US Military's Largest Helicopter: The CH-53K King Stallion 

So, what are your thoughts on the 53 Kilo?

I had the opportunity to go up the ramp of a CH-53 once... it's hard to fathom how big these helicopters really are. The ramp alone is bigger than some helicopters. Respect to the pilots and the crews that maintain them.

I work at Sikorsky. Fun fact. The tail rotor gearbox in the Kilo is about the same size (shorter, but similar diameter) as the main rotor gearbox of a Blackhawk variant. That's how big the K is.

Could you imagine seeing a giant helicopter just spin around like that in battle. The enemy would be so confused.

These helicopters look like regular size then you see a person standing next to one and you realise how large they are.

Considering how hard flying a Helicopters are vs planes is its surprising that a fly by wire system hasn't come sooner.

6:22 Crazy the pilot chops off the refueling boom with his rotors.

I’m a marine truck driver and I’ve flown in a ch53 only one time. We were doing a training exercise and I was notionally “killed when my truck got hit by mortars” so they called in a casevac to evac me and the others that were in the truck. I remember lying in a stretcher and hearing the chopper land and they grabbed me and the others and rushed us out to the chopper. It was a CH-53. I remember them carrying me in there and setting me down and just being amazed by how big this chopper was. When it flew off I was just chilling in this stretcher and enjoying the ride lol. Of course it was just a training event and me and everyone else wasn’t actually hurt but it was a cool experience nonetheless.

I had a chance to go on a training flight with the 1st SOW in an MH-53 Pave Low II when I was in AFROTC back in the 90's. They were in Asheville, NC for training in mountains. There most terrain at Hurlburt might be a sand dune on the beach. Standing on the rear ramp in total darkness with NVGs while on a terrain-following flight was the most thrilling thing I've ever done. There was a safety line and I was with the rear gunner. Listening on the intercom to the pilots and crew as they hovered in a valley for a simulated pilot rescue was really inspiring. The aircrew acts as spotters and give corrections to the pilot. Over beers after flight the pilot told me hovering a helicopter with precision is like holding a basketball and balancing another basketball on it.

Worked on the CH53K program for years, and it is an amazing machine. 100 feet long, carbon fiber that is stronger than steel by weight and volume. Absolutely fantastic.

*"Just checking your reflexes"* Don't worry bro, sponsor block got my back.

3:53 got me good 😂

My sister flew 53's for 6 years while in the Navy. I got a chance to do a flight out of Mayport to JAX, it was soooo impressive. As impressive as it is, these birds are so complex and have so many points of failure, the are frequently out of commission apparently. But if you're a helo pilot, you understand the flying brick concept. Go Navy!

2:46 I never knew it could actually do that. When I first saw Transformers' Blackout, who had a vehicle mode similar to this, I thought the rotors folding was just a part of its transformation. its cool to actually see that the rotors do fold in like that. Its also an amazing show of a transformer incorporating a vehicle's feature into its design.

CH-53K King Stallion is such a beautiful helicopter

Loved the humor in this one and the jokes peppered in :) and I appreciate the actual subtitles that you've taken the time to put in!

Ok, im subscribing. The humour in this one was just too good for me to hesitate anymore

It’s got to be a good feeling being the engineers of this project knowing they did the best job possible

At the beginning I thought “oh that maneuver is easy with computer flight controls”, and it turned out to be FBW. It’s really interesting, as feedback loop command interpreters are common enough to be used in home made drones. Tom Stanton has some videos on making FBW/stability augmentation addons for his flying creations, particularly ones that require better control responses than a human can manage.

I used to launch and recover the CH-53e super stallion when I was in the navy. Powerful aircraft.

I worked on the CH-53E for 16 years. Incredible machine.

love all this info and all the stuff im learning :D

This can lift nearly 50% more weight than the Chinook. Very impressive. As far as I can find the only in service helicopter capable of lifting more is the MI-26.

I love watching these fly over. See them probably every three months or so.

Thank you for sharing this information with us

Great video! I miss working on the 53E sometimes, glad I was able to work on them while I did. When I got out they were preparing to start rolling out the 53K for testing but I never had a chance to work on one. 53s are amazing aircraft.

4:00 nice.... my hand had gone form propping up my head to holding the mouse! lol

That guy at 6:41 casually firing an Mashinegun while sitting

I really appreciated the size of the CH53 after having one spiral down at me after losing tail rotor power during rappels 😶

my school used to have a military appreciation day every year, they brought a bunch of trucks and flew in some helicoptors and even an osprey. i got to go in all of them a couple times. one of the coolest experiences during my time in school Edit: i went to Somerset County Votech in New Jersey, and pictures and videos of the king do not do it justice. its so massive in person its amazing it can fly

Thank you for not taking a sponsor, it greatly increases our enjoyment of the video.

