Ft. Knox Flight

Ft. Knox Flight - 2

July 25, 2023

A bit of a story today...

After several hours of delays (an Army specialty), we get a text from Chris stating the ground crew had loaded the fuel tanks and the two pilots were headed to the flightline. About the same time, I hear and see a Blackhawk near the hanger begin its engines. I focus on this helicopter and fail to see another Blackhawk taxi to the runway. Yep, that was Chris. As I hear a helicopter coming our way, I look up and it is a Blackhawk with fuel tanks flying fast overhead to get out of the weather. I missed his take-off. I had been sitting in this park for 3 or 4 hours fighting off mosquitoes and heat and I miss his take-off. I was not happy with myself but didn't have time to think too much about it as some really heavy clouds were developing right on top of us and it was beginning to sprinkle. We (Donnice and Lauren had joined me at the park) decide to catch a late lunch at the Burger King on post. The rain and wind picked up significantly as we left the park. As we left BK, the skies opened up with 30-40 mph winds and heavy rain. I had to sit in my car in their driveway to let the storm pass to avoid getting drenched in the 5 foot walk to their carport. If they had experienced 5 more minutes of delay, I'm sure they would never have flown that day.

We then get a text from Chris saying they were waiting out the storm in Louisville. They flew the edge of the storm that developed over Ft. Knox but it finally caught up with them so they landed in Louisville and were catching lunch. I get another text a bit later stating they were about to take off and head home as all of the storms had cleared. I decided to head back out to the airport and try once more. I guessed which direction they would approach and was fortunate to see a Blackhawk in the far distance making a direct line to the airport. From a distance I could see the fuel tanks on the pods so I knew it was Chris. They were not very high - my guess is about 1500 ft. Just before reaching the far end of the runway (probably 2+ miles from me), I see the helicopter take a steep drop. As typical of most/all training flights, they practice their autorotate skills by simulating a full engine failure. They let the helicopter fall from the sky while flying forward to increase the blade rpm much like spinning a pinwheel by waving your arm. They are not trying to arrest the fall, rather they encourage it to increase blade rotation speed. The real skill is to know when to start pulling collective (controls the pitch of the blades to generate lift) to use that blade speed to stop the fall of the helicopter before it hits the ground. They also use the forward motion energy as they pull back into a hover. If that energy is used too soon, you will stall out above the ground and crash. If used too late, you hit the ground before arresting the fall. It's a fine line that takes nerve and skill. No, they do not practice autorotates all the way to the ground. They have a pre-determined altitude (guess 100- 200 ft but not certain) and pick a spot on the ground that they are expected to "catch" the helicopter as if that altitude and spot is the ground. We watched Chris perform this maneuver several times in basic helicopter (Bell Jet Ranger) and Apache training at Ft. Rucker. This was my first time seeing him in the Blackhawk. The typical starting altitude is more like 2500 ft. This approach was lower than what I had seen before but you don't get to pick when your engine fails. Fortunately, I could see he made a good autorotate recovery hovering not far above the runway. He then flew to the parking area and the pilots wrapped up their details. I hung around until he got me into the hanger to walk around a bit. It was a long day for the pilots.

There might be a little bit of pride shining through this note. Pride is not really the right word as it implies something we did. He has worked hard and put up with a lot to make all of this happen. I am smiling and happy for him.

Level flight several miles out.