CH-53 Overloaded

[@robbar5483]

Never thought i would see this video. I was on that flight back in 2005. If only they showed the whole video and not cut off. Everyone ran to the water to see the one fuel tank that dropped, the other did not drop and we had to fly around until it did to land back on ship. If the pilots did not press the release to drop fuel tanks when they did then the outcome would have been different.

[@justinfuller3190]

I was also on that flight I remember the one fuel tank ejecting

[@robbar5483]

Were you one of the marines?

[@justinfuller3190]

@@robbar5483 I was the platoon corpsman for the Combat Engineer plt. Onboard

[@sigs1010]

@@justinfuller3190 I was the RP3 with the BLT... small world... im still in...

[@airwrecktion]

So it was just people it was carrying? You guys had a bunch if gear or what? What else were you guys carrying?

[@billcallahan9303]

The pilot was nicknamed Moses after that takeoff. If you look closely he actually parted the waters! Great job Moses!

[@panagiotiselsisi7752]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So accurate!

[@hansinglauw863]

Moses lead the ways ......👍

[@TomBatemanRT85]

I hope he got a medal out of that! That was some serious piloting!

[@LiamRobinson]

@@TomBatemanRT85 More likely a write-up for not doing the weight properly before lift-off

[@peterstuivesant2137]

hi.he is so fly

[@ignacioaguirrenoguez6218]

So many people claiming to have been in there, no wonder it was overloaded.

[@xx1352]

Comment of the year 2020!!!!

[@johnwhodat8135]

Lol

[@YourWifesRealBoyfriend]

I was the one whom was REALLY there. I don't remember seeing all those other people.

[@trvman1]

and today they all would have pulled out their phones to video it :) Actually, good training because the crew all ran for cover as soon as they saw something was wrong.

[@MrFusselig]

I was in there with my family as well for dinner when it happened, the tacos were great but we spilled the salsa when the chopper hit the water and didn´t get a refund for it. But the food was good and the portions were huge.

[@adamtaylor31]

I've done a few hours in simulator and I can clearly see that I have no idea what the hell i'm talking about.

[@crushingvanessa3277]

You've done more time than me. Probably the most the best comment yet to these videos.

[@drewt3210]

Best comment ever!!! Thank you, Sir, for making my night.

[@melvinharvey8279]

that is perfect. I know just enough to hurt myself, myself

[@wcolby]

You are one of the few be proud.... Marines!

[@MrX-tm8fy]

You have no idea what what you're talking about? You're funny! I mean, you're in a youtube's comment section. You're probably a military expert like all of us! 😉

[@thumperjdm]

A nice video displaying the difference in power requirements for HIGE (hovering in ground effect) vs HOGE (hovering out of ground effect.)

[@trabadix]

Thank you, I did not know those terms and the critical consideration of this.

[@lorditsprobingtime6668]

I think they were very foolish to overload it to that point to begin with. Finding it so hard to lift WHILE getting the extra lift from ground effect of the deck I thought the pilot was just as foolish for then going ANYWHERE except putting it back down and telling them to get some of that weight off, instead he heads over the side where he would know he was going to lose that extra bit of lift. This was really stupid and extremely dangerous and arses need kicking all around. That was so incredibly close to total disaster yet he kept going, that was very foolish. Once he slowly started to get enough forward speed he gained the advantage of translation to lift from it but should NEVER have taken such a huge risk. They could easily have been killed and you can see by the deck crew running for cover well away from the area suggests they fully expected to have bits of smashed rotor blades flying around at ballistic speeds. Man that was dangerous and I hope they realise how close they came to disaster.

[@f143744]

@@lorditsprobingtime6668 Overloaded with such regularity that sometimes they tip the scales from, it’s okay, to oh shit...

[@lorditsprobingtime6668]

@@f143744 That's why they have tare limits. No responsible loadmaster of pilot SHOULD ever go over them so this and even worse never should happen without some sort of mechanical failure. There was no failure here that I an see except for the failure of the ground and air crews.

[@lorditsprobingtime6668]

@TazBoy07AbnR Are you alright there Taz boy? Is that extra head you've got arguing with each other and giving you headaches again? You do realise that not one thing you said makes even the slightest bit of sense I hope. Just so you don't forget or can't get rid of your idiotic comment I'll copy it below just so nobody can forget how f#%@ing insane you are. " TazBoy07AbnR 2 hours ago The apologist compensating for navy fuck ups as usual. " Wowee! That takes a special brand of lunatic moron to come out with a comment as out of place and generally crazy as that one. Man I doubt I'll ever find one quite as insane as yours again though. I sincerely think you need serious mental help.

[@danielmontague9822]

We had the same thing happen in "03. We were on a smaller amphib. As it took off and hovered over the ocean, it lost lift and started to drop. We could see the blades going over the flight deck. Fortunately the pilot was able to gain control and land back on the ship to off load some gear and troops.

[@bertmacdonald337]

And that`s when you realise, Adrenaline IS brown !

[@UnyieldingSeraph]

Mine was green once

[@srcastic8764]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@NSixtyFour]

Yeah. . . Some yellow too

[@thomasrobinette3227]

Hahahhaa

[@kevinbraden798]

what the.....

