Why is this one of the best videos on the internet? - No crappy music - No robot voice - Camera was steady and focused - Video was not filmed vertically Its not hard...but too many youtubers fuck it up. Be like this guy!
But, those are ways to save upload gig loss, and still get the point across, this was worth the gig loss, glad they fixed it and did not bring the cam into the heated meeting that later commenced. 🤯😤🥺
The control needed to not only hover a helicopter but to hover it metres off the ground over the same position while people stand below it is crazy.... that pilot is very skilled!
The pilot flying has one hell of a hover button, the pilot monitoring is keeping his/her head (Hey! Women fly these things too!) Yea! that ground crew must have trouble walking with such big stones.
I mean what did you expect the pilot to do other than to hold the hover? Have his copilot get out and get the wheel down rather than the maintenance crew who knows the landing gear specifically? Don’t be an idiot tommy.
@@streetDAOC I don't think he said that at all, pretty sure all he was talking about is the size of the balls on a person who'll sit underneath a helicopter trying to pry it's gear out but ok go off then lmfao
One guy had a boatload of skill. The other group had a boatload of trust. Of course, they got that trust by watching videos just like this one. Of course we’re being impressed only because it worked out perfectly, if the ground crew did exactly the same things that they did here, and it worked out “poorly”, then we’d be discussing their “recklessness”.
Focus, control, a steady hand and an excellent display of craft- the camera person was truly in the groove. The pilot and ground crew were pretty good, too.
We had a MH-53 with a bad nose gear. The cylinder over extended and was hanging. We made a platform out of mattresses and plywood and sat the bird down on that. Then we could jack up the acft to repair the strut. No damage to the acft.
Honestly I'm kinda surpized they don't have something , be it a jack or otherwise, that could be quickly dragged under the helicopter and wedged in to let the pilot land and shut that thing down, even a big as big as that can't hold enough fuel to just hover forever while they try to get the gear loose
@@UNSCPILOT yeah I've seen footage of the Royal Navy putting a make shift platform under a Harrier when it's nose gear got stuck. The pilot hovered over a put it down on that.
This happens occasionally. When I was in MOS school learning to work on Marine 53s, my Staff Sergeant told me of times when he'd had to hang upside from the edge of the nose gear door (the door only seals against the fuselage on the front and sides. There's a small opening at the rear of the door that you can get your hands into) with his feet on the belly of the bird, and physically pull the door open to lower the gear.
Ocker3 Yup. It's an unfortunate side effect of the design of the nose gear actuator, the door itself, and the simple scissors mechanism that opens the door. The door is in two pieces, hinged at the front and middle, with just a scissors mechanism connecting it to the nose gear strut. When the nose gear is lowered, it pushes the door open, and vice versa. There are rubber pads around the edge of the door that fit it snugly into the nose gear well. Too snugly, sometimes. The nose gear is actuated by a large hydraulic cylinder, which also locks in place when extended or retracted, and when retracted, also holds the door tightly closed. The problem is that the nose gear actuator has almost no leverage to move the gear and the door when it's all retracted. If the door fits too snugly, the nose gear sticks. Long and technical, I know. Sorry.
There isn't much chatter during an inflight emergency like this one. Standard procedure (at least in the usaf) is to call in the ife, #of souls on board, nature of emergency, fuel remaining time to landing and desired emergency vehicles. After that it's pretty standard approach and ground communication.
@@jj516 You should try it from under the main gear box...there's a nice lateral shuffel...kinda has a rocking effect...lol So, between the 7 blade sooth and the rocking if you brought a turkey sandwich for snack your eyelids are going yo-yo.🤣 ...hmmm...very similar the H-1...right? H1? ...I find the Huey comforting cuz I think of Marines...there's nothing quite like a Marine....so much fun to be around...make you feel safe....at least for me anyway.
