Posted on 11/18/2006 6:06:42 PM PST by SandRat
A powerful new combat rescue chopper may be whumping across Tucson skies in the not-so-distant future. The U.S. Air Force recently announced its chosen replacement for the aging HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters now flown from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
Starting in 2012, the Pave Hawk's search and rescue work gradually will be taken over by the much larger HH-47, a modified version of the Army MH-47 Chinook now used by special-operations soldiers.
"This is a major milestone for the combat search and rescue community, not only at D-M, but worldwide," said Col. Michael Kor-check, commander of the base's 563rd Rescue Group.
The Pave Hawk has performed well for two decades, but "its reliability has begun to suffer with age," Korcheck said.
The new helicopters are faster and roomier and have advanced communications, navigation and defense systems, he said. And they'll perform better at night, at higher altitudes or in bad weather.
The bigger cabin can hold more injured people and more medical workers to treat them, Korcheck added. Air Force combat rescuers are responsible for saving troops who have been shot down or otherwise become stranded in hostile territory. They also perform disaster-relief work in the aftermath of earthquakes and other tragedies, such as last year's Hurricane Katrina.
The service plans to spend up to $10 billion to buy 141 of the new choppers, increasing the size of its fleet by more than 30 percent. The Air Force now has 105 Pave Hawks stationed at various locations.
It isn't known yet how many of the new choppers will come to D-M. The Tucson base currently has 14 of the old ones assigned to active-duty and reserve units. An environmental-impact study is required before the base can introduce new aircraft here, D-M officials said.
There is potential for extra impact on the community because the HH-47 is so much larger and more powerful than the bird it is replacing.
"There's a big difference between these two aircraft," said aviation expert Barney King, a retired Army officer who flew helicopters for 20 years. He now oversees the professional-pilot flight program at Kansas State University at Salina, one of 21 accredited university aviation programs in the country.
King noted, for example, that the new rescue chopper is about 99 feet long, compared with about 65 feet for the old one. It can carry twice as many people and weighs twice as much at maximum capacity, and its engines are about three times as powerful.
The HH-47 will be "definitely louder," he said. But from a military aspect, the new craft is well-suited to search and rescue work, he added.
D-M spokesman Tech. Sgt. Jim Fisher said it may be years before comparative data on noise levels is available. Testing on the new helicopter won't even begin until 2009, he said.
Helicopter noise at D-M already is a matter of some public concern. A civic committee that studied ways to reduce noise from D-M recently recommended that the base look at changing some of its flight routes to funnel more helicopter traffic over Interstate 10, away from more populated areas.
Fisher said efforts to cut noise "will continue as planned."
******** Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at 573-4138 or at calaimo@azstarnet.com
*whine* I've never gotten to see a B-52 in person. It was funny, cause I heard that telltale WHINE of the approach and was like 'oh crap this is gonna hurt' and was just about to caution my kids about it when FOOOOM it flies over and my youngest son starts crying. *LOL* not fun.
wow. I tell ya I reread that three times before I gave up and scrolled down to the next post....
I go to Tucson every year. When military aircraft take-off
and land over the west side of town and the fighter jets practice at Tucson International w/ the thunder of their engines roaring above me, its not only the sound of security
but also the feel of superior security.
On the outside, it looks like the same old CH-47s I saw and rode in Viet Nam.
Basically it is the same helicopter Beoing has been building for 50 years with updates.
------
The Chinook. A superb heavy-lifting machine.
Oh...the Non-essential Bus strikes again...
"standing on a pier at NAS Norfolk and had a C5 fly over on final approach to Chambers Field"
Loudest I have heard was a pair of B-1B's in high speed low level over flight. They were about 200 feet off the ground. WOW LOUD
Gosh, I remember the HH-60 flight test program when I worked at Edwards.
We had a cartoon for it, that had the helicopter represented by a hog, and the refuel probe represented by a fork.
Yes, I also remember riding the CH-47D, and yes, it sure was loud! Boeing continued to update it, and good for them. The dual counter rotating rotor disks permits higher speed than a single rotor disk of the HH-60.
I live in the flight path to MCAS Miramar ( San Diego area )and they aren't so bad, sounds like freedom to me..
Video of a "ground resonance" self-destruct.
Side view:
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2006-2-10_Ground_Resonance_Side_View.mpg
Rear view:
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2006-2-10_Ground_Resonance_Rear_View.mpg
Yep, it's the same old Chinook we affectionately called the "Shit Hook." The only aircraft in the world that can have a mid air collision with its self. (If those twin rotors get out of sync, they can whack each other.)
So they are brand new and not Remans.
Interesting.
Teensy weensy condoms for teensy weensy wankers?
ear plugs
Guns A-GoGo... everything old is new again. 
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/chinook/gunsagogo.html
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