[@brendanwood1540]

Legend has it: The pilot is still saying "Come on baby! Come on baby!"

[@odyshopody9387]

I was an ABF on the flightdeck of an Amphib. Those 53's are the biggest heaviest lifting helo's the Marines have, must have been a ton of people and cargo to overload it!

[@The69Yoshi]

It’s like taking off from a helipad on top of a building, only far less room/time for recovery! IG hover to OG hover in an instant! I’m sure that little bit of forward moment to get some ETL made a big difference! Glad those fuel tanks can be jettisoned!

[@nobodyhome7334]

HA ! The chopper pilot is all , " watch this , It gets the Deck Crew running every time "

[@teatonaz]

This caught me off guard,.. cracked me up bad,... good one. Cheers.

[@Cendus]

Definitely important fundamentals learned at HAATS. Even as a back seater, it was our duty to understand ETL, IGE, & OGE especially flying in mountains at high altitudes where the air is much thinner. Human factors definitely played and I have a feeling the rated crew members got hemmed up for it.

[@jamesvelvet3612]

I built that bad boy (well, the main rotor anyway!) at the Sikorsky plant in Stratford, Connecticut. You can see the plant and test flight area easily if traveling south on the Merritt Parkway bridge as it crosses the Housatonic River. Loved the Big E

[@obsoleteprofessor2034]

I worked at McClellan active duty in 1979. We waiting 4 months for a rotor head. I went home near Fresno and on my return to Sacramento, I followed a flatbed with a can on the back. I could read the writing and knew it was a rotorhead coming from the Navy. That Monday, I walked into the hanger and told them our part was in. That afternoon, they delivered it. On another bird, had a bad nick on one of the cuffs. Late night, a little old lady came across the floor and came to my window, "Did you ask for a machinist?". She was a sweet old thing. I got the scaffolding and lifted her up. She took out her tools and buffed out the nick. Another old lady showed up with a spray can, "Did you ask for corrosion control?" (HH53-C)

[@emanuelceccarini9632]

I was on that helicopter, I was a stoker at the time, told them we din't have enough steam...

[@captainteamcarry3]

🚂🚂🤔😂

[@johnknapp952]

Scariest thing I saw was when our SH-2F helo was trying to do a night landing aboard ship with winds that were 5 kts outside the wind envelope. Just prior to landing the helo lost tail rotor authority (the tail rotor basically stalled) and started to go into a slow uncontrolled spin. The pilot managed to lift the helo up and off to the side while the tail was spinning around. I was flight deck safety PO at the time and only saw the lights of the helo as it was spinning around thinking we just lost our bird. But the pilot managed to get it back under control, got the ship to slow down and get better winds. I think everyone had a better respect for the wind limit charts after that.

[@sandiegotib]

The loadmaster deserves some abuse...

[@snjert8406]

Wait, tail rotors can _stall_ ? Heck.

[@LawDawg717]

@@snjert8406 Yes. That's why you always turn in the direction of power. If you turn in the direction of nonpower and you don't have any power, you don't stop turning. When it happens, you dump the nose and try to fly out of it. With sufficient forward motion, the cabin acts as a rudder and counteracts the centrifugal effects of the rotor disc.

[@snjert8406]

@@LawDawg717 Interesting, thanks for explaining!

[@euromobile900]

_Ground Effect_ has left the chat.

[@llennon73]

PILOT SHOULD HAVE KNOW

[@betelgeuse7645]

Ground effect would literally have no impact here.

[@Canada-_]

@@betelgeuse7645 how so?

[@josephkane825]

@@betelgeuse7645 Why not? He was clearly able to gain elevation while hovering over the deck. He only lost elevation after passing off the deck, when he began to sink. It seems to me that if he had a longer run down the deck that he might have achieved Translational Lift.

[@betelgeuse7645]

@@josephkane825 The only explanation is that he dropped a fuel tank, so as to lower the mass of the helicopter. Ground effect only applies to fixed-wing aircraft.

[@PedroBittencourt2036]

The pilot actually T-Bagged the whole ocean

[@chrismaggio7879]

At minute 3:42 the aircraft was dropping into the drink, at 3:45 the crash crew was in motion and set to spring into action. That is fantastic training. A big salute and high 5 from a former green shirt! Bravo Zulu crash crew! Now, the helo driver needs a refresher in max capacity... and his/her crew chief needs to be doing a bit of galley duty for a month.

[@tonyjackson4099]

Right, because the pilots personally load all the cargo. lol

[@chrismaggio7879]

@@tonyjackson4099 Ultimate responsibility for the aircraft sits in the lap of one person... doesn't matter who is at fault. That's part of being the pilot, to ensure the aircraft is correct and ready. Blame can trickle downhill but the responsibility stays at the top.

[@sc1784]

Loss of ground effect sucks when overloaded.

[@wisam111]

Was the pilot trying to scare the crap out of himself or is this how they normally take off?

[@sc1784]

@@wisam111 I am a fixed wing guy with only a couple hours in rotor wings. I think some others on here that appear to be qualified have answered the question, but I think it is safe to say the pilot did not intend that to happen.

