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May 25, 2005

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By Seth Robson
Stars and Stripes Pacific edition

CAMP MOBILE, South Korea — Sling-loading Chinook helicopters to carry supplies to remote areas is a piece of cake, 2nd Infantry Division soldiers here learned last week.

As long as you rig them properly, so the cargo — up to 26,000 pounds per hook — doesn't fall off when the helicopter is airborne. Which also is why you want to try to keep flight paths away from anything softer than a granite boulder.

Then there's the rotor blast. It's so strong it can knock you off your feet and send you rolling across the tarmac like a tumbleweed.

Which all explain the priorities of a team of U.S. Army trainers who arrived in South Korea last week to school 2nd Infantry Division soldiers on the art of sling-loading Chinook helicopters.

“Safety is the most important thing,” said Sgt. 1st Class Keith Costley, one of several trainers from Aerial Delivery and Field Service Division, Fort Lee, Va., who oversaw the exercise.

Troops train to properly rig and inspect loads; others learn to guide the chopper in and send it back out, Costley said. Soldiers must direct the aircraft into and away from landing zones along a flight path avoiding personnel, buildings or equipment, he said.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, objects sling-loaded onto helicopters were dropped on average every five to six airlifts, Costley said, but since the training program began, “only one out of 100 airlifts has a problem” — mostly due to improper rigging.

The Chinook has three sling-load hooks. Front and rear hooks can carry 17,000 pounds; the center hook can bear 26,000 pounds. Loads rigged on more than one hook makes calculating the maximum load more complicated, Costley said.

Sling-loads are useful for delivering supplies such as fuel, water, rations and ammunition to the front lines, he said. “When there are hostilities in the area you want to get the supplies in quick and push them out.”

Friday, 47 soldiers from 2nd ID's 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team took turns rushing across Camp Mobile airstrip to connect Humvees to Chinooks hovering overhead.

Before the soldiers headed onto the tarmac, trainers warned them about the Chinooks' propeller blast, which generates hurricane-force winds. “A lot of times it will push them and roll them. We tell them to tuck and roll. Once we see one fall we pick them up and get them on their feet,” Costley said.

During the training, teams rushed to Humvees, then hooked slings onto the bottom of the Chinooks before scampering away while the machines lifted into the air.

“We stop just outside the rotor wash area and make sure the sling doesn't tangle up in the vehicle,” Costley explained.

Sgt. Roderick Sims, 35, of Fort Campbell, Ky., said his instructors told him what to expect. “I wasn't nervous or anything. I just did what the instructors told me to do. I had to make sure I picked up the reach hook and hooked onto the Chinook,” he said.

Sims said the rotor wind reminded him of the sandy wind he experienced on a recent 32nd Signal Battalion tour to Iraq.

“The wind was good. It was a big rush, especially when you are going back to the rendezvous point,” he said.

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