Hey Arm Out the Window:
""All militaries have always had a poor understanding of the capabilities and limits of helicopters and the prerequisites so that they can perform tasks safely."
is one of the most sweeping I've seen in a long time. Are you suggesting that you know how all military helicopter operators train and work, and that none of them understand the limitations of the machines they operate?
That's absolute bull****, frankly. Have a think about what you're writing."
Sorry I wasn't clear about that. I believe that, by in large, military aviation has a good grasp on what their equipment can do. Some individual pilots may have misconceptions, but at a company level, the level of understanding within the unit is pretty high across the board. What I mean is that the "big army" has a less clear vision of what aviation can do for them. Units routinely ask a lot of aviation, mostly due to inadequate relationships between the ground pounders and the aviation units, and the general consensus of aviation units is to do whatever they can do to help the guys on the ground. There is nothing wrong with that relationship, but it could be a lot better and a lot safer. This goes from preparing a landing zone on up to questioning weather minimums and the time it takes to properly plan a mission. I'm sure most of us that fly for the green machine have experienced it, I know that I have on many occasions... and in the end, the job is to support the guys and girls on the ground, so we do the best we can given the circumstances... however that can get us into situations where experience is the best, if not the only, way of ensuring a safe completion of whatever it is they need us to do in the situation they have provided.
I fly in a medical unit, and a primo example of this the roadside pickup of wounded soldiers. There is no way we can give training to every unit we service on what we like and need them to do to keep us safe when we land on Route Whatever -- so when the call comes in, and the road has wires and ditches very close on either side, and dust, and poor security, uncleared, surrounded by locals, with infantry running all over the LZ and humvee headlights blinding your NVGs-- all of this which happens to be 1/2 mile from a beautiful landing zone at a secured base... the decision to put the wounded guys life on the line to move him or wait for them to make the landing zone better is a very difficult decision. Throw in a teaspoon of adrenaline and the mandatory compassion, and you've got quite the quandry to mull over in your brain, which woke up from a dead sleep about 10 minutes ago. The line between a very challenging but successful mission, and a crashed aircraft, is very thin... and the best ally on those nights is good old fashioned experience.
-Mike