[@crazypilot4017]

@@sc1784 I’m a fixed wing pilot too...yea ground effect can be awesome and scary to deal with...

[@Crazson34]

@@wisam111 I play "Call of Duty" a lot and it's obvious that his rotator wasn't rotating enough rotar to counter the big breakfast he'd had that morning and he should have emptied his bladder as well during pre-flight inspection. That's just my expert opinion.

[@mkefayati473]

With all due respect, I would like to suggest that it was not overloaded! The issue at hand is when the chopper is on the carrier or solid platform, the rotor blade compression is constant due to the platform. However, water will have a different correlating compression with the rotor blade. Furthermore, to counter that, the pilot has to gain a certain altitude where the pressure, or compression is constant or relatively close to that of a solid platform and that can be compensated by having the correct altitude/life range so a fluctuating compression (water) will not effect the take off. I would say the pilot error was where he needed another 100 feet to have the optimum compression where body of air mass meets another air mass where the compression in-between is near constant. Heck, I could be wrong so cut me some slack.

[@conman123yolo7]

As an expert in armchair marine biology I can say I'm almost 100 percent certain that the stuff they almost crashed into is water.

[@LawDawg717]

There's always one armchair marine biologist in the group. Geesh.

[@jim2lane]

I find your hypothesis fascinating sir, and would love to hear more

[@SuperScottCrawford]

Suddenly, the idea of carrying extra ammo seemed like a very bad mistake.

[@maximgun3833]

I don't think feet were the only thing that got wet

[@rcfoley]

Yeah, pilot survived, his underpants did not.

[@TheWizardGamez]

Also the pilots massive balls to get the information then was like, yeah it’ll fly. Some mild incompetence by the pilot and ground crew

[@Alfa_Chef]

Hats off to the pilot. He makes it look so easy. CH-53 is an incredible helicopter.

[@BeKindToBirds]

@Terry Melvin the idiocy of the loadmaster was superseded by the idiocy of the pilot the moment he made the decision to fly off instead of set back down when overloaded

[@msmeyersmd8]

Praise the life saving effects of translational lift. And great flying skills.

[@davidj.7779]

One of my favorite books on the Vietnam war is "CHICKENHAWK' by Robert Mason. The author, a UH-1 combat pilot describes the many instances where he had to use "transitional lift", sometimes 10' over the heads of VC, to get his "Huey", overloaded with wounded troops off the ground. Great book if you like 'chopper stories.

[@msmeyersmd8]

@@davidj.7779 Damn. It’s been along time since I read that book. Probably mid-1980s. If I remember correctly, the author had a crew chief (or chiefs) that knew how to “tune up” the turboshaft engine above military specs. I’m sure the TITs were a bit, or a bit more, over the green and turbine blades didn’t like it. But when you’re being shot at. Who gives a shit? I worked at a local FBO in Medford, Oregon in my college summers from 1976-1979. The 2 best A&Ps were ex-Huey Crew chiefs and door gunners...when they were 19. They had some stories. A personal aside. My Dad, who got me that job, had been an enlisted P-80/F-80 mechanic. He was a great mechanic. These guys were at another level.. He went to Primary OCS Flight School. No degree required at the end of the Korean War. He eventually flew B-36s, B-52s, B-66Es in SEA. Retired and became an airline pilot. True story, he finally got a Bachelors Degree in General Studies less than a year before his O-6 promotion board. He made it. He told me (I was ~12 years old) that they wouldn’t promote him without a college degree. He was right. Then, instead of a base commander assignment, they sent him to the Pentagon. He despised it. He had a talk with me (10th grade) and said he would die of a heart attack if he stayed there and was sorry we would have to move again in a year. Because it was towards the end of the Vietnam war (1973-1974), they only allowed uniforms one day a week. He finally got the Eagles, which isn’t much at the Pentagon, and they wouldn’t let him wear them. Plus, they cut out his flight pay, even though was still eligible, a new policy the year we moved there. That was the last straw. He’d done lots of SAC time at a desk in Omaha and before. He wanted to be a Wing Commander. It’s too bad. He would have made a Great Wing Commander. And probably made O-7 max. He wasn’t a politician. But he looked like a General. Back to the Huey Crew Chiefs. Best mechanics I’ve ever met in my life. One of them had a wife who owned a plain Porsche 911. He made her sell it because he was tired of working on it. If he didn’t like it, that was more than enough for me. I didn’t like Porsches anyway. Glorified Volkswagens. I was a muscle car torque guy. That sealed the deal and I have never ever owned a Porsche. For me, personally, any engine that makes more HP than Torque is a POS. Thanks for bringing up what I remember as a great book. “Chicken Hawk”. I’m sure it’s still on the shelf in my home office. Many Slick drivers in Vietnam had a short half-life. Absolutely no armor. Jesus. They were brave men. 👍🏻🇺🇸

[@davidj.7779]