I was driving north on California Highway 101 approaching the Highway 85 junction (South of San Jose). There was a helicopter hoovering over the Metclaf power station while others were working on the power lines. (see Wikipedia Metclaf Sniper Attack; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_sniper_attack ). I had the helicopter in sight for about 4 minutes and it looked like it was pinned to the sky. Another viewer commented that that particular model could be equipped with an autopilot capable of that stable of a hover. There was no bobbing or side to side wobble.
Happened to us on an MH-53M at Mildenhall, UK, in 2002. Paul Carbine and Rusty did the honors of getting the nose gear to come down. I was the flight engineer sitting right over where the nose strut is. LtCol Brown was the aircraft commander. It took a few minutes, but they broke it free; It was a rock-solid hover. Rest In Peace Paul, you are missed.
I just found this video in my reccomended. I was working In the Tower talking to this aircraft and the guys on the ground gettinjg these gents back onto the deck. crazy im just finding this now. Thanks to all the hard work from the crew and the guys on the ramps to getting her home safely. I can remember a time when one of the 53s from the seawall had to make an emergency landing in a field and we had to make sure we got it back. Crazy couple years in norfolk 🤣
Thats crazy! Congrats to you all! Honestly surprised they just didn't land the aircraft on its belly rather those guys risking their lifes to save some expensive damage costs from a belly landing of an aircraft that failed them. either way great work to them all!
@@cloakedsniper5016 there was direct communication between the ground team and the pilots yes. But the airspace and airport is the responsibility of the air traffic control team so the pilots are talking to both of us and the ground team was also talking to us in the tower.
They have a hovering auto pilot system all they have to do is turn the dials to the height you require and the computer will put it there even in high winds
Firewing131 thanks for that. The nearest I’ve ever come was an MH53 at Aviano about 500m away on the ramp and I could feel all kinds of wash from that. Even so that was mighty fine work from the ground crew.
Neil Gregson, It’s also important to note that helicopter aerodynamics are different than most people realize. It isn’t air moving downward (aka thrust) that keeps a helicopter aloft. If that was the case, then the force of the air moving downward would have to equal the weight of the aircraft which would be significant. Instead, it’s the motion of the rotor blades through the air that creates lift the same way that an airplane’s wing does. Add all the lift forces from all of the rotor blades together and that’s the force that keeps a helicopter in the air during a hover. Yes, there is downwash, but it makes up a fraction of the weight of the helicopter. Of course, if the pilot increases power to gain altitude, the pitch on the blades will increase accordingly to increase lift and the result is also an increase in downwash. A 53 with an armpit of power will put out a massive load of downwash for sure, but a stable hover is fairly manageable. Ground effect reduces the power required for the hover as well.
ng: The H-53 has a downwash of over 100mph. That's a major reason why the USN decided decades ago not to use it for search and rescue. It pushes people under the water.
Hovering over a flat ground with no wind is no incredible skill at all. This is basic training. Especially for military transport crew. Frankly this situation was a useless hazard to everyone around on the ground. Any power issue would result in the helicopter tilting and the blades hitting the ground and flying all around the place. They should have brought some support to hold the nose up while completing the landing. Then the maintenance crew could safely check everything with the engine shut down. There are enough good reasons to risk soldier lives on the battlefield. No need to add unnecessary danger on the home base.
Stuckgrenadepin You don’t understand what level of fascist trump is, I’m sure if he had his way he would. Did he not advocate shooting protesters? I love the mental gymnastics republicans are doing to defend trump
This doesn't look like their first rodeo with a hung nose gear. I had a real landing gear emergency on my multi-engine, commercial check ride. I was flying under the hood, single engine, ILS approach and my FAA examiner was pumping the nose wheel to get the third down and locked light lit up and green. Needless to say, I passed the check ride and had a good sized audience on the ramp as we taxied back to the hangar and ramp.
I want to see ONE NFL or NBA player do THAT! The pilot that held that helicopter that steady and the Air Crew that risked their lives are the true heroes, not some guys playing with a ball
I will say one thing ! Thats a DAMN GOOD PILOT ! (to hover perfectly still) those men under the chopper are risking their lives literally ! That pilot should get a raise !
