Down wash yarns
My curiosity piqued, as we could by now see the HLS, we carried on, in unlimited vis, unbroken sunshine. Having landed and shut down, I wandered into the 9 x 9 CP tent, and found my radio operator sitting precisely three feet away from a green canvas wall.
Still wouldn't want to mess with them, though.
Memories of BCal
Ah Speechless, more fond memories of good times in Aberdeen - do they still happen!! BCal kilts were purpose made for entertaining with a touch of collective as the paper work was brought out. Did Holly stay at London City (I think)?
I have vague recollections of an S61 being asked to expedite its departure and doing a rolling take off from the taxiway - Parked Cessna 152 was flipped onto its back.
Take it you are aware of planned BCal get together in Nov?
TeeS
I have vague recollections of an S61 being asked to expedite its departure and doing a rolling take off from the taxiway - Parked Cessna 152 was flipped onto its back.
Take it you are aware of planned BCal get together in Nov?
TeeS
Mid 80's, think it was June 86, BAH sent over one of its 234's to display at the annual RAF Buchan open day.
On this particular day, there was a cricket match in progress in the playing field next door. Nothing untoward happened, until the end of the display. The crew demonstrated the 234's capability of climbing, vertically, like a love sick angel, whilst at the same time demonstrating a max-rate yaw turn.
The downwash from the chinook caused absolute chaos in the cricket field - tables, chairs, people rolling around the field.
Absolute corker of a display, can still hear that distinctive chinook whine, as it shot off into the heavens, before disappearing back to ABZ.
The helicopter displays were somewhat muted at subsequent Open Days.
On this particular day, there was a cricket match in progress in the playing field next door. Nothing untoward happened, until the end of the display. The crew demonstrated the 234's capability of climbing, vertically, like a love sick angel, whilst at the same time demonstrating a max-rate yaw turn.
The downwash from the chinook caused absolute chaos in the cricket field - tables, chairs, people rolling around the field.
Absolute corker of a display, can still hear that distinctive chinook whine, as it shot off into the heavens, before disappearing back to ABZ.
The helicopter displays were somewhat muted at subsequent Open Days.
Mid 80's, Portadown NI, Eagle VCPs with the UDR on a weekend. Call from patrol to be picked up from a playing field where they were being harrassed by locals. We arrived to see a group of kids aged 8 - 15 approx, mostly on bicycles who had been pursuing said patrol hurling stones and abuse. We landed on, embarked the troops and performed a cushion creep style transition over the top of the yobbos with a max power pull at the moment critique. We circled round in the climb to witness said yobbos and bikes spread out in a flattened daisy pattern - they learned about helicopter downwash that day
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Helicopters and Microlights
I’m not a pilot but I use to work at a helicopter company at Sywell Northampton, this is my "Down Wash Yarn" experience. My role at the company was Ramp Supervisor, this involved me holding a CAT 2 fire certificate and I was also part of the Sywell Aerodrome crash team.
Back in 1998 the airfield asked if I would stand in for the Aerodrome fire fighter, as he wanted a day off, which I was happy to do. At Sywell there is one full time fire fighter, the Chief Fire officer who also was a Controller (FISO) in the tower and the rest was made up of people like myself how worked at the airport.
On this particular day, the first time I had done this job on the airfield, I got the fire truck out and done the fuel checks, the rest of the day was either sitting in the office, re-fuelling or dealing with anything that came up. As the day went on I though I would jump in the fire truck and have a drive round, runway inspection ect., I stopped not far from ATC to watch a Jetranger cross the active and land at the
Jet A1 pumps which are close to RWY 07/25.
Making an approach to RWY 07 was a flex wing microlight, as the microlight got to the point where the helicopter had crossed the runway it started to brake dancing in the air, it landed at least three times before it turned over on the runway. I sat there watching this thinking “Not today, not on my first day… please”. Lucky I was not far away and was there in seconds with the fire truck. As I came to a stop I could see the pilot still strapped in looking at me with a big grin on his face; this made me feel better as I could see he was not hurt. But what made the moment was the Chief Fire Officer appeared puffing, panting, bitch and moaning that it was the second time the fire truck had gone and left him behind and he had to run for it; he was also getting some stick from some of the retain boys who appeared on scene about the same time. I can't say what he said back to them in reply as it's unrepeatable!
