SAS to the rescue?
Joined: Aug 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
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From: SW England
Wonderful vid - thanks for posting. The 215 seemed to fly quite well - any idea what sort of IAS she could manage as an underslung load? My crew and I were once tasked with taking a tip-struck SAR S61 from a bog N of Ullapool to Aberdeen once; anything above 20 kts and the 61 tried joining us in the cockpit. It took 4h 25m and 2 refuels - including a diversion to Lossie to check a transmission caution - before we made it to Dyce just before the Haar.
Joined: Oct 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 7,373
Likes: 931
From: Den Haag
Wonderful vid - thanks for posting. The 215 seemed to fly quite well - any idea what sort of IAS she could manage as an underslung load? My crew and I were once tasked with taking a tip-struck SAR S61 from a bog N of Ullapool to Aberdeen once; anything above 20 kts and the 61 tried joining us in the cockpit. It took 4h 25m and 2 refuels - including a diversion to Lossie to check a transmission caution - before we made it to Dyce just before the Haar.
Sadly, the guy died a year later when his TR failed while logging.
Joined: Oct 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 7,373
Likes: 931
From: Den Haag
Joined: May 2002
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
Posts: 18,633
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From: Downeast
The photo I wanted to use did not load....it had close to 200 aircraft recovery markings on it.
"Pipesmoke" was the unit call sign for a maintenance unit based at Phu Loi, South Vietnam (originally a Japanese Fighter Air Field) and at some point had its own Chinook.
In my time they did not have their own Chinook and the Aircraft recovery duty was shared between my unit the 20th Assault Support Company (ASHC) with callsign Geronimo, and the 213th ASHC with call sign Black Cat.
All of our aircraft carried the necessary rigging gear to lift a Huey or Cobra and one aircraft per day was on Recovery Standby with a five minute call to take off time limit.
Pipesmoke provided a Huey and rigging crew and always brought sufficient gear to rig a downed helicopter.
Huey units could also do their own rigging when Pipesmoke was not available.
Most of the moves were pretty much straight forward evolutions but now and then could get un-straight forward in an instant.
Hueys and Cobras had a nasty habit of getting shot down and landing in some very unfriendly neighborhoods.
Downed helicopters always seemed to draw crowds including the guys that shot the things down to begin with.
One of our crews picked up the downed helicopter no problem....and about the time they gained Translational lift they got hit by an RPG that put them into the rice paddies awfully close to the folks with the RPG's, mortars, machine-guns and AK-47's..
The Flight Engineer was killed during the crash landing, and upon exiting the aircraft three crew members were hit with small arms fire resulting in minor wounds, and the Aircraft Commander who stayed in the cockpit communicating with ground troops that were at the take off site received a serious bullet wound to a leg.
Ultimately everyone returned to duty after some short hospital stays and the aircraft was recovered and scrapped.
Fortunately I was present when the fun and games took place.
The Door Gunner died in a crash a month or so later when a mechanical failure caused a loss of control while sling loading howitzer ammo for the Australian forces.
Back to slinging airplanes....slung airplanes will kill you grave yard dead if you let them.
We always used wooden beams 4x4 or 6x6 securely fastened to act as spoilers atop the wings, made sure the flight controls were secured for straight and level flight, and if able secured a drag chute to the tail for added drag to keep the aircraft stable. It worked fine in theory.
For pure enjoyment, having one of the wooden spoilers depart for places unknown works a treat.
Nothing gets your attention as seeing nothing but olive drab in front of the windscreen as an Otter Wingtip stands up in front of you with no warning.....and then to make it worse....disappears out sight in a most rapid manner.
In our case it decided a flat spin at about 300 RPM....(or so it seemed anyway) until the sling strap twisted up and finally broke freeing the Otter to find its way home.
Another time....slinging a brand new Huey (12 hours on the clock) back to its base....flying five miles offshore in the dark over the South China Sea....and a "POP!" sound was heard....the aircraft bounced upwards....and the FE announced we had dropped the load!
Fortunately for us it was the "Doughnut Loop" that slides onto the cargo hook that had failed....and it was still serviceable and had been properly load tested.
After that we always carried a broken Doughnut just in case it was needed.
Back to slinging airplanes....the 213th Black Cats responded to a call from Pipesmoke to recover a Cessna 0-1E Bird Dog airplane....Chinook arrived and picked up the Cessan....and climbed up to 3,000 feet and for some unknown reason accelerated to about 100 knots.....the Cessna was seen to swing up under the nose....swing back under the aft blades...then swung right up unto the forward blades causing a catastrophic disintegration of the aircraft and both aircraft fell to the ground killing all aboard. I was tasked to fly the recovery of the wreckage and assist in recovering the crew. That was a very sad day.
My rule was anything that was being slung under the helicopter was expendable and might be jettisoned at any time for any reason and if it posed a danger to me, the crew, or the aircraft.....it was soon to be in a highly modified state of disrepair. (the thing on the sling)
You cannot go too slow with an airplane on a sling....but you can sure go too fast.
When it comes to slinging airplanes I always flew with the cargo hook armed and very carefully briefed the FE that if he had any inkling the airplane was endangering us he was to instantly pickle the cargo hook....then tell me he had. I also assured him that I would do the same and that at all times he would stay well clear of the cargo hook.
The Otter was a faster draw than either me or my FE were.
The sound of those Chinook Rotor Blades is still music to my ears.
