Army's Lakota helicopter has fatal flaw
The Army is spending $2.6 billion on hundreds of European-designed helicopters for homeland security and disaster relief that turn out to have a crucial flaw: They aren't safe to fly on hot days, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.
During flight tests in Southern California in mild, 80-degree weather, cockpit temperatures in the UH-72A Lakota soared above 104, the point at which the Army says the communication, navigation and flight control systems can overheat and shut down.
What makes this worse is that the Lokota was an attempt to save money and time by converting a civilian design to military use. And the original civilian design had air conditioning, but the Army will have to retrofit it in now.
Jay
