LOAD OUT!

Helicopters are a great way of transporting both personnel and equipment from one place to another but when a helicopter is disabled or not able to fly the distance necessary, we have other means whereby we can transport the aircraft across town or around the world:

This UH-60L Blackhawk is being prepared to be loaded onto an Air Force C-5 Starlifter, to be transported to Bosnia. It's antenna's must be removed to aid in ground clearance. The stabilator (wing) in the rear must also be removed to enable the maximum amount of equipment to be loaded on the cargo jet. In addition, both the main rotor and tail rotor are folded. The entire operation of folding the Blackhawk can be accomplished with 6 personnel in about 30 to 45 minutes.

This OH-58D had been crashed more than a year ago. At this point we loaded it onto a flatbed trailer and transported it to Pope Air Force Base. It was to be loaded aboard a C-5 for transport to Depot level Maintenance. Because it was very fragile, the couple mile trek took almost one and a half hours. Once we arrived, I off-loaded the aircraft via a 7.5 ton crane.

Members of our I Co. 4-159th AVN Recovery team include: 1LT Christian Huettemeyer, SSG Jim Spencer, SSG Steve Haley, SGT Charles Pettway, SGT Rik Bostic, SPC Ron Dassel, SPC Sidney Cowan, SPC Chris Irizarri

This Shrink Wrapped UH-60 Blackhawk is being lowered into a cargo ship in preparation to go to Bosnia. The Aircraft must be wrapped in a special shrink wrapping material and then heated using hair dryer sized propane guns. The heat guns make the plastic shrink to the aircraft, creating an air-tight cocoon to prevent corrosion, caused by the salt air of the sea. One aircraft, after being folded, takes about 45 minutes to one hour to complete with about eight personnel.

This Huey's crew took off at night under night vision goggles during Desert Storm. Before going through Effective Transitional Lift (ETL), the pilot attempted a turn, causing him to hit the ground and bounce into the air. The pilot regained control in the air, but had to land on truck tires because his skids had been torn off as a result of the contact with the ground. No one was injured here but it took some 40 minutes for the pilot to stabilize the aircraft on the tires and shut down.