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СН-46 in SEALs training

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Gents,

Reading ADM William MacRaven's Sea Stories book I was amazed by the description of the final test of the SEALs class just before graduation with drop of trainees from CH-46's ramp and then lift them from the water by rope ladder up. In that case, 1978, collected all people back, the helo had suddenly lost power of No 1 engine and "had settled into the bay and was going down fast". After already wet trainees somehow got out, the pilots somehow got the empty aircraft "with a fully flooded fuselage to the beach a hour later". Is that exaggeration for whole hour, or Phrog actually could be taken under control while sinking with just one engine and stabilize in that state for an hour? If so, is that a reason for DFC?
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Gents,

Reading ADM William MacRaven's Sea Stories book I was amazed by the description of the final test of the SEALs class just before graduation with drop of trainees from CH-46's ramp and then lift them from the water by rope ladder up. In that case, 1978, collected all people back, the helo had suddenly lost power of No 1 engine and "had settled into the bay and was going down fast". After already wet trainees somehow got out, the pilots somehow got the empty aircraft "with a fully flooded fuselage to the beach a hour later". Is that exaggeration for whole hour, or Phrog actually could be taken under control while sinking with just one engine and stabilize in that state for an hour? If so, is that a reason for DFC?
Standard ops in a Phrog.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
They do, routinely.
I was able to see the CH-47's do some of this training, I was manning a booth at a career fair at JBLM and the CH-47 would dip in the water so what I would say looked like jet ski's could drive in the back, then they would deploy them again, the whole thing repeated itself several times, including the CH-47 landing on a boat ramp.
 

Sam I am

Average looking, not a farmer.
pilot
Contributor
Water landings were part of the FRS syllabus when I went through in 2001. I can't remeber if we did them on Lake Otay or Sweetwater...anyway, it was a lot of fun and we didn't take on too much water (only because the drain plugs were closed). I also did my HAC check with the SEALS over at Little Creek. It was pretty amazing to watch these guys haul their butts out of the water and up that ladder. We did several turns in the pattern with a lot of guys jumping out the back, we'd then come into a low & slow air taxi over them and they'd start climbing. They only had so much time to make it up the ladder otherwise their instructors pulled them off the ladder...talk about motivation for getting up the ladder!
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Water landings were part of the FRS syllabus when I went through in 2001. I can't remeber if we did them on Lake Otay or Sweetwater...anyway, it was a lot of fun and we didn't take on too much water (only because the drain plugs were closed). I also did my HAC check with the SEALS over at Little Creek. It was pretty amazing to watch these guys haul their butts out of the water and up that ladder. We did several turns in the pattern with a lot of guys jumping out the back, we'd then come into a low & slow air taxi over them and they'd start climbing. They only had so much time to make it up the ladder otherwise their instructors pulled them off the ladder...talk about motivation for getting up the ladder!
Lake Otay!
 

PhrogLoop

Adulting is hard
pilot
Water landings were part of the FRS syllabus when I went through in 2001. I can't remeber if we did them on Lake Otay or Sweetwater...anyway, it was a lot of fun and we didn't take on too much water (only because the drain plugs were closed). I also did my HAC check with the SEALS over at Little Creek. It was pretty amazing to watch these guys haul their butts out of the water and up that ladder. We did several turns in the pattern with a lot of guys jumping out the back, we'd then come into a low & slow air taxi over them and they'd start climbing. They only had so much time to make it up the ladder otherwise their instructors pulled them off the ladder...talk about motivation for getting up the ladder!
My Water 1/2 was on Otay
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
It would not be odd for a Phrog to have an engine problem that required an extended water taxi.

In fact, it would've been weirder if the Phrog hadn't had an engine problem.
Ok...time to tell a Phrog story. Back when I was in the Corps my recon team was doing boat training with a -46 to bring some new kids up to speed. As things concluded we started the ride back and the helicopter would suddenly start to descend. Well, the crew chief would jump up from his seat and start pumping this handle and the Phrog would start climbing again. This happened a few times when we started dropping again the chief seemed to have dozed off. We kept getting lower and lower until suddenly one of my new kids can’t take it so he jumps up and started pumping that handle like hell! Of course, the pilots and chief start howling with laughter - one of them even had a camera ready and got a picture of our hero. We all had a good laugh and my new guy got his nickname...Pump.
 
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