@@msmeyersmd8 That's a really interesting and enlightening story about your dad. So many of the backbone guys who got us through Vietnam were marginalized when the military went corporate and put diplomas above proficiency. There's an interesting back story for Robert Mason, the author of "Chicken Hawk". He hit a low point after he mustered out, took a job running cargo out of Guatemala and eventually that cargo became drugs. He got busted and convicted. He actually had the book written and had an agent shopping it around at the same time. He did about 5 years and straightened himself out, writing several more books

[@msmeyersmd8]

@@davidj.7779 Thanks for your thoughts on my Dad’s story. He died ~4 years ago. I miss him. I thought you might like this ~8 minute video about Aussie Huey Helicopter Gunners in Vietnam. Amazingly(?) it just showed up in my recommended videos. What a coincidence. 😉🇺🇸 kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZKvpnSCetWJia8 Also thanks for the follow up on “Chickenhawk” author Robert Mason. It’s too bad he had to go through that ordeal. Especially now that most of us know that drug trafficking was coordinated by the CIA to provide them “off book” funds. If you’ve never read the book “Dark Alliance” by Gary Webb. A Real Reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. It’s worth your time. After he was lauded by everyone and won prizes for great reporting, he was rejected by his editors and fired. Eventually he “killed himself” with “two shots” to the head before his next book came out. There was a sanitized movie made about his story. Find the Non-Movie Tie In Original Book. They are trying to rabbit hole the Original Book with Movie Tie-in Propaganda Books. Welcome to Orwell’s 1984. I went to School in LA during that time. It’s a dense read but some of the stuff revealed is unbelievable. The FDA, during the Reagan Administration, came very close to classifying Cocaine as a Non-Addictive drug. I was in Med School so I find that very interesting.

[@msmeyersmd8]

@@davidj.7779 Not trying to be a pest. But this the Best 15 minute interview from a Soldier in Vietnam I have ever seen. Well worth your time. 🇺🇸 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qprbgKyfh511Y5o And another about a pilot. ~1 hour. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZ_VmpWXr9GGatE

[@jnelchef]

Everyone on board busy pulling the seat cushions out of their butts after that.

[@towtruckaj]

I don't think you could poke a needle up their asses they would have been puckered so tight, better yet a seat cushion.

[@jasondurst3528]

mabey obammas birth statement was there

[@lay1back]

1977, the Philippines, Lima Company, 3/9, Weapons Platoon. We lost 28 out of 32 onboard. Overloaded.

[@helopicture]

"Yeah, we're gonna need an over-torque inspection."

[@michaelw6422]

My first thought exactly

[@snjert8406]

What parts would be over-torqued? I have no idea, hence the question

[@michaelw6422]

@@snjert8406 *_What parts would be over-torqued?_* Short answer: ...yes. Longer answer: main and tail gearbox, mast, drive shafts, couplings, main and tail rotor blades, starflex...etc It all depends on the severity (amount & duration) of over torque and parameters vary between different aircraft, engine & transmission types.

[@helopicture]

@@snjert8406 Typically, driveshafts, and related components. Possibly the main transmission, and/or tailrotor intermediate or 90 degree gearboxes.

[@snjert8406]

@@michaelw6422 @helopicture Thanks for explaining!

[@fireOptikz]

Had the same thing happen on our deployment in 2017 53 took off and started losing altitude from spot 9 over the water and flew at hanger Bay level just dipping the rear tires in the water and kept going.

[@ivandasty277]

When it comes close to water surface, again ground effect prevents it's clash to water and gives time to the pilot to eject the fuel tanks.

[@gumb2579]

Wow I know there was some seat cushions ruined that day. So very glad everyone was ok Kuddos to the pilot. Would like to salute the man.

[@HurricaneHunter96]

What we didn’t see here was the one guy get kicked out the back to reduce weight 🤣

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

Lol.

[@Atlas531]

Hell, I would have been jumping out.

[@Atlas531]

@Zfast4you You have a good point. But you haven't seen me jump. Also, the copter doesn't necessarily fall straight down.

[@kibathemechanic4967]

"Remember kids, those Weight and Balance worksheets may seem like a hassle, but they might just save your life!"

[@PhoniiczZ]

When ground effect saves your life.

[@Triggernlfrl]

The canning of fuelpod did it. The ground effect would be if pressent very small.

[@PhoniiczZ]

@@TriggernlfrlId have to disagree.

[@Rabies4818]

@@PhoniiczZhe had ground effect when hovering above the deck of the ship. He lost it once he moved over the water and began to lose height. The combination of dropping the fuel pod and entering into translational lift, allowed the pilot to arrest the decent and to eventually climb away.,

[@jonburrows7874]

Brian Williams was on board...

[@martinjuulandersen9694]

So was Hilary but she was to busy ducking sniperfire and deleting emails.

[@russguffee6661]

@tinwoods eat shit, you commie fuctard.

[@russguffee6661]

@dissimetry best to remain silent and just let the world think you're an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. You commies need to be weeded out.

[@Xman8184]

@@russguffee6661 "Commie lovers" Look no further then the current family & occupants of the White House! Putin's Puppets. So you keep drinking that cool-aid.

