Rescue Pilot : Life-Saving At-Sea Navy Helicopter Missions Review

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(More customer reviews)Great Book, tells of the everyday life of a U.S. Navy Piasecki HUP-2 Retiever Helicopter pilot and his experiences flying this Helicopter. THe pilot of the HUP-2 Retiever Helicopter had to concentrate 100% of the time in flight to the sounds the helicopter was making, The attitude the helicopter was in and flying the breifed mission. No auto rotation or auto pilot like the Modern Day SH-60 Seahawks have, THe HUP-2 Was all sight, sound, and feel, The Pilot was flying the helicopter 100% of the time. With a regular crew of just two. THe pilot in the left seat and an officer or enlisted crew member in the right seat, The pilot had little time to make written notes on his kneeboard and often had the other crewman write the notes for him. If a rescue was being performed the other crew member has to fold the right seat out of the way, open the rescue hatch(below the right seat), and operate the rescue hoist located above the right seat and the rescue door. There was no rescue swimmer in those days if the person being rescued could not climb in to the rescue sling, rescuee was most likely left for dead and the pilot would continue his flight. NOTE: THe rotor blades are Spruce wood with aluminum leading edges.
While Reading this book, I gained first hand knowledge of the Piasecki HUP-2 Retiever Helicopter by being a volunteer at the USS Midway Aircraft Restoration Hanger at NAS North Island. THe Piasecki HUP-2 the Midway got came from Edwards Air Force Base in July of 2009, and the volunteer artisans performed extensive work to make the HUP-2 a show quality museum aircraft. THe Piasecki is due onboard Midway in April 2011.

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'Dan McKinnon, extraordinary helicopter pilot, brings alive the excitement and occasional terror of rescue at sea. An exciting hair raising and reverting tale of the largely untold story of helicopter resuces at sea' - Neil Armstrong, Astronaut. 'Just Great. It's going to be of tremendous interest to all naval helicopter pilots present and future and to the people who want to know more about this aspect of military flight. Boy, you've unleashed a flood of memories' - Bill Stuyvesant, legendary navy helo pilot. A daring Cold-War warrior recounts the thrills of high-sea helicopter rescue missions. Within the pages of "Rescue Pilot" distinguished naval aviator Dan McKinnon brings to life the dramatic at - sea helicopter rescues he participated in during his anything but peaceful 'peacetime service' in the United States Navy from 1956 to 1959.Helicopter flight itself, not to mention vertical-lift rescue and evacuation was in its infancy at that time, so pilots like Dan had to 'learn as they go', executing daring at-sea rescue missions from air carrier flight decks. Rough water, treacherous weather and risky cold-war conditions were all part of a day's work.Along with dramatic rescues, you'll participate in ship-to-ship replenishments, pick-ups and transfers, mine detection, and radar calibration operations. Dan also provides fascinating insider glimpses of peacetime naval life, long periods at sea, survival training, early helicopter technology, flight deck operation, and an incident-by-incident account of the U.S. Navy's involvement in the Formosa Straight crisis. In "Rescue Pilot" Dan McKinnon skillfully interweaves technical and historical information with his own thrilling real-life experiences ...and tells a story as only a man who has put his life on the line to save others can.

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The God Machine: From Boomerangs to Black Hawks: The Story of the Helicopter Review

