Posted on 01/12/2024 7:37:39 AM PST by V_TWIN
I was lucky enough to make two trips to St. Louis to pick up a brand new Phantom from the factory.
The next best planes we got were from PAR at Cherry Point.
But usually the Navy gave us their worn out hand-me-downs. The most valuable member of our squadron was the McDonnell tech rep.
“The problem with helicopters is the glide ratio.
It doesn’t have one”
No they do not.
However, my dad was vertical lift maintenance and instructor in Vietnam.
He once related a story about a night flight on a Bell UH-1 Iroquois, commonly known as a “Huey” which is a single engine application platform.
During the flight they experienced a complete engine failure.
The pilot told everyone to strap in and proceeded to execute a maneuver called “autorotaion”.
The pilot was able to set it down on a empty soccer field AT NIGHT with no furter damage to the aircraft.
That maneuver more than likely saved ever life onboard.
My dad said the pilot treated it as if he did nothing more than pull a car into a parking space.....those military pilots really do have ice water in their veins.
True.
That’s not something you can practice.....................
The problem with helicopters
My old fire department chief (who worked on helicopters in Vietnam, and was retired US Army, and retired Texas National Guard), told me that helicopters don’t so much as fly, they’re just so ugly the Earth repels them.
One does not ‘fly a helicopter’. One merely keeps it from crashing between takeoff and landing................
That’s why DEI hires don’t understand the tricks required to keep them working. There would be more accidents if not for the remaining Boomer pilots’ experience.
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