Best Helicopter

[lesofprimus]

We lost the rear rotor on a Ch-47 due to automatic weapons fire in Somolia.... The pilot pulled some AMAZING skills and was able to land us upright, while on fire.. Pretty intense....

Sat there watching round after round come through the skin of the helo... SLow motion like..... Every 2 seconds or so another hole would appear.... I even had time to tap my buddy next to me, point up, and get him to see 2 rounds come through.... The landing was so rough, one of the guys bit his tounge so bad he hadda get sutures in it....

After all this died down and back onboard ship, I talked to some other pilots that said my squad and I were lucky to be alive.... Supposedly, the pilot got a medal for this......

 

[evangilder]

Wow, that slow motion bit brings back memories. That's some scary shit, Les! At least I was only in training when we went down. If I had been getting shot at while we were spinning done, I probably would have soiled myself.

 

[lesofprimus]

I threw up after I climbed outta the back ramp of that POS.......

 

[evangilder]

I can imagine. That's friggin intense!

 

[lesofprimus]

We actually laugh about it now.... It was the adrenaline's fault....

 

[evangilder]

Yep, adrenaline OD. But it is weird how the brain processes things and when you get into a situation like that how things move in slow motion. Maybe it doesn't so much, but that's how our memories process it. Either way,it's a weird experience.

 

[lesofprimus]

You know, after all these years, I dont miss the tempo or the threat/danger one bit....

I miss my buddies and the closeness...

 

[evangilder]

I heard ya. I miss the friends made as well. You form incredible bonds with folks you share those kinds of experiences with. It's funny, I remember the first time I watched Band of Brothers, there was a scene at the end of Day of Days were the Lt is looking down into the city with all the gunfire and flashes. He said something like "If I make it through this, I am going to find myself some place quiet and peaceful to live out the rest of my days". I found it very appropriate, and I identified with it. Obviously, the stuff I saw wasn't quite like that, but after getting shot at and having to look down and make sure you watch where you step, it is nice to sometimes go outside and listen to the silence.

 

[plan_D]

You have to give it to those Chinooks though, they can land on no power. The twin rotors act as a wing, and it can safely glide down. RAF pilots have to land them like that, with no power, in training. I've seen it done, it's sweet.

My dads never been in a Heli crash. Although he nearly was in one when visiting Germany, and one of the generators on the Wessex failed, while over the Black Forest. Absolutely nowhere to land, luckily the other kept going. EXTREMELY lucky because the reason the other had failed was because it was facing the sun and had over-heated. They went to Germany to visit their SAR wing with Hueys. Hueys pissed all over the Wessex with Altitude, they both went up together...the Wessex had to stop (had hit its ceiling), so the pilot rested one of the wheels on the mountain and the Huey just carried on going up and up!

He did do some gunnery off the back of a Chinook while in Falklands. Hanging on the back ramp looking out for Argies. That's all he says...

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I remember being in a Huey during airbase defense school (ABD), that had the engine experience a "sudden loss of power". More like that phrase you never want to hear while flying "Uh oh". It got pretty quiet, with the exception of the wind through the airframe, and my heart in my ears. I just remember spinning...trees...clear...trees...clear. Then a heavy thud. They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Well, we did walk away. My back hurt for awhile after that though.

Its called an autorotation. We practice them everyonce in a while, and have to do them on test flights evertime work is done to the roter blades. Basically you pick a spot, lower the collective, and let the wind turn the blades since the engines are not working. You are falling at about 3000ft per min. It is a really wiered experience to see the ground coming up so quickly. Then when you at about 100 ft you yank up on the collective and pull whatever power you can get out it which slows you down and you slam into the ground hopefully in once piece.

As for the Huey. I love the Huey. I always has been on of my fav aircraft however since flying the Hawk for a few years I will not trade the extra systems on the Hawk anyday. The Hawk was designed off of what was learned about the Huey in Vietnam. How they could make it better. For instance you have 1 engine on a UH-1H Huey if you lose it you go down, on the hawk we have 2 engines, if we lose one, we keep flying. You have one hydraulic pump on the Huey. On the Hawk we have 3. If we lose 1 we keep going. The same is for all systems on the Hawk. She is rugged and pretty much the Huey's daughter.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Well I went for the Apache 8)

 

[lesofprimus]

OK... I found that pic..

We were on exercise and the pilot hadda drop off some mail...... Pretty cool..... Thats about as close to a sub with a camera as I ever got...

(We werent suppose to carry em.. Against orders....)

 

[cheddar cheese]

Cool pic...

 

[evangilder]

Adler, I have to admit I laughed when I read your statement that it's weird to see the ground coming up so fast. I don't know why that seemed funny. Having done it once, weird wasn't quite the word I would have used. I guess when you are used to it and know a bit more about what to expect, it's different.

 

[evangilder]

That's a really cool pic Les! I like the thumbs up in the foreground.

 

[Nonskimmer]

That's an awesome pic, les! What class of boat is that?

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeah great pic there Les. I would love to do some air/sea operations. I think it would be fun. The closest I got to do that was landing at a sea port.

It really is a wiered experience till you get used to it, Even. I remember the first one I did, I was quite scared. I thought we were going to die. Then the next one was easier and then now it is like routine. I remember thought that first time the pilot pulling the engine power control levers back and thinking oh my god we have no power and then feeling my stomach come up through my throat for about a second, and then I felt nothing except for the pressure in my ears and I was like wow this aint bad at all, but then I looked out my window and I see people getting bigger and bigger. Ofcourse when we do it in a test flight we do not go to the ground, we start at like 3000 ft and then regain power at like 500 and pull out and then just fly away.

 

[evangilder]

It is probably better for the airframe to not bounce onto the ground like we did. I guess you can get used to it, don't know if I would though. I certainly was not expecting it, and didn't know about autorotations then. I was just glad to be in one piece when we hit the ground. They ended up air-evacing the helo out later that day. I remember watching it go by, slung under a Chinook.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes I have never been to the ground in one and dont really want to. A lot of people come out of it with back problems and other injuries. You are hitting the ground very fast and hard. That is why we dont do it to the ground. It can hurt you and still destroy the airfame. But I think I would rather be hurt a bit then mangled up in a metal airframe all twisted and dead!

 

[evangilder]

Definitely! I remember the first thing that went through my mind when we started spinning down was how much they'd have to ship back to my parents. Funny how thoughts like that happen.