Air & Space Smithsonian – September 2019

two Chinooks. It took us about 50 minutes to get to

the special operations personnel at their compound.

We loaded a total of 59 passengers, then headed

toward the target. We flew fast and low—under 1,000

feet until a couple of kilometers out, then dropped

down below 100 feet, then we landed just under a

kilometer away, offloaded everyone, and returned

to the compound about eight minutes away. After

we shut down our aircraft, the second came in and

landed [at the compound], and I heard a whistling

sound.Whentheyshutdownwefoundthatthey

hadtakengroundfire.Twofeetofoneoftherotors

wasmissing,andthereweresixbulletholesin other

rotors.Withtheforceneedingtobeextractedin 40

minutes,therewasnotimetogetanotherChinook,

andcertainlynotimetodorepairs.Wedecidedto

exfiltrateall 59 troopsinonebird.

I ranthenumbers.Thealtitudewas4,000feet,

it washot(beingJuly),andtheChinookwould

beloadedtothemax,nottomentionthedusty

anddarkconditions.ButI calculatedthatwe

could do it, barely. We got back out to the target

compound and loaded everyone on—people were

crammed on seats and sitting on the floor. Some

stood. I had to pull 99 percent power just to lift

off, but we got off the ground. The dust created

a brown out, but the F model’s flight control sys-

tem allowed us to fly with confidence, despite the

darkness and low visibility. Once at 300 feet, well

clear of any obstacles, I pushed the nose forward

and was then able to come off the power a bit.

Eightminuteslaterwecameintoa hoverdirectly

overthesmalllandingzoneat thecompoundand

broughtit downspot-on.

Thenextproblemwasgettingtheshot-up

ChinookbacktoKandahar.“Youducttapedthe

rotors?!”ourcolonelsaidwhenthepilotsrequested

permissiontoflyback.Indeedthecrewhadpatched

uptherotorswithtape,andthat’sallit neededto

fly.Despitethemissingportionsofrotors,it made

the50-minuteflightjustfine,cruisingbetween

7,000and8,000feetmostoftheway.

In2014,a crew

attachesan

incineratorforan

Ebolatreatment

unittothisU.S.

TaskForceIron

KnightsChinook

attheRoberts

International

Airport,Liberia.

September 2019 AIR&SPACE 49

US ARMY/SGT 1ST CLASS BRIEN VORHEES