LAND HO
“What is that noise?” asked the pilot in command over the helicopter’s intercommunication system to nobody in particular.
“Sounds like a fast-mover flying overhead,” replied the co-pilot.
Jaf leaned out of the cabin door, fighting the wind rushing past at 160 knots. “Negative contact on any fast-movers sir,” he spoke into the microphone pressed firmly against his lips. They had just crested over a mountain top and were now flying through a valley at about 300 feet AGL. Jaf could see people moving about outside of their adobe-like dwellings. The river running down the middle of the valley was nearly dried and green grass grew for only about 100 meters on either side of what really couldn’t be called a river, a stream maybe.
Still hearing the strange rushing sound Jaf turned his attention inside the cabin and immediately saw its source.
“Sir, we need to land and right now!” Jaf stated firmly, making it clear there was no time for discussion. “Kevin, unhook and get your ass up here now!” he continued. Feeling the aircraft drop beneath him, he quickly started looking for a suitable landing site, cognizant of the dangers growing inside the cabin.
Jaf had discovered that the noise was a result of hydraulic fluid leaking from a line somewhere near the aft transmission in the rear of the aircraft. When he had looked back toward the ramp, he saw a huge cloud of red mist floating in the air and moving forward toward the front of the helicopter. All CH47D crewmembers were well aware of the dangers of misting hydraulic fluid after the tragic accident in 1983 when a similar cloud of hydraulic fluid had ignited, sending a huge fire ball through the cabin and into the cockpit killing the crew chief and seriously injuring both pilots. The flight engineer escaped being burned because she had been knocked out of the cabin door, hanging by her safety tether, affectionately known as a “monkey harness,” when a passenger pushed her out as he jumped 1500 feet to his death rather than facing the flames.
Jaf looked down, briefly wondering if it was too high to jump. It was. “Sir, I’ve got a landing spot at your two o’clock, looks like a small farm,” he said and looked back at the growing red cloud hoping nothing would spark a fire.
The aircraft continued to make its descent turning slightly to the right, lining up for a landing to the site Jaf had picked out.
“We’ve got a major hydraulic leak sir, it’s misting on the ramp,” Jaf got in a brief explanation. “Kevin, close the NVG curtain to the cockpit and get ready to land,” the flight engineer instructed thinking to try and protect the pilots just in case a fire did erupt.
“We’re going to mess up some farmer’s crops if we land there,” the co-pilot stated in almost a protest.
“If it’s cultivated it isn’t mined,” the pilot-in-command snapped before Jaf could chime in his reason for selecting the site.
“I’ve got us off forty sir, you’re clear on the right side, thirty, twenty,” Jaf called over the ICS.
“Clear down left,” announced Kevin now leaning out the left door gunner’s window. The door gunner, Joe, was sitting in a seat feeling somewhat helpless during the intense situation.
“Looking good sir, off fifteen and clear all barriers, clear to land, ten, nine, eight, seven, steady, your off five, four, good, two, and one. Aft gear contact, forward clear down, and forward gear contact.” He noted to himself that there was no explosion upon touching down, a good sign. “Let’s get her shut down sir, quickly but not emergency shut down.” Jaf said.
“Roger that Jaffy,” replied the PIC who went through the shut-down procedures quicky but without the normal routine of reading the checklist to his co-pilot who would ordinarily then perform the tasks. He knew that Jaf didn’t want to follow the proscribed procedure of pulling the emergency shut-down handles as it would preclude them from starting up again until the engines were serviced.
As the aircraft’s powerful turbine engines wound down, Jaf started preparing for the next step. “Kevin, I need you and Joe to get on these guns and be ready to shoot any bad guys that even look like they might hurt us. Don’t be jumpy, just ready. Sir, I’m gonna find out what the fucking problem is, if we can keep the auxilary power unit running, let’s, just in case we have to get out of here in a hurry.”
As Kevin kept a watchful eye on the growing crowd of onlookers arriving to the edge of the farmer’s field, Jaf gingerly walked through a slippery puddle of deep red hydraulic fluid. The flight engineer quickly found the problem, a pinhole leak in one of the return lines for the Number 2 hydraulic system. He isolated the Number 2 side and checked the Number 1 system to make sure it was good. It was. “OK sir, let’s get the hell outta here.”
Jaf and Kevin spent an extra four hours cleaning the hydraulic fluid from the inside of their aircraft that night.
“Hey Jaffy, what’re you gonna do on your R&R leave?” Kevin asked as he sprayed the ramp down with soapy water from the large wash cart the maintenance team had towed out to them earlier.
“Worry about you chief, worry about you,” replied the now exhausted flight engineer.
Sgt Hook out.
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This post is filed under: Reconstructed & The Stan
