The Army's policy for crashing into the trees consisted of basically doing an auto-rotation to the top of the jungle foliage and stopping all forward momentum while leveling the aircraft and finally cushioning the bird into the tops of the trees. Once this was accomplished you were along for the ride with no control and only luck as your companion.
Sky had two good friends that were on a low level sniffer mission that experienced an engine failure over the triple canopy jungle. Larson the A.C had been able to transmit “Engine Failure” to his high bird (Snake cover) as he did a pop-up with a rapid flare before hitting the trees. Larson's UH-1 was successfully auto-rotated into the upper reaches of the jungle where it came to rest for all of a very few seconds before the heavy forward section on the aircraft slide nose first (over 100 feet) into the dirt. The high bird Snake Aircraft Commander watched helplessly as Larson's UH-1 sat nose first in an almost vertical position as the bird began to smoke. He kept transmitting for Larson and crew to get out as the bird was catching on fire but there was no movement. Larson and Riley we trapped by the crumpled nose and instrument panel upon impact. Due to the high content of magnesium in a UH-1 it only takes about 40 minutes to reduce a once proud bird to nothing more than a patch of scorched earth and a few not so easy to burn parts.
Sky was determined after Larson and Riley's death that if he were going to crash into the trees he would try his best to go in tail boom first; that would hopefully let the tail boom absorb the majority of the impact. Sky thought of this technique as a UH-1 lawn dart maneuver and had hoped he would never have to use it but today it appeared he would have to use this untried, unproven, theory for real.
Just in front of 915, finally viable through the chin bubble, was a wall of jungle and forest. Sky brought the nose of 915 up almost into a vertical position to decelerate as the tops of the huge trees were now above his line of vision. Collective pitch was applied in popping motions to slow 915's forward momentum and as luck would have it 915's relative forward momentum was probably around 20 knots when contact was made with the trees. WHAM and JERK when the bird made contact with the trees which made Sky say to himself, “ That wasn't so bad.”
Then another sound seemed to penetrate the noise of 915 being dismembered by the enemy trees as the transmission was banging inside the transmission well trying to get loose from its moorings and possibly eat the 10 souls who were hanging on for dear life.
The aircraft started to fall off to the right side as Sky promised he would keep his eyes open this time unlike the time he had been a passenger on a UH-1A model during flight school which had run out of rotor RPM during a training auto-rotation. Just before impact Sky had lain down and shut his eyes only to open them as the aircraft bounced from it's skids to it's nose which seemed like more than twice before it finally came to rest with a decent amount of damage.
As 915 fell to the right Sky pushed the Cyclic control stick full left and 915 righted herself to land hard on her skids which folded and broke next to the fuselage. Why 915 righted herself is a true mystery as most of her rotor blades were missing, shattered, and gone except for the leading edge. Sky looked out the side window and saw what was left of the rotor blades were turning barely 2 feet off the ground with enough velocity to still cut small trees and Army soldiers in half without missing a beat.
Sky knew the troops would be terrified of the rocking motion and noise coming from 915's remains but he had to stop them from running head down to their death.
“Chief, tell the troops DON'T RUN, stay next to the bird or the rotor blades will kill them !”
Sky knew the Crew Chief was still alive because through all the noise of 915 dying he could hear the Chief giving commands to the troops.
Sky tried to open his door but it was jammed, probably due to the airframe being bent. He did pull the emergency door quick release but did not push on the door as he wanted to find his survival radio and figure out what to do with the super secret KY-28 radio which was installed in the center console of 915. The bad guy command structure would love to get their hands on that radio, so what to do ? These and a few other thoughts were going through Sky's mind as the Crew Chief reached the jammed side door on Sky's side of 915. With both hands the Chief grabbed the door and ripped it from the aircraft like Hercules might have done ! The door went sailing from the aircraft and it appeared to Sky that the Chief was going to remove hlm even though he was still strapped into his seat. With the Chief's Adrenalin pumped body it would not have surprised Sky if the Chief could have pulled the entire seat out of 915 while he was still strapped in.
“Wait Chief, I'm O.K. Take care of the troops!”
