Underslung Load 'Incidents'

[seafuryfan]

As part of my job in supporting aircrew training with USL training, I wish is to bring home to my audience:
The importance of CRM both for the crew and ground handling parties,
Good Load'
Pre-and post use checks
Adherence to USLCs
That 'niggling feeling' you had which averted potential disaster etc.
Anything else!

To help me, I'd be really grateful for any meaty USL stories which have remained etched in your collective memories over the passage of time. I'm particularly interested in geometric lock occurrences (strop twisted on SACRU, bill opens, load detaches) as I've only seen one documented incident of this. And, those occurrences which unfolded to your horror in pretty short order!

The more detail you can provide (place, type etc) the better, as it will help me contextualise relevance to the brief. You may wish to PM than post, but any contributions are very welcome - and thanks for keeping the thread on track. I know there are many of us out there (including myself) who think 'there but for the grace of God...' I want to help our new crews to learn from our incidents.

[Tankertrashnav]

On 24 April 2006, Shortshaft posted:

Wessex (RN) Drops Whirlwind (RAF)?

I once saw wreckage in the scrub behind the beach in Tai Long Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong, which was alleged to be the remains of a RAF Whirlwind that had been dropped by a RN Wessex.

The story went that the Whirlwind had malfunctioned and a Wessex from a passing RN vessel was called into return the Whirlwind, under slung, to Kai Tak. Unfortunately the two helicopters parted company during the flight.

Does anyone remember such an event? Did it really take place? Probably during the late 60s.

Nigel Osborn replied

Not in my time, chief. But what RN pilot wouldn't want to drop a RAF helicopter?
With a 4000 lb limit, I would be surprised if the Whirlwind was stripped down to that weight.http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/thumbs.gif


The fact is the event did take place, in 1968, after a 28 Squadron Whirlwind went down in rough terrain in the New Territories (engine failure?) The aircraft was assessed as Cat 3, but was unrecoverable by land, so the Navy kindly offered to pick it up and bring it back to Kai Tak , presumably after stripping it down as far as possible. As Shortshaft surmised, the aircraft was dropped from a great height, and Cat 3 became Cat 5! Thanks Navy!

You want to try Old Duffer, who I think has written a history of 28 squadron. He will certainly know more details than I do.

[Airborne Aircrew]

I was one of four crewmen who underslung a long wheelbase Landrover in 2 cargo nets, (one around the front and one around the rear tied together with para cord IIRC), but nothing went wrong so you probably aren't interested. I have the only known photograph of the flight too...

[zetec2]

Didn't a Belvedere drop a Beaver as underslung load at Khormaksar in 1963, anybody confirm ? seem to remember some incident with a 26 Sqd Belvedere, PH.

[Chris P Bacon]

Falkland Islands approximately 1976. While moving 30 foot bamboo poles underslung from a Westland Wasp, to be used as markers for chart making. The pilot released them from too high and too fast a speed, where they proceeded to bounce off the beach into the rotor disc.
It was a good job we were able to get some replacement blades to the beach by boat.

[ShyTorque]

I once had to persuade a Grenadier Guards Major that sitting in his Land-Rover while we flew it underslung to the final battle of his annual exercise (so he could point the way for me :ugh: ) was not a very safe idea. "But I do have a pair of goggles and I'll wear my seat belt!", said he. :8

I explained that Land-Rovers spun round and round on the end of the strop so he'd get dizzy and in any event I couldn't see him hanging under the helicopter.

That didn't really put him off so I told him how, in the event of engine failure, I'd have to pickle off the load; after which he decided to drive instead. :ok:

[diginagain]

ISTR hearing of a number of OM leather armchairs being released into the Weser while being delivered to a VIP stand at a bridging demo. Also the time someone tried to deliver a digger to a hilltop site not far from Bessbrook but ran out of puff before they could stop.

[101history]

A tragic occurrence, involving; lack of fuel, and the 'coke can' left covering the pilot's emergency foot plunger release. So many CRM issues, but all covered in the AIB report. Happened in the 80's, possibly very early 90's - sorry, can't remember quite when.

In the quest to complete the sortie the a/c ran out of fuel, no jettison (coke can) and descended vertically, at speed, on top of the load.

Several injuries and one dead(?) the crewman layed out flat on the floor prior to impact and survived, but with his boom mike through his cheek. I think the American LHS was paralysed.

Update.

Found a link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Westland_Sea_K ing). 21 June 1985.

[NutLoose]

There was the Puma the bubble window fell out, compete with the 8 foot strop and ladder, believe it demolished some Grannies coal bunker.. And didn't one accidentally take out a bridge in NI when it erm dropped a roadblock.

Also didn't a Wessex jettison a cow in NI... Bet that was one tenderised steak.

[Arm out the window]

The Australian Army must have thought their Hamel guns were cursed at one stage some years ago regarding Blackhawk moves -

one was dropped in transit (crew swore blind they didn't do it inadvertantly, and the systems checked out fine so it was in the unexplained basket) (lesson - weird **** can sometimes happen so don't fly over anything you don't want to bomb);

then another was being picked up at night on goggles and one of the strops caught around part of the gun causing it to swing unstably to such an extent the helicopter crew thought it would hit the main rotor, so they pickled it (lesson - make sure the rigging is all hanging right before going too far from where you picked up the load);

then (non helicopter related), a gun crew were manhandling one around when it charged off down a hill and destroyed itself (lesson - grunts often break things).

There was also the RAAF Iroquois crew who spotted a beached dinghy washed up somewhere along our extensive northern coastline and decided to salvage it. Cobbled up some ropes and strops and hung it off the hook, off they went happily until some airspeed was gained and the boat started to fly dangerously, some ropes broke, dinghy was pickled. (lesson - use the right gear and be careful of how stuff flies).

Then there was the Aussie pilot on a brief exchange trip with some US Iroquois guys in the middle east. Aussie way was to note temperature and PA and work out the lifting capability of the aircraft for each load, but apparently the yanks at this unit would work it out in the morning on expected conditions. The helicopter took off with the Aussie as copilot to lift a water bladder up to a higher elevation hilltop OP, approaching the drop point and slowing down it becomes apparent that the power available is less than that required, load starts to scrape along the ground and threatens to drag the helicopter in with it, copilot pickles the load. (lesson - note the actual conditions and figure out your lifting capability based on them).

That reminds me of the Aussie Iroquois that put down with a chip light or similar somewhere in the bush, needed to be external loaded home by Chinook. The Chinook lifts it out at warp factor five and in so doing causes a lot more damage to the poor old Huey than was originally the case. (lesson - rig carefully and go gently).

[eagle 86]

Mid seventies I'm a QHI on a basic training squadron with a student in the USL (44 gallon drum full of concrete weighing around 1,800lbs) outlying field. Other helo in circuit is a mutual crew captained by a very experienced Mirage fighter pilot undergoing helo conversion. In the back of his helo is a very experienced war veteran crewman. I'm sitting on ground observing him on downwind. I note where there should be a load attached to his helo there isn't. I call him up to advise that he has lost his load somewhere. His reply - no it's OK. I rub my eyes and continue to debrief my student. When knuck is on base I again alert him that he has no load - again - no it's OK! Rapid rub of my eyes and thinking of appointment with eye doctor he is now on short final to drop zone. My transmission is "xxxxx(name deleted as he is now a very senior pilot with a well respected EMS operation!) I want you to listen to me carefully YOU DO NOT HAVE AN EXTERNAL LOAD CONNECTED TO YOUR AIRCRAFT!! Reply "Oh ****e". Load had dropped off on crosswind. VEC, laying on belly in back, bored ****eless after endless student USL sorties was looking at red/green lights on underside of helo showing green indicating hook closed SAFE. Unfortunately he didn't notice there was no strop attached!!
You can tell a knuck by his big watch and small d1ck but you can't tell him much!!
GAGS
E86

[SASless]

Chinook stories from Vietnam days....

Brand new UH-1H, Command and Control aircraft with the wonderful rack of radios installed....24 hours on the clock total time. Blown hydraulic line....Battalion Commander would not be convinced to have a new line flown up to the U/S aircraft. No...by Gawd....you'll sling it back to Chu Lai. In those days when making the transit to Chu Lai from up north....we went three miles out to sea as it was much safer for us than flying over the bad guys. As luck would have it....about half way home with the Huey on a sling....noticeable jolt in the airframe....too much power applied for cruise suddenly....and an audible "Aw ****!" from the FE who was working the load in back. When he confirmed my worst fears....I echoed his comment. Fortunately for us....the strop broke...and the strope belonged to the Huey guys.

Hauling guard towers for the Aussies down at Nui Dat. Pre-constructed at a secure site then flown out to where they were needed. On the third haul....we found the load to be really....really heavy compared to the first two. It became really light all of a sudden when we pulled it apart.....as two of the anchor bolts had not been undone and it was still bolted to Vietnam.

Hauling a Pig Pen (old truck bed rigged for hauling loose items of food or ammo)....happened to look in the rear view mirror and noticed a Chinese Parliament going on over the cargo hook hatch in the floor of the cabin. Wondering what was going on.....and about to ask the FE to explain.....I saw the Crew Chief pulling in a rope.....and a big white cardboard box appear in the cargo hook hatch which the FE then shoved behind a troop seat. The Gunner was down in the Pig Pen passing up boxes of Steak and Chicken.

Hauling 3/4 Ton Weapon Carriers.....one internal....one on a sling. Trick is the combination was too heavy to make a hover departure. Our solution....running takeoff with a guy steering the slung WC until it began to lift off the ground then he jumped off. The trick was landing as usually the steering wheels would drift to some sort of left turn enroute. Timing was of the essence....cutting the load off just as it touched....and watching about half of them run off the landing area into the bush or simply roll over.

Youth.....unhampered by commonsense!

[seafuryfan]

To all,
This is 'tremendous' material - not the best description, but I'm really grateful for your time. Keep 'em coming!