Awesome video man!

While I was in service, I got to talk to one of the engineers working with VMX-1. We talked about (and he showed me firsthand video of) the MH-60 rescue just days after it happened stating "this was the first real world mission performed by this series of aircraft". One of the cooler moments of my military career. :)

I love your videos, every time you upload I'm instantly happy, and you never disappoint to deliver information in a very serious but entertaining way, I'm sure you love what you do and it shows bruh

So I was in the Us Navy Squadron HM-12 from 1987-1990, the squadron consisited of RH-53D's, CH-53E's, and also the MH-53E Sea Dragons named after our squadron Hm-12 Sea Dragon's. I was a electronics tech (AT) on all 3 of them and our squadron was the test squadron for Sikorsky on the MH-53E which was the very first varient of this "King" helo. The Mh-53E could lift it's own weight (33,230lbs) with either duel point or single lift eyes. it was quite a thing to watch and I did log about 100hrs as part of the flight crew for testing of avaionics dueing operations. Biggest help we have and being on it proved that!

When it was lifting the 30k Lbs I was wondering what the coning looked like on the rotor, so I’m glad you pointed that out

My father served 30 years in the US Navy, and the majority of it within the helicopter mine countermeasures community. We have photos of a 3 year old me in BUFE, which stood for Big Ugly F@#%ing Echo, and was the transition airframe for them to the MH-53E. Great bird. If it's not leaking, you know you have a problem.

8:06 Hang on! Whoa! That's two King Stallions engaged in mid-air refueling from a single KC-130... WHILE CARRYING FOUR HUMVEES! ! Okay, mind blown! :)

Thanks for inserting the metric units!

Awesome video as always!

I want this as a water-bomber aircraft for combatting bushfires in Australia. 30,000-lb of water in one go would be a game-changer for a future potential Black Summer scenario.

I served in the IAF for 5 years as a CH-53 Sea Stallion mechanic and as much as the Sea Stallion is an even older platform, it still flies up there like a beast, but very soon will be out of commission in Israel because there are no spare parts left, and the air frames are getting weaker every day (lots of cracks and whatnot). But the King Stallion though, that's a different beast, maybe the mother of all beasts in the western heavy-lift helicopters if not in the entire world.

God bless the United States of America 🇺🇸

I used to work and fly on 53Es and I love these big birds...... amazing feels of engineering!

3:53 thanks for the laugh! That was brilliant!

When you see a chopper lifting 2 hamvees at the same time or lifting a striker apc like nothing you can really say that chopper is really poweful

Great vid. Thanks.

Flew in 53Es several times in 90s as Marine at Camp Pendleton. Love them

The KING stallion has such a nice ring to it!

Got a few rides on the CH53. Old and wore out. Was told of it is not leaking fluid you should be worried. That means it is out of fluid.

Thank you for the metric conversions:-)

That thing is amazing! So glad they boosted and modernized it!

The sponsor gag😂😂👍👍

When our aircraft carrier (USN) was anchored in Abu Qir Bay, Egypt a Sikorsky S-61 landed on our flight deck. Although it's a smaller model in comparison it was still huge compared to the SH-3's we had.

Haha! You had me with the sponsor. My finger was a few mm away from skipping 10 seconds. Glad you interupted in time! Great video

Thank you for your subtitle!

The size of that swashplate is mindboggling.

I just realized that the king stallion may have been the inspiration for the Razorcrest. I mean look at where the side doors are and how the ramp in the back looks. Even the exhaust ports/intakes on the top are in the same spot as the engines of the Razorcrest. Just a theory.

The clip at 6:25 is crazy!! Great video

Rode on the older CH53 in the 90’s. Things were big and fast. Also took a turn in a 53 simulator. Quite a machine.

I worked at a training squadron in NC when the Kings were initially being distributed for training, we had 2 on base for a while, and then we got 4 more. I believe we received a 7th after i left, and i guess were supposed to get and 8th or 9th as well. They were super cool to see in person. The unit that had them shared my hanger, so I got to check them out all the time on the flightline and in the hangar. We were so used to seeing the 53E's that when the new birds arrived it was like Big Brother came to town. They are HUGE.. like, Ive seen studio apartments that are smaller. Shes a loud fucker too. I used to think the ospreys were loud until i heard one of these things spool up.

