[Vhfcn-l] TINS Mid Air With a B1RD

[Roger Ek]

> On Mar 30, 2023, at 10:46 AM, Darryl James via Vhfcn-l <vhfcn-l at lists.vhfcn.org> wrote:
> 
> Guys, 
> 
> Below is an excerpt from my book, Phoenix 13. We refer 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 the OH-6A
> replaced). Flying alone, we had to learn from each other's experiences with
> these often colorful TINS-typically told during Happy Hour at the DivArty
> Officer's Club.

Fruit bats are BIG. The have a wingspread of over 3 feet. They don’t ;like fresh fruit. They liked rotten fruit; VERY rotten fruit. We were flying low level after sunset and there was a sudden BLAM! And the cockpit was full of loose material. My copilot said, “I’m  HIT!” 
I said, “Are you bleeding?” He said, “I don’t think so. What’s that stink?” 

The stink was the disassembled fruit bat. We rinsed out that old B-Model very well because we had an earlier one that carried the odor all the way back to Texas. 

Roger Ek
Seawolf 25.