[Vhfcn-l] TINS - A Fowl'ed Up Mid Air Collision

[adjames6 at att.net]

Guys, 

Below is an excerpt from my book, Phoenix 13. We referred to these stories
as TINS,  meaning this is no S**T. At Americal Divarty Air, we flew the
single pilot scout helicopter (the obsolete OH-23G, which was replaced by
the OH-6A). Flying alone, we had to learn from each other's experiences with
these often colorful TINS-typically told during Happy Hour at the Officer's
Club.

 

Darryl James

Americal Divary Air Loach Driver

Chu Lai, Vn '68-'69

ORWAC 68-18 (Wolters) 68-12 (Rucker)

CPT Arthur D. James

 

A Fowl'ed Up Mid Air Collision

A midair collision involving a helicopter is arguably the worst thing that
can happen. In flight school, we had a few such tragedies in Primary School
at Fort Wolters and Fort Rucker that killed several students and instructor
pilots. It was said in flight school," If this occurs, don't sweat it.
There's only one emergency procedure to follow: bend over and kiss your ass
goodbye."

 

0645 Hrs. 20 November 68

Div Arty Air Operations

Major Fulton, the unit's commanding officer, sat in the Operations hut with
Operation Officer, Captain Fuller, and Lieutenant Bryant. Fulton and Fuller
sat at their desks while Bryant manned the Operations radio. Operations keep
track of all the Div Arty Air Section pilots in the air marking their
locations, time, and position on the sizeable topographic wall map overlain
with plastic. 

Warrant Officer, Steven Lindauer, reported on the radio, "Phoenix One Four,
landing Duc Pho with two PACs."

"This is Ops, Roger One Four," replied Bryant as he wrote this down on the
map with erasable markers.

"Ops, this is Phoenix  One Two, landing Lima Zula West.[1]" 

"Roger One-Two," replied Bryant.

"What's Birmingham doing out at LZ West?" asked Bryant. "Heard they took
mortar fire and opened up with their Quad 50's[2] last night."

"Right," replied Fuller. "No one was hurt, but those '50s knocked down trees
and some heavy brush. "Birm's picking up the Chaplin and bringing him back
to Division."

Fuller turned and asked the operations sergeant a question regarding slick
support. 

Major Fulton looked up and asked, "Is it going to rain today?"

"Hell, it rains damn near every day," replied Fuller.

"I asked, smart ass because Colonel Jones is supposed to come over to play
cards and drink whiskey tonight."  He paused, then quipped, "Hate to see the
'Old Man' get wet." 

Fulton was highly thought of by the chopper drivers. He was a tall, lean,
lanky officer with short brown hair that he wore in a close crew cut. Unlike
the gaggle of pilots, he did not have a mustache. He instead opted for the
clean-cut West Point graduate 'strak-look.' 

Often commanding aviation officers did not fly combat missions choosing
quietly to fly only non-combat administrative flights under the premise that
the boss should not be subjected to hostile fire. Not Major Fulton, he flew
combat chopper missions and admin fixed-wing flights in the unit's Otter and
Beaver. This made him greatly respected by the pilots.

Father Flannigan frequently flew with the Div Arty chopper pilots. He spent
much time in the field with the troops conducting Mass, taking confessions,
counseling, and providing general TLC to the soldiers. He had a terrific
sense of humor as well.  

 

Earlier that month

Father Flanagan was flying with Lieutenant James during the Monsoon Season
when it rained seemingly all the time. It was foggy with a 100-foot ceiling
when he and James followed Highway One in the OH-23G about 10 feet off the
ground at 80-knots airspeed. In Vietnam, you needed to fly your helicopter
below 20 feet or above 1,500 feet above the ground to be relatively safe
from small arms fire. In between those heights was what the pilots called
the 'dead man's zone.'  It was hard to hit a target, flying low and fast,
ducking below the tree line, and maneuvering. Above 1,500 feet, small
caliber arms could not reach you. The low-level flying was still risky. Div
Arty Air suffered a fatality that summer when a pilot, low-leveling west of
the town of Tam Ky, was shot down, crashed, and rolled the small helicopter
into a ball.

Low-leveling along Highway One was relatively safe from bad guys, but it had
another risk. Other choppers chose to low-level along the highway in bad
weather. You could crash into another helicopter and ruin your day. A midair
collision in a helicopter was almost always fatal. James kept to the right
of the narrow, macadam two-lane road to mitigate this risk, had his landing
light on, and hoped other chopper drivers flying in this weather would do
the same. They were zipping along to the right of the road above the mud
from the heavy rains. 

At 80 knots, it was exhilarating going that fast, that low. Rounding a bend
in the road, they soared over several peasant women. One rather large woman
had her black pajama pants down with two giant hams exposed. Unashamed to
the world, she squatted, pinching off a rather large loaf on the asphalt
away from the muck and mud alongside the road. It was a shocking, awkward
scene in the foggy air, funny, maybe a bit offensive, but indeed an event
worthy of comment.

