Do you put the heaviest guy on the bottom to act like a sinker to keep the line tight !
no. his weight doesn't matter. You notice how the bottom guy is the only one with his arms and legs spread eagled? He has to constantly adjust/refine that position keep the rope from spinning. I was never a bottom guy. They are specially trained just for it. The rest on the rope are just along for the ride.
I flew AH-1s and OH-58Ds (Kiowa Warriors) while in the Army. While I never saw the ammo bay doors used as a rescue seat, I know of several times in Vietnam that this technique was used. I was in the first unit in the Army to have the armed KWs.
They were modified from slick side 58-Ds for the overwater, armed recon mission in support of the Navy in the Persian Guld in the late 80s and early 90's. Because we were operating off ships at night (low-level NVGs) and not close to Search and Rescue capabilities, our aircraft were modified with 15 foot caving ladders. They were rolled up in a box mounted under both the pilot and copilot's seats to the underside of the fuselage. The ladders could be deployed by pulling a T-handle on the deck between the seats.
To be qualified for the overwater mission, we had to be SeaSAR qualified, we had to practice both picking up someone and being picked up from out of the water, daytime and under NVGs
There were 2 actual rescues using this method while doing the Persian Gulf mission. Both times required the pilot to jettison the rocket pods to have enough power to do the pick-up. One of the pilots was awarded the (IIRC) the 1991 Helicopter Associations Life Saving award.
As part of our land Cavalry missions, we practiced the stand on the skid and hook into a weapon hard point or actually sit on the Universal Weapons Pylon. My understanding is this was used several times in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Not long after I retired in 98, there was an incident where an Apache pilot ferried SF personnel across a river while in pursuit of bad guys. I remember the outrage in the aviation community at the time however, I applaud the ingenuity in getting the mission accomplished.
I have a picture of a Tea-bagging somewhere, I'll dig it up and post it.
Sometimes the difference between a loss or win is the decision made on the spot.
I remember reading a comment in my military quotations book and it went like this ~ a commander was in contact with his superior whilst engaged by a larger enemy force.
"We are now completely surrounded, that simplifies things, we can shoot in all directions."
My first job out of high school in 1972 was working with a timber cruiser (surveyor) in the mountains above Nelson, B.C. Our 4 man team commuted to work everyday in an Okanagan Helicopters Bell 206A Jet Ranger from which the OH-58 was derived. Many times the ground we had to get to was so steep the chopper couldn't land so we had to learn to stand on the skids and simultaneously leap to the ground so as to not upset the balance of the helicopter. We always had to get to a flat area at the end of the day where the chopper could land and to signal the pilot as to our whereabouts we put all our remaining large cans of blaze orange Krylon spray paint in a pile, popped a small hole in the bottom of one, lit it with a match so the jet of fire played over the rest of the cans and stood back. The resulting fire ball could be seen for miles which got the attention of the pilot as he looked for us.
PM
Originally Posted by CINDERS