The Chief looked at Sky 'white eyed' and then with a nod of his head he was on the troops like a drill sargent in basic training.
At the one shipper L.Z. That abutted the lake next to Sky's crash sight a lift bird was already touching down to extract some of 915's troops. They actually put 3 troops on board and with exceptional piloting skill, plus dragging the skids through the lake's clear water they achieved translational lift and were able to depart the area. That bird was no sooner clear than another bird was touching down to continue the extraction process.
Sky had found his survival radio but was still not sure of what to do about the KY-28 as he had no white phosphorous grenade or anything else he could think of to destroy the radio. As he looked out through the right side window of 915 he realized everyone on the latest rescue bird was waving at him to come on board. He exited and ran to waiting bird and as it lifted off he looked at 915 for the last time still thinking about the KY-28 radio.
Out of the ten souls on board of 915 that day Bobby Bad Back was the only one to be hurt. He had suffered a slightly compressed vertebrate/spine which after a short time recuperating he got his Aircraft Commander check out and became a respected A.C.
Sky survived Vietnam after the crash of 915 and because he had flown almost 50 hours in the clouds semi terrified, he knew he was weak in that area of flying. He had gotten low grades for instrument procedures in flight school so he requested and received orders for Ft. Rucker to become an instrument flight instructor. For three years he taught instruments waiting on his promised fixed wing transition course that never seemed to arrive. There were six guys who had signed up for Army Aviation fixed wing and they had all been talked into going helicopter first and then later they would get their fixed wing transition course after about a year back in the states and after their tour of Vietnam. Besides being an instructor pilot Sky had finished the Examiner course which means anyone wanting to maintain flight status would be both written tested and flight tested by the local Examiner or their flight status would be pulled no matter the rank.
One of the six guys who had been promised fixed wing was a guy by the name of John. He and Sky had been calling Washington D.C. About every four to six months asking about their fixed wing qualification course. Every time, Gilmore who was in charge of the Warrant Officer Aviation Branch, would tell them not yet; finally the last time they called he flat out said they were only transitioning 30 Warrant Officer for the entire year into Fixed Wing Aircraft. John was doing the talking and after mentioning, promises, Honor, and a few other choice words he handed the phone to Sky.
“What seems to be the problem Mr. Gilmore?”
Same old song and dance so Sky basically said, “I can see truthfulness only goes in one direction in this man's army so you can count me out too !” He then hung up before Gilmore could reply.
John had basically told Mr. Gilmore that the Army can take their promises and stick them where the 'sun don't shine'.
That was on a Tuesday and the following Friday they both had orders to attend Fixed Wing qualification course the following Monday. After the course was completed they were assigned back to S.E. Asia to fly the friendly skies of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Sky spent 14 months flying Sneaky Pete missions before he was able to in country transfer to flying mostly people around and in and out of country. He picked up the Ambassador's wife, bird cage, and two kids from Vietnam on the Friday before the Monday Nam fell.
To say Sky was 'pissed off' when Nam fell at the government would have been a slight understatement as he and many of his fellow aviators might not say anything but the seed was sown for mistrust in supposedly smart government bureaucrats who say they are there to 'help you' and 'defend freedom' because it seemed to Sky as soon as the going got tough, they always found an excuse to turn tail and run.
That was the end of the 1979 manuscript I found but I will add.
Sky got out of the service in 1977 and flew Corporate for 7 years and finally got hired by a major airline. He retired in 2010 with over 25,000 flight hours in various aircraft to include helicopters. He got to fly internationally just about all over the world and is now living back in S.E. Asia.
Tony Lidio Mr. Magnet A$$ was killed in Laos which was a really bad fubar invasion as many many aircraft were lost. I was told by the third week of the Laotian operation there were no more 1st Cav OH-6 aircraft to be had as they had all been shot down.
Cherry Rich got out of the service and went to work for a freight hauler. Rich was the new guy even though he had a few thousand hours more than the Captain of the aircraft that lost and engine and crashed. Rich was not killed but much of the cargo came forward and did a number on him to the point he was never able to fly again.