[@tomsewell1748]

@Jim Patriot You stupid fk 11 investigations by TEA Party pubs did not find anything! Yet you stupid commie TRUMPTARDS still screaming lock her up? GROW UP YOU FKTRDS....

[@BigShastaKen]

An MH53E wasn't so lucky when they were outside their power limits in Oman and killed 2 aircrewman I knew. RIP Fitz and Sully, not forgotten. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqvSloicpNCGhJY.

[@billcallahan9303]

Thanks for the link Big. Sorry about your friends. I was a Navy trained salvage diver in Vietnam. You wouldn't believe how many we plucked out of choppers by accident alone. One in particular, 11 guys in one Huey, flying low into a setting sun hit a powerline. All 11 drowned. Diving in black water was a scary bitch! Pitch black. Touchy feely.

[@ROFLWOFFL]

@@billcallahan9303 man thats crazy, thank you for sharing

[@ronniefarnsworth6465]

Oh to be a fly on the wall when those pilots where explaining this to the Captain and Air Boss !!!! Lol Sgt, Semper Fi

[@FredtheDorfDorfman1985]

Can you imagine how long it seemed, to the pilots, before transitional lift kicked in? It just didn't want to go up out of ground effect, so the water served as the deck of the ship, so they could stay up, in ground effect, until transitional lift kicked in.

[@jimcallahan981]

"translational lift....not transitional"

[@FredtheDorfDorfman1985]

Jim Callahan yea, thanks for correcting me, translational, not transitional. I don’t know why but I hear translational, and I think translating tendency, but for some reason I forget that translational lift is translational, not transitional. Oh well, thanks.

[@robertmantell5466]

Lol "Don't mind me, just needed to find some ground effect to get going meow!"

[@mehdi9933]

Didn't you calculate the all up weight ?

[@matthewporter4774]

They used kilos instead of lbs

[@hml3672]

Yep, lost ground effect going over the side.

[@damienhill6383]

Close call, nearly disastrous, well done to get to translational lift..

[@byronharano2391]

And just nearly enough! Wonder what the Squadron commander thought?

[@portnuefflyer]

"Got their feet wet", a little Naval aviator humor, love it! Much respect.....

[@53bigmikejones]

Heck, in the oil field for years, 412's, 214's 207's and 407's would work their way to the edge of the helideck, drop over the side to get forward momentum and then gain altitude. Same thing this pilot did, but we didnt have external fuel tanks to drop, depending on the bird, had 5 to 18 passengers on board.

[@AhHereWeGo]

Someone decided to drop thor’s hammer. That’s the only thing that I can imagine that would overload a CH53

[@Ch1n4Sailor]

Nah... Just Marine Pilots

[@brianj.simpson4050]

@@Ch1n4Sailor - You mean Crew Chiefs. Pilots just do (or are supposed to do) the calculations and are held accountable when sh*t goes sideways.

[@marcahumada5558]

Co-pilot: "Aw man! They forgot to refill the windshield washer fluid again!" Pilot: "Oh! No worries, I got this!"

[@beessnow]

Semper fi boys. I was a 53 NSI at HMH-462

[@muskaos]

I saw a similar situation one time while on an UNREP/VERTREP on the _Kitty Hawk_ . One of the HSC Frogs picked up a slung palled loaded with three full drums of HAZMAT and was slinging it to the USNS ship off of our port side. They lost an engine mid sling, and had to dump the pallet in the water, they were about 50 feet from augering in themselves, and if the pallet had hit the water while it was still slung..... I was ATO at the time, and was hanging out on the flight deck watching the festivities over by Elevator 4. I did put 43 passengers on a MH-53 once, last helo hit of the Persian Gulf. We were going to head out of the Gulf to being our trip home the next day. 1999 cruise.

[@KPearce57]

More power Scotty, I'm giving all I got Captan .

[@atomotron]

And that is why, my friends, helicopter has them wheels. It can takeoff airplane-style, which is a bit easier on engines than hover mode, and often used to fly behemoths like Mi-24 / Mi-26.

[@dannyjones3840]

It's called losing ground effect. As soon as a helo drifts left to leave the deck, it loses the air cushion that sustains the hover. Until they can gain forward air speed, it'll drop until cushion is reestablished. I was a airframe mech on skids (H-1) and seen it all the time on the boat

[@reddog1500]

What squadrons? I was Flightline/GSE

[@kennyb7883]

thanks Cpt obvious

[@timw1961]

It will drop WHEN IT'S OVER WEIGHT. It was over by 3,000lbs. The load sheet was incorrect. we fueled up based on the cargo weight given to us.

[@nyleluke]

@@timw1961 we had a AS330j in Afganistan, the pilot was told the cargo was 2500LBS, when actually it was 2500 KG, big difference,

[@jamiemmoore3375]

I was hmh465. 36years ago amazing any of us survived

[@ancaplanaoriginal5303]

It seems more that it lost lift when the "ground" went from being 50cm under him to tens of meters.

