Nap of the Earth flying

[av8rmongo]

If you've ever wondered what Nap of the Earth flying really is check this out:

http://www.flixxy.com/bo105-helicopter-aerobatics.htm

Paul

[Timothy OConnor]

I always knew there was a faster way to cut the grass...

[Mobius]

That pilots gotten pretty good flying over the same clearing with the log pile and stream over and over again. Now try it in unfamilar area with powerlines.

[av8rmongo]

You know what, I'll bet he would still kick a--!

Paul

[Mk 1]

I can believe that a very skilled pilot could fly like that. His technique was pretty good. If you watch, you'll see that when he banks, he rises to just more than a blade-diameter above the ground so that he doesn't have to calculate his bank angle.

Yes, there would be a lot of risk if he was not familiar with the terrain, but risk is always relative. In time of war, yep, I'd expect scout and liason 'copters to be flying about like that.

I went 'coptering around for about an hour and a half Sunday before last. Old buddy of mine, with whom I have flown aerobatics in a 2-place biplane in years past, is now into helicopters. He is working on his instrument rating in them (already instrument, multi-engine, instructor and commercial rated in fixed-wings), and he was doing a blind familiarization tour of several of the Bay Area's smaller airports. I tagged along. We did a fair bit of low-level flying, as we did touch-and-go's, landings, and even as we taxied around or over the other civil aviation birds to get to and from the designated runways (funny way to do things .. take off vertically, fly to the runway, and fly along it to do a "proper take-off").

Even with a fairly new 'copter driver, and a very basic R-44 civil chopper, it was reasonable to fly along at lower-than-light-poles altitudes.

[av8rmongo]

During my pre-deployment airwing traing I've been "volunteered" to be downed aircrew so that SEALs and the SAR crews can practice their rescue procedures. I've had enough white knuckle rides in the back of H-60's to believe two things. First, what you see in the video is representative of what seasoned aircrew can do with machines they know inside and out. Second, it is far better to be at the controls than in the back.

Undoubtedly this guy is familiar with the course he's flying. To me the more important factor that allows him to fly as he does is that his bird is lightly loaded - no co-pilot, no passengers and since its the utility version there's no missiles or missile systems. All that adds up to maybe 800-1,000 kg he doesn't have to lug around.

Paul

[jefferysl]

I'm a just retired (a year and a half ago) AH-64D pilot. Spent a year North of Baghdad operating out of Taji airbase working the nightshift. The way we were trained, we ingressed at contour (high speed 300' alt) decended to NOE at the route release point, did a slow approach into a Battle Position (70 knots NOE), with engagements at a hover utilizing masking and un-masking tactics. Not any more. We now use "high energy tactics" that emphasize dynamic aircraft movement at all altitudes. One of the more useful manuevers is called the "pitch back turn", a sort of vertical chandelle or "RTT". Doing those on a dark night under "the system" (using the FLIR Pilot's Night Vision Sensor) will certainly focus your attention especially during the pull out.

[av8rmongo]

Any "home movies"?

Paul

[Hugewally]

Once he gets below the tree tops, he really doesn't need to trim the grass...

[jb]

When I was in the Army, I had a freind who was an OH-58 pilot. I used to go up quite often. I remember many times nearly losing a meal due to the "maneuvers", such as combat takeoffs and landings. He also used to like to put the fusealage among the tree tops with the rotor just over the tops! I always called that the monkey's view...