10/1/2003: PA National Guard in Afghanistan

[xoxoxoBruce]

All US military helicopters are named for Indian tribes. If they were named for the sound they make they'd be Italian. wop wop wop wop wop
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I'm sorry, I really am, Godfather.

[zippyt]

bruce said "To unload just open the rear ramp then squat and poop troops. "

I can tell you from personal experence that i would much rather get "pooped" from a chinook than any other helocopter because of the tail rotor (or lack there of ). When ever we got "pooped" from any thing other than a chinook there was ALLWAYS some "airdale" or "zoomie" pointing the way to go ( like we couldn't see the tail rotor ) . I did see a chinook almost go down once , they were trying to land on a flight deck of a LPD in rough seas , the flight deck was pithcing and rolling , the piolet tryed to match the rais and fall of the ship but didn't quite get it right . the helocopter and the ship hit so hard it knocked most of us off our feet . I as usual had gotten stuck on loaders platoon , helos were bringing equipment back from land ( jeeps and the such ) . We would wait for the jeep to hit the deck , bust the rigging loose then drive the jeep below decks . This was fun untill a jeep didn't start when it was suposed to , the driver didn't put the parking brake on , the jeep rolled accross the flight deck untill one wheel was hanging off the edge , Damn good thing I got that jeep going or else i would have been sleeping with the fishes !!!!!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Was it a Chinook or the smaller Ch-46 (painted grey, Navy, Marines) on the ship? I have a clip of a marine pilot trying to land on a ship. She missed her mark and one rear wheel missed the deck. Went reverse half gainer into the ocean.

[zippyt]

it may have been a ch-46, all i know was that it had 2 rotors on top . I have seen the clip of the helo doing the half gainer in the sea , that would have SUCKED !!!! This helo hit squarley in the middle of the landing zone HARD!!!!! We all said "DAMN that must have hurt !!!" as we got back to our feet .

[xoxoxoBruce]

This week I was talking to a Major with B company, 159th Air out of Georgia. He said in Afghanistan they would fly 14k to 16k feet and 140 knots at max gross weight (54k lbs). The Apache and Cobra pilots that were flying escort, bitched because they couldn't keep up.

Oh BTW, he also said they were told to get ready for Iraq, the first week of October '02.

[zippyt]

max gross weight (54k lbs).

They can carry 54k or total weight is 54k ????

[xoxoxoBruce]

Zip the MH-47E Chinook is 26,918 lbs empty and 54k max loaded.
The H-46 Sea Knight (Navy) is 15,537 lbs empty and 24,300 max loaded.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Used to be if you went to the PanAm building in NY, they would pick you up from "their" roof. Now they'll pick you up from "your" roof.
Check out the log ladder to the roof.

[zippyt]

Hell those guys have all the conforts of home !!! A cabin in the mountins , a camp fire (??) , and they can catch a commuter flight from their roof

[xoxoxoBruce]

"Those guys" are "suspects" being snatched up for interrogation. They had to hear them coming.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The latest and most advanced Special Operations Chinook completed its first flight Friday in Philadelphia. After a series of system checks, the aircraft, an MH-47G, performed basic aerial maneuvers for more than an hour. The aircraft is one of three reconstituted Chinooks being upgraded from the U.S. Army CH-47D configuration to meet immediate customer needs. Currently, the U.S. Army's Special Operations Chinook inventory consists of 34 MH-47Ds and MH-47Es, but is expected to double in size over the next decade due to growing operational requirements. Boeing will deliver its first G-model Chinook in May and 36 more by 2007.
That's official blurb on the first flight of the G-Mod. It really doesn't look much different than the the D-mod shown at the beginning of this thread, except it's still in primer and the refueling boom. Even though it's the same size and just a little heavier, the carrying capcity is now 54,000 lbs which is almost twice the weight of the empty ship. Of course that hurts the fuel mileage which is about 3 gallons per mile. Yes, gallons per mile.