings a few weeks back, it was hysterical.  I loved that show in the 80's, now it was like watching Team America, except JMV isn't as good an actor as a puppet.

When he finds his girlfriend dead in the desert and holds her, crying "You promised YOU WOULDN'T DIE!!!!" I started laughing.  Only thing that didn't suck was Ernest Borgnine.

you do know it's a production bell helicopter - right? a 222, not a Hollywood made up aircraft. There's a bunch of them flying around...

FPNI!!!!!!

I knew him back when he was just finished with the series.
Nice enough guy but he had some issues with the blow.
I didn't hang around long.

Long live STRINGFELLOW!!

Coming soon on SyFy;  Airwolf Versus F-35, the DEATHMATCH

^
That almost sums up my childhood interests in the 80s'.

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That is awesome but I'm ashamed to admit that I don't recognize the motorcycle.  What is that from?

Anyone remember High Mountain Rangers?   My brothers and I loved that show because they had a set of toys for every situation.  Jet skis, ultralights, skimobiles, ATVs, etc

I think that makes for a rather nice final act fight scene.

A free sample.



A roar across the decades.
A bit of Airwolf fan fiction.

    "How much further is it Steve?"
    "Not far."
    "Well that's helpful, how far is not far? A mile, six miles? 200 yards?"
    "Uh, well, I am not sure."
    "Not sure, if this thing is anywhere around here then how do you hope to find it? There are a hundred caves, abandoned mines and whatnot all over the area. How do you know which one has this mysterious airplane you have been looking for. And what kind of idiot would stash an airplane in a cave? Rocks would probably have fallen on it. Perhaps the whole cave crashed in on it. That's if this thing exists at all."
    "Oh ye of little faith."
    "I don't have much faith because I haven't seen any evidence to support that faith."
    "Okay, okay. I will tell you everything I know. There is an old guy who lives across the street from me. He has been on disability for years ever since he was in a horrible accident. I mowed his lawn and did some other favors for him. But he never talked about himself. He always wanted to know what I was doing. He was the one who told me that I should get into flight school. He also said that I should stay out of the military. He always said that they just use you. He was also some kind of a conspiracy nut. Blathering on about how the government had eyes everywhere. Then one day he left a letter in my mailbox with a map in it. On the other side of the map he left a note. There is a very dangerous aircraft at these coordinates. Find it and destroy it."
     "Uh huh, and did he spare any more details?"
     "No, he was taken to a hospital by an ambulance later that day and died in the hospital that night."
     "So, do you have any idea what this mysterious aircraft is?"
     "Haven't a clue. I hope it might be a P51 or something like that. You know those were sold for practically nothing at the end of the war. If it is one of those and it is in good shape we could sell it for a million dollars."
     "But didn't you say that he said it was dangerous?"
     "Oh come on, how dangerous could it be? Perhaps he stole an F117 prototype loaded with nukes. Yeah right, the government would have hunted down anyone who did something like that like a damn dog. Oops, we are here."
     The two friends stood before a mine shaft sealed by a gate forged from large iron bars. The shaft was unusually big. Big enough to drive a car through. The massive bars were rusted with age and the massive padlock that held them shut was corroded to the point of near uselessness. After a moment of hesitation Greg shook the chains that secured the gate. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and the once strong chain did not look like it could take much strain. Steve grabbed an iron bar that had fallen out of the gate and drove it through the chain. Twisting it, hoping that the chain would fail before the bar did. After a moment of stress the weak link separated and the gates creaked open with the groan of decades of rust.
     Steve was about to walk in when Greg stopped him. "Wait, it might be dangerous down there. I brought some rope, I hope you brought a couple of flashlights."
    "Of course, it would be borderline suicide to explore a cave without one."
    "Okay, good luck."
     Steve descended into the cave. Nervousness was balanced with curiosity. But he couldn't help but think that this was all a sham. The cave mouth was big but there was no way one could have snuck a aircraft bigger than a model plane into this cavern. But as he walked the ground became smoother. The passage was becoming larger as it started to curve. Then his light caught something. It was a bomb, with the distinct markings of "face towards enemy." The cave was booby trapped but the tripwire had disconnected over the years. His heart skipped a beat. Any sane person should have turned around immediately and called the police. But the allure of treasure is something which has driven men to utter madness. He pressed on.
    After passing the trap his light illuminated a large opening. There were smooth shapes that clearly indicated manmade objects. Some objects blocked the way, it wasn't rubble, it was like a door that had fallen off its hinges. He pushed it out of the way and he was astounded by what he saw.
   There was a huge chamber. But it was not filled with rock, it was filled with manmade objects. Old computers, machine tools, all sorts of wonderful expensive things. Standing in the middle of everything was the unmistakable sleek shape of a helicopter. But not just any helicopter. It had the smooth lines of something that an executive of a major corporation would fly around in but it was bristling with weapons.
     Steve could hardly comprehend this. Nothing about this was possible. Civilian helicopters do not carry weapons. How did they get this down here? Who had paid for all this and why was it abandoned? He was drawn almost magnetically to the helicopter. It seemed otherworldly, covered with dust from all its time down here. He opened the door to the cockpit and got in. The electronics of the chopper were dead. Not surprising. But the controls were familiar enough that he believed that he could fly this thing.
     Greg was starting to get worried when his friend came back out of the cavern. "Well Steve, I can see by that big goofy smile on your face that you found something nice down there."
    "Yes, we have some work to do. There is an aircraft down there. It's a helicopter, I think. Bit of a fixer upper. But I think we can have some fun with it."
    "What do you mean by 'I think it is a helicopter?"
   "It is completely unlike any helicopter I have ever seen. I think its a one off prototype."

