the AH-1 Cobra is still one mean bird

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You should've held some backyoke, full rudder, and put him into a spin! By the way - what's the 172's tolerance for 0g flight?
 
Had an A-4 mechanic tell me the story of his introduction to the squadron. Everyone had to do an initial checkride. He was young and cocky and was running his mouth he said. He climbs into the back, is strapped in. All the while talking about how excited he was for this "joy ride". In his words, he said they lined up at the threshold and were given clearance. Full throttle they go and the pilot yanks a max-G pull-up. He said he instantly puked inside his mask, it ran down the front of his suit and between his legs. The pilot never said a word to him and yanked him around for about 5 minutes. He said it felt like an hour, the whole time he was puking and going through dry heaves.

Once they landed he was instructed to clean it up. A rather humbling experience he noted. Never more did he run his mouth.
 
AH-64Ds can actually do shoot-downs. They can carry four AIM-9 Sidewinder ATA Missiles on the end of the wing pylons.

No actually it can carry two missiles on the end. Not 4. It is capable but never been used in combat. There are no units that train for it either. They leave the Airforce and the ADA for that.

HealzDevo said:
Both AH-64A and AH-64D can go ATA if they have to.

No only the AH-64D Longbow can have Air to Air capability. The original Alpha model does not. Trust me I know Healz. I was in Army Aviation for 6 years and was stationed with Apaches. Flew missions with Apaches. Both Longbow and Alpha Model.




I have played the game HealzDevo and it is far from what happens in Real Life. Trust me I know. I have over 650 hours of combat flight time.

HealzDevo said:
But Black Hawks would be very vulnerable in that role as they can't do the safety tricks quite as well as the Apache can...

What do you mean by that? The Blackhawk is just as maneuverable than the Apache. It can do everything the Apache can when it comes to flying.

HealzDevo said:
Black Hawks make better targets though...

Actually in reality make no different a target than the Apache. I know I flew the Blackhawk for 6 years.

HealzDevo said:
When I am talking about safety tricks I am meaning being able to perform slide-slips and that when a missile is closing so it will overshoot.

Side Slipping or what ever you are talking about is not the maneuver to evade a missile being fired at you. You actually turn into the missile. Trust me I know I trained for it for 6 years and had missiles fired at me in Iraq.

HealzDevo said:
Could be crucial if you miss seeing the missile earlier... AH-64 never exceed speed is 197 knots or 365km/h while the Blackhawk's maximum speed is 193 knots or 357km/h.

That is actually wrong. The Blackhawks top speed is 197.The Blackhawk uses the more powerful T-701C engines while the Apache uses the less powerful T-700. Also using less power than the Apache, a Blackhawk can cruise at higher speeds than the Apache. I know I escorted the Apaches into Iraq and we had to slow down so they could keep up with us.

You are talking to an expert here on the Blackhawk and Apache, HealzDevo. The game that seems to make you an expert on the matter is very very fake. Trust me, you see the pics below, thats me. That is not a video game that is real life.
 

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Yeah we used to get kids all the time that would come out to the aircraft and tell us that we could not make them sick. Well this one time, the last time I was in the field before I got out of the army we had this 18 year old Private come to the aircraft, tell us we cant make him sick and that helicopters are slow and boring. Needless to say we flew doors open and gave him a nice NOE flight yanking and banking for about 20 minutes. He puked all over the place in the first few minutes and the best part was he was sitting in the "hurricane seat" and all his puke blew right back into his face. Man I was laughing!

I ran into him the Friday night at the local pub here and he seems to think I am his friend now...
 
Oh and here is what it normally looks like when we get those kids in our aircraft that think they know everything because they play video games like Longbow and stuff like that.
 

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Nice Chris. Luckily I never had any real problems w/ airsickness - almost lost it during my first T-34C flight, and again on my first aerobatics flight. When I was doing formation aerobatics my wing puked all over his glareshield, instruments, and down the A/C vents He spent an hour cleaning that bird up...
 


I have never been air sick. The one time I threw up in flight was because I ate something really bad during a small break in our flight at the Pristina Airport in Kosovo and on the flight back to camp I had to have the pilot stop since I had not bags on board and sit at a hover, while I puked out my window.
 
I had a real bad airsickness problem when I first started flying - i later found out i had some inner ear damage that was causing me to chuck even under the slightest movements. Eventually I overcame it...
 
Ok, still, Iraq hardly had an airforce even before the second US pounding in Gulf Storm revisted, did it? It would be different in terms of what helicopter you'd favour against a proper airforce wouldn't it?
 
Ok, still, Iraq hardly had an airforce even before the second US pounding in Gulf Storm revisted, did it? It would be different in terms of what helicopter you'd favour against a proper airforce wouldn't it?

Helos are not used for that. You would obviously be running much more air-superiority missions, but you aren't going to put sidewinders on apaches or cobras and go mig hunting. That's what the 15s, 16s, 22s, 18s, etc are for.
 
Air superiority today is radar driven, and no matter what weapon one hangs
on a helo, lacking a proper radar, it is short range line-of-sight combat and
as much fun as that is on computer games, it isn't what you want to be doing
with the real thing. It would get you dead real quick.

Hey - I used to get airsick almost to the point of puking when on airlines.
Years of aerobatics behind me, too. The day airlines banned smoking, my
airline sickness disappeared. I'm allergic to the smoke!!!!!
 
Ok, still, Iraq hardly had an airforce even before the second US pounding in Gulf Storm revisted, did it? It would be different in terms of what helicopter you'd favour against a proper airforce wouldn't it?

It does not matter that is what I am trying to say to you. Your video game is not what happens in real life. Even if the Iraqi Airforce was powerful and active it would not have been the job of Apaches to take out the Migs. They never would have been armed with sidewinders in Iraq. That is not the job of the Apache. That is the job of the Airforce.

The Apace is only used for ground support and anti tank, period!
 
I would have to agree that I like the Cobra better than the Apache. Flew Cobras for almost eleven years and was on the flight of our last six to turn in at Fort Drum, NY in 2001. The Cobra has a certain mystic and personality that the 64 just does not have. Don't get me wrong, the 64 is hands down in all aspects a much more capable A/C than the Army Cobra ever was or could ever had hoped to be. The 64 is just a brute, a machine in every sense of the word. Flew them for two years and just never developed the type of attachment and fondness that I had for the Cobra. I was only an A model Apache guy never got to fly the Longbow but it is still pretty much the same, still a brute! Flew the following variants of Cobra: AH-1S(Mod) AH-1P, AH-1E, AH-1F and an NAH-1S for NASA at NASA Ames Research Center from 92-96.
 

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