Ch-46 Sas

Yes they do! The Control closet, directly behind where the Crew Chief sat, housed the SAS links. One each for Pitch, Roll, and Yaw control assist. Some worked well, but seeped some fluid on occasion. I kept a hydraulic can with the top cut off of it for the leaks (they were very slow and never caused an issue with the aircraft) just to keep the area clean and dry. Some leaked much more than YW-11, but flew well. Replacement links for our "A" models were suspect at times, so we weren't in a hurry to change them unless leaks or flight controls were impacted to the point where it became necessary. The newer links for he "D" models (and later, the "F" models) never leaked that I can recall.

Ch-46 Sas

Back in the day, the 46 used SAS (Stability Augmentation System). It had two boxes working with hydraulic Boost 1 and Boost 2 with 1 driven off the aft transmission and 2 off the forward. The SAS box used rate gyros to sense quick changes in aircraft attitude and activated the hydraulic servos in the flight controls closet. In flight you could watch them constantly jump. Because they were rate gyros, the helo wouldn't maintain level flight for extended periods without pilot input so the ATS, with an attitude gyro, acted as the autopilot. From discussion with Marines in 163, today the 46 uses AFCS like the CH-53. Saw a Vertol 107 from Columbia a couple years ago with SAS. All this make sense or am I suffering brain attenuation?

Absolutely!

It's called (or was in '67) a Stability Augmentation System..."SAS" for short...Remember those 'salt & pepper-shaker' holes on the fuselage fore & aft of the cockpit? Give John Dullighan a holler, and he can tell you more about it than you want to know!....(Made tracking an "interesting" job if it wasn't disengaged) but those "A" models were a sweet ride when it was fully functional! LOL!

Semper Fi!
Sully

Sas

It ws fun to watch a cocky H2P or Crew Chief fly left seat when the HAC turned OFF the SAS!!! LOL! I thought I was a goner! LOL!

SAS Appreciation Day

My maintanence chief once assigned me to fly an H46 with no SAS (and of course no ATS) single pilot from Phu Bai to Marble Mountain.

Thus, the reason for the title.

P.S. We made it.

SAS Appreciation Day

Our maintenance chief once had me fly a "D" model from Phu Bai to Marble single pilot with no SAS. I do not think I would want to do it again.

Thus, the reason for my title.

I have known pilots to complete a mission after losing a SAS to battle damage.

When we (262 with addition troops from all the squadeons) did the mod on all the A models in Viet Nam in 1967 at Okinawa part of it was an update on SAS. SF