One for the helo pilots!

[Triton]

Respect is due.

I wonder if he's been headhunted by the 160th SOAR yet?

I recall hearing a tape of an after-dinner speaker in the UK. He'd been an RAF fast jet pilot, and was - at the time of the speech - an air traffic controller. The speech is a comic masterpiece.

He tells of being given a lecture on the flight controls of a helicopter, which went something like this: "See these two sticks? Take one in each hand, then wiggle them about until the helicopter does what you wanted it to do. Here's an important tip: Remember where they were, because you might want to do that again some day..."

maximus otter

I've heard that often great airplane pilots do not make good helo pilots (and vice versa I suppose) because what has become intuitive to an airplane pilot will get you killed in a helicopter.

 

[Ken Cox]

I flew the smaller version of the helicopter in the picture during the late 1960's and early 1970's.

The helicopter in the picture, a CH-47, weighs, all up, about 50,000 pounds.
I flew the CH-46, the Marine Corps version, which has a gross weight of 21,000 pounds.

Not to take from the pilot(s) in this picture, but Boeing-Vertol built this helicopter with this specific capability in mind.
It enables a helicopter to back into a hill and unload people and vehicles.

Notice the height of the rear rotor above the ground.
The pilot can back this ship into a hill with a 45 degree slope.

Conventional single-rotor helicopters can do this by nosing into a hill and putting the toes of the skids on the side of the hill, but then passengers and equipment must depart the helicopter from the sides, which often puts them several feet above the ground.

Most pilots who have flown either the CH-46 or CH-47 consider it the ultimate helicopter, despite the 1960's technology.
We would dog-fight Cobra gunships in our CH-46's, and we could out-climb, out-turn and out-run them, but they could out-dive us.

The Marine Corps has yet to find a helicopter that can do the job of a forty year-old CH-46, and Columbia Helicopters operates them as the BV-107 (which I flew off-shore with Coumbia) around the world.

Because of the tandem rotors, the CH-46 and the CH-47 can almost disregard unfavorable winds.
The Navy uses the CH-46 for ship to ship replenishment because of the CH-46's ability to hover over a ship with high winds from any direction.
The CH-46 commonly lifts 10,000 pounds on its hook, and the CH-47 lifts at least 25,000 pounds and probably more.

The Marine Corps put me in CH-46's, I think, because I served in Force Recon in my enlisted days, and they might have thought that would enhance my ability to work with Special Operations Groups.
In my mind, the CH-46 remains the premier Special Operations helicopter because of its smaller footprint.
Both the CH-47 and the UH-60 Special Operations Helicopters can outlift and fly further than the CH-46; and, the military has put the latest avionics in the CH-47 and UH-60 in order to give them better all weather and night capability, and I suppose this has made the CH-46 obsolete.
Still, I like the CH-46 for its smaller size and agility...and power.
Big engines...smaller airframe.
The Marine Corps wants very much to retire the CH-46 because of its age, and they will as soon as they can find something newer that can do the job...and, fit on the small aircraft carriers the Marine Corps uses for its Regimental Landing Teams.

The helicopter I presently fly, the EC-145, can roll, loop and even tumble, safely.
Other helicopters, conventional helicopters, can roll and loop, but it requires so much skill from the pilot that it makes it a gamble at best.
A good friend killed himself looping a helicopter.

I fly the following helicopter and if you could look closely enough (you can't) you would see me at the controls of the helicopter in these photos:

http://www.airlife.org/

Anyway, bottom line, Boeing-Vertol built the helicopter in the picture to do this job regularly and easily.
Neat photo, eh?

 

[mycroftt]

Ken Cox: Thanks for the fascinating article.

I fly the following helicopter and if you could look closely enough (you can't) you would see me at the controls of the helicopter in these photos:

Oh yes, we can see you all right - but not in the photos on the home page. The diligent reader can see you quite clearly.

 

[Goldtanker]

Ken - Sure, the aircraft is great. But I won't let you minimize the talents of you drivers. We would blast/trample out a hole in the jungle a few feet larger than the rotor diameter of the chopper and some unknown guy would fly into it in pitch darkness, guided only by a strobe, and pick up one of our wounded. We could hear the rotors hitting the trees on the way out. That's driving!:thumbup:

 

[lagarto]

Thanks for the neat pic, that's pretty amazing to see. Ken, who makes that helicopter? The folks at our local hospital are using the MBB 177 (I think), which to me looks similar, but a lot more blocky. For anyone interested in Vietnam era spec ops helicopter stories "Seawolves: First Choice" by Daniel E. Kelly has some amazing stories. So does Chopper: A history of American Military Helicopter Operations. You guys have got my respect, that's for sure.

Lagarto

 

[Triton]

As usual Ken, thanks for the fascinating insight!

 

[Nordic Viking]

Oh yes, we can see you all right - but not in the photos on the home page. The diligent reader can see you quite clearly.

Indeed, beard and beret? Didn't know Ken was French

 

[Ken Cox]

Yes, I do have a beard and wear a beret.
How did NV know?
Do they have a picture of me somewhere on the web site?

 

[Emanuel]

Yes, I do have a beard and wear a beret.
How did NV know?
Do they have a picture of me somewhere on the web site?

Yeah mate, check in the gear section!:thumbup:

 

[roughneck427]

I was on a Fam flight in Okinawa, I was with HMM-262. The Pilots pulled this stunt on us. Thats a real pic. It's cool to ride in one of those(when they would fly). Ours where mostly Vietnam vintage, bullet patches included. One of the birds was pictured in the Marine Corps Manual doing a drop of in 'Nam(matching tail s/n /bureau(sp?) #. BTW Ken I was with HMX-1 doing the test work on the MV-22 Osprey in 97-99.