I should have said an incident needn't have happened - you can 'merely' have held your breath for a bit, so Airborne Aircrew, a copy of the pic would be appreciated.

My cock-up: While lifting a very important EOD load the chain got wrapped around the steering column when we took the strain. Guess I wasn't Mr Popular for that op:(

[BEagle]

Wildenrath Air Show 1975. A couple of the lads had painted up a VW beetle to look like a German Polizeiwagen. They also borrowed a couple of Polizei uniforms....

The usual "Will the owner of car reg.... please move his car" over the tanoy, followed by "If you don't move it, we will!". Then a Wessex appears with the 'Polizeiwagen' slung underneath - the lads attempt to chase it in the German Polizei uniforms, much to the amusement of the Kraud.

Predictably, the Wessex then released the VW. But someone had misread the Op Order and it was released from a not inconsiderable height, building up an impressive speed in its terminal descent. Shortly after it struck the ground, a smoke grenade which had been primed to go off when the coffee jar, in which it was concealed, went off as planned in a cloud of coloured smoke.

But the coloured smoke then turned black and became rather intense. Something in the wreckage had set fire to the bone dry undergrowth in the target area, which was now burning quite merrily. The air show was suspended as the fire wagons bounced their way over to the far side of the aerodrome to put out the local forest fire which was rapidly developing....

The punters thought it was all part of the show, but OC Ops was not a happy bunny.

[treadigraph]

Late 1980/early 1990s, a CH-47 or a CH-53 was used to ferry a time expired Curtiss C-46, less the wings outboard of the engines, from Miami Airport's Cockroach Corner to a museum somewhere "up north".

Whatever method they used to keep the C-46 pointing in the direction of flight failed, it began to spin uncontrollably and was hastily dropped into a convenient patch of wasteland.

[jayteeto]

In the early 90s, Northern Ireland at the height of the troubles. 1.5 tons of explosives in the net for transportation to a quarry in the 'greens'. FIRE 1 caption illuminated. It was only a hot gas leak, could have been a shocker.

What about the Portakabin incident...... Load transported to HLS, put down safely and the door opened, 4 blokes got out......:eek:

Similar to the landrover job above. My ex-AAC convert to RAF flight commander (sadly not with us anymore) agreed a 'rapid response' team with the RUC which involved a RIB boat being underslung out of Enniskillen, straight onto the Loch with the team on the boat!! AND he did it once before we managed to put him right!

"We are allowed to put ANYTHING in a net" said the Army HHI to the enquiry team. Loose Scaffolding Poles actually fit through the holes in the net young man :mad: Made a modern art sculpture on the ground though.

[Cows getting bigger]

Vague memory but something along the lines of:

"When we release the load it will be forward and right...."

Scratch one Rapier fire unit.

[Fareastdriver]

Early seventies; a trial to fly an Air Portable Baily Bridge.

This was a lightweight Baily Bridge designed to be placed across a river so that vehicles could cross unhindered. It was on an 80 ft strop and had two large plywood fins attacted to one end to encourage it to fly longways. It lifted OK and at about 40 knots it turned straight and it was so long that you could see the leading end through the bubbles. When you turned it would continue flying straight and then slowly turn and formate underneath you.

Trying to place it was a disaster. As soon as it lost airspeed it started spinning. We managed to bounce it off a covenient hillock a couple of times to slow it so that we could put it down without wrecking it.

The project was abandoned. Somebody decided that an assault across a river with a helicopter hovering at 100 ft with mutiple ZSU 23-4s firing at it was likely to be unsuccessful.

[teeteringhead]

There was a good series of photographs in the 78 (Wessex) Sqn scrapbook which may still exist on 78 (Merlin).

They date from Aden (before my time!!) and seemed to have been printed from a cine film, as they were effectively a time-lapse sequence - of the lift (briefly) of a Scout.

Apparently the Wessex lost an engine in the transition with the Scout - overpitched and quite scary coning angle clearly visible - then Scout "pickled" and disappears from bottom of frame over 2 or 3 pictures as Wessex flies away. Cat 2 Scout becomes Cat 5 Scout!

Pilot alleged to be R****e B*****n?

[Old-Duffer]

In Post 2, TTN generously suggests that I have written a 28 Sqn history. Not really, just an account of some aspects of their reformation at Kai Tak in 1968.

I don't believe a Whirlwind was lost Cat 5 during 1968 in Hong Kong. XP332 was dunked in the oggin on 13 May 69 and and XR477 was lost in a fatal on 30 Oct 69. Over the years and with one exception IIRC (XP301), the six original Whirlwinds sent from Singapore were all lost.

I can confirm that an RN Wessex, which had forced landed in the jungle was stripped down and the main fuselage carcass lifted by a Belvedere. However, a serious swing developed and the Wessex was let go with the obvious results. This was 1965/6 in Borneo, possibly whilst the Wessex - a single engined Mk1 - was operating from Nanga Gaat. I'll try to find the details later.

Old Duffer

[Waddo Plumber]

Late 1970's with the Wittering crash team, recovering a Harrier GR3 which had shot itself down on the Holbeach range. The debris was in the mud below the high water mark and we had spent all of a Saturday morning collecting debris into plastic bags which went into a net and were being carried to dry land under (I think) a Wessex when the net opened. With a collective sigh we slurped across several hundred yards of mud and started again.

In the FI in the early 80s, didn't an infantry detachment come down Mt Kent in the ISO rubbish container under a Chinook?

[VX275]

I remember reading the article in the Oxford Mail about the motorist who was shocked to see a boat land on the road directly in front of him.
It was a JATE USL that had failed / released.

[Motleycallsign]

Two tales put together there WP. The Mt Kent incident was an 'empty' container picked up on Mt Kent, when the crew eventually put the load down in Stanley it was check-weighed and found to be approx 21 tonnes and full of building rubbish. The troops incident was (IIRC) Ghurka engineers who secreted themselves in a container unbeknown to the crew and subsequently got transported from Kelly's Garden to Campito across 'Bomb Alley'.

[Waddo Plumber]

21tonnes? Wasn't the Chinook bursting a bloodvessel? I'd have thought the pilot might have spotted that when he took off if he was expecting an empty ISO.

[SASless]

Sad but true story.....

CH-47C slinging a O1-E Bird Dog airplane. Bird Dog duly rigged with a 4"x4" by 8' piece of lumber on top of each wing as spoilers. Chinook crew being chased by the Recovery crew Huey. Despite radio calls from the Huey crew....the Chinook accelerated to about 110 knots. At that point the Bird Dog despite the wooden spoilers began to fly.....oscillated behind the Chinook....swung forward up in front of the Chinook....and on the second oscillation swung into the rotor blades forward.....Chinook shed all its blades and came apart in the air....fell 2500 feet into the jungle below.

I have recovered three airplanes....an O1-E Bird Dog, a Beaver, and a Cessna A-37.....oddly enough the Army used the sling harness designed for the Bird Dog to lift the Air Force A-37. Half way home with the A-37....one of the four point connection points broke....and the aircraft rolled over on its side with the nose pointing upwards. We got it down on the ground and only damaged one of the tip tanks by bending the wee small wing looking thing on the tip tank.

The Beaver haul was good until one of the wooden spoilers departed....then the ol' Beav got all squirrelly.

Fort Rucker used to have a derelict Lockheed T-33 for a practice sling load.....carried that around quite a bit too.

[NutLoose]

US Huey being lifted back with a broken skid by a US Chinook, US Engineer says, watch this, a Cat 1 (or what ever he called it) aircraft is about to become Cat 3, sure enough, Huey put on ground safe and sound then the strop was jettisoned straight through the top of the canopy...

[SASless]

UH OH! Who was watching! It was an AH-1G Cobra at Duc Hoa airstrip in the middle of the night....pouring down rain....the hook would not release properly....that is my story and I am sticking to it! Picked it up down near Vinh Long after it had been shot down....took some rounds in the engine which caused a forced landing.

In those days....Cockpit glass for Cobra's was as scarce as Hen's Teeth. Engines were dime a dozen.

[ShyTorque]

I was once tasked to carry a medium girder bridge for the army in W. Germany, during an exercise. For a Puma it was rigged as five loads, three netted and two palletted (or vice versa, it's been a long time since). The loads were categorised as stable because they consisted of long aluminium box sections, which were later built together into the bridge shape by sliding long steel pins through welded on lugs. These box sections were stacked in alternate criss-cross layers, so they made a solid cube in the net.

During a transit with one of the netted loads, accelerating through about 50 kts, there was a sudden jolt through the entire airframe - how we helicopter pilots hate those sudden jolts. At the same time, the crewman made some sort of expletive. Before I could say anything, the so-called "stable" load appeared alongside my window; it was definitely no longer cube shaped! I instinctively flew away from it. The next few seconds were very interesting, with the load flying us, to some extent. But I managed to keep it on the hook until we could put it down again. The load had collapsed inside the net and formed itself into a curved wall, which was very unstable.

That afternoon was to be even more eventful. On a return leg we observed a soldier in a field, madly waving his arms at us. To cut a long story short, we landed alongside; his colleague had collapsed in the heat and his heart wasn't beating properly. We CASEVAC'd him to the nearest hospital, with him lying in the recovery position on the floor. Thankfully, the vibrations from the aircraft helped keep him ticking until we got him there.

Another USL person lift....now what about the tale of the "Santa's little helper on the Christmas tree" up in Scotland, a few years ago?

A certain pilot couldn't understand how the same bloke was at both the pickup and drop off points.....he'd got caught up in the rigging and unfazed, just decided to carry on with the job on arrival! :eek:

[Sideshow Bob]

In my previous incarnation as a Gen Tech GSE, I was part of the hooking team on Mount Alice. As part of the monthly resupply, the Mount Pleasant team were down the bottom of the hill in Albemarle Harbour hooking up the ISOs from the MV ST Brandon and we were at the top of the hill unhooking the ISO.
The last lift of the day was to be our newly refurbished site Generator. We were surprised to see the Chinook come over the horizon minus the big shiny Generator ISO. Apparently someone messed up the ECLS settings and our genny was now sat at in 20ft of water at the bottom of the harbour were it had been jettisoned.
If you want to read the report look up asor\MOUNT PLEASANT\78 SQN\Chinook\96\83679 on ASIMS

[lsh]

That title alone should get the heartbeat up!

