THIS STORY COURTESY OF JOHN HATCH CH-53C, 70-1625 Mission Landing Damage Date: 24 March 2004 To: All THE CREWS that have flown or worked on these "TUFF OLD WAR BIRDS" From: John L. Hatch, MSGT, FE, (Retired, 1982 and Still Kicking) Subject: Helicopters CH 53C, 70-1625, and CH 53C, 70-1626, on or about 15 June 1972
(Aircraft 625)
I had been assigned to the 21st S.O.S. NKP Thailand, in April of 1972, after completing my in-country aircrew training, I was scheduled for my 1st combat mission and my "across the fence check ride". My first mission was part of a large flight tasked to airlift a very large contingent (1800-2000) of indigenous allied soldiers. We had picked up the soldiers, but in route to the drop off L.Z. the weather in the area became too bad to do the mission. We then returned with our soldiers to the pick-up point. This aborted mission was completely un-eventful and was re-scheduled for the next day.
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CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE The next day we had our normal mission briefing at T.U.O.C. I remember the Squadron Commander "J.D. Koons" telling us at the end of the briefing that we had a very large L.Z., (about 2 football fields in size) and since we would be pretty heavy with 45 soldiers, (base load + 10, and -7, 3925 SHP Engines) we should make a rolling touchdown landing. We picked up our soldiers again and flew to the drop off L.Z. Lead, 2 and 3 had rolled them on, and off-loaded their soldiers and equipment that had already made contact with the bad guys half a click away.
I was in the 4th Helicopter of the flight. I was at the door giving approach instructions, as we touched down and rolled approx. 75 feet, ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. All of a sudden I found myself buried among toppled soldiers and all their gear. I thought to myself, in that instant, WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE!!!!! While I was trying to dig myself out I thought I heard someone on the radios broadcast, “FIRE!!!, FIRE!!!.” This really intensified my actions as well as those in the cockpit who were busy chopping the throttles and doing whatever else they needed to do to egress the cockpit.
Now that we had all gotten out to safety it was time to see what had happened. After checking that everyone was OK, except for minor scrapes and cuts, we still had the mission in progress all around us. We were shutdown in the very middle of the L.Z. Everyone else had to plan their approaches to a hover, either in front of, or behind us. There was also another helicopter damaged behind us. We were trying frantically to assess the damage to the aircraft while the firefight was raging half a click away. We all surmised that the right main landing gear had sunk into a soft spot in the ground clear up to the bottom of the sponson as we rolled over it, we left a furrow in the dirt about 40-50 feet long from the main gear and strut ripping/plowing thru the earth. The most amazing thing was that just as we came to a stop, the wheels rolled back up on level ground again, with only one flat.
We had also surmised that as a result of this ripping/plowing action that was dragging us to a stop and the fact that everyone was thrown forward that the pilots hand must have also been thrown forward while on the cyclic stick causing the rotor blades to be directed downward, slicing through the top of the helicopter. The blades tore off the forward cowling, heater, co-pilots green window, #1 EAPS, and the doghouse sliding cover (just to name a few). The smoke and dust caused by the disintegrating fiberglass fairings must have looked like FIRE or SMOKE, hence the "FIRE" transmission from another Knife helicopter. The FE’s and Pilot's contemplated all the damage. The blade pockets were damaged badly about 4-5 feet from the cuff, the BIM indicators were still WHITE, to everyone’s amazement. WE, as a CREW, decided that we could and should try to fly the ol'e gal out to a safer area to clear the L.Z. for the mission. We were ripping off everything that we could and tying everything else down by running several cargo tie down straps through the door and window and over the top everything to tie it down for flight, with a fire fight raging not too far from us, we were in somewhat of a hurry, because we were sky lighting (an easy target) on top of the helicopter securing everything.
We climbed back in after WE ALL agreed that she was safe to fly????, went thru the checklist carefully, the Stan-Eval FE took the seat and was starting the APP. Errrrrrrrrr-OooooooH (WE ALL KNOW THAT SOUND). The APP did not start, the FE double checked the APP circuit breaker switch and the circuit breakers ran the checklist again, as we pumped up the APP accumulator to 4000 PSI, we knew that it was going to start this time. Errrrrrrrrr-OooooooH, Damn!! Another no start!!!! We pumped up the APP accumulator again, and again, checked the APP wiring, and everything else that we could think of, still it would NOT START. I‘ll bet that we pumped up that accumulator 15-20 times that day with no positive results, other than good exercise.
