Chinook Legacy

we have one of those stationed at our airport to fight fires in the area,really impressive

to see it fly.




Best regards,
 
Thanks for the interesting read Kolibri282!

I saw a version of the Chinook at the annual helicopter flight show in San Carlos CA do something that totally stunned me. They did a maximum vertical lift to an altitude of 800 feet. The craft literally lept off the ground and rocketed upward as if it was riding on an explosion. It was a most indescribable feat - you had to be there to truly believe it!

Someone on the PA announced it had a total of 11,000 SHP - I think I heard right, but regardless, NOTHING has impressed me more than that feat conducted by any aircraft.

Afterwards, I stood there for a long time, stunned - and cursing myself for previously having packed up my camera for the day. It gave me a profound new sense of respect for an aircraft I had formerly considered ugly and irrelevant.
 
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Hi Steven,

thank you for the kind words and the interesting description of the Chinook demo, sounds awesome! That would have indeed been a nice contribution to the thread. If you find some good stuff please post it, even if it is not immediately related to rotary wing aircraft. As you can see e.g. from the Bugatti thread there are quite a number of people here who love to think outside the box and look beyond their noses. Hope you enjoy the the forum!

PS: one of my favourite pictures below, high res version here:
https://suwalls.com/aircraft/boeing-ch-47-chinook-30425/
 

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For so long we in the Attack community always made fun of the Chinook and Chinook drivers - we always laughed and called them "Non-essential Bus Drivers". Later, after my testosterone quieted down I really miss having had the chance to fly them. Whenever we needed to do any REAL high altitude flying or recovery we always called in the Chinooks and they always could deliver.
 
When I went throuqh fliqht school...I was 27 and married. The Apache` was NEW. It was compellinq. If I had been an invincible sinqle quy, I may have went Attack Track. Instead I crossed my finqers and hoped one of the 5 Chinooks allocated to my class, was still available when my name was called.
(I was #10 of 50 in academic standinq).

I qot the last 47. I chose Chinook for loqical reasons.
* Less exposure to the more danqerous areas of the battlefield
* Dry place to sleep when deployed
* Loqqed as `heavy` fliqht time
* Fastest aircraft in Army inventory
* Best Steppinq stone to Coast Guard C-130`s and then the airlines (never made it)
* The path less-traveled (I`m a little eccentric)

The Commandinq General and his advisers actually tried to FORCE my class-members who picked 47`s ...into Apaches because the washout rate was hiqh in that proqram and they felt it
would improve if students with hiqher class standinqs were put in Apaches. The students stood firm and were willinq to qo to Leavenworth or qet a dishonorable discharqe.
The CG decided for SOME reason, that forcinq us would not be in the Army`s best interest.

#1 Kitchens picked Kiowa
#2 Riberdy picked Blackhawk (suicide over a female)
#3 Smith picked Chinook (1)
#4 Shaw picked Blackhawk
#5 Mawaka picked Chinook (2)
#6 McCall picked Chinook (my stick-buddy and Prior Air Force) (3)
#7 Diaz picked Chinook (4)
#8 Conboy picked Apache
#9 Melton picked Blackhawk (Prior Air Force)
#10 Cobb picked Chinawkook (Prior Air Force) (5)
 
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Fantastic find Jeurgen! Thank you!

Steven,

You should be in one when they "yank in pitch" as you described! I bet that particular CH-47 came from the California Army National Guard, Bravo Co. 1-126th Aviation Regiment, "Delta Schooners", based out of Stockton CA.

Outside of being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the "Schooners" have been utilized heavily in State of California Support Mission in Disaster Mitigation and Recovery, Earthquake, Flood, and Wild Fires.

Randy & Bryan,

I never got the change to fly one either, however I've spent many an hour sitting on the fold down "jump seat" in the cockpit entry way. I should sometime tell you the story of a wild flight transporting 30 civilian employers from Camp Roberts to Los Alamitos AAF.

Wayne
 

I saw a version of the Chinook at the annual helicopter flight show in San Carlos CA do something that totally stunned me. They did a maximum vertical lift to an altitude of 800 feet. The craft literally lept off the ground and rocketed upward as if it was riding on an explosion. It was a most indescribable feat - you had to be there to truly believe it!

The image that begins that paper (another version attached below) was taken at San Carlos, at the Vertical Challenge Airshow sponsored by the Hiller Museum, in 2002. I rode in the H-21, the second one from the bottom in the photo (lucky me!), as a thank-you for giving one of the Classic Rotors guys a quick hop in my Sikorsky S-52 at the prior year's show (Classic Rotors owned/operated that Shawnee).
 

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J.R.,

The H-21 has flown in and displayed at Los Alamitos AAF Wings, Wheels, & Rotors Expo several times. I've been inside, but never have taken a flight as of yet.

The HUP-1 crashed back in November of 2009 near Adelanto, CA killing all on board. Joe Pike was the pilot and a PRA member. I think it was in 2005 that Joe flew the HUP-1 into KBFFI at El Mirage. During that visit, I spoke at length with Joe on the restoration and flight characteristics.

Wayne
 
I got a chance to visit Columbia Helicopters for work and see those machines up close. They are impressive.

I also got to visit Piasecki's current facility. Talk about someplace that seems like it would be fun to work.
 
I have over 1500 hours as a CH47D Flight Engineer. My last duty station was A 2/159th down at Fort Bragg. There will never be anything like the Chinook... And I miss it.

The Army gave me the drive to become anything I wanted too... 20 years later I'm a Gulfstream G550 Captain. I became an aviator in the back of that big bird... She never let me down.

My crew chief and I.

IMG_5328.JPG

C5 teardown... We could fit 2 birds in there and go anywhere in the world in 20 hours.

IMG_5329.JPG

My bird... 333.

IMG_5330.JPG

Hanging out the door on a 3 ship mission at Bragg.

IMG_5331.JPG


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Thanks for the great pictures, William. I have never been standing near a Chinook, but this helicopter obviously is not a small thing and it looks like it means business. To see one roll off an even bigger thing is a sight to behold. Great stuff! Interesting you write that you were flight engineer. I thought that strange ilk had become extinct by the end of the last millennium...;-) Do the C-130s perhaps still have one?
 
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.. I have never been standing near a Chinook...
It's hard to do when everything is turning and pitch is pulled. The rotorwash is, well, energeetic, to say the least.
 
I thought that strange ilk had become extinct by the end of the last millennium...;-) Do the C-130s perhaps still have one?


I don't think the new C130s have them. The FE or 3rd crew member on the Chinook is required for flight. We normally carried a crew of 4. The 4th guy was called the Crew Chief, and was basically a FE in training. We crewed those bad boys with NVGs in all kind of weather. It is a beast of a machine.



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In Canada we still use the Chinook, I think it's still are main helicoptor's since no replacement has been bought.
 
In Canada we still use the Chinook, I think it's still are main helicoptor's since no replacement has been bought.


Edit Was replaced in 2015 well we used them for many years many more then expected I think the model we used was a 50 year old model.
 
Canada just got some brand new Chinooks here in the last couple of years. I am also a -47 FE. Still fly them as a civilian instructor.
 
Canada just got some brand new Chinooks here in the last couple of years. I am also a -47 FE. Still fly them as a civilian instructor.

The D model could basically lift its own weight with a tandem sling... Is that still true with the newer models? Is everything glass and computers now?

This thread had brought back some old memories...
 

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