# ONE TOUGH HELICOPTER



## FLYBOYJ (May 12, 2005)

Battle Damage in Iraq


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## cheddar cheese (May 13, 2005)

Grrr, damnit I dont have powerpoint


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## FLYBOYJ (May 13, 2005)

cheddar cheese said:


> Grrr, damnit I dont have powerpoint



He's a photo CC


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## cheddar cheese (May 13, 2005)

Damn!


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## FLYBOYJ (May 13, 2005)

Shot to Swiss Cheese (no offense CC)


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## cheddar cheese (May 13, 2005)

Hey, how dare you imply that im Swiss


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## FLYBOYJ (May 13, 2005)

cheddar cheese said:


> Hey, how dare you imply that im Swiss


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## evangilder (May 13, 2005)

I had seen that before. It's amazing that they still flew, especially with the bullet holes in the rotors!


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## FLYBOYJ (May 13, 2005)

Can't wait till Adler see this - could you imagine how that think must of viabrated!


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## evangilder (May 13, 2005)

Yep, probably enough to shake your fillings loose!


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## FLYBOYJ (May 13, 2005)

evangilder said:


> Yep, probably enough to shake your fillings loose!



YEP


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## Nonskimmer (May 13, 2005)

Wow!


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## unpunk01 (May 15, 2005)

I can't confirm this but I received this picture in a e-mail from a friend of a friend of a friend and it and it said that the chopper received the battle damage (mortor and small arms) on the ground at the Bagdad airport in the early days of the war. *note most of the holes aren't at an angle...like the shooter was at the same elevation as the chopper (in flight) and the big holes are at an angle like mortor shrapnel* 
You know how it goes...could be true...could be a lie.


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## FLYBOYJ (May 15, 2005)

unpunk01 said:


> I can't confirm this but I received this picture in a e-mail from a friend of a friend of a friend and it and it said that the chopper received the battle damage (mortor and small arms) on the ground at the Bagdad airport in the early days of the war. *note most of the holes aren't at an angle...like the shooter was at the same elevation as the chopper (in flight) and the big holes are at an angle like mortor shrapnel*
> You know how it goes...could be true...could be a lie.



Nope - my source says it happened in the air. Look at the pitch links and damage on the lower rotor blades. The rounds came from the bottom.


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## unpunk01 (May 16, 2005)

Could be...the e-mail I received (granted, could be a hoax!) the guy claimed it was his ship and that's what happened to it when he wasn't around....and I received this back in 2002 (maybe?)...it's been a while.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 16, 2005)

In all fairness, We had a rocket land right next to our aircraft at an FOB in Iraq. The rocket threw up debris and chrapnell that pelted the aircraft and made them look like swiss cheese. The damage all looked like it came from below because what does an explosion do it throws the chrapnel and the debri up and outward. Our aircraft sustained damage to the lower sides of the blades, to the underside of the aircrat, and to whole sides of the aircraft and it looked pretty similar to that.

I can not say for the OH-58D's that are pictured up there. That could have happened on the ground or in the air but it looks like the same kind of damage as the 80mm rockets did to our Blackhawk.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 16, 2005)

Interesting! Either way, it's a hell of a repair job!


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## Clave (Jun 17, 2005)

I'm trying to imagine the noise of being inside when those bullets and shrapnel were hitting...


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 17, 2005)

FLYBOYJ said:


> Interesting! Either way, it's a hell of a repair job!



The aircraft 631 was down for about 3 months. Pretty much everything had to be replaced and fixed including the structure. Several ribs in the tail boom had to even be replaced.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 17, 2005)

Clave said:


> I'm trying to imagine the noise of being inside when those bullets and shrapnel were hitting...



Imagine hearing a loud pop and then a soft thud that shutters the airframe of the aircraft. Its not fun at all.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 17, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Clave said:
> 
> 
> > I'm trying to imagine the noise of being inside when those bullets and shrapnel were hitting...
> ...



GOD! I just about Sh#t myself on a flight when we got an amber chip light, I coun't Imagine getting shot at, especially in a helicopter!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 17, 2005)

Its funny back here in Germany we get a chip light (especially on in our main mod) we flip out and land immediatly. In Iraq we get a chip light, we continue to the nearest FOB even if it is a 45 min flight. Its funny how you prioritise things in combat.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 17, 2005)

That's funny!  The pilot I was with wanted to land in the middle of this busy street in the middle of Denver. I told him if he did that I was going to run off the helicopter, hide in the insuring crowd an allow him to talk to the media and FAA! 8) He was a new guy who came from the civilian ranks and never even saw a chip light on any helicopter he flew!  

We were only 5 minutes out so I convinced him to keep going. We landed without incident - engine change with 1.5 hours on it! Boy I'm glad I got another job!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 17, 2005)

Yeah we dont get them very much, if we do it is normally a gear box and normally is nothing but usual wear on the gear box. If we do and we are close eneogh to an airfield we go there but otherwise we land immediatly especially if it is the main mod.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 17, 2005)

Last year I had 3 bad engines from the factory. 2 made metal in under 5 hours, the third had a bad torque transmitter pick-up that was internal, had to rip apart half the engine to get at it. Worked my butt off but the overtime was good!

Now I sit in a office and watch sailplanes fly and people jump out of airplanes all day!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 19, 2005)

I dont know how many engines we went through the last year. We injested so many birds. Most of them did nothing to the engines and all we had to do was flush them out but man it seemed like every week we were replacing them. We had one engine litterally explode while going over wires coming into Baquba. The engine was not hit by ground fire or anything it just exploded. And then the countless ones that just flamed out.


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## Nonskimmer (Jun 19, 2005)

That ain't good.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 19, 2005)

The desert environment is not very good on engines and moving parts.


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## Nonskimmer (Jun 19, 2005)

True enough.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 19, 2005)

But they held up pretty well, I am pround of them.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 19, 2005)

Did you see many factory reps. while in country?


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## lesofprimus (Jun 19, 2005)

> Imagine hearing a loud pop and then a soft thud that shutters the airframe of the aircraft. Its not fun at all.



I've heard the same sounds, and its one of the worst sounds u can ever hear......... Trust us....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 19, 2005)

You are correct Les.

As for the factory reps Flyboy we had one on our FOB at all times and the General Electric rep was about a 30 min flight away.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 20, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> You are correct Les.
> 
> As for the factory reps Flyboy we had one on our FOB at all times and the General Electric rep was about a 30 min flight away.



Boy, that must be a hell of a job!


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## Gnomey (Jun 20, 2005)

Wow! How does that still fly!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 20, 2005)

How does what still fly?


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