Back in 1998 the airfield asked if I would stand in for the Aerodrome fire fighter, as he wanted a day off, which I was happy to do. At Sywell there is one full time fire fighter, the Chief Fire officer who also was a Controller (FISO) in the tower and the rest was made up of people like myself how worked at the airport.
On this particular day, the first time I had done this job on the airfield, I got the fire truck out and done the fuel checks, the rest of the day was either sitting in the office, re-fuelling or dealing with anything that came up. As the day went on I though I would jump in the fire truck and have a drive round, runway inspection ect., I stopped not far from ATC to watch a Jetranger cross the active and land at the
Jet A1 pumps which are close to RWY 07/25.
Making an approach to RWY 07 was a flex wing microlight, as the microlight got to the point where the helicopter had crossed the runway it started to brake dancing in the air, it landed at least three times before it turned over on the runway. I sat there watching this thinking “Not today, not on my first day… please”. Lucky I was not far away and was there in seconds with the fire truck. As I came to a stop I could see the pilot still strapped in looking at me with a big grin on his face; this made me feel better as I could see he was not hurt. But what made the moment was the Chief Fire Officer appeared puffing, panting, bitch and moaning that it was the second time the fire truck had gone and left him behind and he had to run for it; he was also getting some stick from some of the retain boys who appeared on scene about the same time. I can't say what he said back to them in reply as it's unrepeatable!
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I saw an MD 900 being marshalled in a bit too close to the edge of a ramp area where there was a fairly old panel fence which bordered on to a drop and then on to a 3 lane highway. We all saw what was going to happen, including the pilots as two 8 foot sections of the fence started to rock violently and then picked themselves up and went over the edge of the ramp and landed in the road. Luckily the traffic lights were red, so all the traffic was stopped. A couple of us jumped down and pulled all the debris out of the way, finishing just as the lights changed anf traffic resumed its normal flow.
Winching some stuff from a Huey down to an Army location in the north QLD rainforest in the mid-80s - small hole in the trees marked by smoke - all's proceeding well, with us in contact with the guys on the ground on VHF-FM.
The radio chat from the ground is all relaxed and low key until suddenly his voice goes up an octave - after a while it turns out we'd blown a dead limb off a tree and hit one of the blokes on the ground; not serious injuries, luckily, but enough so they needed a medevac. Luckily there was a helicopter on-scene - us!
The radio chat from the ground is all relaxed and low key until suddenly his voice goes up an octave - after a while it turns out we'd blown a dead limb off a tree and hit one of the blokes on the ground; not serious injuries, luckily, but enough so they needed a medevac. Luckily there was a helicopter on-scene - us!
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212
While the west Edmonton mall was being built we were contracted toi sling Air conditioning units onto the roof due to the size of the structure a Crane could not put them in place. WE did a quick recon on foot and looked at the garbage on roof everything was cleaned up and away we go.
First lift as we approach the roof location I notice out of the corner of my Eye as I was on the roof giving hand signals a very large section of roof was lifting and tossed over the side turns out it was the wood structure that tempoarily covered the huge skylight opening coverd with plastic it quickly turned into a large Kite. Over it went into about 10 parked cars. Neither the structure or most of the cars survived..
First lift as we approach the roof location I notice out of the corner of my Eye as I was on the roof giving hand signals a very large section of roof was lifting and tossed over the side turns out it was the wood structure that tempoarily covered the huge skylight opening coverd with plastic it quickly turned into a large Kite. Over it went into about 10 parked cars. Neither the structure or most of the cars survived..
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Many years ago on one of the little flat tops we had a young helicopter mechanic who thought he would video a Harrier take off serial. Being on the Seaking squadron he knew about downwash, but obviously thought he knew about jetwash too. He chose to stand outboard of the Seaking folded and parked in the “fly” spot next to the island behind the front aircraft lift, and even more bizarrely, no-one stopped him.
