Some neat pictures of a rooftop extraction

[phrogpilot73]

I disagree. Let's say your are searching for a survivor. Your tomcat has localized the survivor to a relatively small area, rescort's got your back, no unfriendlies in the area. Your DALS is counting down, you're getting close. Survivor pops smoke, just about when you are on top, too close for a quick stop at 60 knots, and BAM! "360 right", make the 360 overhead nice and tight, wind up on final to land and recover, or some sort of hoist recovery. A CSAR mission is totally different from some sort of assault mission, where I assume you have a pretty good idea where you are dropping off troops, sort of like a SOF insert.

OK, good point. I'm an assault support guy, accustomed to inserting Marines in an LZ. That's how my brain thinks. You going to homecoming?

 

[HH-60H]

Yes, I am, or atleast some tailgates. I live 1 block from the Stadium. You?

 

[Pags]

About a year or two ago there were anecdotal as well as HAZREP stories about how some of the brand new Sierras were starting to wrinkle from stress. The problem is exactly what you said in your post. You had -46 guys trying to fly something that's about the weight of a B/F/H (because of the load) and the T/R just can't hack it, along w/ the airframe. It's not the aircraft's fault, it just wasn't designed the same way as the Phrog.

i was talking to an IP the other day and he was telling me a horror story about lost of tail rotor effectiveness on the -60S during a vertrep. the sierra recovered, but I guess it didn't look too pretty. then he got into talking about bending birds...a lot of the same stuff that is being said here.

 

[ChuckMK23]

It's about flying the aircraft within it's limits. If people are "bending" birds while vertreping, then they are doing themselves, the community, and the Navy a seriouls dis-service. Vertrep is NOT a primary mission area - they will need those aircraft to perform a multitude of service an tactical missions.

Honestly If I was in command and saw a pilot flying the a/c out of limits or overly aggresive on vertrep, they should be fired - that's old school HC. I loved being in the HC community but it also was too vertrep focused and the O-5's and above let the community down by encouraging one-trick ponies.

Look at the Siper Puma's on the T-AFS's and T-AE's- they do vertrep smooth and safe without sacrificing anything