Chinooks

[wyorunner]

That’s a great story, because of the whole army marine thing is so real for me personally. Been yelled at by both army and marines. Of course never got to have any fun flying like you did though! If You could post a story like this every few days, that’d be great, thanks!! :)

Every few days, hugh

Got a better idea

I'll start a new thread, call it, "There I was"

Folks will have to post up some of their own good stuff to share, military or otherwise, doesn't matter

I'll get it going in a bit

Oh this will be grand!!

[oklawall]

There is an airplane on the Air Force base that has been used as Aircraft battle damage repair trainer for about the last 15 years and is no longer safe. They are talking about using a Chinook to come in and lift it to another area of the base so the airplane can be disassembled. I hope they do I would love to watch that

What kind of airplane?
Things with wings do not always play nice with the almost 100mph rotor wash. Oftentimes they start flying with interesting outcomes.

A guy I knew had picked up a damaged huey and was carrying it single point. A huey is a pretty light load, even fully loaded. It requires a drogue chute to be attached to the tailboom so the nose stays pointed straight ahead, and forward speed is limited by the loads stability. As long as it behaves itself, the pilot will increase airspeed slowly until the load starts to occolite. When at that point you'd back off say five to ten knots and bore a long slow hole in the atmosphere onto your destination.

Well this huey was doing pretty well at 100 knots so they bumped it up a bit. The load remained stable but the added pressure broke the drogue chute line and just like that the load started to try and spin. It did some wild gyrations as they tried to slow down but when he saw the huey level with him outside of his window, he cut it loose.

This happened in Germany

Meanwhile below, in the everpresent winter mist and haze lied a quiet little German village. In that village lived the classic "little old lady" who was busy cooking, I believe. Well she heard a thunderous crunch and the house shook, but then all returned to normal so she went on about her business. I think it was the neighbor who shortly thereafter pointed out the huey occupying the space where her bathroom had once been...

I believe that Huey never returned to service.

And don't get me started, I have loads of funny Chinook carrying loads stories

Like the time when I was .....;-))

The aircraft is a WC 135 but all the special gear is removed so it is just a KC 135 with a cool paint job. The plan if the lift it is to remove the horizontal, vertical and the wings from the tip to just outside the landing gear torque box area. From the place it is resting to the ramp area is about half mile by air and 2 miles by road. I will video it if they do the lift

[Flyin6]

Max lift on a D model Chinook is 26,000 lbs center hook, and I think 28,000 fore and aft hooks combined. So they will have to get what's left down to that or better, and do the lift in the winter with the thick cold air!

[JR]

Bet that is sea level too. Ain't gonna be the same in places like Tahoe with 30% less density. (carb tuning days)

[Flyin6]

Bet that is sea level too. Ain't gonna be the same in places like Tahoe with 30% less density. (carb tuning days)

Very true

Sealevel to normal elevations, the Hook can lift its maximum load.

The actual design specification for the "D" model is to hover out of ground effect (80') at maximum gross weight at 95F!

That's a tall order and took two 4,500 HP motors and some whoppin' big rotors to get there, but it could do it all day, and then some.

But on one mission the regiment was called out to do, landing at a bit above 20,000 feet, it was sketchy if the bird could hover with its crew and four soldiers. I personally doubt it could with the winds blowing around up there.

[Atkinsmatt]

Getting me remembering air assault school stuff there.

[Flyin6]

Getting me remembering air assault school stuff there.

yep, been there too!

[oklawall]

There is an airplane on the Air Force base that has been used as Aircraft battle damage repair trainer for about the last 15 years and is no longer safe. They are talking about using a Chinook to come in and lift it to another area of the base so the airplane can be disassembled. I hope they do I would love to watch that

What kind of airplane?
Things with wings do not always play nice with the almost 100mph rotor wash. Oftentimes they start flying with interesting outcomes.

A guy I knew had picked up a damaged huey and was carrying it single point. A huey is a pretty light load, even fully loaded. It requires a drogue chute to be attached to the tailboom so the nose stays pointed straight ahead, and forward speed is limited by the loads stability. As long as it behaves itself, the pilot will increase airspeed slowly until the load starts to occolite. When at that point you'd back off say five to ten knots and bore a long slow hole in the atmosphere onto your destination.