Cut to the mess deck later that evening.
“Does anyone want to see my video?”
We were all bored and videos were still relatively novel so we mumbled for him to put it on.
A shakey scene of a Harrier spooling up at the end of the runway, appeared on the television; “spotter!” we all chorused. Then the harrier received the launch signal from the FDO, the pilot released his brakes, and it roared up the deck as matey boy panned keeping it in shot.
As the harrier leapt off the ski ramp the television was suddenly filled with, sky, deck, sky, deck several times, finally ending with him clambering to his feet having been rolled down the deck. Memory is fading but I’m sure I remember an angry looking FDO advancing on him before the screen went blank.
Cut to the mess deck later that evening.
“Does anyone want to see my video?”
We were all bored and videos were still relatively novel so we mumbled for him to put it on.
A shakey scene of a Harrier spooling up at the end of the runway, appeared on the television; “spotter!” we all chorused. Then the harrier received the launch signal from the FDO, the pilot released his brakes, and it roared up the deck as matey boy panned keeping it in shot.
As the harrier leapt off the ski ramp the television was suddenly filled with, sky, deck, sky, deck several times, finally ending with him clambering to his feet having been rolled down the deck. Memory is fading but I’m sure I remember an angry looking FDO advancing on him before the screen went blank.
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Departing an airshow in Kamov 32. Large crowd of bystanders. Pull collective and up go ladies skirts and tops. This was followed by a comical pull skirt down, pull top down but skirt goes up, pull skirt down but top goes up and so on.....they didn't sue us.
Landing at open day with said KA-32. Daffy woman runs in front of us and gets bowled over, quite severely. Bit banged and bruised but reasonably intact........she sued us.
Doing a cell phone tower and while landing in a farmers paddock his poorly constructed shed - yes, it was a really shoddy affair - partially collapsed. He had actually suggested this paddock despite being warned about downwash from Kamov.........he sued us. Methinks he was after a new shed
Landing at open day with said KA-32. Daffy woman runs in front of us and gets bowled over, quite severely. Bit banged and bruised but reasonably intact........she sued us.
Doing a cell phone tower and while landing in a farmers paddock his poorly constructed shed - yes, it was a really shoddy affair - partially collapsed. He had actually suggested this paddock despite being warned about downwash from Kamov.........he sued us. Methinks he was after a new shed
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The 1986 RAF Buchan Families Day
Well, it was probably Sunday June 15th 1986 that the Chinook (BV234) appeared at the RAF Buchan Families day.
I clearly recall it as a Sunday, and surely that would be the right day for such an event?
In which case...my logbook shows it was also the day of my 1179 (type rating test) on the 234, G-BISN with Capt Dave Humble. It was not only my first ever flight in the beast, but also the only occasion I ever flew a Chinook on a Sunday so this must be the one, tho I had forgotten it was tacked onto the 1179.
We got a call during the sortie from Abrdeen Radar saying they'd had a request from RAF Buchan to see if there was anything flying that afternoon that could give them a low pass or two to liven up their families day, and we were the only cab airborne. (ABZ operations were on a very gentlemanly routine in those days with no scheduled flying at weekends). We couldn't spend much time on it, but agreed nonetheless. I guess we were not far away, or organised the sortie so we were near Buchan, and the Capt sketched out a plan; fast low pass over the site, pull up into a biiig wingover, reciprocal fast run back, splitarse turn and flare to a 100ft hover over the site, hold it for 10 seconds, then a full power vertical climb to 500ft and a max performance transition away towards ABZ.
