How to fly a helicopter

[Fox Mike]

As told by the US Army way back when. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5i2XRweAvE
Some of the birds shown in the movie I worked on. We had the H-23B and D models as well as the CH-19 and CH-34.

 

[graygun]

The vid quality is good for a 58-year-old production. I guess maint guys were glad to see the advent of turbines in helos.

 

[Fox Mike]

We had started getting the turbine powered Hueys into our inventory and had to finally turn in the last CH-34 to the 'boneyard'. On the way, it blew a jug, while in flight over the Chesapeake Bay bridge. The pilot, trailing massive amounts of smoke, managed to get it to Lee airport where another mech and I changed it out. Those radials ATE oil. With the turbines we didn't have to carry a five gallon can of oil on every flight and they were much more maintenance free.

 

[Cooperhawk]

I was Regular Army at Edgewood. R60549, a UH-19 was my ship. I also had R60351, a U6 Beaver. I flew with quite a few of your guys in your H23s and O1s. Great post and good folks.

If we had performed that flight check each time we flew we'd never have gotten anything done. That was an excellent refresher on the H19. I had forgotten all those systems in my old age. I do believe the rotor brakes had been removed by the time I was there. Something about an accident in Germany. Not sure about that however.

I was flying a mission over the range one day with a DAC Pilot from Aberdeen when we got the bird in Blade Stall. Surprised me how calm we both stayed, (despite the screaming in the back), and he managed to get the aircraft back under control just above the tree tops. :shock: :shock:

We dropped a lot of experimental weaponry out of that thing. Cluster bomblets, ect. :shock:

Hardly a dull day.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Another fond memory of mine were those great parties you folks held in the hanger.

First experience with steamed spiced shrimp. After that I would wake up in the middle of the night craving them. Also all the good oysters, steamed crabs, crab soup, ect.

I really loved that place and when I got out I went to work as a civilian at Aberdeen's Phillip's AAF. Only left there when the FAA offered me a lot of money to move.

Great Post, Great food, Great folks.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Cooperhawk,
Since you have flown Beavers you will enjoy this. What a great plane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_v0k57KhE&feature=youtu.be

 

[Cooperhawk]

Wow, never heard that one. Yep, that was a heck of a plane. It was said the VC wouldn't shoot at them because they sprayed too much hot oil.

We actually dropped bombs with that old girl. We had bomb racks and all under the wings. One morning I came out onto the ramp and found a bunch of scientists standing around my AC. They had a bomb strapped under each wing. I asked them what they weighed and they replied a thousand lbs each. I advised them that was too big a load for the old girl.

The next morning they were back and I asked them what they wanted now. They said they had removed 500 lbs from each bomb. I started to say that we still couldn't do that when an old Captain, (frustrated fighter pilot), said sure we can.

We took off and went to the range. There they had a concrete slab with a high wall that we were to skip the bombs into. See, it was napalm. Anyway as we came in they asked us to drop one bomb. I told the captain that I didn't think that was a good idea. He said, "Sure we can". :shock:

We came in full bore on the target. I set up to pull the manual bomb rack releases in each wing root, (just in case), and the captain pickled the left bomb electrically. We immediately went into a full power climb. The bomb detonated and shook the AC like a rag doll shaking loose years of accumulated dust in the cabin. As we leveled the AC we went wing low in a left turn which we could not get out of. By now the captain was getting a little nervous so I radioed that we needed to drop the other bomb. They replied that they needed to reload their cameras. :shock:

Needless to say we did not wait. We dropped the other bomb on target and told them we would never do that again. :roll:

True story.

 

[bobski]

heck...we use to jump out of beavers! ft lee had one on display as late as the mid 90's. its gone now.

but just to level the playing field...ch46's and ch53's in the 90's still carried extra hydralic fluid cans and the crewman had a mop up front, leaning against the bulkhead.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Yep, the Reserve Paratroopers used to use our Beaver for their pay jumps. We always told them to land on the grass, but they usually went for the concrete. Usually a few injuries just because they didn't want to soil their fatigues. :roll:

 

[Fox Mike]

Another fond memory of mine were those great parties you folks held in the hanger.

First experience with steamed spiced shrimp. After that I would wake up in the middle of the night craving them. Also all the good oysters, steamed crabs, crab soup, ect.

I really loved that place and when I got out I went to work as a civilian at Aberdeen's Phillip's AAF. Only left there when the FAA offered me a lot of money to move.

Great Post, Great food, Great folks.

We still had one H-19 at Weide when I first arrived in early '71. We had two U-6's, a bunch of 23 "D" models and one lone "B' model (wooden main rotor blades) You probably knew Ed Zackman then. He retired in the early 70's and went to work flying sightseeing trips over the Grand Canyon.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Zack was the Maintenance Officer when I was there. Flew with him and some others quite often. A Lt. Papier was one of my friends that I flew with most of the time. He was a Baltimore City Policeman.