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(More customer reviews)James R. Chiles' The God Machine takes an important place among a very small literature on a vital piece of modern technology - the helicopter.
Writings about or involving helicopters are plentiful. A Google search using helicopter and history turns up more than 10 million hits. Doing the same for just books in Amazon.com turns up over 12,000 and almost a thousand at Barnes & Noble. However, when you try to find just those that make any real effort to cover the breadth and depth of the subject -- the ideas underlying, development, application, and impact of this technology - numbers drop to a handful. Among those, most are either dated - which only takes a few years, given the pace of change in the world -- or focus solely on military aspects. So, even if it did nothing more than just try to cover the waterfront, The God Machine would be a valuable book.
In fact, Chiles has gone well beyond that. He's presented key issues and a fair amount of technical information in terms that almost any lay reader can understand. An example is his discussion of the problem of controlling a helicopter in a hover - the invaluable characteristic that distinguishes it from almost all other aircraft. He explains how this problem frustrated early visionaries and inventors and how it was finally overcome - down to the specific hardware involved and how it works this magic.
In taking a broad view, Chiles also discusses the huge gaps between vision and reality that have been a persistent part of the story. One of these gaps involved the idea of a simple, cheap device that would displace the family car and reduce increasing congestion on highways. This vision butted against the reality of a technology that defied finding a practical combination of cost, capability, and reliability that could put the product in the hands of the masses. He shows how these same factors restricted ownership and use to the wealthy, companies, and public agencies meeting special needs. He shows how various inventors tried, always unsuccessfully, to overcome these obstacles.
Chiles also shows how the helicopter achieved a unique place in meeting special needs - especially for the military and in such activities as arctic exploration, servicing offshore oil platforms, civilian search-and-rescue, and real-time news gathering. He also shows how evolving social and political contexts have shaped attitudes toward helicopters - especially opposition to their noise, as well as concerns about government spying on private citizens.
Finally he shows, as in the case of helicopters rescuing mountain climbers in Alaska, how availability of this technology has sometimes led to a false sense of security and personal recklessness that the public winds up paying the bills for.
While this book lacks citation to sources for specific information, as one who has worked extensively on history involving helicopters, I know that Chiles has also made accessible to general readers information found only in some rare and expensive sources. Beyond that, he's drawn on interviews with and direct observation of helicopter pilots and users - to the extent of having learned to fly a helicopter himself. Anecdotes flowing from these sources give his writing an immediate, human touch that increases entertainment, as well as informational value.
No book will ever be the last word on rotorcraft, but The God Machine certainly meets a real need. If you want to or can buy only one book on helicopters, this is the one.
[Dr. James W. Williams is the former U.S. Army Aviation Branch Historian and author of A History of Army Aviation: From Its Beginnings to the War on Terror (2005)]



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A Mild Form of Insanity: Recollections of a Helicopter Pilot Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought this would be sort of a chance for an old timer to pass on his wisdom to newly-minted pilots. That's why I got it...expecting to hear stories that would keep me out of trouble. It's not really that, but it's a worthwhile read for any aspiring pilot...or anybody who sits at their desk thinking they'd rather be getting paid for doing something "exciting". It's kind of the Seven Years in Tibet of flying helos, both stylistically ("lot of stuff happened, but it was all good adventure") and conceptually (Mike was there in the beginning).
For pilots...we have it good. Mike started flying airplanes because helicopters weren't widely in service at the time. And that time was when flying a copter wasn't completely figured out either. That alone is a pretty good story. When Mike leaves the military, the book takes what I thought of as a sort of aside into the political relationship between the Sultan of Oman and the adoo (I thought it was interesting that Mike chose not to capitalize "adoo"). There's some interesting flying, but it's mostly (and somewhat interesting) a bit of history. You do learn a bit about what it's like working away from home and family, although Mike's neglect in dealing more with this topic parallels its outcome.
The next chapter in Mike's career I thought was particularly useful (and, again, entertaining) for any Robbie-Ranger who wants to fly the fancy ship for a rich guy. Mike ends up doing that, and it really sounds like one of the most challenging of his jobs. He's faced with a pilot/boss who's more boss than pilot, putting Mike in what sounded to me like great opportunities to end his career in a crash or violation.
After this, the final chapters are anticlimactic, but also more realistic for aspiring pilots. Mike ends up back in the Middle East, this time flying for the oil companies. You get a better sense of his family life at the time, and how his earlier career choices affected him later on (eg, his experience in Oman led to the oil job, but limited him in model experience).
Overall, a great book. One of the few that I've read for fun since starting flight training. I read it in a matter of days and had a good time with it. Also ended up turning down a few pages that I'll go back to once I'm flying full-time.