A simple one, night stream on exercise in Germany.
Carrying rations, we had the "Mothers Pride".
Started with a full net.
Net gradually rotates, spreading bread over Germany (Manna 2 ?)
Cannot really do much about it (night stream).
Not a lot of bread arrived at destination!

Lots more heartache to come, "USL" & "Incident" come in the same sentence!

lsh
:E

[Wessex Boy]

One of my compatriots on Shawbury course 68 ('88-'89) lost a 1200 lb training load somewhere in deepest Shropshire...apparently it hit and killed a prize cow.

Both Crewman and Captain deny touching either of the SACRU releases, and the hook was checked and passed servicable...

The Crewman Leader (He of immense RAF Tenure) was not pleased and was seen wandering around clasping his silver axe...

[teeteringhead]

Carrying rations, we had the "Mothers Pride".
Started with a full net.
... in the words of the song: d'ye like wet bread in the morning!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

..and when was a cow killed by the RAF not a prize cow?

Underslung loads may not always be the answer. Just been reading Ken Bell's '100 Missions North'. F-105 crashes after take-off into a Thai rice paddy. Engine is needed for crash investigation. Too swampy for ground heavy lift equipment. Call the choppers? Nope, they parked a flatbed on the levy and let the villagers know a handsome reward would await the bearers of a J75 engine. Next morning; engine on flatbed. Cost: probably about 3 million Thai Baht = $10.

[lsh]

A wizzard wheeze by the Crewman Leader (Cloric Weiten) saw a trainee pilot practising "side-rights" on the grass outside 2AFTS Sqn.
He had told them that the Wessex to be recovered from Chetwynd, by Chinook, needed a qualified pilot on the Wsx brakes for take off and landing.

Why the 'chutes?
In case of USL jettison, of course!

Good one!
lsh
:E

[Cornish Jack]

Hmmm! 2 days ,33 replies!! For a bit of kit which ought to be relatively reliable??? In the late 60s, at Tern Hill, usls with the Whirlwind - hooked up, marshalled away and moved across for the next one in. Same, same, and returned for the first one -???? NOTHING underneath!!:( Some difficulty getting pilot to understand that he was missing his load. Eventually got him landed and checked hook - CLOSED and LOCKED!!! Back to dispersal and call armourers. "QUITE IMPOSSIBLE", say they. "The geometry of the hook wouldn't allow the bar to open and reclose and lock - must have been 'finger trouble'. Hook bar must have been nudged closed by landing". I KNEW that this wasn't so, but couldn't prove it.
Move on a year or so and similar scenario and similar result! This time I insisted the helo stayed airborne and hover-taxied to the pan and held the hover while the armourers come out to inspect. Non-plussed armourers and nothing subsequently to explain same.
Must admit that the first time I noticed the manufacturer's name I had a momentary doubt - Hobbies of Dereham.
Some years later on D Squadron at Boscombe and we did trials on a 'jungle penetrator'- a device attached to the load hook, intended to be lowered into dense jungle with four extendable 'seats' with straps to allow up to four SF guys to be extracted in emergency. Not at all sure that I wouldn't have preferred to take my chances on foot. The trials were an 'interesting' failure!!

[NutLoose]

Isn't there a wombat or mobat sitting in a river in Belize where it was dropped?

One of the first Chinook lifts they did was to demo the lifting of a bridge for the Army, the plain was bone dry sandy soil and the army had hosed it down for days, some staging and seating had been set up for the visiting Generals etc. I was asked as a keen photographer ( stills) to go along and record it on the Video recorder we had (a bloody massive affair). In it came, and a sandstorm soon erupted with me standing in the middle of it sans goggle but trying to carry on filming... The air was blue as I was calling CT the pilot along with the rest of the crew all the names under the sun, questioning his birth status and using words my Mother or the local Vicar would not recognise.... :oh: Job done and back at Odious the Video was put in and all gathered round to watch...... That is when I found it had sound :uhoh:

RM the Chinook test pilot that came over with the HC1's related to a trip in Nam when he was transporting cattle up to the guys at the front, they liked their beef fresh so they used to transport them live, he said he had one break free, panic and attempt to join him in the cockpit, so he had to fly the Chinook whilst trying to shoot the steer in the head with his .45.

[SASless]

The US Army has its moments......of clarity and reason....but they are rare, short, and usually of no impact. The rest of the time......

We were tasked with moving empty CONEX containers from some place at the northern end of our Area of Operations back kto the Long Binh Logistical base.

Empty CONEX containers are aerodynamic loads. When they lash four of the things together they make one very large aerodynamic load.

It was real fun making those runs loaded.....take off...accelerate to 35 knots....decelerate to a near hover....wait for the strop to unwind....accelerate to 35 knots.....when the strop looked like it would snap.....back to a near hover....wait for the strop to unwind....get the picture?

There was no forward airspeed above maybe ten knots that would work....and fuel endurance meant having to push the airspeed to be able to make it to the destination without running out of fuel.

After two loads were donated to the Bad Guys for bunker material....the Army finally decided putting the things on empty flat bed trucks was more efficient, cheaper, but no where as sexy.

The load was so wide it could be seen from the cockpit.....usually almost a blur from the way it spun around.


I have also seen a pallet of lumber flying in front of the nose....almost like an Anti-Gravity machine in operation.....slack strop....and a bunch of 2x4's hanging in mid-air.

On one occasion we rained Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) from the Heavens.....oh the gyrations that stuff makes on its way down! There's several sheets in an 8,000 pound Stack of the stuff.

[Shackman]

WRT the 21k ISO off Mt Kent -YES!!!! Gust of wind gave us enough power to move it forward off its mounting, and - as they say - it was all down hill (and thank god it was a very steep downhill) from there to get sufficient speed. The arrival at Stanley was something else, but the HC1 could take a lot of extra power, albeit with an engineering inspection afterwards!

On USL stories there was the JP at Odiham that was provided for a demo at a families day mid 70's (?). The first trial flight around the airfield was quite interesting, so JATE came along and put lots of lift killing devices on it so it would stay more or less stable on the end of the strop , and a second trial was quite sucessful. Unfortunately a senior officer on his final walk through the display didn't like all the paraphernalia on the JP, and ordered a couple of airman to remove them. The first the crew (I think a Wessex) knew all was going wrong was as they started to turn towards the crowd line when the JP appeared alongside them!

[ShyTorque]

I was flying at RAF Gutersloh with the Wing Commander Squadron Boss checking me out. The training underslung load was a couple of 45 gallon barrels full of water in a net. Having lifted the load to the hover and checked the power margin, I briefed that my intentions in the event of engine failure below single engined safe speed was to jettison the load.

On short finals, after a low level circuit in "Junkers Farm" and now below SESS, the Wg Cdr pulled back a throttle on me! (normally this was done by touch drills only, with the pilot stating / simulating his intentions. As this was a real engine failure I carried out the real drill as briefed and pressed the button!

The Boss knew what he'd done wrong as soon as the crewman called "Load Gone!" at about fifty feet agl (SPLAT!), his face was a picture :ooh:

I passed my checkride but as the Boss had borrowed 18 Sqn's only training load (Wessex back then), he had some explaining to do. :p

[VX275]

I suppose this counts as an USL incident.
In 1948 Sikorsky Hoverfly Mk 1 KK978 was conducting a trial on behalf of the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment. It was (inocently) flying around its base at RAF Beaulieu advertising an upcoming airshow by towing a 13 foot long banner on a 50 foot long weighted rope, when the rope was struck by Spitfire NH840. The Hoverfly landed OK but the Spit was Cat 5.
Would this count as an Air to Air kill? and if so, was it a first for a rotorcraft?

[Warmtoast]

The Belvedere acquired quite a reputation for carrying loads (mostly successfully) as Wing Cdr John Dowling in his book "RAF Helicopters" (HMSO) states:
...an unexpected role which the Belvedere acquired, and one which it retained throughout its life, was the recovery of crashed aircraft or helicopters unserviceable in inaccessible places. Altogether, between 1960 and 1968, Belvederes recovered 31 crashed aircraft or parts of wreckage including 23 complete helicopters, two Austers, two Chipmunks and a hovercraft. Twenty of the helicopters lifted were in FEAF, one in Aden, one in Germany and one in England...

Some of the loads carried.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/RNWhirlwindMk7toHMSAlbionBruneiJan1963.jpg

Recovering a RN Whirlwind Mk 7 to HMS Albion - Brunei Jan 1963.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/DeployingGreenArcherRadarnearIndonesianBorder.jpg

Deloying "Green Archer" radar near Indonesian border.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Bloodhound-Kuching.jpg

Deploying Bloodhound near Kuching

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/RecoveringWhirlwindMk10-Germany1962.jpg

Recovering a Whirlwind Mk 10 - Germany 1962

[SASless]

The RAF did not buy helicopters based upon looks!

[seafuryfan]

Some great photos there Warmtoast. Thanks all, for the continuing 'tales of the unexpected' - maybe I should just pull up a sandbag and read these posts to my studes in your collective absence, Ppruners?

Any more contributions, old or new, welcome....although judging by some stories, one or two of you would quite happily never do another load again!

[Tiger_mate]

Haflinger buggy USL in NI & T_M wondering which bit of it was going to fall off first. Describe to front crew the reg plate* doing 360s around the last remaining rivet. Or the seat now only held on by one very loose nut and bolt banging happily in the airflow. Or the canvas roll-up on the front that was tied up with shoelace knots of which one had become undone and the other was loosening.