Well this huey was doing pretty well at 100 knots so they bumped it up a bit. The load remained stable but the added pressure broke the drogue chute line and just like that the load started to try and spin. It did some wild gyrations as they tried to slow down but when he saw the huey level with him outside of his window, he cut it loose.

This happened in Germany

Meanwhile below, in the everpresent winter mist and haze lied a quiet little German village. In that village lived the classic "little old lady" who was busy cooking, I believe. Well she heard a thunderous crunch and the house shook, but then all returned to normal so she went on about her business. I think it was the neighbor who shortly thereafter pointed out the huey occupying the space where her bathroom had once been...

I believe that Huey never returned to service.

And don't get me started, I have loads of funny Chinook carrying loads stories

Like the time when I was .....;-))

The aircraft is a WC 135 but all the special gear is removed so it is just a KC 135 with a cool paint job. The plan if the lift it is to remove the horizontal, vertical and the wings from the tip to just outside the landing gear torque box area. From the place it is resting to the ramp area is about half mile by air and 2 miles by road. I will video it if they do the lift

Looks like they will be cutting the aircraft up in place so no lift for the chinook

[Flyin6]

https://www.facebook.com/HeliOpsMagazine/videos/325674888062893/

[JR]

Sweet paint job. I see us markings, where is that?

[Flyin6]

Sweet paint job. I see us markings, where is that?

It looks like the ramp outside the Boeing plant in Philly along the river where they are built. I'm betting this was a complete refit, 20-25 mil

[JR]

Isn't that what a new civi one runs anyway?

[TexasRedNeck]

I’m always fascinated by their front and rear rotors not hitting each other


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[Flyin6]

Isn't that what a new civi one runs anyway?

Probably 30-40 depending on options I'd guess. These days the Armee is finally getting new ones. The F's and G's have a lot of composite. These are older 1980's-90's "D" models that are completely reworked, some having parts from the 1960's. Civilians cannot buy CH47D's new, only surplus ones that are reworked. The civvie models, the BV-234 is a buggered up antiquited design derived from a Vietnam era CH-47C

[Nate]

Isn't that what a new civi one runs anyway?

Probably 30-40 depending on options I'd guess. These days the Armee is finally getting new ones. The F's and G's have a lot of composite. These are older 1980's-90's "D" models that are completely reworked, some having parts from the 1960's. Civilians cannot buy CH47D's new, only surplus ones that are reworked. The civvie models, the BV-234 is a buggered up antiquited design derived from a Vietnam era CH-47C

I do believe that billings flying services are using D models....

http://billingsflyingservice.com/news/avationpros-billings-flying-service-earns-the-first-faa-type-certificate-for-the-chinook-ch-47d-helicopter/

[dave945]

Saw this one on the way to Grand Rapids last week. Sorry for the poor pic, but you get the idea.


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[Flyin6]

Isn't that what a new civi one runs anyway?

Probably 30-40 depending on options I'd guess. These days the Armee is finally getting new ones. The F's and G's have a lot of composite. These are older 1980's-90's "D" models that are completely reworked, some having parts from the 1960's. Civilians cannot buy CH47D's new, only surplus ones that are reworked. The civvie models, the BV-234 is a buggered up antiquited design derived from a Vietnam era CH-47C

I do believe that billings flying services are using D models....

http://billingsflyingservice.com/news/avationpros-billings-flying-service-earns-the-first-faa-type-certificate-for-the-chinook-ch-47d-helicopter/

Correct, they are one of the certificated operators...and Columbia helicopters

[Flyin6]

Ran across some more cool pics

[Flyin6]

And these

[JR]

Is that a new type of Osprey behind it in post #317? 

[Flyin6]

Is that a new type of Osprey behind it in post #317? 

Behind the safety wire art work?
That is a Chinook my friend!

[dave945]

Is that a new type of Osprey behind it in post #317? 

Behind the safety wire art work?
That is a Chinook my friend!

I thought he was talking about the wind turbines, kinda look like an ospreys rotors.


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[JR]

Is that a new type of Osprey behind it in post #317? 

Behind the safety wire art work?
That is a Chinook my friend!

I thought he was talking about the wind turbines, kinda look like an ospreys rotors.

 

[JR]

https://youtu.be/KPo_MvjbFUg

[cj7ox]

Here's one I came across. 

[Flyin6]

Ah, it is so true...At the heart of every person is the love for the Chinook!

