Carlson: Looping a Loach

DOING A LOOP IN A LOACH

Yesterday, one of our esteemed C-bird drivers told a story about trying a new maneuver in his Charley bird. In his attempt at a “hammerhead stall” he so impressed his gunner that the gunner thought it would be fun to do it again. It brought to mind that we had two different mind sets in good ole R.V.N. With no insult intended there were the Gun Bunnies and the Scouts in one school and the Hook and Lift drivers in the other. Most likely, due to the nature of our callings the Gunnies and Scouts tended to be a wee little bit more daring than the other group. Please note, I am not saying anything about sanity or intelligence. Put a twenty year old kid in a C-bird, Snake, or Loach and you get what you deserve.

Anyway, as I read the story, a synapse slowly traveled the distance between my two remaining brain cells and I remembered a similar incident. As friend Bob would say, “why do I remember this shit?” I suppose it comes from hanging around this band of misfits and mal-adjusted characters.

It was a lazy day and we were staging out of L. Z. Two Bits just outside of Bon Son. For the life of me, I can’t remember why but we were standing down for a while. I had just reached that dangerous stage in the life of a Scout or a Gunnie. I was good going on great and thought that a flight envelope was something that a -10 came in. Give me the limits and I’ll show you that they can be pushed 25% further than the book says. I don’t know if you lift guys and hook guys suffered from the same malady. I hope not as I always looked upon you guys as the sane ones.

Given that everyone was bored, I asked the young 1^st. Lt who was the commander of the Blues (organic ground troops) if he wanted to drive my Loach around the pattern. Though a rated aviator, he didn’t get much stick time as he usually spent his time with his troops. A good guy who always took good care of his troops, he jumped at the chance. All was going well and he made several semi-sloppy circuits around the pattern. If memory serves me correctly, he asked how maneuverable a 6 really was. Wrong question! I told him that the fully articulated rotor system made the Loach a wonder and that I could prove it.

Somewhere along the way, I had been told that a good pilot could loop a 6. Well ---- I was a good pilot and we were in a 6! Keying the mike, I told him that a 6 was so maneuverable that it could be looped. He didn’t believe me. Well ----- I took the controls and climbed to about 1,000 feet agl and I said. “You just hang tight and I’ll show you what this little bird can do. When I finish with you, you will never want to fly a Bell product again! Because you’ve been flying in Mr. Hugh’s little wonder.” (Mind you, I am making no claims at being smart!)

Being safety conscious, when I was ready to begin, I keyed the mike and said, “Lock your harness.” Lowering the nose, I pushed her up to 120 while flying down the axis of the runway. “Hey, I wanted everybody to enjoy my piloting skills!” I then gently pulled back on the stick and began a zoom climb. Keeping the stick back, I repeated to myself, “now remember Bruce, keep positive gees on the rotor system or you’ll chop the tail off.” Keeping the power right up on the red line we were climbing like a homesick angel in the near empty bird.

When the nose got to the 90 degree vertical position, I glanced in his direction. For some reason, he was white as a sheet. Keeping positive gee on the rotor system, I then gently pulled her over the top. One minute we had about twenty knots of air speed and all of a sudden we were screaming earthward, and pretty much, upside down. With a sudden attack of sanity, I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing or if I could get her to come all the way around.

Keeping back pressure on the stick and positive gees on the rotor, I watched the black tarmac go from over my head to straight down and directly in front of me. The Air speed was passing through 110 and I kept the power on for fear of removing my tail. Now, I was getting scared! Did I have enough altitude to recover or was I going to splatter myself and that poor Lt. all over the tarmac? Ever so slowly, the nose continued to rise till we passed down the runway and 125 and about five feet of altitude.

With my eyes the size of dinner plates I looked over at the Lt. His face was frozen with common sense fear and he was gripping the grab ring and the instrument panel cover for all he was worth.

When we landed, with a studied casualness, I asked him what he thought about the maneuverability of a Loach and the power of a fully articulated rotor system. He looked me strait in the eyes and said. “Carlson, your are an insane SOB and as long as I live, I’ll never fly with you!” Come to think of it, it was several months before he would even talk with me.

While I learned that you can loop a Loach, I also discovered that it should be started higher than 1,000 agl. I also learned something else. I was never going to try that stunt again.