er...what are these guys doing ?

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/theflyingsquirrel/blackhawk.jpg

[ClearDeck]

G'day FS,

Apart from enjoying the view and the wind in their hair, these lads are conducting Helo Casting, a method of rapid insertion/extraction. For any greater detail on the ins and outs you'll need military dude.

Cheers.

[Blackhawk9]

A Suspended Extraction, gets a section of troops out quick when you can't land or hoist to an area thats safe/can land then load the troops on board , ropes attached to fast rope/ rappelling rig, you all hook on and off you go, then you hope the pilot doesn't want to play tea bags and dunk you in a nearby dam!! It's good fun done it heaps on Aussie Blackhawks.

[SASless]

What is great fun is having the guys start flying the line much as if they were in a horizontal "freefall"...and in time they can swing well out beside the aircraft and wave at you...first on one side...then the other. What is even more fun is seeing how quickly they settle down when you dump the collective momentarily.


http://281stahc-assn.org/281history/recondo/equip.html

Some info about the McGuire and Stabo rig that led to the current method.

[petitfromage]

As BH9 says, its Suspended Extraction....however what they are doing is madness. Why so high?

Suspended Extraction is more or less and emergency situation and only designed to move the troops the absolute minimum distance, so that you can put them down, land to pick them up and get away quickly.
SE is not fun to fly. You fly slow and are very limited in your ability to manoeuvre.
(exactly like long-line work but with someone shooting at you).

[Micko]

It has to be RAEME tradies conducting inflight leak checks....is there nothing they can't do

[gadgetguru]

one of the few casualties for the regiment in SVN was an extraction where a trooper clipped into a loop made by the free end of the rope & the tape fastening it to the line, instead of the figure-8 loop.

Following the incident SOP's requried all figure-8 knots free ends be taped flush to knot to prevent repetition.

i think they were under fire at the time or not when it happened, (i am uncertain, story was conveyed by the SASR cadre staff rope-master when we were doing our training) but those lads were always in tiger country & it's not the sort of mistake you make when you're fully aware of where you will be in a few seconds. I don't recall whether they retrieved the blokes body or not - i think they did.

maybe there is an crusty ex-RAAF huey pilot lurking about here with some more (accurate) info...

[havoc]

For the guys on the rope it is always an eye opener when you go over emergency procedures, pull out the axe that will be used to cut the rope if your going down.

Seen an IP about strangle a new pilot after they got back during a training exercise. The aircraft started to go into the bottom of a cloud deck with 8 grunts on the rope.

The grunts though it was great not being able to see the aircraft, good cammoflauge, they asked why the crew did not hide them in the cloud also.

[NickLappos]

http://www.dtroop.com/images/d_20.jpg

Circa 1970 we called it a McGuire Rig, used for fast extractions from deep canopy. The LRRPs were famous for it. See www.dtroop.com for more Vietnam era pictures.

[wishtobflying]

Were all the ropes secured together initially or were they all swinging around freely? What sort of weight did they have on the end of them to keep them steady? With the length of the ropes in this last picture I imagine that could be quite a challenge, to get all those ropes into a small clearing at the same time.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

UK version used to be called FRIES (Fast-Rope Insert/Extract System) - a 90-foot swarming rope (suitably modified) would become a 120-footer after flying a customer for a km or so. Useful for picking folk up from nasty places; just had to remember not to put them in a minefield when they were away from the trigger-happy baddies.

[Simon853]

Can I book a go at that through Red Letter Days? :)

Si

[aeromys]

Don't let the Met Police see this! They'll be fast extracting police serials out of the Notting Hill carnival whenever they need feeding :ooh: