Excuse me......Quarry

https://www.google.com/search?newwin...GO9qDLgkHY;mv:[[47.0696504,-85.62429139999999],[36.4312476,-122.7701845]]

 

Sorry, I did not mean for that to sound insulting. I know where you are talking about now if it is the one down by the river.
Dale

 

Welcome DaleGolds, I live between Rich and Alan outside of Rogersville.

 

Thanks, I appreciate that.
Dale

 

I was born and raised in SoCal, joined the AF in 1990, served 26 years, uncle Sam drug me here in 2012 and now I reside in **** Noster, working in Sedalia.

 

Salute to you Rooster, I am a 20 year 29 day Army Aviation guy, been a overseas rotational contractor ever since. But 26 years in the AF WOW that is awesome for sure. My step son is just past his 14 year mark as a AF Security Forces member, he just went over to some sort of drone management program?

 

26 years was easy because I loved my job and loved what I got to do as I moved up in rank. I've only been in my new job for 6 years and don't care for it much. If I can sell a few things, pay off a few things, I might just up and leave! LoL 20 years aviation... That is an awesome life! I started my career as an Aircraft Metals Technician (Machinist/Welder aka Fabricator) I loved the fact that I got to keep aircraft in the air. I got to deploy and see my labor transition into "Warheads on Foreheads." More than one time in the deployment world, by direct input ensured aircraft bombed things to protect the good guys or to flat out take out the bad guys. I absolutely loved doing what I did and if E9 was in the cards, I would have stay until 30. I loved doing what I did and I miss the comradery, I miss the sense of urgency and the pride we took in keeping jets in the air. My last 4 years were spent leading the team that repairs the Low Observable coatings on the B2. Knowing our contributions to the safety of our Nation... I sleep well knowing that thing rests in my backyard.

 

Oh you was doing some high speed low drag stuff....I was a wrench bender on pretty much all Army helicopters (OH-58, Huey's and Cobra's) early on for about 6 months. Then got on Blackhawks and went to being a crewchief/flight engineer, door gunner. Transitioned into a flight instructor for the CE/DG and then stepped up to be a standardization instructor (train/eval the trainer). Retired and did the same gig all over the world...Iraq on S-61's, Afghanistan on Mi-17's...

 

All this aviation talk makes me excited, almost 25 years as a helicopter pilot with the Army then the civilian sector. Had to stop in 2007 because of severe migraines, a gift from deployments for Uncle Sam.

 

It's good for us Vets to be able to get together on such a great forum. I just hope everyone is hooked up in the VA system and is getting assistance with their problems and complaints. Deployments and just being in the service does carry a burden for most of us. And then there's the FORD thing. Can't get much better than this.

 

Here is a shot or 2 from a while ago...

Chalk 1 did a go around.

Short finial for a 1 spot. Not many visual cues when your nose is about to be hanging off the cliffs fwd edge.



Left main on in 3...2...1 hold hover.

Now lets strap on some NVG's and do it all in the dark. Well not dark dark, because you do have a 40* FOV...

 

So what it is like to fly with NVG's....try driving a car while looking thru 2 toilet paper tubes. Tape them to you face and put some blue/green cellophane on the ends and have fun. With NO real or reduced depth deception and distance estimation. This is on the airfield with ALOT of background lighting.





None aided...NO NVG's.

Same view with NVG's.

 

77&79F250, DaleGolds, & bjmayberry2 - thank you guys for your service!

Rich - I actually got to fly in a Blackhawk back in the 90s at Nellis AFB. I had a Air Guard unit come to my shop with a rotor shaft that had a bearing stuck on the end. "We talked to our guys and they can't get it off. If we don't get this fixed, we will have to scrub the weeks missions for this aircraft!" I took a look and said "You just need a puller and an installation tool, that should get you going. Come back in a couple of hours and I'll hook you up." In the 90s a lot of the fancy pullers and cups didn't exist in the military. I machined a puller that looked like a socket with a slot on one end to slide under the bearing, capped with a threaded hole. I made them a cap to fit in the end of the shaft as a push point. All they had to do is put the cap inside the shaft, slide the socket looking thing over the bearing, tighten the bolt until the bearing popped off. They took my tools ran off and were happy. Later that day a Chief or E9 for you non Air Force types shows up. Someone calls me over to the Chief and he says "What are you doing tomorrow Airman?" With a straight face I said "I'll be here at work Chief." Then he said "OK smart @$$, dress warm, we are taking you up on a training mission. You will be the door gunner as we rescue a downed pilot."

For those of you who have NEVER flown in a helicopter, the initial lift off, what a trip! I think they called it the test hover. We taxied 3' off the ground, too our take off point and then airborne! We got in formation, headed to the range over Tonopah and 45 mins or so I hear, "Hey Anthony, look out of the window to your right. Less than 15' off tip of our rotor is the mountain side." "Where I can't see anything!" "Exactly, the mission has been cancelled!" Some radio chatter and we bank to the left, get in formation and do some "Evasive maneuvers" after the pilot says "Hey Anthony look out of the window on your left." Just as I turn to look, he banks the bird hard left, throwing me against the door with my face up against the window. The entire crew laughed and I said "I'm just glad the door was closed!" All I had on was a belt with a strap attached to the floor.

Sorry for the long winded story, seeing your Blackhawk picture brought up a good memory from my young days in the Air Force. Good days happened often, great days were rare and stick out in my mind.

 

The Blackhawk is an amazing aircraft. The most powerful helicopter I ever flew. My proudest memories flying would have to be flying Blackhawks in Somalia, Africa in late 92 to 93. We were stationed at an old Soviet airfield and it was so dusty there that all of your takeoffs were straight vertical. You got the aircraft light on the wheels and were instantly engulfed in a cloud of dust. Once the wheels left the ground you pulled in max power staying on the instruments keeping the aircraft level and going straight up. At about 200 feet above the ground you would break out of the dust then you could nose it over and gain airspeed. There was actually a picture published in the European Stars & Strips of me doing just that. The photographer caught me just as I emerged from the cloud of dust. The aircraft that were parked on the taxiway, if they had the room, could just ground taxi out. But most of the time the aircraft were too close to swing the tail around and ground taxi out of parking.

 

I could post a 1000 pics and talk for hours about flying/crewing and gunning. We need a complete new thread about it. Rooster glad I brought up a good memory for you. Something about being the man in the door.