[H2]

For the next three nights I will entertain you by telling an abbreviated story of how I almost crashed a helicopter (a number of years ago), and the shenanigans that followed. You won’t be left hanging at the end of each segment.

Once upon a time, me and a fellow pilot are flying a Cobra helicopter in the vicinity of Incheon, South Korea. I’m flying in the back seat and he is in the front seat navigating. After doing some night flying around Seoul, we arrived at our destination and started some nap-of-the-earth (NOE) training with night vision goggles (NVG’s). It’s pitch dark at about 11 PM. I’m flying about 10-20 ft above the trees/ground following a riverbed. All I can see on the horizon is the hazy ragged outline of mountains. As you can imagine, the view looking through NVG’s (back during my younger days) is greenish, not that clear, and very limited in distance and depth perception. Not nearly as good as that currently found in the Night Vision system in BMW’s Hydrogen 7; but I digress. Additionally, Cobras have a large instrument cluster in front of you, so you have limited vision to begin with. Suddenly, on the windshield in front, I see an outline quickly moving up the windshield. So, I take evasive action to avoid flying into a mountain. My quick and erratic maneuvers resulted in warning lights flashing and audio alarms going off in our helmets. Meanwhile the pilot up front is yelling, “What’s going on back there?!” So, I told him I was avoiding the mountain. He said “What are you talking about, there’s no mountain.” I then flipped up my NVG’s and noticed he is smoking a cigarette. The glare from the cigarette was the “outline” moving rapidly up the windshield!

Part two will be posted at about the same time tomorrow.

[c0nstant]

bracing for epic

[aut0sh0cker]

this is fun!

[135Eye]

im sorry but how does your copilot light up a cigarette in a closed cockpit without you knowing that until you flip up ure goggles.

[H2]

Originally Posted by 135Eye

im sorry but how does your copilot light up a cigarette in a closed cockpit without you knowing that until you flip up ure goggles.

We can't directly see each other. There's just a small mirror (sort of like a rear view mirror) and we're primarily just talking through the intercom. Besides there are hardly any lights on inside the cockpit -- they would drown out the goggles. As far as the smell, I either missed it or he just lit up. I assume he just lit up, otherwise I would of seen the glare earlier.

[TheLegacy]

um thats a no go

[Kensta335]

[Andrew@ET]

not the smartest thing to do..

[Spoolin335]

haha i lol'd

[H2]

After I sternly told my copilot to never smoke again at night inside the helicopter, we got back to the business of flying home to Chuncheon, which is northeast of Seoul. Well, my evasive action got us off course, and we were not 100% certain where we were. Which is not good, especially in the middle of the night, when some of your navigational equipment is not working, and you’re in South Korea. Anyway, that shouldn’t matter; I would fly northeast and my copilot would pickup our location along the way. After flying awhile, we didn’t pickup our expected track, and decided to fly directly east. You see, we weren’t going to take any chances of accidently flying into North Korea. We knew we were lost (at least temporarily), but we certainly were not going to publically admit it by calling for “assistance” on any air traffic control frequency. By this time, we noticed our fuel was running low and shortly thereafter the fuel low caution light came on (which means we have about 30 minutes of fuel remaining). Off in the distance we saw some lights with blackness beyond that. We decided to fly there and land. On the way there, our aft fuel boost pump went out (that happens at about 20 minutes fuel remaining). We arrived at the lights (a school yard) and landed. Lo and behold, a bunch of grade school students ran out of the school. I had heard stories of late night study sessions in the Far East; I now had first-hand knowledge of it. By this time, it’s past midnight and a teacher also came out. My copilot up front showed him the map, and the teacher pointed and said “Sokcho.”We had essentially flown from the west coast of South Korea to the east coast. The “blackness beyond” was the ocean!

The final part will be posted tomorrow night.

[aut0sh0cker]

