Army Chinook Crewman by Ron Eckhart

Author:Ron Eckhart [Eckhart, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

First Flying Experiences

It was the practice then to “permanently” assign a crew to a helicopter. That really didn’t mean much in practice because the challenge of scheduling so many helicopters required people to be assigned wherever they were needed. A helicopter would not be left idle because a crewmember was on R&R or sick call but whenever possible, the assigned crew would be in their helicopter. My first assignment as a Crew Chief was to a helicopter with a Flight Engineer named Dave. I hadn’t met Dave but before my first flight, another more experienced Crew Chief looked me up and said he had noticed I was scheduled to fly with Dave that day (flight crew assignments were posted in the operations room each evening). “I just wanted to tell you to keep an eye on that son-of-a-bitch. I don’t want to get into the details, but just be careful.” I had no idea what he was talking about but I thanked him for the heads-up. I knew Dave was in his second or third full tour and I also knew he was a “head” but I knew little else. To my knowledge, he had few friends and generally stayed in his hooch when he wasn’t flying.

Before my first flight, I was supposed to be issued a helmet, Nomex uniforms, gloves and water jug but supply was out of helmets. I asked around and my friend Martin, from AIT, gave me a very old helmet from the 205th with a hand painted picture of an Indian on the back (their call sign was Geronimo). The first time I flew, I discovered the microphone on my old helmet was messed up and I could barely be heard over the loud squeals that started every time I pressed the mic button. Dave quickly told me to shut up and just sit at the right gun. After a few days, I received a helmet from a guy who was rotating home so I could start participating more in the work we were doing. I also noticed Dave was normally a really nice guy in the morning but turned into a real asshole before lunch. After lunch, he was again a nice guy but before we quit for the day, he would turn into an asshole again. Someone finally told me Dave was a heavy heroin user, which explained his mood swings.

The cargo we carried on the hook was referred to as sling loads. We carried all sorts of material in sling loads; other aircraft, ammunition, cannons, fuel blivets, jeeps, trucks, armored personnel carriers and, on one occasion, soda bottles. If it could be placed in nylon nets or attached to a nylon “donut”, we could probably transport it. We had weight limits, of course, but it was amazing what we could pick up.

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