Navy helicopter video help

[pavulon]

I remember a video of two, maybe three Sea Knights (I think) rapidly transferring cargo from ship to ship from a couple of years ago. The ships were running side by side and the video seemed pretty long. I found it impressive and think most others would too as these guys were putting on a clinic. Any ideas?

[stomachmonkey]

Ask Seahawk.

[Seahawk]

Do a search on "vertrep". The old CH-46 folks were amazing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgXPHE63wM

[edgemar]

this is crazy

[pavulon]

Thanks! Found it!

[speeder]

Hey Paul, which one is this? It's my cousin Joe on first deployment 25 years ago, grabbed from Facebook. He's third from right, kneeling.

[speeder]

Recognize any faces by chance?

[Seahawk]

That's is a SH-2F Seasprite, made by Kaman.

I don't recognize anyone. Send me your cousins Facebook address!

[speeder]

You got it, buddy.

[arcsine]

Ummmmm.......Wow.
That is a pretty big aircraft to be flinging around like that. Very impressive.
Probably a hoot to do as well.

[pavulon]

agreed. Would imagine the ordinance turn-over in the gulf war made this sort of event approach science-level for the crews involved.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

That's is a SH-2F Seasprite, made by Kaman.

I don't recognize anyone. Send me your cousins Facebook address!

How do you train to do these sorts of things? How long does it take to be able to "feel" the weight shift and counter it?

Im sure Potrero Rd. helped..

Also made by Kaman..

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Nostril Cheese

How do you train to do these sorts of things? How long does it take to be able to "feel" the weight shift and counter it?

I was not a CH-46 pilot so I didn't do much VERTREP. Like all things aviation, "rocks and blocks" takes practice. And remember, the ships are underway, moving targets!

I have about 20 hours in the CH-46 flying with the Marines during my initial night-vision goggle quals.

What made the H-46 an ideal VERTREP platform is the counter rotating main rotors. Unlike the traditional main rotor/trail rotor set up in the helicopter I flew, the H-60, the H-46 is much less dependent on relative wind...it flies equally well forwards, backwards, etc.

My old ride:

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by edgemar

this is crazy

I went through Helicopter Egress School at Miramar. They used an H-46 body and would lower into a pool while we were all strapped into our seats. Once all motion stopped, and were inverted, we exited accordingly. While it had it's element of danger and certainly no joke, I thoroughly enjoyed the process and felt I gained very valuable knowledge.

However...

Beng in that helo, dragging through the water, unsure if we were going to regain flight, or get dumped, would have been, uh, interesting. No question.

[flatbutt]

Helo pilots do some amazing stuff. Dragging the tail in the water so a SEAL raft could drive straight in is one of the coolest I've seen.

[speeder]

I did not understand completely what was going on w that water crash, maybe having mechanical issues and could not lift? Terrifying, anyways.

A friend I grew up with is a former Navy Seal Team diver and he worked at Ft. Benning in the "dunk tank", (not sure if that's the proper name). It's the armed force's state-of-the-art facility where they dunk a helo cabin into water and invert it, he taught under water survival/escape from it. Sounds like what you describe, Don, was it there?

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

...Dragging the tail in the water so a SEAL raft could drive straight in is one of the coolest I've seen.

^^ I know you know this, but...
In that circumstance, the plan is to intentionally contact the water.
In the crash video, it looks like the pilot is attempting to improve his vertical motion, but struggling.
All the while, the rest of the crew is, as they say, "Standing by for a standby, this may be a maybe. So, be ready for either...or something else.

Originally Posted by speeder

Sounds like what you describe, Don, was it there?

^^
No, mine was by the Navy at Miramar Air base in San Diego.
Your friends class sounds like the Army's version of the same stuff.
Mine was a single day, all in swimming pools. We did several different exercises. Demonstrate diferent swimming strokes, swm to a horse collar cable lift in a similated helo downwash with a firehose, etc.
Then we went inside and completed 4 dunks w/inversion in the helo body. 2x without goggles, then 2x wearing blacked out goggles to simulate a night crash/egress.

[speeder]

I was wondering in the crash video why the passengers, (if there were a lot of them), did not don life jackets and jump out the door into the water since the boats were so close, to make the craft lighter and maybe it could climb enough to get on the ship(?)

Then again, maybe there were very few people on board or it would not have helped. Or maybe it's too dangerous to be in the water near a failing helicopter. I'll admit that I know nothing about procedure in these deals, just thinking out loud. It was painful to watch, I hope everyone made it out ok.

As for Ft. Benning, the way I understood it is that Navy ST divers teach divers in the other branches, because they're the best in the world. My buddy is a low-key, unassuming type and never actually said this but that is what I gleaned from it. And the job he was doing there was as a civilian employee, he was already out of the Navy.

[Holger]

Originally Posted by speeder

I was wondering in the crash video why the passengers, (if there were a lot of them), did not don life jackets and jump out the door into the water since the boats were so close, to make the craft lighter and maybe it could climb enough to get on the ship(?)

Then again, maybe there were very few people on board or it would not have helped. Or maybe it's too dangerous to be in the water near a failing helicopter. I'll admit that I know nothing about procedure in these deals, just thinking out loud. It was painful to watch, I hope everyone made it out ok.

As for Ft. Benning, the way I understood it is that Navy ST divers teach divers in the other branches, because they're the best in the world. My buddy is a low-key, unassuming type and never actually said this but that is what I gleaned from it. And the job he was doing there was as a civilian employee, he was already out of the Navy.

I think you dont want to be close to the rotors when the machine get stuck in the water. And it was not foreseeable when that will happen.

[Arizona_928]

Is there a part 2 for that vid? It left a lot to wonder, and more importantly if they got out.