In an empty Chinook this is all very impressive stuff involving some pretty radical attitudes. I think Dave was also showing me what the old 234 could do too because there was bugger-all sky in the view as we went over the top of that first wingover. We hauled round in a gloriously thunderous slapping flaring turn to the hover, nose pointing at the sky and as it dropped to the hover attitude I saw all the loose gear on the ground. Picnic tables, chairs, umbrellas, picnics, whole families picknicking everywhere, an ice cream van with a big red and white striped awning, and a row of green canvas field latrines...After we'd stabilised in the hover for a few seconds a thought was forming in my head that this had potential for discomfort on the ground just as the first picknick or nine got airborne. I think Dave realised it too and pulled all the pitch he had which was perhaps not the best idea, and iirc didn't transition away but kept to the briefed vertical climb. (Did we do a 360 yaw in the climb? That would have been typical BV234 showmanship but I don't recall it). I hollered to get out of here fast but by then most items of the families day were dispersing radially beneath us at a surprising rate; entire picknicks and parasols were zooming about like magic carrpets and the ice cream van, awning wrapped over it's roof was visibly rocking on it's wheels. The dunnies went over like ninepins flapping wildly. I remember seeing lots of people spreadeagled face down on the ground, arms protecting their heads from the carnage of the family day that was hurtling past at face height!
As I recall we rather slunk into Aberdeen and adopted a low profile as we disposed of the flight paperwork and were actually scuttling towards the door of the Ops room whan Fraser (the ops manager) called after us " Dave! I've got Group Captain Crabfat, CO of RAF Buchan on the line; he'd like a word!"
Dave turned a little green and went slowly back to the desk, I could almost hear his brain turning in overdrive but there was no escape. Oh sh!t! Now we're for it. Dave spoke his name, listened with what I can only describe as a stricken look on his face, and then slowly broke out a shaky disbelieving grin.
The CO had apparently told him, "Damn good show chaps, well done! Made the day, don'cha know!"
Bless him, he was either blissfully unaware of the disaster we'd so rudely visited on his families day or was a master of forebearing, tact and diplomacy.
And that was the last we ever heard of it.
(told as accurately as 25 yrs of faulty memory allows, but that's the bones of the event. Thanks to excrewingbod for reminding me!)
ps. of all the machines I've flown before or since the BV234 was the one I remember the fondest, and the one I'm proudest to have flown, and the one I'd most like to fly again.
I clearly recall it as a Sunday, and surely that would be the right day for such an event?
In which case...my logbook shows it was also the day of my 1179 (type rating test) on the 234, G-BISN with Capt Dave Humble. It was not only my first ever flight in the beast, but also the only occasion I ever flew a Chinook on a Sunday so this must be the one, tho I had forgotten it was tacked onto the 1179.
We got a call during the sortie from Abrdeen Radar saying they'd had a request from RAF Buchan to see if there was anything flying that afternoon that could give them a low pass or two to liven up their families day, and we were the only cab airborne. (ABZ operations were on a very gentlemanly routine in those days with no scheduled flying at weekends). We couldn't spend much time on it, but agreed nonetheless. I guess we were not far away, or organised the sortie so we were near Buchan, and the Capt sketched out a plan; fast low pass over the site, pull up into a biiig wingover, reciprocal fast run back, splitarse turn and flare to a 100ft hover over the site, hold it for 10 seconds, then a full power vertical climb to 500ft and a max performance transition away towards ABZ.
In an empty Chinook this is all very impressive stuff involving some pretty radical attitudes. I think Dave was also showing me what the old 234 could do too because there was bugger-all sky in the view as we went over the top of that first wingover. We hauled round in a gloriously thunderous slapping flaring turn to the hover, nose pointing at the sky and as it dropped to the hover attitude I saw all the loose gear on the ground. Picnic tables, chairs, umbrellas, picnics, whole families picknicking everywhere, an ice cream van with a big red and white striped awning, and a row of green canvas field latrines...After we'd stabilised in the hover for a few seconds a thought was forming in my head that this had potential for discomfort on the ground just as the first picknick or nine got airborne. I think Dave realised it too and pulled all the pitch he had which was perhaps not the best idea, and iirc didn't transition away but kept to the briefed vertical climb. (Did we do a 360 yaw in the climb? That would have been typical BV234 showmanship but I don't recall it). I hollered to get out of here fast but by then most items of the families day were dispersing radially beneath us at a surprising rate; entire picknicks and parasols were zooming about like magic carrpets and the ice cream van, awning wrapped over it's roof was visibly rocking on it's wheels. The dunnies went over like ninepins flapping wildly. I remember seeing lots of people spreadeagled face down on the ground, arms protecting their heads from the carnage of the family day that was hurtling past at face height!
