Air & Space Smithsonian – September 2019

Seen through

night-vision

goggles in 2011,

an MH-47 on a

special operations

mission kicked up

dust and rocks as

it landed in the

Panjwa’i District,

Kandahar,

Afghanistan.

ontheground”]onHood’ssummitandloadthe

rescuersandtheinjured.Weintentionallyflew

relativelylowonfueltosaveweight,andgotinto

a hoveroverthesummit.I wasontherearramp,

layingflatwithmyheadcranedofftheramp’s

edgetohelpguideusdown.Butthesummitwas

onlythreefeetwideandwe,asa crew,decidedto

trytodoa two-wheelpinnaclelandingina small

bowljustbelowtherescuers.Weknewit would

bea reallytoughmaneuverasthebowlwassmall

andtheslopewasreallysteep.Therewasliterally

noroomforerror.Whatmadeit possiblewasthe

F-model’savionicsandflightcontrolsystem—and

crewcoordination.Thepilotscanpicka pointin

spaceandholdit there,thengoinanydirectionin

exactlyone-footincrements.Betweenmeonthe

ramp,JamesMcNightontheleftside,andSteven

Kirkpatrickontheright,wetalkedthepilotDon

Ford[usingtheF’sadvancedflightcontrolsystem]

andthecopilotJohnHoffmandownontothesnow.

Assoonasthewheelstouchedthemountain,Ford

tookfullcontroloftheaircraftandheldit rocksolid

as threeofthepararescuemenexited.Withonlythe

tworearwheelstouching,andtherotorsspinning

justfourfeetabovetheslope,theyactedquicklyand

calmly.Aseachpersonclimbedaboard,thecenter

ofgravityofthehelicopterchanged,butFordkept

theaircraftsteadyas thethreeofusinthebackacted

as hiseyes,doingconstantcallouts.Onceeveryone

wasloadedon—afteraboutthreeminutes—Ford

liftedtheChinookbackintotheairandspedaway

fromthemountain,thenhandedthecontrolsoff

toHoffman.Ford’smuscleswerefatiguedfrom

holdingtheChinooksteadyatthataltitudewith

allthechangesincenterofgravity.It wasa hairy

situation,butthebestcrewcoordinationI’dever

witnessed—combinedwiththeflightcontrolsof

theF-model—gotusthroughit.

DARKNESS,DUST,ANDDUCTTAPE

DerekJohnson,Pilot,CH-47F

Wewerebasedoutof KandaharAirfield,in southern

Afghanistan,andwedidalltypesof missions,[some]

insupportofspecialoperations,whichalwaystook

placeatnight.Thesewereoftenconductedwhere

therewaslessthanfivepercentlunarillumination.

Onenight,inJuly2017,wewerepartofanoper-

ationtotakedowna high-valueTalibantargetin

HelmandProvince.I wasthepilotof theleadshipof

THE NEXTPROBLEMWASGETTING

THESHOT-UPCHINOOKBACKTO

KANDAHAR.“YOUDUCTTAPEDTHE

ROTORS?!”OURCOLONELSAID

WHENTHEPILOTSREQUESTED

PERMISSIONTOFLYBACK.INDEED

THECREWHADPATCHEDUPTHE

ROTORSWITHTAPE,ANDTHAT’S

ALLITNEEDEDTOFLY.

48 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com

US ARMY/SGT DANIEL P. SHOOK