While stationed with the USAF in Germany in about 1986, a CH-53 landed at our remote radar site and we all got to go for a ride. It was a blast! I remember while getting on board that one of the crew members said " Don´t worry, if a helicopter crashes, it always burns!" LOl. Didn´t keep me getting on board, though.

Nice video, you guys really did your homework.

3:56 that was brilliant. Nicely played. My finger was over the video ready to skip… love me some clever dry humour.

Given that fly by wire is digital, and replaces an analog system of pulleys and cables, I think a better analogy would be a standard record player which is analog, but has electrical components versus a CD player.

I've never heard a 53 mech call their bird anything nicer than "the trash can."

3:54 Well you got me.. I was about to skip ahead but got a good chuckle instead. 😂 Keep up the lovable personality.

LOVE it, i was so sad to hear the awesome sea stallion was leaving, but i'm glad theres a bigger better replacement

Is that true that fly by wire systems are more durable than legacy systems? Like in my car, the electronic systems seem to go out faster than the mechanical ones. I realize fly by wire's other advantages, but not entirely convinced about durability

Just heard 53K are fully in production now..awesome

I actually reached for my mouse at the fly by wire bit. Got me good. Cheers!

Damn bro the 53 kilo can travel at 200mph? God damn.

finally, a troop transporter capable of lifting americans

The king stallion looks awesome and if one heck of a beast at its job

I loved being stationed at New River Air Station in N. Carolina back in the early 70's being around the CH-53's. They were my favorite to see and be around besides the Huey's. GO AIRWING!! MAG-26!

I mean if you've ever seen the shaft on a real stallion you'll understand the power

Ahh the Mh53 variants of these helicopters are my favorites!

I am a huge fan of the CH-53 and the K model in particular. Fast big & powerful. Want one!

This is incredibly fascinating.

That’s called a yaw spin (With fpv drones)

My heart goes to the entire community for Amazons AMZ2023X building up something even my grandpa can understand. This is so smart by them to launch it to shatter the doubts and fears of the common folk which is not even correct to begin with. Everyone knows the state of inflation and recession now and the way out is already in progress. Now it's just about catching the big fish

The little bit of comedy you put in with the fake ad was amazing, keep making content please

Other choppers can pirouette and maintain a perfect position/altitude/velocity thanks to computer assistance. Whilst the super stallion may be the first to do away with the control runs and have the link between the stick and the swash replaced with just wiring, it's not the first to have computers moving the controls..

What a beautiful machine.....

I rode in a CH-53 at Fort Benning in 1993 working with a Marine anti-terrorism unit for a day.. it was pretty cool.. it landed in blackout conditions in a little clearing about 3 am in the morning and seeing the silhouette of that giant helicopter blotting out the stars above the clearing was impressive.

I worked at VMX-1 for 3 years when I was in the Marines. Pretty cool to see some of my friends in this video

What a gorgeous piece of machinery. Impressive to say the least.

Your videos are so perfectly timed I love it haha! I was sat here going "WAIT, it fits in a c-17?????" to which I get "That said, the King Stallion doesn't fit inside the C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft, at least not in one piece." Had me laughing over here.

this is my favorite helicopter of all time

I can’t wait till we get a heli that’s on the same level as the MI-26.

There are some inaccuracies in this video. For example, it states that the Kilo model has lifted 35,000 lbs., incorrectly stating that it is 3 times what the Echo model could lift. Plus, it incorrectly states that the lifting of an LAV-25 would have been an accomplishment for the Echo. In reality, the Echo could lift 32,000 lbs., which is only 3,000 lbs. less than the article's stated lift of the Kilo, and it could easily lift an LAV-25. I know this for a fact for while flying an Echo I lifted a 28,000 lb. LAV in 1985 in the high, hot desert of 29 Palms, CA. I've also lifted even heavier bulldozers. The difference between the models is probably in the fuel load. The Echo would need a reduced fuel load for a heavy lift, but the Kilo can probably carry a larger fuel load with a heavy lift. So, the difference is not so much how much weight the models can lift, but rather how much fuel can be carried simultaneously.

Very eloquent presentation.

Very cool

Good idea

"I'm kidding. There is no sponsor. Just checking your reflexes." 🤣🤣🤣

You are a naughty guy, " just checking your reflexes" good one.

Worked near those back when I was stationed in hawaii. You would not believe how loud those things are when they're starting up on the ground.

I can't get over how large those exhausts are. Big enough to fit a grown man.

Thats a true king over there and a talented dancer

finally YT has recommended me something cool