As I recall we rather slunk into Aberdeen and adopted a low profile as we disposed of the flight paperwork and were actually scuttling towards the door of the Ops room whan Fraser (the ops manager) called after us " Dave! I've got Group Captain Crabfat, CO of RAF Buchan on the line; he'd like a word!"
Dave turned a little green and went slowly back to the desk, I could almost hear his brain turning in overdrive but there was no escape. Oh sh!t! Now we're for it. Dave spoke his name, listened with what I can only describe as a stricken look on his face, and then slowly broke out a shaky disbelieving grin.
The CO had apparently told him, "Damn good show chaps, well done! Made the day, don'cha know!"
Bless him, he was either blissfully unaware of the disaster we'd so rudely visited on his families day or was a master of forebearing, tact and diplomacy.
And that was the last we ever heard of it.
(told as accurately as 25 yrs of faulty memory allows, but that's the bones of the event. Thanks to excrewingbod for reminding me!)
ps. of all the machines I've flown before or since the BV234 was the one I remember the fondest, and the one I'm proudest to have flown, and the one I'd most like to fly again.
Last edited by Agaricus bisporus; 16th Jul 2010 at 22:33.
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Desert Dingo-Nice pic! Brings back a great memory.
Flight school graduation at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, 1984. Hanchey AAF if I remember correctly. Family and friends were allowed on the flightline to look at our aircraft in the morning. Afterwards, we would do the graduation "mass-formation-flyby" and ceremony at the parade field on post.
I was scheduled to fly into the parade field for the ceremony, so we were departing much sooner than the other graduates doing the formation-fly-by.
As I pulled up to a hover in the UH-1H to exit parking, the very HAWT wife of a buddy (fellow newbie W01) walked around the nose of an adjacent aircraft wearing a billowy sun dress. And UP it went over her head for the "ultimate show". My instructor said "WOW! and we laughed the rest of the day...... mainly because my buddy was standing close-by when it happened, caught us staring
(during the prolonged hover check) and gave us a serious glare
.
------------------------------------------------------------
Korea, winter, 1986 flying MedEvac in UH-60A Blackhawks. Had an evac mission on a very cold weekend morning immediately after a snowstorm.
Finished the mission and returned to the base (Cp Humphreys) around 0800. Did some practice snow landings, then ground taxied to the hot refuel pads. As we were taking fuel we noticed that a bunch of soldiers had started to clear the snow off the adjacent pads/walkways. Had my crew chief advise the person in charge to hold off on their snow clearing ops until we were done with refuel and had cleared the pad.
Tower gave us clearance for hover ops as we were the only aircraft operating on the airfield. Performed helicopter snow-blower ops for about 20 minutes, topped off with fuel, went to our pads and shut down.
A bit later, an LT and a couple of NCO's showed up at our hooch to thank us for clearing the pads/walkways. They got us stinkin drunk in the 'ville the following weekend and thereafter when they saw us.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mid 1990's, flying H-60L Blackhawks in Panama late, late one afternoon. We were part of a multi-national training exercise for peace-keeping/nation building. The "villages" in the jungle vicinity Ft. Sherman were comprised of US military roleplayers that needed to be "won-over".
Team leader to me: "Chief, I need to go to Pina Village."
Me: "Roger, I'll put you on the road 150m up from the village."
Tm Ldr: "No, put me on the LZ on the edge of the jungle right next to the compound."
Me: "Are they expecting us?. Do they have their gear and the porta-potties (porta-loo's?) secured down?"
Tm Ldr: Yeah, roger, no worries-they know we're coming and ready for us. They were told to secure the porta-potties, too.
Me: "Roger, we'll be there in a few minutes."
We get there, do a high/low recon. No wave-offs from the "villagers". Before landing check complete. On short, short final with the 4 porta-potties at 3 o'clock and 40m, my crewchief says "They're rocking and....there they go!"
1,2,3,4 like ducks in a row and out of one stumbles a figure that is completely blue and covered with soggy TP.
