After watching the video a few times, it looked like the helo had landed with the left rear wheel on the safety net on the edge of the flight deck. When he tried to reposition, he was pulling some of the safety net and metal frame up with him --- or so it appeared. The net would not have been enough to make him loose control, but the pipe frame might have been enough to snag his landing gear. These Sea Knights are not as big and powerful as people think. They are good, tough medium lift machines, but all of them (originally about 660) were built and delivered from 1963 to 1967. When I was with DOD in Iraq, I had to fly in them from site to site. At the time, they did most of their flying at night and made their approaches to the bases fast and low, and with no marker lights whenever possible. The interior lights were always rigged for red. As soon as the passengers were hustled out and the new passengers hustled in, they were in the air as fast as they had landed. Of course, landing on a cement hardstand as long as a short runway, and landing on a helo pad high over the water aboard a moving ship, are two different scenarios.
You brought up a good issue concerning lift. One of the logistics Marines that I knew in Iraq used to be a crew chief on a heavy lift Marine CH53D Super Stallion. He said that the CH46E Sea Stallions -- somewhat older machines -- were noted for not generating much lift while hovering, though perhaps I might have misunderstood. Regardless, I remember those 53s were real thumpers that would shake your insides compared to the smaller 46s. Both were good helos and served well for many years. I understand that the remaining Marine CH46Es (about 290) will be replaced with about 425 MV-22 “tilt rotor” Osprey medium lift aircraft. I am uncertain how many Ospreys the other services will be receiving.
I am no Chopper Pilot, but this guy's approach seemed too fast and too low. Almost as if he was training a new guy to land???. I do have a little flying experience from years ago ( Cessna 172), and either the water made him lose lift or he was just a dummy. I hope no lives were lost.
Not a good day for that air crew. I wonder if the pilot was waved off or if he tried to reposition on the deck on his own. Regardless, the plan didn't work. I wouldn't be surprized if there were fatal casualties. Just a note, that was a Navy CH-46E Sea Knight, also flown by the Marines. They are older and smaller than the larger, faster and newer CH-47 Chinooks flown only by the Army. The two get confused.
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After watching the video a few times, it looked like the helo had landed with the left rear wheel on the safety net on the edge of the flight deck. When he tried to reposition, he was pulling some of the safety net and metal frame up with him --- or so it appeared. The net would not have been enough to make him loose control, but the pipe frame might have been enough to snag his landing gear. These Sea Knights are not as big and powerful as people think. They are good, tough medium lift machines, but all of them (originally about 660) were built and delivered from 1963 to 1967. When I was with DOD in Iraq, I had to fly in them from site to site. At the time, they did most of their flying at night and made their approaches to the bases fast and low, and with no marker lights whenever possible. The interior lights were always rigged for red. As soon as the passengers were hustled out and the new passengers hustled in, they were in the air as fast as they had landed. Of course, landing on a cement hardstand as long as a short runway, and landing on a helo pad high over the water aboard a moving ship, are two different scenarios.
You brought up a good issue concerning lift. One of the logistics Marines that I knew in Iraq used to be a crew chief on a heavy lift Marine CH53D Super Stallion. He said that the CH46E Sea Stallions -- somewhat older machines -- were noted for not generating much lift while hovering, though perhaps I might have misunderstood. Regardless, I remember those 53s were real thumpers that would shake your insides compared to the smaller 46s. Both were good helos and served well for many years. I understand that the remaining Marine CH46Es (about 290) will be replaced with about 425 MV-22 “tilt rotor” Osprey medium lift aircraft. I am uncertain how many Ospreys the other services will be receiving.
Well that landing pretty well sucked lol