Copilot VDB climbs out of seat to stare down below at events previously described and gets sudden onset of vertigo. Returns to front just as first (& only) event occurs. The rolled up canvas finally breaks free and unwravels itself, releasing the half dozen metre long metal stakes (that were not known about) to descend earthwards together at VNE from about 2000' agl.

Happily over farmland so nothing futher to report and the farmer will never know how the spikes got there.

*all haflingers had RN number plates so blame if lost would have been a done deal.

[Tiger Tales]

Picking up the septic tank in a net from the highest Golf tower to return to Bessbrook. Pull in loads of power, drop over the edge and get flyaway speed when the following conversation took place.
Me: Oh ****
RHS: What is it?
Me: ****
RHS: FFS, what is it?
Me: I just told you, there is **** everywhere
LHS: WTF?
Me: The lid on the tank has come off* and we are down creating our own brown chemtrail!
LHS & RHS in unison: Oh ****!!

We 'successfully' dropped our load back at BBK much to the disgust of the TSW det who had to hose down the pan afterwards. All I can say was that it must have been curry night up on the mountain because there was a lot of brown stuff and it was very smelly. The plus side was that as we came around the corner to BBK there were some little scrotes underneath trying to throw golfballs up at us. They got a nice surprise :E

*the lid was still attached, but the paracord tying it shut had snapped

[Milarity]

The monthly re-supply of Mt Alice was done by MV St Brandon anchoring in Albermarle Waters and a Chinook lifting the full Iso containers off the ship and up the hill. It was an interesting diversion from the usual day job, so I stood and watched and took a few photos.

There were about half-a-dozen containers parked in a row with an empty slot about half way along. I have a photo of the underslung container being slowly moved into position in the empty slot, but it is twisted out of alignment. A rope had been attached to one corner of the Iso so that the ground handlers could manoeuvre it into position. The photo shows the container to be about 6 feet off the ground and the handler heaving on the rope, heels dug in and leaning at 45 deg away from the load.

My next photo shows the container straightening up, now only 3 feet off the ground, at the exact moment the ground handler's feet slipped on the wet grass and he shot feet first under the descending load. Fortunately, it still needed to rotate another 20 deg to line up, so there was enough time for the handler to execute a quick half role and engage emergency scramble mode. I have never seen such a white face before or since. The poor sod was seriously shaken by how close a call he had experienced.

[ShyTorque]

I recall over twenty years ago, a certain Flight Lieutenant, then serving as a QHI on 240 OCU, being tasked to fly a great big, brand new, air portable SatCom station for the British Army. I think it was the first they ever had and obviously an extremely expensive piece of kit. It was a large, heavy "Portakabin" type shed on wheels. As the Chinny transitioned away, it suffered an engine "cough".

The obvious resulted........ load jettison button was pressed. The Chinook crew returned home, hugely embarrassed for busting the Army's new toy.

Oh, how we simple Puma folk sympathised! :E :D:p

The Army later sent some reminders in the form of photos of the scene - IIRC, the largest recognisable piece was the jockey wheel off the front of the chassis :)

But said Flt Lt got his own back by being stratospherically promoted to Air Rank. :ok:

[Tiger_mate]

S_T
The value quoted at the time was five millions worth, and it would have been '86.

I have a photo somewhere of a (formally serviceable) 105mm parked partially sub-terrainian in the Otterburn peat by the same OCF. IIRC, crewman was Taff B.

One exercise in Germany and an army tool box fell from a net and went through the windscreen of a car on the autobahn. Not pretty but thankfully no personnel damage beyond shock to the female driver. Crewman was TT.

Worst ever USL for me was an empty skip on a long strop, given dispensation by JATE to fly it. 40kts max and believe me, that was too fast. Scheduled to truck it fm V813 to BBK and had enough of it by Armagh so parked it overnight and continued the journey the followiing day!

[rolandpull]

Way back in 82, I was a baby hooker working with the spanking new Wokka, lifting the jawdropping CVRT's from a cutting somewhere near Upavon. Imagine driving down a road with woods to your left when you come across a cutting about three football pitches long, this was the LS. Task was to rig and hook up a couple of baby tanks. USLC was followed to the letter, the acft arrived on time and we hooked up the first tank.

The whining of a Chinook at MAUM brings a tear to my eye, but anyway off staggered the cab with the tank flying some good NOE (10ft max). The acft never climbed, it just settled for a very flat departure and charged at the road, and the plain beyond - but oh so slowly. The crew would never been able to look left then right then left again as they (the tank) crossed the road because of the high trees. The truck driver on the road had a near death experience as 10+ tons of fighting machine floated across in front of him. We thought the whole episode strange, so had a good look over tank number two. It looked like the picture, we had the correct slings, it was a nice day. What went wrong? JATE never test flew CVRT's with mud on them or completely 'bombed' up. In the field we never took scales with us. It was 'weigh' too heavy.

Lesson learned, note to JATE, moved on. Never lost a load in 11 years of 'hooking'.

[SASless]

There is a difference between the small John Deere bulldozer and a Cat D-4 too. One was for the Wokka....the other for the Sky Crane. Guess which one we took out of the baseball field by mistake? The B Model Wokka was strong...but gosh.....those Cats are made out of real steel!

To cap it off....we were accused of stealing the dozer. The Engineering unit that got the Cat instead of the John Deere swore they never seen it! Blind buggers in that they were on a mountain top LZ hardly bigger than the Dozer when it got there.

[7of9]

This was filmed by one of the lads on our camp where Chindet was based back in 1985.
I worked for NAAFI EFI, & asked the RAF if they would mover a container full of crates of beer from the top of Camp to between the NAAFI buildings.
This was done as a training flight.
The hooker who set this up neglected to put ropes on all four corners of the container which is why it took a while to place.
For those of you who know me, will see me in the film.
Many thanks to the aircrew & hookers who set this up & for their help as well in placing the container where it was needed.


Chinook container Move Falkland Islands 1985 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/aQRkgxCtR28)

[Old-Duffer]

Just for time reference, I was probably the last non-aircrew badged guy to do the crewman course at TH and even then I was only allowed to do it piecemeal – boss didn’t agree but CI very enthusiast , as was I! I subsequently did the last SAR ever with a Sycamore in UK, helped bring out the last patrol from the Borneo jungle when Confrontation finished and logged quite a bit of time in HK – including a night GCA to Kai Tak from medium level at the end of a casevac: this last episode clogged up the approach and led to a couple of very expensive diversions to Manila!

As a nervous and callow youth, I was very much aware of the opportunity for dropping a clanger with loads.

I had a crib sheet on which was written the gross weight in pounds of the many common items carried eg: tin boxes of 7.62mm both loose and belted and a range of other items which the Army called ‘natures’ – please don’t ask why ‘cause I don’t know. If I was presented with a pre-netted load for USL, I would count the number of items as best I could and compare with my crib sheet. Occasionally, I’d get presented with some documentation prepared by the Army. If so I also compared quantities offered and weights stated – surprising how often one or t’other was wrong.

Depending where the load was coming from and what it comprised, I’d ask where the scales were located on which the load was prepared and occasionally asked for items to be weighed in my presence.

If the there were numerous loads. I’d note their weights and then discuss the order of lift with the pilot and what he calculated his fuel states would be, so that the pickup sequence could be agreed and I was forewarned as to when he wanted to refuel and how much he wanted – getting the Zwicky pump to work is another Thread altogether and we needn’t bother with it here! Very occasionally, the load would be weighed on the hoof – so to speak. That is, it would be hooked up and then the pilot would see what the fuel flow was like when he tried to lift it.

This seemed to work well and there were never too many problems. I took the view that the pilot was my mate and I wasn’t going to be responsible for any cockups whilst I was supervising the loads. A chap I trained with, accepted a load of ammunition as offered by the Army and loaded it into the back of a Beverley. The aircraft took all 6600 feet of the runway at Labuan to get airborne and as it couldn’t climb above about 7000 feet, it flew all the way to Tawau by going round the coast. Prior to landing the captain briefed for a heavyweight landing and after touchdown had the load weighed. It put the aircraft weight at take-off as 7000 lbs over the max a.u.w. for the Beverly and remember this is in a hot climate.

I was also a bit fussy about the nets being used. If I could, I always looked at nets being returned or those awaiting loads to see that the net was in a good condition/state of repair. I also looked particularly at the load bearing parts of the nets and kept a careful eye on the underslung fixtures etc on the aircraft – this is all Whirlwind 10 by the way (jet engined S55, for non Brits).

Standing underneath a single engined aircraft whilst hooking a load on was something I never really got used to – always a certain tightening of the muscles! Funnily enough, spent many an afternoon being winched out of the warm waters of Clearwater Bay Hong Kong but never had the same sensation that if the donk stopped a couple of tons of Whirlwind was going to crack me over the head.

So after this long winded diatribe, what are my points re USLs.

First, careful preparation. Know the capabilities of the aircraft and be absolutely certain that you and anybody else working with you knows exactly what they’re doing.

Second, never rush the brief and make sure everybody knows the procedures for dealing with the unexpected/emergency etc.

Three, make sure the load has been placed in the most appropriate container/ net or whatever. Also, is it correctly rigged for flight eg are there any drogues.

Four, check the load is properly secured in the container/net etc. Confirm weights and dimensions are in limits and make sure the pilot knows what he’s getting and understands any peculiarities with the load such as handling during acceleration/deceleration. It’s a bit alarming when the load overtakes one on final approach!

Five, is the aircraft routed with an eye on safety, in case it becomes necessary to get rid of the USL.

There are probably several other points but these will do for now.

Old Duffer

[Shackman]

Early '83, Falklands, Chinook moving ISOs from Sir Percival to Orford preparatory to building the AD radar there. I don't know how many we had moved, but the stack of ISOs was reducing (all carefully prepared by the hookers ), until all that was left were those sitting on the forward deck. As we lifted one of these I foolishly drifted slightly 'off' the deck, or I was not fully overhead, at which point the crewman shouted 'the b****y loads leaking' (or words to that effect) as it was suddenly engulfed in water; we pulled away from the deck and turned around to see what was happening. I had dragged the load slightly, but enough to go through the highly pressurised fire fighting ring main which surrounded the deck, and there was now a fountain resembling the one at Chatsworth House issuing from Sir Percival. And that was the end of our day's tasking!