Also there was a pilot named Glen Boyle. After I went to the FAA he also took and passed the entrance exam. He washed out of the Center and took a job in the Morgantown, WV Flight Service Station. He purchased a Bonanza and flew it back and forth from Westminister, Md. to work. He flew into a snow storm one night and iced up trying to get into Elkins, WV. He crashed short of the runway in some trees and was killed. He flew the H19s at Edgewood.

I just lost another friend Tuesday who had retired from the FAA. He was ferrying a Grumman Goose to Hamilton, On. and crashed in a mountain pass in Montana. Eye witnesses said the AC came down vertically and burst into flames. He was an Instructor Pilot and had lots of hours. We're thinking icing did him in as well.

Another friend also told me this week that he totaled a light AC but got off lucky. Just spend a day in the ER. He also had many many hours a lot of them in corporate jets.

I have lost many friends over the years flying light aircraft. I fly a motor home.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

I just lost another friend Tuesday who had retired from the FAA. He was ferrying a Grumman Goose to Hamilton, On. and crashed in a mountain pass in Montana. Eye witnesses said the AC came down vertically and burst into flames. He was an Instructor Pilot and had lots of hours. We're thinking icing did him in as well.

So sorry to hear that. Hearing about the death of a fellow pilot and a great plane is always sad for me. I read the news report about the crash in a ski parking lot.
We pilots all know that ever time you strap one on it can bit you bad.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Although I had a Warrant offered me three times I never went to Flight School. I flew as a Crew Chief in a time when there weren't enough pilots to man the second seat. I went through Fort Rucker and Fort Eustis for their A&E School. I was scheduled for Flight School after Fort Eustis but got shipped to VN first. When I came back they tried to send me then, but I knew that if I did, I would do VN at least twice more. Nope, bad deal. A month before I got out a Colonel flew down and raised hell with me for not going. Said I had all this training and experience and I owed it to the Army. My Wife didn't think so. I didn't either.

After getting out I have flown many hours with friends in light AC, and have flown a lot of cockpit time with the Military and Airlines as part of my FAA duties. Enough is enough.

 

[contender]

While a lot of these memories for y'all are a bit older than mine,,, it does make me smile to realize how many of us who flew various birds over the years still remember a lot of the stuff.

 

[Fox Mike]

Cooperhawk,
Since you have flown Beavers you will enjoy this. What a great plane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_v0k57KhE&feature=youtu.be

Now that was nice! Thanks. The only bad part of the Beaver was trying to get out of the front door....in a hurry.

 

[FlyerTom]

Then there's the training film on how NOT to do it: Chinook Ground Resonance

 

[Cooperhawk]

The only bad part of the Beaver was trying to get out of the front door....in a hurry.

I really like the part where you couldn't get out the door with a parachute on. The instructions were to step out on the wing strut and put the chute on out there. :shock: :shock: :shock: Then jump.

I had a different plan. Pull the floor retaining pins on the front of my seat, roll back and go out the cargo door.

 

[graygun]

Here's another Army helo trng film...first day at Ft Wolters to graduation at Ft Rucker...made in the 60s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBMM_Ux7Dik

 

[Colonialgirl]

Although I had a Warrant offered me three times I never went to Flight School. I flew as a Crew Chief in a time when there weren't enough pilots to man the second seat. I went through Fort Rucker and Fort Eustis for their A&E School. I was scheduled for Flight School after Fort Eustis but got shipped to VN first. When I came back they tried to send me then, but I knew that if I did, I would do VN at least twice more. Nope, bad deal. A month before I got out a Colonel flew down and raised hell with me for not going. Said I had all this training and experience and I owed it to the Army. My Wife didn't think so. I didn't either.

After getting out I have flown many hours with friends in light AC, and have flown a lot of cockpit time with the Military and Airlines as part of my FAA duties. Enough is enough.

When I was in, I heard that after you got qualified, they sent you to VN SEVERAL TIMES and then when your enlistment was up, they let you out for about 30 Days and THEN recalled you.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Darned if I know.

 

[Fox Mike]

Here's another Army helo trng film...first day at Ft Wolters to graduation at Ft Rucker...made in the 60s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBMM_Ux7Dik

The Mattel Messerschmidts were one chopper I never worked on. I did like the one shot of an old "A" Model Huey.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Frank when I first reported in a Weide there was a HU-1A assigned there. It was one of the original A models that Bell made for testing. One day a work group came down from Aberdeen and took it. The strapped it down on the range, ran it up, and shot it until it quit. Somewhere I have pics of it after they shot it up.

That AC should have gone to a museum in my mind.