There really are no heroes in war just those who take it upon themselves to do what needs to be done at the time.
One true hero I will never forget though was 915 who gave her everything when it was needed.
Sky had two good friends that were on a low level sniffer mission that experienced an engine failure over the triple canopy jungle. Larson the A.C had been able to transmit “Engine Failure” to his high bird (Snake cover) as he did a pop-up with a rapid flare before hitting the trees. Larson's UH-1 was successfully auto-rotated into the upper reaches of the jungle where it came to rest for all of a very few seconds before the heavy forward section on the aircraft slide nose first (over 100 feet) into the dirt. The high bird Snake Aircraft Commander watched helplessly as Larson's UH-1 sat nose first in an almost vertical position as the bird began to smoke. He kept transmitting for Larson and crew to get out as the bird was catching on fire but there was no movement. Larson and Riley we trapped by the crumpled nose and instrument panel upon impact. Due to the high content of magnesium in a UH-1 it only takes about 40 minutes to reduce a once proud bird to nothing more than a patch of scorched earth and a few not so easy to burn parts.
Sky was determined after Larson and Riley's death that if he were going to crash into the trees he would try his best to go in tail boom first; that would hopefully let the tail boom absorb the majority of the impact. Sky thought of this technique as a UH-1 lawn dart maneuver and had hoped he would never have to use it but today it appeared he would have to use this untried, unproven, theory for real.
Just in front of 915, finally viable through the chin bubble, was a wall of jungle and forest. Sky brought the nose of 915 up almost into a vertical position to decelerate as the tops of the huge trees were now above his line of vision. Collective pitch was applied in popping motions to slow 915's forward momentum and as luck would have it 915's relative forward momentum was probably around 20 knots when contact was made with the trees. WHAM and JERK when the bird made contact with the trees which made Sky say to himself, “ That wasn't so bad.”
Then another sound seemed to penetrate the noise of 915 being dismembered by the enemy trees as the transmission was banging inside the transmission well trying to get loose from its moorings and possibly eat the 10 souls who were hanging on for dear life.
The aircraft started to fall off to the right side as Sky promised he would keep his eyes open this time unlike the time he had been a passenger on a UH-1A model during flight school which had run out of rotor RPM during a training auto-rotation. Just before impact Sky had lain down and shut his eyes only to open them as the aircraft bounced from it's skids to it's nose which seemed like more than twice before it finally came to rest with a decent amount of damage.
As 915 fell to the right Sky pushed the Cyclic control stick full left and 915 righted herself to land hard on her skids which folded and broke next to the fuselage. Why 915 righted herself is a true mystery as most of her rotor blades were missing, shattered, and gone except for the leading edge. Sky looked out the side window and saw what was left of the rotor blades were turning barely 2 feet off the ground with enough velocity to still cut small trees and Army soldiers in half without missing a beat.
Sky knew the troops would be terrified of the rocking motion and noise coming from 915's remains but he had to stop them from running head down to their death.
“Chief, tell the troops DON'T RUN, stay next to the bird or the rotor blades will kill them !”
Sky knew the Crew Chief was still alive because through all the noise of 915 dying he could hear the Chief giving commands to the troops.
Sky tried to open his door but it was jammed, probably due to the airframe being bent. He did pull the emergency door quick release but did not push on the door as he wanted to find his survival radio and figure out what to do with the super secret KY-28 radio which was installed in the center console of 915. The bad guy command structure would love to get their hands on that radio, so what to do ? These and a few other thoughts were going through Sky's mind as the Crew Chief reached the jammed side door on Sky's side of 915. With both hands the Chief grabbed the door and ripped it from the aircraft like Hercules might have done ! The door went sailing from the aircraft and it appeared to Sky that the Chief was going to remove hlm even though he was still strapped into his seat. With the Chief's Adrenalin pumped body it would not have surprised Sky if the Chief could have pulled the entire seat out of 915 while he was still strapped in.
“Wait Chief, I'm O.K. Take care of the troops!”
The Chief looked at Sky 'white eyed' and then with a nod of his head he was on the troops like a drill sargent in basic training.
