My favorite helicopter...if only a bit underused

[MacArther]

ACH-47A armed/armored Chinook Photos



The Chinook Guns ship!!!

Its so beautiful, and so well armed, I think I'm gonna cry .

[mkloby]

ACH-47A armed/armored Chinook Photos

The Chinook Guns ship!!!

Its so beautiful, and so well armed, I think I'm gonna cry .

Awesome nicknames... Birth Control was my favorite!

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Gunships like the Huey Gunships and the Cobras were better suited for Gunship ops. The Chinook is too large and non maneuverable to be a gun ship. She is better suited for her load carrying abitlities and to carry large amount of troops. That is why the US Army stopped using the ACH-47 a very long time ago.

[Matt308]

Hey Adler, did I read right that the Chinook is the fastest helicopter in the US fleet????

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

It is the fastest in the US Army yes. I believe the CH-53 is faster than the Chinook though.

It is a very fast aircraft but not very maneuvable and makes for a good target. When I was in Iraq they only flew at night because during the day they were getting brought down like crazy.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeah I just looked it up. The CH-53E Super Stallion is slightly more faster than the CH-47D and E however the new CH-47F might take the uphand back in speed for the Chinook.

One interesting note though is that Sikorsky is currently working on the new CH-53K which will look like the CH-53E but have same engines that installed in the MV-22 Osprey.

There are plenty of helicopters out there that are faster than either one though.

[Matt308]

I see those things lumbering around every now and then. They are so big that it is deceiving that they are moving more than a 100mph. Impressive beasts they are though.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The thing about a Chinook is this. Its top speed is when it is empty. You load her up to max, just like an aircraft her performance is going to suffer.

And when we talk about being the fastest, the Chinook is only faster than the other main helos in use by the US Army by only a few knots.

[Matt308]

Do they have a good reputation for taking damage? I see that they are front runners for the next SAR buy. Seemed like a big vehicle for that mission, but what do I know.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

To be honest I dont know how much damage a Chinook can take. I never really worked with them. The first time I worked with them on a day to day basis was earlier this year when my unit recieved Chinooks to compliment our Blackhawks.

[Matt308]

That transimission running along the dorsal makes me wonder. Seems liks a catastrophic failure waiting to happen.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I have heard that on certain occasions the different gear boxes will fail and the aircraft will basically have a mid air collision with itself.

I dont really like the Chinook.

We Blackhawk guys either called them **** Hooks or a Dumpster being ****** by two Palm Trees.

But then again we called ourselves S.L.U.T.S which was Sikorsky Light Utitility Taxi Service.

[twoeagles]

How do you recognize a Chinook pilot? They're the ones who walk around
nervously counting "one two three one two three....."

[the lancaster kicks ass]

they've always served us pretty well!

and i've never seen much point in arguing about the speed of helicopters, i mean it goes without saying the British hold the world speed record for a Helicopter but on the battlefeild what's the difference between 150 and 200 mph? to a missile absolutely none, you're going down either way all helicopters are too slow to make dicussions on speed much use from a battlefeild point of view in my opinion.........

[Gnomey]

"This diagram also denotes a region of reversed flow on the rotor. As the forward speed of the helicopter increases, a region near the blade roots on the retreating side actually experiences a reversed flow. Combined with the large blade incidence on the retreating side, as forward speed increases, the blades approach a stalled condition. At the same time, regions near the tips on the advancing side experience a very high velocity flow, approaching the point where shock waves form, leading to shock induced flow separation. Due to these limiting factors, the maximum forward speed of a helicopter is limited to about 250 mph (402 km/h).

Drawing a very close comparison to the theory, the world speed record for a helicopter is 249.10 mph (400.80 km/h). This record was set in August 1986, with a Westland Lynx from the United Kingdom flying over a 15 km course, piloted by John Egginton. "
Aerospaceweb.org | Helicopter Theory - Maximum Forward Speed

I like the Chinook, it doesn't make a practical gunship I would agree but still it does its main job fine.