[@kamlar5157]

Yeah but it would'nt need that amount of lift if it wasn't overloaded

[@joshb6420]

also known as ground effect

[@hueyrosayaga]

@@joshb6420 they also had to jettison a drop tank so they wouldn't impact the water

[@doctorbrown2313]

Everybody jumping on the ground effect bandwagon while the real chopper pilots know that dropping the tanks AND getting that ETL workin for ya was a key part of keeping that chopper out of the drink.

[@DragonPilot]

Finally! Yes, ground effect was lacking. It was transitioning thru ETL that saves their asses.

[@doctorbrown2313]

@@DragonPilot Indeed...

[@RAMelloh-ij5sl]

That would have been a lot more interesting done over a 15' chop in the water. Calm seas are your friend. Respect and gratitude.

[@berniecom728]

Dropped thousands of dollars into the water but saved millions by not going into the water. Great save

[@donataszakarevicius7776]

Extremaly good pilot skills and reaction to the situation kept this heavy mashine in the air and and saved all lives. It's a good teaching material how not to do such mistakes.

[@daviddunsmore103]

There's an old saying: "The superior pilot is the one who uses their superior judgment to avoid getting into a situation that would require the use of their superior skill!"

[@jasecee8992]

Every time there's been such an incident, I was there!

[@MrsLiederlover]

John Rathbone: After a long career only in fixed-wing turbine transports (airline), most of us can't really understand 'translational lift' etc but might have a general idea. In the famous "Chickenhawk" about flying Hueys in Viet Nam, the author/pilot described using translational lift to climb upwards in a 'corkscrew' path (shallow bank angles?) from a very tight jungle clearing, between very tall trees: "triple canopy" types? The foliage, not the security company....

[@maruti_rakshit9867]

I didnt understand a bit of it I openly tell you 😅

[@mhern57]

An exceptional book! I really enjoyed it and read it at least three times years ago. There it is in the book case where I have left it. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention I'm going to read it again.

[@deafmusician2]

The minute I saw the MRB's flexing that much, I knew it wouldn't be good.

[@michaelashcraft8569]

No doubt it was carrying an Admiral's ego!!!

[@kiaaik4986]

Хоть и конкуренты наши и козни строят,но я переживал за них до последнего люди всетаки, молодцы выкорапкались ,поднялись!!!

[@15Med3]

good ol ground effect saving the day

[@milspec_tube]

In 1996 we lost a CH-46 trying to land on the USS Belleau Wood. All hell broke loose when it hit the side and fell into the ocean. Thankfully the pilots were recovered but they had to wait a bit while we made the turn back in that area.

[@matthewspry4217]

Pilot managed to take off after throwing out his heavy brass balls

[@rogeranderson8763]

Man should have checked his weights and balances.....a civilian pilot would have had his ticket suspended.

[@rogeranderson8763]

@@REB4444 No need to be insulting whilst attempting to make your point. I'm friends with a Marine Aviator who used to land Corsairs on carriers and am familiar with the process, as well as having 27 years as a commercial pilot myself, no accidents or incidents. Ad hoc, sure....still no reason not to pay attention to the details that allow one to have an equal number of landings as departures. The laws of physics do not pay favorites. -Veteran '66-68

[@rightsideupvt]

I wasn't there that day but I drive a 2005 pick truck and nothing like that ground effect has ever happened before.

[@justinfuller3190]

I was on this flight, too many MRE's and C4. Semper fi.. Engineer PLT. 2/8 26th MEU

[@apachejim13]

I was in an H-3, and we did that exact same thing.

[@HR-rt9nh]

they all go look to see who they threw out to gain altitude

[@22Epic]

The pilot did train hard in COD, that explains why he didn't crash, good job gamer !

[@hwxsl]

Pilot : Chill, Guys. That was a prank.

[@sixstringedthing]

I like how the deck crew all run to the edge to check how many crewmembers/bits of helo were left in the water.

[@maltepickert4446]

This moment where the hole crew need new underpants

[@Erintel]

Whether pilot error, glitch or weather - it was a great recovery.

[@76629online]

The reason it was able to recover is because it had leaked enough hydraulic fluid from the time it left the deck of the ship that it lost enough weight there at the very end to finally make the recovery…

[@TreeLBollingTreeMan]

Not really. What really happened is they dropped one of the fuel tanks

[@Shrike200]

@@TreeLBollingTreeMan *whooosh* He was joking about the CH53's propensity to constantly leak hyrdraulic fluid.

[@cadillaccooke811]

@@Shrike200 fucking right? The only thing that flew lower than that joke was the 53 pissing hydro

[@wdwerker]

A chopper pilot from the Vietnam era told us about flying evac overloaded and barely clearing tree tops from the clearing. Then he damn near caught a fence when coming in to land.

[@johnsondadj]

A funny thing happened on the way to get Scott O'Grady.

[@dundonrl]

I've never seen anything like that happen. The closest was a UH-1N Huey that went into the drink off the coast of Somalia in 1995 during Operation United Shield after taking off from the USS Essex LHD-2. ( Feb 19 1995, Sgt. Justin A. Harris was lost at sea when an UH-1N Huey crashed into the Indian Ocean about 100 yards from the Essex, 25 miles southeast of the Somali capital. Four others on board the helicopter were rescued by boat.)

