02 November 2009

CH-47F comes to Upstate NY

When I was in flight school, the Army was still testing out the CH-47F Chinook, an upgraded version of the venerable tandem-rotor cargo helicopter which has been used since the Vietnam War. As I was hovering (or, as my instructor pilot, Earl, is keen to point out, attempted to hover), we caught a glimpse of a prototype CH-47F landing on one of the adjacent runways at Cairns Army Airfield.

Earl, a former Chinook pilot from the Vietnam War, looked at the machine and marveled at it, nostalgically. He always spoke highly of the Chinook, despite the complaints may pilots brought up about its age. As we saw the Chinook taxi by, I knew that he wanted to take the F-model Chinook up for a spin just once.

Fast-forward a few years later, and the CH-47F is now being fielded to units across the Army. I have to get a look inside this thing, as I hear that the new glass cockpits are pretty sweet. I also hear it has a new helicopter smell, too. This might actually be a hyperbole, as I'm told they're not really new helicopters, but rather, upgraded D-model aircraft (which, in many cases, are upgraded C, B, and A-model aircraft).

And, as an added note, this leaves us in the UH-60 Black Hawk community as the only ones who don't have a glass cockpit yet.

2 comments:

SJ said...

The people at the Boeing Company and its Rotorcraft division would be more than happy to help you with new flight bags and glass cockpits. Contact your local acquisition officer for an RFP today!

Act now, and Boeing Rotorcraft will even throw in a Comanche model so you can dream of the Cold War killing machine that never was.

benitodinero said...

Wisconsin Guard got brand-new UH-60M's recently --

http://dma.wi.gov/dma/news/2009News/09-001%20Wisconsin%20National%20Guard%20Aviation%20Receives%20New%20UH-60M%20Black%20Hawk%20Helicopters.pdf

They're pretty frickin sweet.