Laughing as we touched down.......
Tm Ldr: "Oh well, I thought they were secured. Pick me up in 20 minutes."
Me: "Roger, 20 minutes-we'll pick you and your team up on the road 150m away."
The roll-players were not happy and evidently, we blew some of their "mermite cans" (food) over as well. We (flight crew only) came back later that night and delivered pizza, BK burgers-n-fries and cold beverages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Late 90's, H-60L Blackhawks, doing practice approaches/landings to skyscraper helipads in a South American capitol city. Whilst on short final to the top of a large bank, we noticed a bunch of women in bank uniforms (white blouses/short blue skirts) watching us on a closeby stairway. Let's just say the views were most excellent!
Good times!
Flight school graduation at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, 1984. Hanchey AAF if I remember correctly. Family and friends were allowed on the flightline to look at our aircraft in the morning. Afterwards, we would do the graduation "mass-formation-flyby" and ceremony at the parade field on post.
I was scheduled to fly into the parade field for the ceremony, so we were departing much sooner than the other graduates doing the formation-fly-by.
As I pulled up to a hover in the UH-1H to exit parking, the very HAWT wife of a buddy (fellow newbie W01) walked around the nose of an adjacent aircraft wearing a billowy sun dress. And UP it went over her head for the "ultimate show". My instructor said "WOW! and we laughed the rest of the day...... mainly because my buddy was standing close-by when it happened, caught us staring
(during the prolonged hover check) and gave us a serious glare. ------------------------------------------------------------
Korea, winter, 1986 flying MedEvac in UH-60A Blackhawks. Had an evac mission on a very cold weekend morning immediately after a snowstorm.
Finished the mission and returned to the base (Cp Humphreys) around 0800. Did some practice snow landings, then ground taxied to the hot refuel pads. As we were taking fuel we noticed that a bunch of soldiers had started to clear the snow off the adjacent pads/walkways. Had my crew chief advise the person in charge to hold off on their snow clearing ops until we were done with refuel and had cleared the pad.
Tower gave us clearance for hover ops as we were the only aircraft operating on the airfield. Performed helicopter snow-blower ops for about 20 minutes, topped off with fuel, went to our pads and shut down.
A bit later, an LT and a couple of NCO's showed up at our hooch to thank us for clearing the pads/walkways. They got us stinkin drunk in the 'ville the following weekend and thereafter when they saw us.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mid 1990's, flying H-60L Blackhawks in Panama late, late one afternoon. We were part of a multi-national training exercise for peace-keeping/nation building. The "villages" in the jungle vicinity Ft. Sherman were comprised of US military roleplayers that needed to be "won-over".
Team leader
to me: "Chief, I need to go to Pina Village."Me: "Roger, I'll put you on the road 150m up from the village."
Tm Ldr
: "No, put me on the LZ on the edge of the jungle right next to the compound." Me: "Are they expecting us?. Do they have their gear and the porta-potties (porta-loo's?) secured down?"
Tm Ldr
: Yeah, roger, no worries-they know we're coming and ready for us. They were told to secure the porta-potties, too.Me: "Roger, we'll be there in a few minutes."
We get there, do a high/low recon. No wave-offs from the "villagers". Before landing check complete. On short, short final with the 4 porta-potties at 3 o'clock and 40m, my crewchief says "They're rocking and....there they go!"
1,2,3,4 like ducks in a row and out of one stumbles a figure that is completely blue and covered with soggy TP.
Laughing as we touched down.......
Tm Ldr
: "Oh well, I thought they were secured. Pick me up in 20 minutes." Me: "Roger, 20 minutes-we'll pick you and your team up on the road 150m away."
The roll-players were not happy and evidently, we blew some of their "mermite cans" (food) over as well. We (flight crew only) came back later that night and delivered pizza, BK burgers-n-fries and cold beverages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Late 90's, H-60L Blackhawks, doing practice approaches/landings to skyscraper helipads in a South American capitol city. Whilst on short final to the top of a large bank, we noticed a bunch of women in bank uniforms (white blouses/short blue skirts) watching us on a closeby stairway. Let's just say the views were most excellent!
