birds, rotary wing

[BigSky56]

was out by the airport today and saw these birds parked at the USFS attack base a UH-1N twin engine huey and a CH-54A Tarhe they have been flying around working lighting strikes the 10' fence is to keep animals off the runway. danny

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[Blaine]

Do those drop water, or take in the firemen?

[BigSky56]

the huey does both carry fireman and a water bucket the tarhe drops water, theres a snorkel tube that hangs down they hover and draft from a lake. a few years back a erickson ch54 crashed when the snorkel hung up on a submerged log the crew made it out it went down in a wilderness lake behind me the bird was salvaged and fixed. danny

[Malamute]

There was a Huey working a fire near me a few years ago, they parked it nearby for a couple nights as they worked. It was pretty cool to see. I love the sound of them coming in.

Where I lived in Az, they used to fly them around quite a lot for training. Never got tired of hearing them.

Speaking of grabbing water, theres a number of videos on youtube of helicopters borrowing water from swimming pools when working fires.

[Blaine]

When Bestlever and I were on the Rogue, there was an air crew practicing taking on and dropping water. It was pretty close to us. We didn't want to proceed until we were sure they saw us

[Ji in Hawaii]

This is what is used to fight fires in Hawai'i


A few months back when i was boating in Kaneohe Bay with my USCG Pilot nephew I saw a couple of these MV22 Ospreys flying overhead every few minutes. They had just arrived to form a new squadron at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe. Very interesting aircraft.
Last May during training exercises an Osprey crashed at nearby Bellows Airforce Base resulting in one death, and several injuries. I believe the cause was a hard landing. I could see the smoke from my house the crash site being just over a ridge a couple miles from my home. Very sad for the family of the young Marine who passed away.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/2908 ... force-base

[FWiedner]

The Huey brings back a fond memory.

I was in a a UH-1N squadron during my first hitch. HML-167, 2dMAW.

When we deployed, we'd put 30+ birds in the sky at one time, in formation.

Doors pinned back, birds loaded with troops and bristling with guns and rocket launchers, seemed like they filled the sky.

Nothing like it.

[Old Ironsights]

One of our local Rural School Districts recently bought every one of their employees a year's "Air Ambulance Insurance" (really inexpensive BTW) because of how far it is to any reasonable hospital...

[J35]

The Huey brings back a fond memory.

I was in a a UH-1N squadron during my first hitch. HML-167, 2dMAW.

When we deployed, we'd put 30+ birds in the sky at one time, in formation.

Doors pinned back, birds loaded with troops and bristling with guns and rocket launchers, seemed like they filled the sky.

Nothing like it.

Same for me
After high school when I struck out on my own , I got a job at Ft Eustis, US army transportation center in the Central heat dept, I had a boiler plant at the Heliport it supplied heat to the hangers .class rooms and air strip. Most mornings that was my first stop and on both side's of the road going in would be 30 to 40 Hueys with a few cobras mixed in they would all be hovering about 5 feet off the ground and I would have to drive right down the middle of them all, pretty intimidating the first few times because even then I knew they were mostly all student pilots. I still remember the number of that boiler plant it was 2406.

They had quite a few of the CH 47's and CH 54's there also. It was pretty neat to see them going over head with a Howitzer, jeep, landing craft, or a truck slung underneath .

I was told by a guy in the ordinance dept that the self healing fuel tanks on the cobras was invented there.

------J

[J35]

This is what is used to fight fires in Hawai'i


A few months back when i was boating in Kaneohe Bay with my USCG Pilot nephew I saw a couple of these MV22 Ospreys flying overhead every few minutes. They had just arrived to form a new squadron at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe. Very interesting aircraft.
Last May during training exercises an Osprey crashed at nearby Bellows Airforce Base resulting in one death, and several injuries. I believe the cause was a hard landing. I could see the smoke from my house the crash site being just over a ridge a couple miles from my home. Very sad for the family of the young Marine who passed away.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/2908 ... force-base

A couple weeks ago when I walking back from the 100 yrd line at the shooting range, a Osprey flew right over me, first time I ever seen and heard one, this one I believe belonged to the Coast guard by the paint scheme.

---J

[BigSky56]

F Wiedner heres a group of UH-1H slicks on standbye at Lai Khe both sides of the runway the slicks were waiting for B52's to finish a run with 2000 lbers then they went in with a load of grunts . I believe there was 10 flights of 5 birds so guessing 50 in each sortie. danny

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[Nath]

Were the Hughie's only ever fitted with two blades?

[BigSky56]

Nath yes up till Bell came out with the 4 blade system in the 80's I think its called the 412. the army put the 540 rotor system ( what a cobra has) on a B model UH-1 and called it a C model and later a M model it had more speed than a D or H model and was used as a gunship till the cobra came online they were used late in the war to bust bunkers and armor with SS-11 wire guided missiles 3 to a side you had to come to a hover out of ground effect to fire till the rocket hit everybody and their relatives enjoyed shooting at a hovering bird, it dont pay to stand still for very long. danny

[Nath]

Thought had seen one