[seafuryfan]

Thanks to all the continuing contributions - including the fountain display, Shackman! Old Duffer, your ops certainly sound pre-JHSU, presumably taking care of the ground handling and the subsequent flying - in a hot climate too. I'm thinking of 'Top Ten Gotchas' or something similar - helped by these contributions.

[Oldsarbouy]

Night task to take rations various to G100. On dropping the load was asked where the spuds were as the sack was empty. No reports of any injuries on the ground due to flying Maris Pipers!
Not a flying USL incident but during my time at Shawbury I was duty hooker up and having hooked up the umpteenth load looked around for something to alleviate the boredom. Spotted a derelict fire alarm point at the side of the load park with an open access panel, prodded around inside and noticed whirring noise, lost interest and returned to hook up another load. Shortly afterwards heard sound of fire engine sirens on the other side of airfield and was soon aware of the approaching fleet of fire trucks. They arrived at the derelict alarm and stood around debating what to do until I was seen in the distance and was approached by Office Dibble who complained about helicopters setting off alarms.
After they had departed calm descended for a short time until more klaxons were heard but this time it was a contingent from Shrewsbury reacting to what was thought to be a major incident at the aircraft storage hangars. Happily my stint as hooker up was complete and it was back to the crewroom and another of life's lessons learned.
:O

[ShyTorque]

The dreaded "night stream" was mentioned earlier. Two Puma stories come to mind.

The first was told to me by one of the participants, an ex RAF instructor of mine. Pre TANS or GPS days, all navigation was done by DR. All very well in good visibility but his particular night was at the end of the summer, the air extremely hazy due to the build up of smog from the farmers' corn stubble burning (thank goodness this process is now banned in UK).

The night stream was a "Round Robin" between RAF Odiham and Salisbury Plain and back again. Aircraft took off five minutes after the preceding one, in radio silence. This spacing often got eroded if there was a delay in unhooking, or whatever so it wasn't unusual for aircraft to bunch up a little at times. The route was an oval "racetrack", to give lateral separation between outbound and inbound aircraft. In theory...

My colleague was flying back to Odiham when he saw a white light ahead. He knew this was the tail light of the preceding Puma. So he carried on, just intending to calmly keep an eye on it. But almost immediately it seemed they were catching the light up far too quickly and it got much bigger.

With split seconds to spare, my colleague realised the white light wasn't a tail light at all. It was the reflection of the white cockpit lights on the face of a Puma pilot coming the other way, head on! The Pumas got so close that my colleague even recognised the other pilot.

Thankfully, both pilots broke hard right. The two Pumas passed belly up to each other with minimal spacing. The rider to this was that the crewman wasn't strapped in and nearly departed via the cabin door. A very lucky escape indeed for all concerned.

The second tale: 230 Sqn were tasked in RAFG to carry out a night Rapier missile resupply exercise. These were netted loads of missile canisters. We knew the weight and the speed at which they were cleared to fly, the exercise was possible, but only just. The Puma was always short of fuel so it was necessary to fly USLs everywhere as fast as they could go. There was a very strong wind blowing, no problem, what fuel we gained on the outbound leg was a bonus and these dense, netted Rapier canister loads would go fast.

We picked up the netted load. It came off the ground really easily. The significance of this didn't hit home until we transitioned away and tried to accelerate to cruise speed. The loads were far too light! Although a lighter load meant less fuel burn against the wind, the very light weight in this case meant that the loads wouldn't fly anywhere near the published cruise speed. So overall we lost out, big time. We landed the load with both fuel low level lights on (less than ten minutes fuel remaining). Other aircraft didn't make it back, having diverted (I think PCP was one who diverted).

The problem was, for training use, the Rapier canisters obviously didn't contain real missiles but they were supposed to be ballasted to the same weight. The Army hadn't put any ballast in them. :D

[rolandpull]

Another South Atlantic dit. 20' ISO container sat on a 40' trailer. Hookers forgot to undo the securing lugs on the trailer. Crew took the lot up to the mountain. Non consice signals from the hooker waving to the crew didnt help either!

[rolandpull]

I think from a crewmans perspective, its good to have a mental picture of what you are looking at so far as a load goes.

The Chinook that parked in a hurry in Stanley with chunks out of its blades is a good case in point.

The culprit was a badly rigged 40' ISO. The diference with rigging a 20 and 40' ISO is that 2m extension chains are required on the latter at each corner. This culprit container was rigged sans chains, resulting in the 'included' angle between the roof of the container and the sling stirrup to be too shallow. The load came off the ground earlier than might be expected. This then resulted in a catastrophic sling failure, container getting very wet, and a quickstop by the harbour. This was an incident before we had the luxury of redundant rigging, and all ISO's were single point lifts IIRC.

[Trojan1981]

The only intentional underslung jettison I've actually seen was a Holden Kingswood sedan dropped from an RAN Westland Seaking at a NAS Nowra airshow in 1998. There was a great video that the AMTDU instructors showed us on basic course of an Army Unimog truck dropped from a Chook at a DZ in western Sydney. It had been incorrectly rigged so that the two rear strops rubbed together and snapped, allowing the truck to swing forward. The crew then sent it off on it's 200' free fall with predictable results.

There were also rumors about an incident relating to underslung boat trial that was being conducted by AMTDU in the early noughties. Apparently the vessel (a large RHIB) impacted the underside of the Chinook during flight trials and was cut away! I was busy with other stuff at the time so I don't actually know the story.

[chinook240]

7of9,
I too am in the ISO video! So which one are you? I also noticed the late Chris T and Mr Jim L. PM me!

[KG86]

Situation - Fire Power demo at Warminster. Viewing galleries filled with senior officers. The Army's new 155mm gun is just entering service, and is going to be the star turn of the show.

Wokka noises from the East as our plucky Chinook crew fly into the drop area, in front of the galleries, with this behemoth of a gun as the USL. Ac staggers to the hover, and gently deposits the gun on the ground. It is on a slope and, as they release the slack, they realise that the handbrake (or whatever a gun has) has not been applied, and gun starts to trundle down the hill. It gains a bit of speed, and an awful lot of momemtum, and plucky Chinook pilot tries to stop the movement with opposite cyclic. Gun now accelerating well, and dragging the Chinook down the slope. Crew have now no option but to jettison load, and watch (along with hundreds in the galleries) as the gun trundles down the hill, drops into a ditch, and rolls over. A smattering of sarcastic applause is heard from the crowd, as the Army's first (and at that time, only) 155mm gun is out of action for a number of days.

[Roadster280]

Firepower demos at Warminster were truly (and I use this word in its real meaning) awesome!

I hadn't been on MAOTs very long when I did an AMF exercise in Otterburn. 7 Sqn did a demo of a poorly slung load, and deliberately deposited a clapped out SWB Rover into the peat from a hundred feet or so. That was quite impressive.

I've got some stills somewhere from the the same exercise of a LR/trailer combo that resulted in a Wokka wheel-size dent in the roof of the Rover. Caused by the Wokka descending a little too far to release the tension in the strop.

I spent many, many hours on Everleigh DZ on night flying, watching Chinooks and Pumas carry the same concrete filled drums round and round. I think they lived at Odiham, so they'd have been brought from ODI to the Plain every night. I wonder if any ever got jettisoned on the way to SPTA? Those'd make a hell of a bomb. Might cause some improvements in Andover :)

[NutLoose]

Ahh sawing bits of the humber pig or saracen i think it was at Odiham because the Chinook was not yet cleared to carry them at full weight, bits were later I think welded back on.

[Motleycallsign]

Those concrete 'barrels' lived on the south side of the airfield at Upavon at one time Roadster. There was an 8 tonne, 5 tonne and I think a 1 tonne (for the Puma guys).

KG86 I seem to remember it was not only the only FBG but the regimental one to boot. (FBG - F*****g Big Gun)

[Roadster280]

Motley,

I remember the numbers on the side as you say, but can't picture them at UPN. It would certainly make sense to leave them at UPN rather then schlep them from ODI every night (well Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays at any rate :) ).

Mind you, if they'd been at UPN, our troop staffy would have had us doing PT with them, and I certainly don't remember that :)

It was a while back, and I were but a lad.

[scarecrow450]

Remember seeing an usl bouncing after the wrong button was pressed at Shawbury by a Griffin ! Didn't half bounce well off the concrete dispersal !

[ShyTorque]

Talking of guns, the Americans brought a detachment of Chinooks to Odiham in 1979 or '80, I think it was (before ours were delivered). They went over to Salisbury Plain to work with the army. They got tasked with underslinging the participating regiment's "number one" gun (the nice shiny engraved one, used for ceremonial purposes). Unfortunately the pilots forgot it was on a 100 foot strop and flew over a wood at less than 100 feet above the trees........

Didn't do the barrel much good but it made a nice new firebreak, anyway. ;)

[ShyTorque]

I remember a certain Ex Policeman Pilot (EPP) on my basic rotary course at Shawbury practicing USLS in the Whirlwind, over in Area 2.

As was the drill, on finals the crewman said "Clear to cock the hook". As the EPP pressed the load release button to cock the hook, there was a loud "Bang!" and the 14 lb lead winch weight and hook fell off the cable, narrowly missing the crewman's head.

Load selector to CARGO, not WINCH (cable cutter) next time, please, EPP!

To be fair, the winch CB should have been pulled and tie-wrapped, but the G/C's hadn't been told to do it.

[ACW418]

I can confirm that the underslung loads were kept outside of the peri track on the south side of the airfield.