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It takes a mild form of insanity to expose oneself to the rigours of helicopter flight in the midst of flying bullets -- at one point the author even had his toe shot off! -- but Mike Tuson's rich and varied experiences as a helicopter pilot constitute a very full, if somewhat precarious existence! This is not a manual on how to fly a helicopter, yet, in a very readable and exciting narrative form, it will introduce the reader to all the theory and essentials of flight regarding fixed wing aircraft as well as, and especially, helicopters. Apart from involving the reader in the escapades, narrow escapes and accidents in his flying life, the author examines the advantages of helicopters over fixed wing aircraft. Which, for example, is safer if the engine fails, or if the aircraft has to be ditched in the sea? This is a book for the layman as well as the experienced pilot. In either case it is an entertainining and enriching experience.

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Fatal Traps for Helicopter Pilots Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, the idea of dissecting accidents to learn what/what not to do is a great idea and something that rotorcraft pilots definitely miss out on--Whyte should be praised for taking the initiative to do this. On the downside, too much of the book is just raw accident reports (or Whyte's summary of them) that offer either the most basic details or minutiae that makes sense only to the manufacturer's engineers. At some points it's frustrating to read through these not knowing where they're going, or trying to understand technical details only to end a chapter without getting any insight from them. Whyte could have vastly improved this book by taking the time to cut through the crap in these reports and focus on the details relevant to the point he's looking at, although the page count would have been much smaller...
On the flip side, the value in this book comes from:
1/ It is specific to helicopter flight and operations
2/ Whyte's sorting thru all the accident reports that illustrate all the bad stuff you read about in your training. In addition, some (but not all) of the illustrations and explanations go far beyond what you'll find in other books (eg, the FAA's book), making it a good complement for what you'll need during your training. For example, Whyte's book has the best explanation of VRS/SWP that I've seen.
I would have liked to see more focus on R22-specific issues (the SFAR 73 accidents) and a chapter on personnel safety at landing sites would have been a nice addition. Operation-specific hazards (eg, long-lining, operations over water or dense forest), discussion of the relative risks in different ships, and an analysis of how a situation could have been averted or recovered would have made this book a grand slam. Don't get me wrong, all student pilots should read this book at some point in their training, but I hope Whyte will significantly improve the content in later editions.

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Acquire the Life-Saving Skills Needed to Eliminate or Reduce Most Helicopter Accidents

A vital resource for pilots, helicopter enthusiasts, and aircraft maintenance technicians, Fatal Traps for Helicopter Pilots analyzes all aspects of helicopter accidents, including flight basics, engineering, meteorology, flight training, and human factors. This life-saving guide shows how proper preparation can help prevent accidents by addressing causes such asaerodynamic problems, mechanical failures, poor loading, mid-air collisions, and more.

Filled with case studies and first-hand accounts of accidents, the book organizes accident types by primary causes, presenting proven methods for eliminating or reducing the possibility of each type. Greg Whyte, anex commercial helicopter pilot and professional aviation writer, draws on his own flying experiences and those of other flight veterans to provide a wealth of practical information and safety tips that are essential for everyone who flies, maintains or crews in helicopters. Filled with over 100 helpful illustrations, Fatal Traps for Helicopter Pilots enables readers to:
Identify and address the common causes of helicopter accidents
Explore in-depth examples of accident scenarios
Examine the technical details of accident causes
Review case studies and first-hand accounts of accidents
Learn from the plain-English notes on avoidance and recovery

Inside This Aviation Accident-Prevention Guide
? Basic Flight Principles ? Vortex Ring State ? Recirculation ? Ground Resonance ? Retreating Blade Stall ? Dynamic Rollover ? Overpitching ? Main Rotor Strikes ? Mid-Air Collisions ? Mast Bumping ? Engine Failures ? Tail Rotor Failures ? Mechanical Failures ? Fuel ? Fire ? Ditching ? Loading Issues ? Winching ? Weather ? Crew and Pre-flight Hazards ? Human Factors ? Training Mishaps

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The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey Review