The decision was made to leave her in the L.Z. as she sat. We grabbed our war bags and equipment and returned to NKP on another Knife helicopter at the end of the day. The Question was asked, “Do you want her destroyed in the L.Z. with NAPALM?” The Squadron Commander said “NO”, that she had not been retro-fitted with the then highly classified brand new system “RHAW,” she was one of the few that hadn’t been modified yet and was a valuable piece of equipment he needed. She only cost $2.4 Million to build back in1970. The soldiers we had in-filled during the mission provided a security team to protect her overnight.
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After the first night we returned with maintenance personnel and equipment to try and get her started again. They had Engine, APG, Electrician and Hydraulic Mechanics and a new APP in the box. They worked all day trying to get her to start, even changing out the APP. She just wouldn’t start again. While the maintenance people worked OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF LAOS, the rest of the crew and I waited, helping if and when we could, to fly her out. We had two helicopters setting in the L.Z. all day with the rotors turning and the engines at flight idle so that everyone could get out of there ASAP if need be. There was a lot of enemy soldiers still around, and there was 122mm enemy field artillery in the area that could reach the L.Z. CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE We found out that the security team soldiers had been chased off during the 2nd night, the enemy soldiers had fraged her in the night with a grenade at the #1 nose gear box to fuselage area and shrapnel damage around the ramp, fuselage sides and the interior. After we found out that she had been fraged the Squadron Commander still wanted to recover His helicopter. A mission was set up for the recovery; she was to be completely stripped and recovered from the L.Z., in the middle of LAOS. We slung a flight line tubular crane to the L.Z., carried all slings, engine trailer, lifting adapters and tools to strip her. The maintenance people removed the fuel, fuel tanks, engines, rotor blades, tail rotor, engine drive shafting, pilot seats, and cargo roller tracks in the floor, all instruments, avionics gear, ramp, doors, and anything else they could remove fairly easily. This took about a week, every day 2 helicopters sat in the L.Z. with rotors turning, while the maintenance people did what they do best, we returned to NKP with a loads of parts that were removed that day, (this was long before the C-5 drills). All the maintenance people received the Bronze Star for their tireless efforts. CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE Now that we had her lightened up, we had to get her home; we tasked an Army Sky Crane to do the lift. They rigged her up and attached their winch-cargo hook, and up they went, but not too easily, she was still too heavy and they over torqued their transmission lifting her out, but she was airborne again. When I landed in the L.Z. she weighed about 40,000 pounds, when she was air lifted out she weighed about 16,000 pounds. The rotor head and transmission were removed later at safer Air America Site. The Sky Crane was carrying minimum fuel and could only fly about 1.5 hours before needing fuel. In order to refuel the Sky Crane it would have to fly to an Air America Site landing strip, set down 625, and land, the escort helicopter would land, roll fuel barrels and pump needed fuel into the Sky Crane (In those days us Knives/Dusty’s refueled from 55 gallon drums of fuel and a gasoline powered engine driven 100 GPM pump).
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CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE We normally carried the fuel pump aboard our helicopters, and used it to refuel the Sky Crane from fuel cashes at these landing strips. We delivered her to Ubon Airbase in Thailand for repairs, (The Army Sky Crane crew said that they almost pickled her couple of times because of oscillations) it took 6 months for the RAM team and maintenance people to do all the needed repairs to get her flyable again. ALL the FE's drew straws to see who was going to be the lucky one to fly the first FCF.
(Aircraft 626)
I mentioned earlier that another helicopter behind us was also damaged; it turned out to be 626. Their nose gear had apparently sunk into that same soft spot in the ground while they were rolling over it, collapsing the nose gear; it was setting on its nose in the L.Z. behind us.