Running a week gliding course I was informed by one of the staff that there was a bit of a hole in the grass just off our run. On going to look it was about 2ft deep and 10ft diameter. We were told a helicopter, type unknown, had suffered an engine failure as it lifted the load and had jettisoned it the previous night. Someone else must have picked it up and put it back in its usual place as it was no longer on the airfield. A very impressive hole!

ACW

[NutLoose]

Talking of guns, the Americans brought a detachment of Chinooks to Odiham in 1979 or '80, I think it was (before ours were delivered). They went over to Salisbury Plain to work with the army. They got tasked with underslinging the participating regiment's "number one" gun (the nice shiny engraved one, used for ceremonial purposes). Unfortunately the pilots forgot it was on a 100 foot strop and flew over a wood at less than 100 feet above the trees........

Didn't do the barrel much good but it made a nice new firebreak, anyway.



Yup three from Colman W Germany..

One had an oleo stuck at full extension, so sat at a weird angle. They had an American Chinook de-phase and the rotor slicing through the fuselage took out a crewman sadly and if I remember correctly, it was traced to a failed bolt on the shafts coming out of the combining box, they brought out a mod to increase the diameter of the bolt and a Boeing rep came out to fit the new bolts, he put the reamer in a windy drill and wrecked two boxes and shafts before being stopped, or that is what I was told at the time, hence they sat on the side of the taxy way for ages awaiting spares. I seem to remember the fault was traced to the fact that instead of turning the shaft until they aligned and popped in, they were getting them close then using a jacking handle on the shaft flange and the frame to force them in before fitting the bolt, that was under strain.

[Hueymeister]

Where to start?????

Wessex from Palace Barracks to the top of the Divis Flats. USL was a mixture of sandbags (empty), wriggly tin and nefarious **** that didn't weigh much. You can see where this is going, can't you? The load wouldn't go faster than 20-30kts...we all felt terribly exposed, esp with people waving guns at us as we get to the top of the flats...load wobbling all over the place. Dropped in on the top, a paralleled the building sides on the way out. Lesson, if it doesn't fly right don't persist with it.:=

[ShyTorque]

I can confirm that the underslung loads were kept outside of the peri track on the south side of the airfield.
Running a week gliding course I was informed by one of the staff that there was a bit of a hole in the grass just off our run. On going to look it was about 2ft deep and 10ft diameter. We were told a helicopter, type unknown, had suffered an engine failure as it lifted the load and had jettisoned it the previous night. Someone else must have picked it up and put it back in its usual place as it was no longer on the airfield. A very impressive hole!
ACW

Yes, I remember that one; it was one of our twin rotored brethren again. The hole was so large because Upavon has PSP (pierced steel planking) as reinforcement laid under the turf. The PSP buckled, making the damage much worse than a straight forward hole on normal turf.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Huey:

USL was a mixture of sandbags (empty),

Not questioning the veracity of your post but just wondering about the logic of someone who sends empty sandbags to the top of Divis Flats... Was there a desert up there that no-one knew about??? :E

[diginagain]

The Toms carried the sand up in the lift.

[Hueymeister]

Re.sandbags, no idea. The Guhrkas did it to me in HK on exercise!

[Jabba_TG12]

I remember another one from Alice in 1989, when the AR3D went pearshaped, longterm... the decision was taken to bring up the T259 from MPA, with one of the Eric's bringing up the control cabin and a chinook bringing up the genny and another box, cant quite remember what it was. Anyway.

the loads under the Chinook were, from what we understand, strung on different length strops. Which meant one of the loads was bashing against one of the strops during the transit flight from MPA to Alice and the strop either failed or got worn through.

Suffice it to say, the Chinook arrived at Alice minus the genny, which we were led to believe was dropped halfway across the sound with an almighty splosh.

I also remember another one from Kent in 1994. There was what appeared to be the business end/bucket of a big old dumper truck, which had been left next to a couple of rather huge boulders. Over a period of time and from what I understand following a tech refresh of the catwalk from accomodation to Ops, this dumper filled up with all manner of crap. I dont know what it weighed, but it was seriously heavy. One day, 78 came to pick it up with the wokka; wokka is duly attached to the load and strains like buggery to get the thing off the deck. As he does so and we manage to get clear air between the ground and the dumper, a godalmighty lateral gust of wind comes along and pushes the dumper and the attached wokka towards the rather huge boulders. Next thing, we all heard an almighty BANG all over the site as the wokka decided that it would be in the interests of flight safety to put the load back down again, which sent a lot of usin the direction of the accomodation to see the Chinook landing on Kent's helipad for a change of crew underwear...

[taxydual]

Of course you can have some fun with an USL. The Mills Rainmaker...................;)

[Tiger_mate]

Of course you can have some fun with an USL. The Mills Rainmaker...................

Replenished from a crayfish farm pool :E

Belize 1990
Wild fire on Baldy Beacon firing range. Bar-B-Que anyone?

[seafuryfan]

Anyone for a long strop G40 fuel bollock placement, at night, in the rain, on goggles, with 'not a lot' of millilux, and marginal power?

I remember once crabbing in slowly to the drop point approaching max pitch (Puma). In the overhead, the pilot (who had virtually no references) had to turn to offload the tail, until the load hopefully changed orientation so it could fit between the other bollocks...'! Down 5 - quickly!'

It's difficult to explain the sphincter twitching feeling of the moment, wavering between exhilaration and terror, as you do your little dance in the air as a crew to get the job done.

[teeteringhead]

Not really a USL dit (but neither was Shy's Night Stream :eek:) but did involve one of the few times I've pickled a load on purpose.

Salalah at the back end of Dhofar War. Resupply sortie in the Huey to the pickets on the Jebel to the north of the coastal plain. Underslung plastic burmails (barrels) of water. Could see the LS from the airfield, but had to carry 2nd pilot in LHS as it was to an "operational area". Aircraft was a new 205 from Agusta, with a mixed/botched military/civil spec .... which included car-type ashtrays and cigar lighters for both front seats!

Other pilot had not much (nothing really) to do, so had feet up on battery, having a crafty fag or three. "Car-type" cigar lighters were actually car parts, with a dropper resistor so that 28v wouldn't worry them. Until the dropper resistor went open-circuit .........

....... which (with 28v into 12v component) threatened to make cigar lighter a Huey lighter. Clouds of smoke, pickled load and landed on - fortunately still within airfield boundary. And cue my all-time favourite R/T call:

"Mayday mayday, Chopper 715 landing on - my co-pilot's cigar lighter is on fire!" :ok:

Shortly thereafter the lighters were disconnected .......

[rolandpull]

The 'Big' gun was FH70.

[Fareastdriver]

Belize 1977. A Scout has a No 5 seal failure on the OP at Cadenas on the extreme south west of the country. I was jungle winching down there and was told to sling it back. The pad on the OP was just sticks so that when another Puma brought the REME crew down I had to winch them down to their Scout. They got the blades off and ready for underslinging so in I came and lifted it off as far Salamanca to refuel; meanwhile the other Puma picked up REME, pilot and blades.
After refuelling as much as I dared with the weight of the Scout I lifted off with the other Puma in company. I had flown a few Scouts before so I was confident that it would tuck in nicely at about 115 knots after a bit of nodding and shuddering at 100. This one had a winch on and was an absolute dog.
After a fair amount of verbal abuse we eventually got it to fly at about 45knott with 30 degrees of drift on. Those who fly the Puma will know that it is a variable speed/ constant fuel consumption machine so I was going to run out of fuel before I reached Belize. I decided not to return to Salamanca but to continue on to Stann Creek, unload the Scout, punch off at high speed to Belize, refuel and then return to pick up the Scout. The other Puma would do the necessary as far as unhooking/hooking up/security etc.
I lifted of from Stann Creek just as it was getting dark. No troubles at Belize or coming back and finding the airstrip and doing a night approach with a Puma anti-coll as a guide. Just as I was coming into the hover we went IMC in mosquitoes; the poor sods had had then since I had left. As they were hooking the Scout up I could see the flicker of flame from the other Puma as he hit the starter switch and he was airborne less than two minutes after we left.
It was Open Air Cinema Night and I knew that Major ‘You’ll never have to bring any of my Scouts back’ in charge of the AAC detachment would be watching so I flew slowly around the camp at 300 ft with the landing light illuminating his Scout.
Cost me a few beers for the Puma crew; never did see the Major again.

[snafu]

I recall being tasked to pick up a load from Bessbrook to take to R21, which was (if my memory serves) about 10nm to the south. It was in the middle of the frame (tasking window), so we hadn't scoped it beforehand, but on arrival back at BBK from the previous task, the crewman's tone of voice should have revealed that it wasn't going to be an easy load! The load was a shed....flat packed and tidy inside a net, but with the pitched roof on top of the walls and floor, so as soon as we'd lifted it, the aerodynamics around the roof meant that it started flying independently inside the net!! On our way out of BBK up 'The Tube' it became obvious that we couldn't maintain normal speeds, so we reduced speed until the load settled.

Flying from BBK to R21 at 20(ish) kts takes a while!! I think we may have been quicker if we'd driven it there, although our hover-taxy most of the way wasn't that different.

Finally.....the load was dropped and we headed to BBK on vapour, landing I reckon about 30sec before the No1 Eng would have flamed out!

Good fun, but by God I learnt a lot about tasking flexibility out there!

[SASless]

What a difference between the way a UH-1 rides under a Chinook as compared to an AH-1G. The old Huey just points her nose into the wind and rides like rock. The Cobra on the other hand is just as slippery as its namesake. One would think the Snake being shaped like a weather vane would do just that.....WRONG!

Drag chutes were later made a requirement.....and later yet swivels in the drag chute line were made mandatory. Until the swivels were used....the drag chutes worked great for about two minutes....then they twisted themselves shut and the wild ride was on again.

What was a real hoot was to see a Combat Assault formation of 16-20 Hueys going somewhere in a big formation....usually in Staggered Trail formation....and pass them all with a Huey as an underslung load....giving out Road Runner mating calls over Guard (243.0). (Beep Beep....Beep Beep....Beep ah you get it!)

