Forum: Rotary Wing Aircraft

Didn't think this was possible but the Royal Marines and the Army Air Corp managed to do it in a daring rescue mission to save a fallen comrade.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/liv ... ge_id=1770

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/video_and_audio/default.stm

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No doubt a very courageous act from all those involved, and a lot of ingenuity.
BUT we should look deeper than bear facts - why did they had to do this Indiana Jones stuff? Because there aren't enough helos at hand in A'stan.
In an operation where there is sure they'll take fire (such as in this case) there should be at least one MEDEVAC chopper. One lousy Lynx would have been enough.
Remembers me about that silly situation when the commanders in the theater requested more firepower and the MoD generously offered a SINGLE Harrier for deployment...

RoAF wrote:

No doubt a very courageous act from all those involved, and a lot of ingenuity.
BUT we should look deeper than bear facts - why did they had to do this Indiana Jones stuff? Because there aren't enough helos at hand in A'stan.
In an operation where there is sure they'll take fire (such as in this case) there should be at least one MEDEVAC chopper. One lousy Lynx would have been enough.
Remembers me about that silly situation when the commanders in the theater requested more firepower and the MoD generously offered a SINGLE Harrier for deployment...

Yep, and we only have 8 Apache`s in theatre. The UK armed forces are underfunded and have a SERIOUS air transport shortage. The above extraction method is really used to rescue downed pilots in an emergency. There are specific procedures in the manual for "attaching " yourself to an Apache using Carabina`s and straps. An unarmed, unarmoured medevac helo` can`t go where an Apache can go under fire.

The marines did it that way because they wanted it done "NOW" and not have to wait to get their buddy out. They didn`t know he was KIA before the attempt. It was an incredible act of selflessness by all involved.

RoAF wrote:

BUT we should look deeper than bear facts - why did they had to do this Indiana Jones stuff? Because there aren't enough helos at hand in A'stan.
...

You could not be more wrong. You wanna know what I learned in SERE... Never ever ever get caught.

Ive got a D-ring on my Airwarrior Vest. If I can crawl walk or run away from whats left of my aircraft and the Chalk 2 thinks he can get in where I can hop on an avionics bay and hook on to the D-ring... Your damn sure its my first choice. Not sitting on the ground waiting on some lift guy to show up and take my lonely a$$ out of Dodge.

My Buddy is in the Texas Reserve Unit that did this kind of rescue first. Now its the most common way for a downed helo crew to be recovered in Iraq or the A-stan. Its not because we dont have Hawks and other aircraft available, its because it works in a hurry.

Air Cav.

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

Cobras were doing it back in Vietnam even. The ammo bay doors on an AH-1 would fold out making "better than nothing" benches that could be used to extract soldiers/downed aircrew in an emergency.

Guysmiley wrote:

Cobras were doing it back in Vietnam even. The ammo bay doors on an AH-1 would fold out making "better than nothing" benches that could be used to extract soldiers/downed aircrew in an emergency.

Still being done today. Its been used in the field as a quick extract method for both pilots and "those guys"

Forum: Rotary Wing Aircraft

Apache Rescue mission in Afghanistan