James thought to himself, If you gotta go, you gotta go. Hope that didn't
offend our mild-mannered Padre.  

No one spoke over the intercom for several, seemingly long minutes. Father
Flanagan then quipped, "Darryl, now I know why the good Lord makes it rain
so darn much over here."

James burst out laughing, causing the chopper to wobble. He instinctually
relaxed on the stick. They climbed as the cyclic was trimmed back for
safety. He regained control and pushed forward on the cyclic to get them
down, low-leveling again. 

In the poor visibility, he spotted the landing light of another helicopter
rushing toward them at a high rate of closure. James veered right to avoid a
potential collision, then continued back along the road chuckling to himself
about Father Flanagan.

 

Landing Zone West

0645 Hrs. 20 November 68

Lieutenant Birmingham lifted off from LZ West with Father Flanagan, climbed
to 3,000 feet, and headed east towards the coast. He soon found himself in
and out of cloud scud. He descended to stay out of the clouds with the
weather deteriorating. 

What a crappy day to be flying, thought Birmingham.

He continued descending and passed through a green, heavily forested valley.
He dodged clouds and finally saw Highway One in the distance. It was a
welcome sight. He descended to 1,800 feet and turned south, following the
road toward Tam Ky. when he passed the city, he turned off the road to the
southeast in a direct course to Ky Hai Heliport at Chu Lai. 

Father Flanagan carefully pressed the intercom switch on the cyclic in front
of him and said, "Mark, the Lord has us flying today in pretty soupy
weather."

"You have that right, Father; he's making it tough for us to get home."

"At least it's not raining. It rains so much during the Monsoon Season that
it wears my tired bones out. I am looking forward to a sunny day. It's been
so long since we have seen the sun.'

"We fly in all kinds of weather here, Father. We have to be careful and use
our wits to keep from getting in trouble in what we call this. Excuse my
English, 'SHITTY' IFR[3] weather. We must stay out of the clouds, maintain
separation from clouds and keep the aircraft safe."

"Yes, Mark, I'm counting on you and the good Lord to keep us safe."

They passed over marshland, rice patties, and inland lakes and ponds. They
noticed many of the ponds were full of ducks and geese.

"Look at all the waterfowl below. Are we in some kind of bird migration?"

"Don't know. I see some flying off below to the left of us."

The visibility was poor, and the helicopter's rotor blades seemed to be in
and out of the cloud scud. 

Things can happen fast when you're flying. One moment everything is fine,
and the next moment things can turn to hell in a handbasket. 

>From the corner of Mark's eye, he noticed what seemed to be a shadowy
aberration. His eyes snapped to the right. A hazy, ghostly aircraft appeared
out of the midst, on a collision path with their helicopter. He reacted
instantly, pushing down on the collective and turning sharply left. A loud
boom and the canopy exploded in front of father Flanagan.

 

Divarty Operations

Lieutenant Bryant was standing writing on the map wall. Captain Fuller was
on the phone, and Major Fulton was at his desk doing paperwork.

The radio crackled, and in a nonchalant voice, "Operations, this is Phoenix
One Two. We just had midair with a B-One-RD."

Everyone in operations jumped up and turned toward the radio as Bryant said,
"WHAT the hell is a B-One-RD? Say again, One Two!"

"We just hit a bird, Operations, a big ass bird. It crashed through our
canopy."

"WHAT? Are you okay, One-Two?"

"Roger. My passenger's a bit worse for wear. He's full of feathers, gore,
blood, and debris. The wind is rushing in the cockpit, blowing crap all
around. We are flying okay. Had to slow to 40 knots. We should be at Ky Hai
heliport in about 20 mikes."

"Roger One-Two, is your passenger okay? "

"Yes, he's okay, Ops. He had on a helmet, which took the brunt of the
collision. 

"We will alert the tower and have maintenance, and the medics meet you."

 

Ky Hai Heliport

0645 Hrs.

One-Two landed with a crowd of Div Arty Air people gathering. The midair
with a goose caused quite a stir. Birmingham and Father Flannigan climbed
out with a huge crowd watching. Soldiers examined the broken canopy and
peered into the trashed-out cockpit.

Major Fulton said, "Wow, this could have been a disaster. You two are lucky,
hombre." 

Father Flanagan replied, "The incident didn't seem to bother Mark, but I was
certainly shaken." He added in his humorous style, "That incident," he
chuckled, "gentlemen, was close to getting my goose cooked."

The soldiers gathered around them laughed.

Birmingham quipped in Flannigan's best dead-pan style, "No harm; no fowl."

Everyone roared with laughter.

 


  _____  

[1] Landing Zone West was an Americal artillery emplacement on a mountain
ridge southwest of Danamg.

[2] Mounted gun emplacement with four M-85 50-caliber machine guns.
Originally an anti-aircraft weapon that was used in Vietnam for fire base
protection and convoy cover. 

[3] Instrument Flight Rules weather. Weather below minimms visual flight
minimums.