My dad told me a story once about a night flight he was on in Vietnam.
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) he was on developed engine failure.
The pilot told everyone to strap in he was going to perform the Autorotation maneuver to land.
Quickly locating an empty soccer field, dad said the pilot set down just as pretty as you please.
After landing my dad said the pilot acted as if he had just done nothing more than pulled a car into a parking space.
Those guys really do have ice water in their veins. 😏
True that! We called for an emergency medevac one night for two badly wounded Marines and it was a very dark night, in heavily forested terrain and the enemy very nearby.
The medevac bird was a Sikorsky UH-34D ("Dog") and the only open are we could find was very small and we marked the corners with flashlights, shielded from showing light to the sides by C-Ration cans.
They came on in anyway, rotor tips whacking into the tree branches around them, took our casualties, and left.
Bravest men I ever knew and peerless flyers.