Originally Posted by H2

After I sternly told my copilot to never smoke again at night inside the helicopter, we got back to the business of flying home to Chuncheon, which is northeast of Seoul. Well, my evasive action got us off course, and we were not 100% certain where we were. Which is not good, especially in the middle of the night, when some of your navigational equipment is not working, and you’re in South Korea. Anyway, that shouldn’t matter; I would fly northeast and my copilot would pickup our location along the way. After flying awhile, we didn’t pickup our expected track, and decided to fly directly east. You see, we weren’t going to take any chances of accidently flying into North Korea. We knew we were lost (at least temporarily), but we certainly were not going to publically admit it by calling for “assistance” on any air traffic control frequency. By this time, we noticed our fuel was running low and shortly thereafter the fuel low caution light came on (which means we have about 30 minutes of fuel remaining). Off in the distance we saw some lights with blackness beyond that. We decided to fly there and land. On the way there, our aft fuel boost pump went out (that happens at about 20 minutes fuel remaining). We arrived at the lights (a school yard) and landed. Lo and behold, a bunch of grade school students ran out of the school. I had heard stories of late night study sessions in the Far East; I now had first-hand knowledge of it. By this time, it’s past midnight and a teacher also came out. My copilot up front showed him the map, and the teacher pointed and said “Sokcho.”We had essentially flown from the west coast of South Korea to the east coast. The “blackness beyond” was the ocean!

The final part will be posted tomorrow night.

hahaha why not?

[Year's_End]

solaris9, oh herro prease

[bmwturbopower]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

solaris9, oh herro prease

no kidding where is bella?

[M_Six]

Hey H2, 4/7 Cav?

[H2]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

solaris9, oh herro prease

haha, except I'm writing a short story.

Originally Posted by M_Six

Hey H2, 4/7 Cav?

Close. 309th AHB.

[Kensta335]

Originally Posted by JNic335i

no kidding where is bella?

Lisa is better.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by H2

haha, except I'm writing a short story.



Close. 309th AHB.

Ah. I spent two tours with the Cav in the 70s. Loved Korea.

[H2]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Ah. I spent two tours with the Cav in the 70s. Loved Korea.

The 309th wasn't there at that time. The entire unit (personnel and equipment) PCS'd from Ft Campbell to Korea in the late 80's. Korea was great. I actually tried to extend my tour, but I was told the "highest priority" in the entire Army for a Cobra LT was in Texas. So, that's where I went next.

[ATC330i]

Originally Posted by H2

After I sternly told my copilot to never smoke again at night inside the helicopter, we got back to the business of flying home to Chuncheon, which is northeast of Seoul. Well, my evasive action got us off course, and we were not 100% certain where we were. Which is not good, especially in the middle of the night, when some of your navigational equipment is not working, and you’re in South Korea. Anyway, that shouldn’t matter; I would fly northeast and my copilot would pickup our location along the way. After flying awhile, we didn’t pickup our expected track, and decided to fly directly east. You see, we weren’t going to take any chances of accidently flying into North Korea. We knew we were lost (at least temporarily), but we certainly were not going to publically admit it by calling for “assistance” on any air traffic control frequency. By this time, we noticed our fuel was running low and shortly thereafter the fuel low caution light came on (which means we have about 30 minutes of fuel remaining). Off in the distance we saw some lights with blackness beyond that. We decided to fly there and land. On the way there, our aft fuel boost pump went out (that happens at about 20 minutes fuel remaining). We arrived at the lights (a school yard) and landed. Lo and behold, a bunch of grade school students ran out of the school. I had heard stories of late night study sessions in the Far East; I now had first-hand knowledge of it. By this time, it’s past midnight and a teacher also came out. My copilot up front showed him the map, and the teacher pointed and said “Sokcho.”We had essentially flown from the west coast of South Korea to the east coast. The “blackness beyond” was the ocean!

The final part will be posted tomorrow night.

Why wouldn't you call ATC for assistance? And you're low on fuel and you still won't "publicly" admit you're lost? I'm a controller and this sounds odd. I've never had a pilot be afraid to call for assistance. It's one thing to be on the ground driving your car and not wanting to admit your lost (when your life isn't on the line), but another when you're flying up in the air facing death. NO pilot has too much pride in these circumstances. Not to mention the repercussions you face by landing in a random field by your commanding officer. BTW, I spent a year at Osan AB, Korea back in my Air Force days. It's a good story, but please elaborate.

[schnell325]

OH, I have to come back tomorrow!!

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by H2

The 309th wasn't there at that time. The entire unit (personnel and equipment) PCS'd from Ft Campbell to Korea in the late 80's. Korea was great. I actually tried to extend my tour, but I was told the "highest priority" in the entire Army for a Cobra LT was in Texas. So, that's where I went next.

Same for me. I tried to extend both tours. Couldn't do it. Then I tried for a third tour after Ft. Hood, but they sent me to Germany (which I also loved.)

Yeah, I thought the Cav had the only Cobras north of Seoul when I was there. Makes sense now.

[Comet]

oooh I can guess the final part!!

APRIL FOOLZ

????