After off loading their soldiers and looking at the damage the pilot and crew decided that the aircraft was flyable, they picked up into a hover, the pilot said that everything felt “OK”. The Lead Aircraft Commander told them to RTB to NKP Thailand for their needed repairs, they and an escort helicopter took off for NKP. About 2 hours into their return trip to NKP, the pilot of 626 was having flight control problems, he executed a right hand “EMERGENCY DECENT”, being followed by the escort helicopter, the pilot and crew picked out a sparsely wooded clearing, managing to hit the only tree in the L.Z. with the rotor blades during their “EMERGENCY LANDING” (as if being picky about a landing site was even an option for them at this time).
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CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE The nose gear was swinging in the breeze due to the broken components damaged earlier in the L.Z., as the pilot and crew made their “EMERGENCY LANDING” the nose gear was flung forward as the pilot made his flair, and as the nose of the helicopter settled onto the ground, the nose gear and wheels that were flung forward were landed upon. The crew chopped the throttles and shut down the helicopter ASAP! (Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, TWO IN ONE DAY, WOW!). In all their excitement the Stan-Eval FE in the jump seat forgot to close the EAPS, DAMN!!! The crew loaded into their escort helicopter and was taken back to NKP.
The next day the maintenance people loaded up 6 new rotor blades and their equipment and were flown out to the Emergency Landing site to make the needed repairs to the helicopter so that it could be flown back to NKP. In their inspection of the extensive damage to the helicopter the maintenance crew discovered and deduced that the hydraulic actuator for the nose gear had buckled upward when it collapsed and into the nose wheel well inner sheet metal structure, hitting and cracking the under floor cyclic stick interconnecting nested control tubes (2 each), thus allowing the control tubes to break completely in half “IN FLIGHT” and giving the pilots very little if any cyclic control (This incident might be a very good future FLIGHT SAFETY topic). I don’t know if the pilot or anyone else will ever really know how he put that helicopter on the ground SAFELY, but they all walked away without any injuries. I think at the time of the landing all the pilot had was "Cyclic Trim"!!!
“THEY WERE DAMN LUCKY”
A little about the Pilot:
He was an older Lt. Col. who had kind of lost his touch at the controls, a lot of the guys didn’t like flying with him because of this. There was a period of time when I was first assigned to the unit that we were not getting very many heavy gross weight combat missions, to help keep up our heavy gross weight proficiency it was decided that we would load up a 3500 pound MD-3 flight line generator/power unit internally to simulate soldiers and equipment weight and practice our heavy gross weight operations. One particular day I was his FM/FE in the jump seat, we were doing 360 Degree Auto Rotations (They used to scare the hell out of me, being new at this game). On one practice autorotation approach he fell through on his flair at the bottom and we touched down, and then bounced back into the air during the power recovery phase. The Instructor Pilot decided that we had enough of that for the day and we did something else. After what he did with 626, I would have flown with him any time, and did so on many occasions. When it came down to when it really, really counted “HE HAD HIS S--- TOGETHER”.
In closing I would like to say that these 2 helicopters in particular, and all the others H-53’s in general have fought and flown hard to get where they are today. Please take care of them, they all have their scars and have survived countless battles. They deserve everyone’s respect. I do sincerely hope that this letter and accompanying photographs will find their way into the aircraft and squadron historical folders for all to enjoy. Please show this care package to the maintenance folks, without their tireless efforts we probably wouldn’t have these Ladies that we all enjoy flying today. I know that the maintenance folks feel un-appreciated sometimes, but I for one am “DAMN PROUD OF THEM" for being able to keep all these Ladies in the air for the past 38 YEARS. I am also “DAMN PROUD” of all the AIR CREWS who have flown these Ladies the past 38 years and brought themselves and countless others home to safety. I know that it has not been an easy task for you, and all those who have gone before you, with all the WARS, assignment changes, personnel and equipment taskings, and the many aircraft modifications that have transpired throughout these past decades.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK “ALL OF YOU” ARE DOING!!! ESPECIALLY THROUGHOUT ALL THESE DANGEROUS AND TRYING TIMES OUR NATION AND YOU ALL ARE FACING RIGHT NOW.
Gods Speed to you ALL, and may you ALWAYS return home to your loved ones safely.
Sincerely, John L. Hatch MSgt. Retired 1982
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"FREEDOM ISN'T FREE" ~SOMEONE PAYS FOR YOU AND ME~ "HELICOPTERS" - THE ONLY WAY TO FLY ~NEVER FORGOTTEN~ |
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