Growing up in New Zealand in the 1980's our tiny air force used Huey's too. On the odd Saturday morning two would fly past my house & I was always in awe.
I remember the sound of the RNZAF helis often, approaching from the South over Rotorua when I was growing up in Ngongotaha in the late 60s and through the 70s
Great video, but I don’t think that was U.S customs as they paint their helicopters black and yellow (unless they changed the colors suddenly), and I think they stopped using the Huey and moved on to the Blackhawk, sorry for being a nerd, great video, love the sound of those blades.
Yes but A. That popping noise you hear then is only for a limited amount of time (descent or flaring), since this state of flight needs the blade tip vortices to interact (it's called blade vortex interaction noise for a reason) B. It's one of the rare occasions that you can hear the popping inside the Huey In fast forward flight like here the sound comes from transonic shocks on the leading edge on the tip of the advancing rotor blade (the tip easily reaches mach 0.9+), the transonic flow on the top of the blade creates shockwaves that can be heard for miles and miles away
To those of us who served in Vietnam, the sound of a Huey is iconic - sometimes it just meant a quick lift from one place to another in a Huey slick, but to many it meant life. It perhaps meant dustoff medical evacuation, or the incoming of needed ammunition, water and medical supplies. Possibly it meant reinforcement when more men were needed or maybe air-ground fire support from a Huey gunship. But for anyone who served in Vietnam, it is a sound that they will recognize 'til the day they die.
I would say this helicopter was about 10 miles away when I started the video recording. Depends on the weather I guess. It was a cool and calm day weather wise.
You can hear a Huey for about 10 miles at the right circumstances! But then you won't hear that blade slap, it's more like a rumbling noise like far away thunder, that then will get more and more into the blade slap!
Ahh the good old days of 'Nam. I always heard this beautiful sound when I was a kid because my uncle was a USAF pilot. Just hearing it is a goosebump you'd just instantly stand with Ride of the Valkyries playing on your head.
After seeing this the first time, I was disappointed not to see more of the Huey. When I played it again, I so much enjoyed the wop/wop. Music to this old Nam vets ears.
I once heard what I thought was a chinook about to fly over. The sound went on for what felt like forever before 2 Super Cobras came flying by. Cool sight to see