[@elvinpena8788]

Hello there shipmate, ABF2 Pena(Plankowner), V4 Div, Below-Decks JP-5 Pump Room Supervisor during Essex LHD-2 maiden voyage. Standard procedure was getting called forward immediately after every crash by the Air Boss, my Division Officer and the Marine Air Wing Commander with fuel sample test results and we tested every fueling operation. My crew was 100% squared away and we got cleared quickly but It did not feel good knowing bad fuel could have caused the accidents. It bothered my thoughts until Investigations came down to mechanical issues or human error! Another Harrier nose dived on the deck from way too high, I believe it was landing gear issue. and a AH-1 Cobra that nose dived on a Sandy Beach in Somalia or Mombasa.

[@dundonrl]

@Elvin Pena I remember those! The Cobra being in the hanger for the rest of the deployment, I think all wrapped up? The Harrier didn't it impact the flight deck with its nose?

[@UnknownUzer]

Holy cow ! That made my butt pucker, and I'm sitting on my couch. I can only imagine the pinch factor that pilot's seat felt.

[@JC130676]

I think it took 3 days and a dose of laxatives before the cushion came back out again.

[@ultrasupremeleader]

Rumor has it he clenched so tightly they found diamonds on the seat

[@jazzandbluesculturalherita2547]

WHOA! Pilots lost lift due to ground effect by transitioning off the flight deck too soon. They might've better used the whole flight deck to generate some translational lift, exiting off the bow ... except for that helo parked on Spot 3! Better to always have the most accurate weight of aircraft, crew, cargo calculated, to know how close your takeoff performance will be to the maximum limit of the aircraft.

[@suzukirider9030]

Exactly what I thought. Maybe the bow was occupied by other aircraft, idk. I've flown with an F-18 pilot a few times and it felt like my luck consumption was above my personal minimums. Basically it felt like the guy just did stuff first and then was "Whoops! Well that was fun haha!" And I'm like "...yeah, I suppose so, but I'll be reminding you to switch fuel tanks from now on, okay?" "Okay brotha!" It really was fun though :-) But I'm also glad we didn't run out of luck :-D

[@jazzandbluesculturalherita2547]

NEVER take off heavy and hot without using all the runway (flight deck) available to generate translational lift! "Boss, I'm heavy, and the temperature is hot. I need to take off straight down the deck, but that helo in spot 3 is blocking my way!" The helo isn't even spread, not ready for ops, shouldn't even be there if not ready for alert.

[@gosportjamie]

"See, I told you my chopper needed washing..."

[@bbeen40]

Not with Salt water! Corrosion Control is gonna be pissed when that bird gets back.

[@gosportjamie]

@@bbeen40 I would have thought that, with that one having been dunked in the sea, then it would be a write-off, but the military can be a bit strange over what they repair and what they don't. If it was an aircraft in heavy demand for operational purposes then it probably got fixed, even if it did smell a little fishy afterwards...

[@bbeen40]

@@gosportjamie Fishy...that's funny!! I worked on Helicopters and salt water was a problem but as long as you stayed up on inspections and mitigation it was usually fine. Just ALOT of work! Lol

[@gosportjamie]

@@bbeen40 Hell, it keeps the technicians busy, which is just as well. You don't want to imagine what they'd get up to if they were bored...

[@bbeen40]

@@gosportjamie Oh, I assure you, we stayed busy at sea! Lol

[@HenauderTitzauf]

That chopper had a very talented pilot and yes a lot of “brown” adrenaline too! A great tribute to the U.S.Navy and our great nation that produces great people(men and women) to do our battles. They aren’t boys and girls, this clip takes great fortitude, thought processes, and super willpower to get the job done, no matter the task, and that takes men and women!

[@daviddunsmore103]

If they are all so wonderful, how did they let themselves get into this potentially catastrophic situation in the first place? There's an old saying: "The superior pilot is the one who uses their superior judgment to avoid getting into a situation that would require the use of their superior skill!"

[@WakeMarine]

AV-8B guys on board asking "Is this a routine take off"?

[@femanvate]

My buddy was in that chopper, and it was terrible, when the water mist made WiFi drop. Had to redo the entire ships pizza order!

[@GregFliesVR]

The comments section in a nutshell: "Ground Effect"

[@bigshow5173]

Along with more forward motion helped with lift.

[@bendingspring]

Just so glad that it didn’t crash 🙏

[@jon782]

As they helicopter was sinking the pilot probably yelled to the people in the back "you guys better decide which two of you are jumping"

[@hardware199]

That chopper was overloaded because of the pilot´s massive balls.

[@LawDawg717]

Has anybody mentioned ground effect yet?

[@drubradley8821]

WOW... I never thought I see a 53 struggle like that... I believe those air frames can lift the moon or when taking off, can push Earth off its axis... LOL... Although scary stuff, I am glad everybody is okay.. I also realize this was posted many years ago... doesn't change the fact, that so much could have been different... Good job on the fast thinking and quick recovery of the entire situation... If it is a fixed wing unit, those kats have an options to eject... the rotor katz are pretty much stuck to a seat and get to take a ride of their lives. Hardcore dude in the rotor katz are... (not that the risk of the fixed wing katz are no longer in danger once they eject... just saying)

[@russellwalkermdd4920]

Axis? Don't you know that the Earth is flat.