You know...Aside from the Iconic Huey, what other helicopter rises to the level of this thing? Loved and used by Armies all over. Been in fights, and rescues, on land, at sea, high in the mountains and deep in deserts. It has carried just about everything man has ever conceived and is still actually growing in significance. It costs more, but does more and so many times is the unsung hero of the operation, still working deep into the night when the "Hero-crews" have retired and gone to bed. It is elegant and powerful and assertively American. Like a Navy Aircraft Carrier when it shows up, everyone knows the power of the US military has arrived. Some hate the thing, some love it, but after having worked it or worked with it, respect it, all. It is made of the same stuff that legends are built from and perhaps when the last Huey is flown to the boneyard in some distant decade, a Chinook will ferry the crew home...

[Flyin6]

This is my favorite scripture:

[Flyin6]

The Regiment

[Flyin6]

HOOAH!

[Flyin6]

...

[TexasRedNeck]

Next to the sub, you get a sense for how big that bird really is


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[Flyin6]

Next to the sub, you get a sense for how big that bird really is


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There's a whole lot more underwater!
And they do not necessarily stay stationary.

[cj7ox]

Great pics, Big D!

[KensAuto]

Next to the sub, you get a sense for how big that bird really is


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There's a whole lot more underwater!
And they do not necessarily stay stationary.

The bird, or the sub?

[Flyin6]

Next to the sub, you get a sense for how big that bird really is


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There's a whole lot more underwater!
And they do not necessarily stay stationary.

The bird, or the sub?

Navy Captains do not like to sit in one place. The name of the game is to keep moving. That makes flying and landing on naval vessels tricky. Depending on the wind direction you may encounter up to moderate turbulence just downwind of any superstructure.
So imagine hovering sideways (Moving) and having to keep a more or less precision position in potential deadly (cold) waters while bucking and kicking in some nasty wind. That and should you contact the tower you will obviously crash and potentially damage a very important piece of equipment.

[wyorunner]

Next to the sub, you get a sense for how big that bird really is


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There's a whole lot more underwater!
And they do not necessarily stay stationary.

The bird, or the sub?

Navy Captains do not like to sit in one place. The name of the game is to keep moving. That makes flying and landing on naval vessels tricky. Depending on the wind direction you may encounter up to moderate turbulence just downwind of any superstructure.
So imagine hovering sideways (Moving) and having to keep a more or less precision position in potential deadly (cold) waters while bucking and kicking in some nasty wind. That and should you contact the tower you will obviously crash and potentially damage a very important piece of equipment.

Sounds exhilarating! Wish I could have got into that line of work.

[Flyin6]

Oh, I remember those days

Can't say I ever enjoyed A/R

https://www.facebook.com/helicopter.ua/videos/301228503765885/

[Flyin6]

Fun times...I miss em

https://www.facebook.com/USASOAC/videos/891060144612436/

[Flyin6]

some more

[Flyin6]

and:

[Flyin6]

Found some more on the Spec ops aviation site

Observation: I can't believe how big the 160th has grown. When i first joined it, it was actually called Task Force 160. We had two small companies of Hawks, really just standard Armee birds with some nav stuff, one company of hooks. That company, the one I first was inducted into was actually A Company, 159th Aviation Battalion (Of the 101st Airborne Div). TF-160. That meant that the 101st owned the unit but had no operational control over it. At that time the higher headquarters was actually classified. as we were above the Army's 1st SOCOM. We also had a lift company of OH-6C littlebirds, and another company, called "Six-guns" of converted OH-6's into gunbirds.

Then we became the 160th aviation Battalion, but still loosely held under the 101st Airborne, but that didn't last long as we became the 160th Av Bn, 1st SOCOM under the Army's Special Operations Command. That was strange because although 1st SOCOM owned us, they also had no operational control. Something higher up the food chain pulled our strings and poor old Army Special Forces didn't get much more than bread crumbs.

At that point we were starting to get infusions of really big money. Money to buy things like 34 new Chinooks which were modified by civilians into what we needed and then a fresh refit with MD-530's replacing the weaker OH-6's. We formed a Research and development office called SIMO, or Systems Integration Maintenance Office, and we picked up a national guard unit out of Oklahoma, the 245th Aviation.