I have about 20 hours in a helicopter, and I want to take my hat off to this pilot on how perfect he is at hovering. This ladies and gentlemen is a true work of art
Had a similar issue when I was serving in the RAN, aircraft (SH2GA Super Seasprite) returned from a sortie and was showing unsafe gear lights in the cockpit. The pilot put it in a hover over the taxiway and a couple of us went out under the disk and checked it out. Turned out it was a faulty cockpit indication and the aircraft landed on without further incident. Just another advantage a rotary wing has over fixed.
With the exception to anything with Fixed gear, but that's mostly tiny civi stuff anywho... well, and seaplanes maybe if they don't need to deploy anything
We had a C model, got hooked on a refueling basket. Pilot stayed, rest of crew bailed out. He then played with it and finally pulled loose, bent the refueling boom so that it hit the ground. We put a maintenance stand out, he landed with the nose gear on the stand. Worked, Maintenance pulled and replaced the boom, flew the entire time I had left in England, part of a Rescue Squadron.
@@Mike-oxlong1029 He was our check pilot and giving a bunch of new pilots practice at air refueling. One of them hit the shuttlecock too hard, got the tip wedged, the rest was not good news. The pilot and I were good friends out on the line. He was Air Force Major Merchant. One crazy dude. We had a Doppler navigation system on the old C versions, I got it to work, the only working systems in the entire Air Force! Merchant kept after me, he wanted me to go get my degree and come back as a pilot, I just liked fixing things. If there was a hard rescue, or they had to get into a tight spot, he flew it. I got to go on a ride during one of their Air Refueling missions. Nice ride...right up until you pull up so close to a C-130 that you could count the screws in access panels on the rudder, seven thousand feet up, and over the North Sea. After five or six times hooking up, I got use to it. When he needed a maintenance guy along on a cross country, he took me. I liked the rides.
@@jamesberwick2210 WOW!!! You must've had the time of your life!! I love fixing things too and I am studying for my pilots license but ill never be anything close to you or Major merchant. I would love to join the navy but my body is too broken. : (
@@Mike-oxlong1029 There were times we had fun, but working long hours, rain, sleet and snow, or 130 degree temps in South East Asia for 12-14 hours a day, took its toll on all of us. I learned electronics, and put it to good use as a civilian. It was fun when your young, but as you age, the military life starts to wear on you. I had no intention of becoming an officer to either fly as a pilot or as a navigator, both sets wanted me to come back as an officer, I just liked the feeling of fixing something as complex as the navigation systems on aircraft.
Interesting bs story...the boom operator or basket operator can jettison the drogue hose if the probe malfunctions or any other malfunction that may occur. A likely event which would have happened well before any of the 'crew' would have to 'bail' out as you say. I'm calling BS on your story. Bent boom a 'sceptical maybe' but the 'bail out' part is a complete load of shit.
Pilot Error, when taxing out for take-off, if you turn to lift off, you have to hover or lift-off and allow the nose gear time to center-up with the nose gear centering spring, when you don't, the nose wheel retracts sideways, and get caught in the wheel well, and it's a BITCH to pull it down, it takes 3 to 4 with a cargo strap wrapped around the nose strut to yank-it down, if that fails, bring out the mattresses and land the nose on it, also, trying to use the emergency Blow-down system doesn't work, not enough pressure. - (Been there - Done That !!!) "Semper=Fi"
If the nose strut doesn't center when it extends, it's improperly serviced. It's centered by an internal cam, not spring. Nose wheel steering automatically turns off when weight off wheels is achieved and gear internal pressure engages the cam to center gear to neutral position for retraction. Lack of pressure = offset gear. My experience with Marine aircraft is, "if it leaks, stuff some more rags in to catch the mess". True story, George AFB, late 70s, a transient Marine F-4 couldn't get #2 engine started. He asked transient mechanic to, "defuel me down to 4000 lbs and I'll take off with 1 engine, I gotta get to Point Magu". Needless to say, the mechanic refused.