At the one shipper L.Z. That abutted the lake next to Sky's crash sight a lift bird was already touching down to extract some of 915's troops. They actually put 3 troops on board and with exceptional piloting skill, plus dragging the skids through the lake's clear water they achieved translational lift and were able to depart the area. That bird was no sooner clear than another bird was touching down to continue the extraction process.
Sky had found his survival radio but was still not sure of what to do about the KY-28 as he had no white phosphorous grenade or anything else he could think of to destroy the radio. As he looked out through the right side window of 915 he realized everyone on the latest rescue bird was waving at him to come on board. He exited and ran to waiting bird and as it lifted off he looked at 915 for the last time still thinking about the KY-28 radio.
Out of the ten souls on board of 915 that day Bobby Bad Back was the only one to be hurt. He had suffered a slightly compressed vertebrate/spine which after a short time recuperating he got his Aircraft Commander check out and became a respected A.C.
Sky survived Vietnam after the crash of 915 and because he had flown almost 50 hours in the clouds semi terrified, he knew he was weak in that area of flying. He had gotten low grades for instrument procedures in flight school so he requested and received orders for Ft. Rucker to become an instrument flight instructor. For three years he taught instruments waiting on his promised fixed wing transition course that never seemed to arrive. There were six guys who had signed up for Army Aviation fixed wing and they had all been talked into going helicopter first and then later they would get their fixed wing transition course after about a year back in the states and after their tour of Vietnam. Besides being an instructor pilot Sky had finished the Examiner course which means anyone wanting to maintain flight status would be both written tested and flight tested by the local Examiner or their flight status would be pulled no matter the rank.
One of the six guys who had been promised fixed wing was a guy by the name of John. He and Sky had been calling Washington D.C. About every four to six months asking about their fixed wing qualification course. Every time, Gilmore who was in charge of the Warrant Officer Aviation Branch, would tell them not yet; finally the last time they called he flat out said they were only transitioning 30 Warrant Officer for the entire year into Fixed Wing Aircraft. John was doing the talking and after mentioning, promises, Honor, and a few other choice words he handed the phone to Sky.
“What seems to be the problem Mr. Gilmore?”
Same old song and dance so Sky basically said, “I can see truthfulness only goes in one direction in this man's army so you can count me out too !” He then hung up before Gilmore could reply.
John had basically told Mr. Gilmore that the Army can take their promises and stick them where the 'sun don't shine'.
That was on a Tuesday and the following Friday they both had orders to attend Fixed Wing qualification course the following Monday. After the course was completed they were assigned back to S.E. Asia to fly the friendly skies of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Sky spent 14 months flying Sneaky Pete missions before he was able to in country transfer to flying mostly people around and in and out of country. He picked up the Ambassador's wife, bird cage, and two kids from Vietnam on the Friday before the Monday Nam fell.
To say Sky was 'pissed off' when Nam fell at the government would have been a slight understatement as he and many of his fellow aviators might not say anything but the seed was sown for mistrust in supposedly smart government bureaucrats who say they are there to 'help you' and 'defend freedom' because it seemed to Sky as soon as the going got tough, they always found an excuse to turn tail and run.
That was the end of the 1979 manuscript I found but I will add.
Sky got out of the service in 1977 and flew Corporate for 7 years and finally got hired by a major airline. He retired in 2010 with over 25,000 flight hours in various aircraft to include helicopters. He got to fly internationally just about all over the world and is now living back in S.E. Asia.
Tony Lidio Mr. Magnet A$$ was killed in Laos which was a really bad fubar invasion as many many aircraft were lost. I was told by the third week of the Laotian operation there were no more 1st Cav OH-6 aircraft to be had as they had all been shot down.
Cherry Rich got out of the service and went to work for a freight hauler. Rich was the new guy even though he had a few thousand hours more than the Captain of the aircraft that lost and engine and crashed. Rich was not killed but much of the cargo came forward and did a number on him to the point he was never able to fly again.
There really are no heroes in war just those who take it upon themselves to do what needs to be done at the time.
One true hero I will never forget though was 915 who gave her everything when it was needed.