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(More customer reviews)Richard Whittle began covering the V-22 Osprey program in 1984 as the Pentagon correspondent for The Dallas Morning News. Based on hundreds of interviews, extensive research, first hand flights, and an "embedding" on the first Osprey combat tour in Iraq, Whittle's book, The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey provides impressive insight into the internal and external politics of fielding the Marine Corps' "Number one aviation priority."
If you are looking for a technical discussion of the V-22, or a critical assessment of its combat capabilities, or cost-benefit analyses to a conventional helicopter, this book is not for you. Rather, this book is for members of the general public who automatically associate words like "death trap" and "widow maker" with the Osprey.
Neither unrealistically extolling the aircraft's virtues nor carping on capabilities for which it was never designed, the story focuses on the struggles to convince the Army, Navy and Marine Corps that tiltrotor technology was mature enough for development, to design an aircraft to meet the overly-constrained JVX government specification, to maintain support and funding within the Department of Defense and Congress for three decades, and to survive the tragic crashes in 1992 and 2000. Indeed, Whittle has written the first in-depth look at the history of the Osprey that tries to cut through the hype and the hysteria that has surrounded the V-22 for over a quarter century.
Written in a journalistic style, the book covers much of the history of the development of the aircraft, and follows the careers of several key individuals. As a result, although there are hundreds of individuals mentioned at Bell and Boeing, in the Defense Department, Congress, etc, the reader gets a slice - rather than a comprehensive view - of the development challenges. The book reads well, despite a few editing shortfalls, and through Whittle's engaging writing style, the book is hard to put down.
Despite the seemingly pejorative title, Whittle's story is largely a positive one of the trials, tribulations, tragedies and triumphs of the Osprey. Webster's gives the definition of `notorious' as "generally known and talked of; especially widely and unfavorably known." An unfavorable view of the tiltrotor is still probably the "conventional wisdom" among the American public, helped by "60 Minutes" and Mark Thompson's appallingly misguided October 2007 TIME magazine article, "V-22 Osprey: A Flying Shame" - perhaps the low point of journalistic coverage of the Osprey. Whittle's book may serve as a counterbalance, providing enough factual information on the Osprey for readers to draw their own conclusions on the aircraft. An alternative title might have been "Chasing a Dream: The V-22 and How It Got That Way." In fact, Whittle seems to go out of his way trying to incorporate the views of some critics, but in the end, it was a bit unconvincing for me, because the preponderance of the book refuted their arguments.
The retrospective of the entire Osprey development history provides some interesting insights - perhaps unintended by Whittle. For instance, the cancellation of the program by then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney - and the fits and starts of trying to continue the program through Congressional actions - are implicated in the July 1992 crash that killed seven at Quantico Marine Corps Base, and perhaps even lead to rushed developmental testing and the April 2000 crash that killed 19 at Marana. Cheney's cancellations certainly added years and hundreds of millions of dollars to the development; it wasn't until after the crashes that pauses could be made in the program to fix larger problems. Secretary of the Navy John Lehman's insistence on a Firm Fixed Price bid for Full Scale Development and the 50/50 partnership between Bell and Boeing (with neither company in charge) were also root causes of development troubles.
The book also highlights Representative Weldon's role in leading the defense of the Osprey in the Congress, where he formed the "Tilt-Rotor Technology Coalition." After the tragedy of the 1992 crash, Weldon testified that "in the past three years alone we have had nine accidents with the existing medium lift aircraft for the Marine Corps, most recently in March, where fourteen young Marines were killed when the CH-46 helicopter they were flying in went down."
Since its return to flight in 2002, the Osprey has flown well over 70,000 hours, including over 11,000 hours in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In March 2007, General James Conway, Commandant of the US Marine Corps, in discussing the Osprey's first deployment into combat is quoted as saying, "I'll tell you, there's going to be a crash. That's what airplanes do over time. We're going to have to accept that when it happens." The first combat loss of the Osprey occurred on April 8, 2010 (US time) - 10 years to the day from the crash in Marana - an Air Force CV-22 crashed in southern Afghanistan. The Dream Machine is dedicated to those "who lost their lives developing the V-22 Osprey, and to their loved ones and friends."


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