Okay so that is pilot error for doing it if they know it can happen: but I would argue its a design error for either allowing it to be able to go up sideways, or not be able to cope with it going in sideways.
Most times, hung NLG are caused by a worn or improperly adjusted NLG door system getting jammed on the airframe. I saw this happen a few times and the airframe (hydraulics) mechanics simply used a regular broom stick to break the jam, after ensuring the plane was grounded.
@@henrys.6864 They likely already know what went wrong. But in the event that they don't, you're right they'll follow their troubleshooting package and eventually the defective parts will stand out and swinging the gear is part of the procedure. I'm blown away the techs were able to unjam the gear, it appears they lowered the gear by hand. I wonder if they disconnected the actuator. If so, one of them has to be soaked in hydraulic fluid...
That was remarkably the best team work, sooooooo calm, so amazing WAY TO GO GUYS!!!I AM 74 yrs young, most amazing example of team work I have ever seen!!! No loss of life or helio totally amazing video!!!!!!thank you 😳😬😊👍
@@bobkoncius7381 It's from the expression that comes with being on a Sea Stallion:. "Don't worry about the hydraulic fluid leaking. Worry when it STOPS leaking."
No , its not. I was in HM-14 for eight years, and only saw that once. Very reliable aircraft. And, that is an MH-53 Sea Dragon variant of the Super Stallion, for mine countermeasures.
Pilot is incredible such a long stationery hover even with auto pilot is difficult, hats off to the pilot but again here ground Maintainence crew is simply awesome very very brave work👍🏻👍🏻 love and regards from India
Wow! What amazing teamwork. Without everyone’s collective bravery and skills this could’ve ended very differently. And thank you thank you thank you for recording in "landscape"!
That is one hell of a pilot , hovering that low without getting ground resonance was amazing. Dont try that in a Robinson 22 or 44. The trust level of pilot and ground crew is off the scale. Team work in action , much respect
Navy helicopter do it better as a video o f a stuck nose gear on the helo pilot landed on the fight deck at a hover while carrier deck crew unstuck it the carrier was at speed go check out the vid
For anyone who's never worked around helicopters you would not believe how dangerous that was and how skilled that pilot is. All it would've taken was a wind gust or miscommunication between the pilot and the ground crew for this to go bad. I used to work at Sikorsky. We have the best pilots in our military. Period.
Ahhh, the smell of JP in the morning, especially after a hard night of drinking. Work hard, play hard. Brings back memories. Had a stuck nose gear on a 53, quite literally 'shocking' putting in the gear pins after the gear was finally brought down while the rotors were still keeping the full weight of the aircraft off of the wheels. (Static build-up just going from gear to gear).
@Saber Fox Hey, you may known this : a Harrier landing on a "chair", or almost a chair !" : Well, it was not so soft... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vIhefke0Q9Y.html Ok, with a plane, it's more difficult. But, a long time ago, they've done that ! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--BfZ1g_x8wA.html I'm very impressed by the pilot working, making a so long and so low fix point, with working men under this big beast. Great job.
@@paulf1389 No job has to be done in an unsafe manner. As if setting the nose down on the pavement would result in "writing off a multi million dollar helicopter" or resulting in the loss of "pilots lives". The freaking front wheel wasn't down. FFS.
@@paulf1389 Why, because I think that doing something as needlessly dangerous as this for no good reason demonstrates poor decision making ability? I'm still waiting for you to explain how fixing this safely with the aircraft on the ground would have resulted in writing off a multi million dollar helicopter or would have cost the pilot's life. I can clearly see how the way they did it endangered 5 people's lives.
This happened a few times when I was stationed at MCAS Tustin in the 90's. Somebody decided to go get about 10 or so mattresses from the Barracks and then set her down on those and saved the day. Seems to be an occasional problem on the CH-53's
This feels like something that happens often enough to have an engineered solution, like a little remote operated jack that can scoot out and prop the chopper up without endangering anyone.