Good times!
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Now THIS is downwash !
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Yet Another!...........
AAAAH! ShyTorque....
That bought back many happy memories of plonking a Gazelle on Cadenas OP and trying not to infringe Guatamalan airspace!
And a few interesting stories about Gurkas in helicopters!.... But maybe leave that for another thread.
Anyway, I digress. Belize (again) early 80's, and following a big Battlegroup North exercise, it was decided to have a big de-brief (large lunch!) at the Myan ruins near San Ignacio, for all VIP observers and nebbies.
Andy Capp's Commando's and Sappers set up 180 lb tent on site and proceed to set out lunch for the High Rankers (spell checked!) and VIP's. Teeny weeny's tasked with taking Brigadier and local dignitaries to site. So 2 gazelles land 50M downwind of site, and 2 pilots accompany pax to have a nose. VERY POSH nosh! Ice statues, the works. Well, nobody worried about taxpayers money back then!
Pilots told to bu@@er off! So retreated to aircraft to enjoy (?) our cookhouse nosebag. 5 mins later the unmistakable drone of a Puma approaching carrying high ranking crab type. Obviously, to avoid having thier pax walk too far sideways, they decide to land 25M UPWIND of the tent!!
Switch to slo-mo..... as the tent starts to lift and the biggest sandstorm carries dust, bushes and pretty much anything else lying around into whats left of the tent...............
The debrief was, apparently, unedible!..... and lots of red faces all round
OOOOH HOW WE CHUCKLED! Sometimes life doesn't get any better
That bought back many happy memories of plonking a Gazelle on Cadenas OP and trying not to infringe Guatamalan airspace!
And a few interesting stories about Gurkas in helicopters!.... But maybe leave that for another thread.
Anyway, I digress. Belize (again) early 80's, and following a big Battlegroup North exercise, it was decided to have a big de-brief (large lunch!) at the Myan ruins near San Ignacio, for all VIP observers and nebbies.
Andy Capp's Commando's and Sappers set up 180 lb tent on site and proceed to set out lunch for the High Rankers (spell checked!) and VIP's. Teeny weeny's tasked with taking Brigadier and local dignitaries to site. So 2 gazelles land 50M downwind of site, and 2 pilots accompany pax to have a nose. VERY POSH nosh! Ice statues, the works. Well, nobody worried about taxpayers money back then!
Pilots told to bu@@er off! So retreated to aircraft to enjoy (?) our cookhouse nosebag. 5 mins later the unmistakable drone of a Puma approaching carrying high ranking crab type. Obviously, to avoid having thier pax walk too far sideways, they decide to land 25M UPWIND of the tent!!
Switch to slo-mo..... as the tent starts to lift and the biggest sandstorm carries dust, bushes and pretty much anything else lying around into whats left of the tent...............
The debrief was, apparently, unedible!..... and lots of red faces all round
OOOOH HOW WE CHUCKLED! Sometimes life doesn't get any better
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collision
We landed our UH-60 in the desert near a large air assault mission that was being formed. 66 hawks heading into Iraq in 1990. I had a single ship mission but wanted to follow along as chalk 7 in a previously formed group of 6 across the border so as not to appear suspicious to the AWAC's boys. We had ESSS wing tanks mounted. I asked my co-pilot to jump out and run over to the nearest group of 60's and ask about tagging along. He was an excitable young fellow and leapt out on his mission with vigor. Since they were all spooling up, we stayed running. After just a few minutes I could see my CP trotting across the desert through my goggles. His were flipped up. I could see the writing on the wall but could do nothing to stop it. I alerted my gunner/crew chief to direct his attention out the left side of the aircraft as we were going to possibly see a good show. Not to disappoint, CP ran full steam and chest high into the front of the ESSS tank. I saw the bottoms of his boots, toes pointing toward the heavens and his goggles flew about six feet into the air. He got up with a big toothy grin, policed up his goggles and away we went. He was in a bit of pain the next day but enjoyed the attention as I replayed the incident to all.
Last edited by grumpytroll; 2nd Apr 2011 at 22:30.