We could sling load a Huey much faster than they could fly by themselves. Same thing today with the Blackhawk and Apache too I hear.

[diginagain]

The load was a shed....flat packed and tidy inside a net, but with the pitched roof on top of the walls and floor, so as soon as we'd lifted it, the aerodynamics around the roof meant that it started flying independently inside the net!! Aerodynamic issues were well-recognised by the time I joined JATOC, and subsequent shed-insertions were done by Chinook. Fully-assembled at Aldergove, it took seconds to unload a shed by running it straight off the ramp. Recovery was just as swift.

[chinook240]

My favourite incident had to be lifting a portacabin across Falkland Sound in the summer of '82. They were rigged nose down for stability and, of course, the aircraft ended up nose down due to drag. What we didn't know was that the Army (could've been RM) decided to leave the bunk beds inside to save time shipping them separately. As we reached mid-channel, due to the nose down attitude, the unsecured beds slid downhill and burst through the front wall of the portacabin, much to the crewman's amazement. The increased air pressure resulted in the other three walls exploding and we were left with a frame, a roof and a floor!

[Fareastdriver]

It worked once; probably never again. I was taking a flatpack shed from Bessbrook to Crossmaglen. It would not fly above 20 knots without swinging violently so I slowed to the hover, fast 180 spot turn so I turned and the shed didn't and went the other way. It worked; no problems at 60 knots.

[nice castle]

Don't want to spin the dits, but here's a few snippet thoughts:

Always have a Tq figure in mind of what the ac should be hovering with. If the gnd party have passed the load in lbs instead of kg, and you fail to datum this rough figure with the Tq the ac is actually pulling, you will quickly set the record for heaviest flying chinook ever recorded.

If you think loads are dull as ditchwater, you're probably right, but they will at some point leave you with 5 seconds less thinking time than you need when they go wrong by way of punishment. While you take that 5 seconds, someone will get hurt, to guarantee you'll never see them the same way again.

As a pilot, try to talk with your hands not your mouth.

As a crewman, learn a cadbury's bunny voice...it works!

[Tiger_mate]

Ref: Torque fiqures:

Omagh; not exactly a 'confined' area, but nevertheless sufficiently restrictive to add half a degree of pitch to USL and sow the seeds of doubt as to briefed AUW accuracy.

In response to a trend of this scenario, I picked up a 'buggy' and after a short hop across the trees to the football pitch, established a hover in open ground with short grass. Sure enough, we had lost the perceived weight gain.
_______________________________________________________

There was a kilos/pounds cock up that caught a Lynx pilot from the top of 40 who subsequently left-his-load on the west slopes of 40. He had been scheduled to return empty to BBK and having refuelled, saw an opportunity to take a wildcard USL en-route; and having transitioned, the USL took him downslope. It will happen again until eventually UK Mil Plc get their quano in one heap and use common unit measurements across all its aviation assets.

[BEagle]

As a crewman, learn a cadbury's bunny voice...it works!

I presume you know that the voice of the Cadbury's Caramel bunny was performed by Miriam Margolyes.......:\

Aka 'Lady Whiteadder'....

[Adam Nams]

Miriam Margolyes

Schmergen! ;)

[scarecrow450]

Heard whilst at MPA in 91/92 of an Officers mess social ! where some damage had occured to a 78 Sqn badge/plaque on the wall by a Army unit and they refused to pay for said damage. Following morning the wokka wokka sound filled the car park as at Breakfast time a Chinook lifted up the Army unit's CO rover and dumped it on top of a flotel in Stanley. Believed they pay up eventually.
(If any one does know if it was a true story please fill in the gaps??)

[ShyTorque]

Ref: Torque fiqures:

You mean t'RAF 'ad some 'elicopters wit t'torque gauge?

Ee bah gum, You were lucky! We had to 'ave t'collective pitch graph implanted in ower 'eads.

[Fareastdriver]

As that famous Polish Wessex pilot on 72 Sqn used to say. Torque limit? Sufficient.

[lsh]

"We go at 3200, any questions"
That was the brief, in its entirety!

"Thats an odd height"?

"Torque, you idiot"!

3200ft lbs was the Wessex limit.

lsh
:E

[Airborne Aircrew]

"Thats an odd height"?

Either that or it's really bloody late... :}

[Floater AAC]

An AAC officer flying a gazelle in Canada was tasked to pick up some dinosaur bones from a site in the middle of nowhere. Overconfidence/lack of knowledge ? Result: The load became unstable and he jettisoned it. "Establish new excavation site at grid.........".

I would love to know the full outcome of that one. :eek:

[SASless]

Heard more than once....."Scramble! First guy up is Lead....Brief on Guard!"

[albatross]

I believe the complete quote is "Kick the tires - light the fires - brief on guard -first one off the ground is lead"

[SASless]

Huey's and Cobras's got no tires!

We did frown upon the use of Air Force Common for our briefs.

[extpwron]

Stanley Harbour 1982. Chinook tasked with positioning a fabricated walkway that had been transported with a recently arrived “Coastel”.

Nicely rigged by Hookers.

Up gently.

Max torque!

Load not moving???

STILL WELDED TO THE DECK!!!

[seafuryfan]

Dear readers of this thread, it looks as if it is quietly running out of steam to join the pprune archive. I'd just like to thank each and every scribe for your contribution, there's lots of thought provoking material to consider from some almost unbelievable tales.

I think the biggest lesson when dealing with USLs is that old 'un,

'Always expect the unexpected'!

Regards,

SFF

[farsouth]

Before the thread disappears completely......
I was waiting for an eye witness account, but this is second hand (told to me by "someone who was there").

Bristow S61 in the Falklands, early 90's, underslinging empty fuel bollocks, in turbulence, load swung up and over the tail boom, passed between the tail boom and the main rotor without touching it, aircraft landed with the load still wrapped around the tail boom. Crew was the Chief Pilot, Deputy Chief Pilot and Senior Loadmaster............:O

[lsh]

Wessex at Aldergrove picking up a training barrel.
Mega-torque pulled, load still on ground.
It was iced onto the concrete!

lsh
:E

[Senior Pilot]

Dear readers of this thread, it looks as if it is quietly running out of steam to join the pprune archive. I'd just like to thank each and every scribe for your contribution, there's lots of thought provoking material to consider from some almost unbelievable tales.

I think the biggest lesson when dealing with USLs is that old 'un,

'Always expect the unexpected'!

Regards,

SFF

Plenty more to read over on Rotorheads: Slingloading and Longlining (http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/194818-slingloading-longlining.html) :ok:

[Tiger16]

Seafuryfan,
If this thread is to end, perhaps your little incident in with the builders bag at G40 in about 2005 bears repetition... I'm pretty sure that the rigger who was unexpectedly lifted into the air atop the load - subsequently jettisoned - would think so!

[Shackman]

To end with - my very first SH task after Sqn acceptance, on Whirlwinds in Cyprus. Go to DANCON, troops and resupply the various OPs along the ceasefire line, just after the invasion. Arrive with half full fuel tanks, OAT in the mid 30's, first task is to take USL of water jerrycans from camp up to OP. I look at my kneepad quick planning guide, and say we can take 'x' number in the net; my very experienced crewman says 'Don't worry, done this lots of times - we can take 'x+50%' in the net - you'll have plenty of power'. So think 'he knows what he's doing' and off we go.

At this point I should add the LS is quite small, surrounded by fig trees and only one way out - up a small valley, as the Turks would not allow us to go the other way, towards the coast. Now add in a sea breeze which always set in early. Most of you by now know where this is going!

So, my first 'real' load is now attached, and I pull in power - the aircraft immediately centres itself over the load, but does little else. Crewman encourages me to 'pull a little more', so foolishly I did - at which point the sea breeze (from behind) dies, and we lift about 5ft, and start a transition. However there is now the problem of the trees waiting to catch us - not to worry, the load is so heavy it just goes straight through the first one, but unfortunately this sets up a good fore and aft swing. Going forward is great - the aircraft accelerates (a little), then it swings back and all speed is lost, and we sink back towards the ground. This goes on for two or three more swings as I now try to fly between the trees in front of me, whilst looking at the rising ground ahead. Jettison - never even thought of it! Crewman meanwhile is strapping in tightly, doesn't say a thing. Eventually I did reach translational lift and gently climb away from the ground. We drop the load at the OP, return to Kokkina and shutdown for 'small discussion'.

He had assumed I was low on fuel (as all the other experienced pilots would have been), I assumed he knew what he was talking about. I will let you all draw your own conclusions. Needless to say I always double checked my own calculations afterwards - it's not always helped when the loads don't match the advertised weights, but it has saved me embarrassment at other times!

[Fareastdriver]

Way off thread but.

Went to Dancon to play a match in the UN Cricket Tournament. We arrived in a bus just before lunch and eleven Danes in cricket gear met us. Into lunch, then the bar and we, and them, all got ratted on Carlsberg.
Went out to the pitch and eleven different blokes pitched up.

[Fareastdriver]

Bristow S61 in the Falklands, early 90's

Close, but not quite. It only had the strop on.

[seafuryfan]

"Seafuryfan,
If this thread is to end, perhaps your little incident in with the builders bag at G40 in about 2005 bears repetition... I'm pretty sure that the rigger who was unexpectedly lifted into the air atop the load - subsequently jettisoned - would think so! "

Hello Tiger 16, happy to correct. 'Pretty sure' is a good stab, 'little incident' is halfway right, but please don't imply the load was jettisoned while airborne.

The operating crewman (I was CStanO, watching) spotted the rigger/marshaller who returned to the load and quickly climbed up it (can't remember why, possibly having spotted a tangle) as the load left the ground. Yes, the rigger briefly got airborne. The crewman calmly voice marshalled the load back on to the ground, operated the emergency release (avoiding injury to the rigger), and subsequently received some sort of flight safety award for his swift actions. The incident was related to sqn members on our return and we liaised with the user unit for lesson learning. Perhaps you heard of it on the sqn, or through bar chat. Anyway, that's what happened. All's well that ends well - expect the unexpected!

[Tiger16]

I stand corrected; crewroom banter may indeed have exaggerated the incident a touch - wouldn't be the first time! Must admit to having a minor interest in that particular event - I'd just completed one of 230's notorious "72 hour non-stop DA" stints, finishing the handover literally 5 seconds before the phone call came in from your so-pumped-he-was-barely-coherent pilot!

[TheWestCoast]

Ooops!

Video shows CH-53 dropping a CH-47 helicopter over Afghanistan. No, this is not the new way the U.S. is bombing Taliban. « The Aviationist (http://theaviationist.com/2012/07/19/ch-53-dropping-a-ch-47/)

[BTDTGTTShirt]

Shackman, Waddoplummer, Motley

I remember the Kent ISO slightly differently. ISTR that the task was to pick up the rubbish ISO which usually weighed about 8t. On this occasion there had been a new bit of building going on and at the end of it all the excess rubble etc was thrown in the ISO. When it came to the lift the aircraft was in the hover with about 78 kts indicated. As they transitioned over the north side of the site. (the one with the big cliff) the ias dropped to about 40kts and there was quite a roller coaster till they got some sensible airspeed on again:eek:. I remember my front end crew reverse engineering the ODM to come up with an all up weight of 28.5 t. MAUW at the time was 22.7 and with an APS plus fuel of about 15t it gives you an ISO weight of 18.5t. Still a tad heavy.

Rollandpull

My crew had delivered those ISOs the day before on a double 40ft strop without redundant rigging. I don’t think it had been invented then. Unfortunately my twin brother managed throw half the rigging away over the side of Atlantic Causway:{. The final move was as you say without the extra rigging because of my twin brother (who as a side has also been known to attend riotous parties ) but the final positioning called for a single point lift with handling lines. 4 of the ISOs had been put in and the one that went bombing Stanley harbour was the last. Not having the extension rigging was factor but the major cause was the lifting eye was corroded and not man enough. The eyes of all the chains were still locked when recovered.

My twin brothers mishaps

4 bollocks dieso San Carlos replen to Goose Green. A bit of turbulence and one fecked orff at about 2000 ft. Didn’t alf go bang when it hit the rocks.

Genny Moody Brook If it had of been me I would have blamed the hookers.

10Ft Shake on iso Full of NAAFI nutty, booze, beer and fags up to Byron. They were notorious for spinning and the only way to stop them was touch them on the ground . A bit difficult on the way up to Byron over the sound. Make Sure They Are Locked. SIB Plod didn’t see the funny side of it untill we showed him all the flotsam on the shore of the sound.

Challenging loads

Chinook on to Liecesterbrook
Lots of Pucaras to Atlantic Causway. We refused the last one cause it had bang seats in with no pins.
Phantom minus donks from Airfield to Leicesterbrook

Scariest Load.

Building Byron Radar we always picked up a particular ISO every morning and then dragged it back last lift at night. This night because we needed a low fuel for a heavy lift in the morning we didn’t refuel and just hovered off the side while the ship crew moved the ISO off the deck. Someone opened it and out stepped 4 Royal Engineers. Captain was not happy is an understatement. Ships captain not happy:=. Union not happy:=. We think they were doing it at Alice too.

[Motleycallsign]

BTDTGTTShirt, I seem to remember almost losing a Phantom over the side of the ship as there were no hydraulics hence no brakes on a concave deck housing. Same one????

[teeteringhead]

Went to Dancon to play a match in the UN Cricket Tournament. We arrived in a bus just before lunch and eleven Danes in cricket gear met us. Into lunch, then the bar and we, and them, all got ratted on Carlsberg.
Went out to the pitch and eleven different blokes pitched up. ... got shafted in exactly the same way on a rugby tour to South Wales many, many years ago, 'cept that was a VERY late night with a 0900 ko.........:(

[Shackman]

BTDTGTTShirt: ISOs from Mt Kent are almost worth a chapter on their own - the one I referred to was in amongst the accomodation ones, mounted on half of 2ft square plinths (paving slabs) with adjoining ones mounted on the other half! Certainly remember plenty of other lifts (particularly of the 'builders' ISO) and the dreaded 'Bollocks to Mt Kent' tasking line!

[rolandpull]

BTDTGTTShirt.

Byron Heights was a lot of fun. We must have played Bingo at some point, as we tended to get lots of dedicated airlift parking on the fwd deck for mini dets. I was one of the two resident Hookers (leave it!). I still have the scar on my head from a masterlink that bounced off my head on its journey from the Wokka to the deck. Helmet? Nah - I was in the middle of having my tea and just 'popped' out to see if I could help! That old drunk member of the ships crew sewed me up.

The Corato was like a mini JATE for me as I got to test rig a lot of stuff on the ships crane - and there was all sorts of un-flown engineer 'plant' I can tell you.

[Green Bottle 2]

A mate was on a task in a Chinook at an Range in the North of England repositioning some targets. They had JATE assistance as they were not your usual cleared loads. It was the end of the tasking day and they had to reposition an old Jet Provost. The load was lifted as normal and they departed to its new home.

The crewman was watching the load through the load hatch and looked away for a second to check the utility panel. When he looked back the load was nowhere to be seen - he looked through the window at the side of the aircraft to see the JP had decided it was not just a load, but, was an aeroplane again and was level with the chinook! The crewman jettisoned the load which flew its way down to make its own landing!

[BTDTGTTShirt]

Motley

That's the same one. I've just dug up an old log book. 8 Mar 83 ZA709 skipper was JM and tasking was Bollocks Anco Charger to PSC Replen then into Stanley for the Phantom. I remember we were pulling about 90% dual engine just to keep it from rolling off the deck. No one would come in and chock it because of the down wash. Unfortunately my log book doesn't name the rest of the crew. I assume your handle comes from a later life.

[BTDTGTTShirt]

Shackman

Correct Kent tasking was a PITA . Looking at my log book I went up there many a time. Kent and Albertross were the first two radar sights. I remember early on in 82 when we were still at Port San Carlos, Albertross begging for a shift change from the first chinook airborne every day. They were still living at the bottom of the hill at Ajax Bay. While Kent was built the accommodation blocks went in at the same time. Can you imagine a shift change every day from Stanley to Kent?

Rollandpull.

I hate to admit it but my previously mentioned twin brother might well remember you from the Corato. The bang on the bonce rings a bell as does the pissed crewman but probably not as loud as it rang your bell :E Were you aware of the usl engineers?

[imanxpurt]

Coastel Lift Falklands
I was one of the crew on the lift of the 40 foot walkway from the coastel to put it by the side ready for use. It was welded to the top of the coastel. We tried to lift and the bugger would not move.
The skipper of the Coastel realised this and brought out a sledge hammer and went down the side banging it to break the Aluminium welds. When he broke the last one up she popped and down he went . Almost fell down between the living accomodation. Three stories deep could have been nasty.

In Scotland with Parky up front, me as no2 and Malc M**n as no1. Picked up a 4 ton made up bridge. Flying along and I could see the shadow of the AC and bridge on the ground below. A front shackle broke, the bridge dropped at that corner. Air pressure whipped it back and round. By turning it twisted the shackle off the hook and away she went. The bottom of the chinny was trashed by the chains and after landing on inspection we found a two inch deep dent in leading edge of rear blade.

[Airborne Aircrew]

I have video of an "incident" that shows pretty well on a laptop screen... :)

Link (http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/helicopters/ch-53e-loses-control-over-external-ch-47/1741434910001/)

[Motleycallsign]

BTDTGTTShirt

Different one same month tho'. Was with the late 'CJ' on 28th Mar 83, onto 'Leicesterbrook' I think it might have been the frame that took the RHAG around the tailplane on landing at Stanley.

Yes handle comes from subsequent tour.........................

[Pilot Pacifier]

Sipavo, Bosnia, some time in the late 1990's with the mighty Wokka...

We had a Landrover/trailer combo lift to do, the chains kept snagging (there are 8 of them on a lift like that) with the wing mirrors being the main culprit.

OC JHSU is in attendance sorting the snags and guiding the chains, time again we had to put it down to clear a snag, finally we managed to get a clean lift.

OC JHSU had been holding one of the chains out, as it went taught against the side of the vehicle door his glove snagged in it, but up we went with a thumbs up from the JHSU team.

Later on, we found out that OC JHSU had left one of his fingers behind in the glove :eek:

He was rushed off to the Med Centre at Sipovo, he lost from the knuckle onwards of his middle finger. One of the first things he did was exonerate the aircrew and completely blamed himself as he was always teaching his staff never to hold a chain and just have it lightly between your fingers.

Good chap to say the least...!

[farsouth]

My previous post -

Bristow S61 in the Falklands, early 90's, underslinging empty fuel bollocks, in turbulence, load swung up and over the tail boom, passed between the tail boom and the main rotor without touching it, aircraft landed with the load still wrapped around the tail boom. Crew was the Chief Pilot, Deputy Chief Pilot and Senior Loadmaster...........

Fareastdriver - you replied
Close, but not quite. It only had the strop on

I have re-checked with my source, and am assured that it was 2 empty fuel bollocks in a net, being flown very slowly as it was below the normal minimum weight, aircraft hit some turbulence, net and load went over the tailboom as described above - the subsequent landing was described as "interesting" as the CofG was almost certainly way out of aft limits, with about 700lbs hanging about level with the tailwheel. Maybe your comment about "only a strop" was a different incident........

[NutLoose]

Not under slung but internal.... Anyone remember the loadie on the Ten that removed all the bomb safety pins on a load, because the flags said remove before flight.

[Motleycallsign]

I do; but I bet the Movers and Armourers at ASI remember the person vividly........

[Chainkicker]

NL, memory hazy but was it SW's ?
Seem to remember a sickbag handed to the DAMO at ASI who was somewhat suprised by the contents (to say the least).