Then we absorbed all Special FOrces aviation, really just seizing their budgets and taking almost none of their people, and picked up the 617th Aviation, a small hawk unit in Panama. We then were reflagged the 160th SOAG (Special Operations Aviation Group) and now had a one star overseeing stuff while maintaining a full bird as the group commander. Our numbers had been frozen at 1,111 (by Congress) as our budget was growing quite large. We were at a smoking operational pace and that cost a lot in travel and also in broken stuff like piles of broken aircraft. We were pushing the bounds of Army aviation so far out that the regular Army was no longer allowed to inspect or evaluate us. Our pilots were not well liked by the regular army because what they could see of our maneuvers looked like we were cowboying the helos. As an example of that, in 1984 I was sent to train with the USMC to become what amounts to being an air to air instructor pilot. It was interesting for me to become one, as the Army actually did not have such a thing, I was the only guy in the Chinook world. ANyway, I digressed, sorry

The unit blew right through 1,111 like my boys through a bowl of cheese fries and we were again reflagged as the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment and picked up the USASOC sword patch. We were designated both a special operations and an airborne unit, and we flew and jumped a lot.

With the SOAR the hawks and little birds became first battalion and the chinook company I was in became a battalion of two flight companies and one maintenance company. Not long afterward we stood up an entire new battalion down in Savannah, the 3rd battalion, 160th SOAR. Oddly I actually went to war with them on their first deployment to desert shield/storm and they did very well.

Back a year or so before Panama I got to stand up what was called S&T, for selection and training. We were not much bigger than a platoon, but smaller than a company. We recruited, evaluated/assessed, and trained new officers and enlisted people to join the regiment. THat thing grew into a company and now has grown into a battalion!

The regiment stood up another battalion (Chinooks) in Washington state, 4th Bn. 160th SOAR because OIF and OEF along with all the little wars which that unit still had to prosecute was running the airframes into the dirt. (The road dedication sign of Jody is a guy who died in one of those places that no one realizes that Americans fight)

The Chinook was the workhorse in the Afghanistan theater because of the power of that bird. It is really the only practical bird for conducting assaults at higher altitudes which is like everything but 100 square feet in the stan!

Now they have fixed wing and Reapers and probably a base on the moon!

Anyway, pics come from them, God bless them, most of us never know the missions the have done which killed a cell enroute to somewhere USA with a team to kill school kids. Bad people who work at night!

[Flyin6]

^^^ The woman looking up at the sign is Jody's widow, Janet

Can you imagine her life since that day?

[stlaser]

So they can haul a chinook in a C5? Wow, amazing

[JR]

So they can haul a chinook in a C5? Wow, amazing

Bet they can haul more than 1. Surprised they had to knock down the first mast, understand the aft.

[Flyin6]

So they can haul a chinook in a C5? Wow, amazing

Bet they can haul more than 1. Surprised they had to knock down the first mast, understand the aft.

Correct JR, a C5 holds two broken down hooks. The fwd and aft pylons are removed requiring 24-36 hours afterward to put back together, but units like this one actually keeps a couple broken down 24/7 for worldwide deployment. C5's are also on call and usually no more than 5 hours out from something going down. While the C5 is alerted and enroute the wagon train to the ramp with everything that is prepackaged to load is ongoing. I'd say the aircraft starts to load within 20 min of the C5 coming to a stop. Takes a few hours to load and chain down. I went to Just Cause (Just cuz) riding backwards in a galaxy with two hooks in the belly beneath us.

[Flyin6]

So they can haul a chinook in a C5? Wow, amazing

Yea Shawn, sure can

Part of the design criteria of military equipment is based on the opening you see in the C5's "mouth." Everything from tanks to trucks, to bombs to bridge sections and on and on. We plan to move the rapidly deploying armee with those seventy odd galaxys. Now I believe the C5B has a "Space" modification that will allow the forward pylon to remain installed on the Chinook, making it a fav of the regiment.

[wilsonphil]

Don I spied these two jems hanging out down in Brownsville, they look to be complete

[Flyin6]

Those are "F" models, the newest incarnation of the hook. I'm guessing they are either transient or part of a QRF for somebody messing around on the border

[JR]

That rear shot kinda looks like a sea bass.

[Flyin6]

That rear shot kinda looks like a sea bass.

Classic ramp droop!

When they closed it all up, the ramp and tongue were fitting tightly to the fuselage. But after some hours those cylinders will seep fluid and the whole ramp will start to open. Most crew chiefs tie something on the inside to prevent it from just falling open. Its bad to show up to a ramp which has settled to the ground and the locals have had a shopping foray inside your aircraft.