Agreed. The DOE had a couple of them for INEL back in the 1980s and occasionally parked them at the IDA airport. My dad took a few NOE rides in them and said it was quite sporty.

Motorcycle is from Street Hawk. It could do backflips.  



 

This show sparked my love for the sound of the cello.

The thing I remember the most about Airwolf was how they constantly recycled the same stock footage of an aircraft exploding mid-air.



Over and over again, regardless of what aircraft it was supposed to be in the show, the same explosion.  

That got really old really fast.

And the missile effect!

We had a triple deuce on skids for a life flight helicopter here for years.  Very distinct sound.  

it does have a nice whopp whopp sound doesn't it?  like the 540? huey stuff or cobra rotor system...isn't it all in the rotor chord?  



I got tired of the aerial flip flop crap they did with the camera to show a "get around behind the bad guy hammerhead" maneuver.

One of the life flight groups in Salt Lake has/had one, as well. I love the sound. The old hospital where I worked before school had a nice A109. Before that, a 206 and an MU2 fixed wing. I got to ride those last two for some photo ops. The MU2 later was sold and crashed with a politician aboard.

My vote for distinctive sounds is split between Bell's teetering 2-blade rotor birds and the Aerospatiale Dauphin. That sound instantly transports me back to hearing the MD State Police aircraft coming in & out of Shock Trauma. I'm sure it brings back different but vivid memories for those who have been involved with the Coast Guard.

No shit.

Fixed wing pilot/mechanic, so I honestly don't know.  I do know it sounded good, and you knew exactly what was coming when you heard it.  

They sold it to some outfit in Europe who crashed it, killing the 2 pilots and flight nurse.  

I thought you were going to talk about this:

Daystate Airwolf

It's outside my area of expertise, so guys with actual knowledge please jump in to correct me.

It is multi factorial. Blade slap is in a large part due to an advancing blade meeting the tip vortices from another blade. The teetering 2-blade rotor system on the Bells uses a big and stiff blade that is pretty heavily loaded. It's more noticeable in flight modes like approach/takeoff/slow flight/hovering. There's also interaction with the tip vortices from tail rotors.

That's why the quiter stuff tends to have more and thinner main blades (+/- funky tip designs & angles), along with >2 blade, shrouded, or absent (NOTAR) tail rotors.

Placeholder here for links to literature.
ETA:
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/policy_guidance/envir_policy/media/04nov-30-rtc.pdf

Really long URL to a Google book.

http://www.wired.com/2010/02/eurocopter-moves-one-step-closer-to-whisper-mode/

http://multi-science.atypon.com/doi/pdf/10.1260/1475-472X.10.4.427

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19870001317.pdf

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/645884.pdf

List of Airwolf episodes with summaries

Tim_AZ already helped. It was Inn at the end of the road. I watched it again I forgot a few things about that episode but I remembered the most ridiculous thing.

Flying a jet ranger through a mountain tunnel.

I also misremembered something important. The Hughes 500 was doing well against Airwolf but the pilot in the Hughes passed out from G forces and turned off the magic box by accident. Then Airwolf shot him down. Wasn't needed, with the pilot passed out and the autopilot off the chopper would have crashed. But better safe than sorry when dealing with super weapons.

How many have that paintjob?

After it crashed, it got gutted and rebuilt. Then it did powerline inspections.

Then, it got rebadged as airwolf, and hung at a helicopter museum up in pigeon forge, TN for a couple of years. I almost got in trouble there. I was in mid-jump from the second story balcony because I was gonna sit in it one way or the other, when a docent intervened. Whatevs.

That place closed a few years ago. Where the bird is now, no clue.

I didn't know it got rebuilt, very cool.
Any chance the OP's pics might be the original?

Damn it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRwgwQ3IWrY

A buddy of mine had the series a few years ago while we were deployed.  What struck me in the pilot was how racy it was.  The dog looking up the girls skirt?    Awesome.  

Sounds awesome!
I would love to read that!

Thats pretty awemsome

Absolutely loved this show as a kid, love it even more now, fully appreciating the campiness.

How unoriginal.

I think you would be better off starting out with Airwolf flying past a town...oil leaks, down on his luck.....then a Sheriff's helo swoops in and tells Airwolf that he is not welcome in "his" town and offers an escort out.  Airwolf says nuh-uh and then goes on a rampage. You see Airwolf was trained to kill, and drink fuel that would make a Cessna puke....you know...generally totally badass and tough and shit.

In later Books Airwolf can go on and save POW's....all the while being tormented by his past deeds.

Loved that show as a kid.

When I learned about retreating rotor stall... my dreams were shattered.

Its on Esquire channel on Thursdays 5pm

GD collaboration on writing Airwolf fan fiction?  That would be pretty epic...

i loved that show when i was younger

all badass shows back then had helicopters

This is why helicopter speed is limited, right? Sorry, not a big rotorhead.

to say nuthin' 'bout being tortured in a pit full of spoiled diesel fuel salvaged from a hog transport truck, and electrocuted on a makeshift garage lift.............

One of the reasons, but it is a big one. There is an outfit that claims that they have found a way around this problem but I am skeptical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarterCopter

Airwolf wasn't just supersonic. It could climb to over 80,000 feet and shoot down ICBMs if memory serves. When I rewatched some episodes recently the bird seemed like a true deus ex machina. Or perhaps just a machine God!

Enjoyed the heck outta that

Thanks, I am a bit busy with some other projects at the moment but I think I will write it as a three part short story on my blog. I will post a link here when it gets going.

Jesus I bet you are just the life of the party.
Are you really complaining that a show about an attack helicopter that can take on jets, take out ICBM missiles and is in general the baddest creation of our lifetime, isn't written like War and Peace?
Really...