[@redbaroniii]

I think the airboss, and skipper have some blame. It is a carrier, after all, the ship should have been steaming at 25knots for all heavy lift missions, so translation of lift would have been accomplished.

[@robertf3479]

Umm, that ship is a Wasp class LHD. Top speed going down hill with a tail wind is 24 knots. Assuming 20 knots with a 15 knot head wind, if the ship was steaming into the wind you get 35 knots over the deck. However, with an overloaded chopper like that one it doesn't matter how much wind over the deck you've got, when the chopper gets out of ground effect (or 'deck effect' in this case) an overloaded aircraft is suddenly in a lot of trouble.

[@tonyperone3242]

What is surprising is that they allowed the aircraft to be grossly overloaded.

[@nitemareman1]

I'm sure it was a calculation error. They don't "allow" them to fly overweight.

[@realjustmarlo]

i remember this. i was on the flight deck

[@brent56and1]

I don't remember. Was it announced on the 1MC?

[@flybeep1661]

Yeah right, and I was flying the helicopter.

[@reddog1500]

Are you sure about that? Because I'm a former crewmember and I'm not smiling if you think this shit is funny.

[@erichhartmann1]

Yeah, I remember filming this exact video from my bunk on the lower deck. Will never forget this close call.

[@robbar5483]

I was on that flight... still remember every moment of it

[@hksp]

why is this 6 year ol video suddenly popped in many people recommendation

[@jakewolden9623]

what could have been inside to make it so heavy when they can carry LAV's? Honest question...

[@psykowheels1357]

Chuck norris.

[@ryanbrown3637]

Fuel fuel load, high outside air temp, and internal load in the wrong combination can cause excessive power requirements out of ground effect

[@jjcox7969]

@Jimmy your momma was in the back ;-)

[@markushandlemeyer6717]

Serious reply; not sure if this was the exact flight but in the late 80’s there was an event of a 53E taking off from a ship filled with milk to supply a remote base. The PIC (female incidentally but I just remember) Was either misled, misinformed or miscalculated the weight. Evidently she believed that the WEIGHT was X pounds but actually, it was X gallons ! Of course this is 6+ times heavier so if she calculated for say 2000 lbs , it would actually be about 13,000 lbs. Big difference if not and very little headwind - especially if a large fuel load (fuel capacity is 14,500 lbs on CH model and 22,500 on MH model). I do remember a squadron mate of mine who was absolutely misinformed about an external load : he was told it was only about 32,000 lbs but after being shocked at the torque he needed for hovering and climb out, he reverse calculated the load to be about 37,000 lbs. The hook was only rated to 36K. Be careful out there boys and girls ! Luckily, the 53K will have ALOT more hot and high power than the E...but weight limits almost the same...another era begins soon !

[@jimtalor7971]

A couple of transferring NAVY PILOTS and their balls!!

[@alanbiles9912]

Thank you ground effect.

[@RemedyTalon]

The second he lifted he should have noticed he was pulling too much torque.

[@sbdreamin]

He did. He didn’t care. Ego.

[@crushingvanessa3277]

@@sbdreamin new flunky following orders?

[@sbdreamin]

@@crushingvanessa3277 doubtful. Flunkies dont get to fly the cool ac like a 53. Just ego.

[@fax10]

If he could hover, I don’t think he was overloaded. Maybe he was but the fact he could hover in ground effect means he had enough power. The one fault was not accelerating to get translation lift over the deck instead of over the water. I don’t know if that is a Navy policy or not but people here are making a big deal about nothing. Helicopters take off all the time without enough power to hover. And yes, I fly them

[@sbdreamin]

@@fax10 oh boy ...

[@nonyabiz9487]

Man they were always pushing the limit on the 53s

[@rustykilt]

The Pilot eventually must take full responsibility for the aircraft he should have not taken off if overloaded.

[@richardhoepfner1633]

Crew Chief is responsible for load spec adherence.

[@rustykilt]

@@richardhoepfner1633 I suspect your knowledge on this is better than mine...but my understanding is the Pilot is where the Buck stops..

[@joeyjamison5772]

@@rustykilt yes

[@Mumblix]

"Admiral, that's too much luggage, sir." "Fuck you and get me to shore!"

[@CyberSystemOverload]

Why dont heavily loaded helis like this do a running takeoff? Take advantage of the carrier deck and the wheeled landing gear!!

[@warhawk9566]

I don't know shit about the CH-53 so I'm not a reliable source, but I don't think most helicopters can achieve forward momentum before they're airborne, some can like the Mi-24 hind (in fact fully loaded it HAD to take rolling takeoffs) but most can't and I think the CH-53 might be one of them?

[@DragonPilot]

@@warhawk9566 Helicopters can and the pilot should have.

[@AviatorJohn70]

Forward flight is your friend!

[@Marineair21]

Hold my beer!

[@keirfarnum6811]

Thank god for the ground effect!