See them hooking a static line on the other side before touching that thing? That's a demonstration of hover skills with what must surely be some off shoe or on shore breezes trying to push him around. Good job by all.
Static lines are for discharging built up static, which all aircraft suffer from. It's known as grounding the aircraft. There's a pretty good depiction of it in the movie The Hunt For Red October.
@@spannerturnerMWO I am an Ironworker and years ago erected some iron with a helicopter. The connectors had to whack the incoming iron with a tool to discharge the static
Blow down bottle will only give you one shot. If it is stuck it won't move it. Hyd pressure is a constant 3000 psi the blow down starts at 3000 and bleeds down as it is being used.
I noticed the nose gear finally "extended" when that female aircrewmen walked by. 🤣😁 Guess it just needed the right motivation. We had one of the landing gear on our SH-2F not extend and lock while at sea. So while the helo hovered just above a rolling deck we forced the gear down and got the safety pin in place. Stuff like this happens all the time.
I was in HM-15 from 97-2000 and wrote a procedure for this exact scenario. Why it's not still used is amazing, putting people under the a/c. Wth are thwy thinking retracting the gear. You never retract or cycle a landing gear malfunction. Get the pallets with cushion cargo strapped down , land MLG, set brakes and lo lower nose. Its been proven and works with no possible risk to people
They should build a cushion on shocks stand on wheels that they can roll out and put under any of the wheels that won’t go down. Then they can jack it up and fix it later.
Do they have lifts for choppers on carriers? Thats so dope if they do. Especially since that chopper weights like 3 times more than your average compact car
I can hear the talking head on the news now, "During a routine training mission blah-blah-blah..." This is another example that shows there is nothing that goes on out there that is "routine".
Okay guys a question as I was a Jet AE-2..... could the HM-12 have gently landed nose down if it had too? If so would it do a lot of damage? As I read below this is NOT a rare occurrence! Great Piloting skills here!
First tour was HM-19 at NAS Alameda. They are some of the best pilots that have to tow the mine sweeping rigs through the ocean. What they can do when not pulling those things is super human.
@@jimmyhenderson2860 No, you suck because you have no respect for traditional military means. And the new K model is 4000 times more crap too. Go away and never comment again!
Did you read my reply. It said unfortunately it won't be around by 2030. And if you thank i dont have respect for traditional military then you should rethink that. I am so traditional that I have worked on the a model, b , c , d, h , j and m model 53's in addition to the e. Any of the first 3 could fly circles around an e model. An e can carry more and faster,but no where near as maneuverable. I am not a fan of the k but it is coming weather I want it to or not. Try again.
Looks good to me ... and I'm not an aviator. HOWEVER, I know from other military experience and commercial airline experience (avionics maintenance) that there is undoubtedly a written procedure for what to do about a hung nose gear. Working around aircraft, safety is always the first consideration, and minimizing damage to the aircraft is next. Both look as if they were taken care of here, and the gear was safely extended. I also know that other circumstances can make things be handled differently. In the Marines I was a tracked vehicle mechanic (AMTRACS!). In training and in depot, an evolution (such as, for example, removing & replacing the engine-transmission pack) might be listed as a six-hour procedure. But in a combat zone (Vietnam, 69-70) that same task could be accomplished in two or three hours, max. with less equipment and fewer people. It's called field expedient procedures ... If this problem had been at an FOB in the mid-east, I'm sure it would have been handled just as safely but much faster. Same problem, different circumstances, probably the same result in less time. A combat zone provides incentive that a Stateside base (like this) just does not have. Rotary-wing aircraft also have an advantage over fixed-wing that is demonstrated here: they can stay airborne and stationary. I saw the nose gear of a C-141B collapse on landing once. The aircraft was a total loss, but everyone on board got out. (First time I ever saw pilots move so fast!)
