Watch a Chinook lift a stuck Apache helicopter from a rice field in Texas

September 5, 2016 Helicopters
David Cenciotti

A massive CH-47 Chinook retrieved a smaller AH-64D Apache attack helicopter near Houston Texas.

On Aug. 30, a Texas Army National Guard AH-64D Apache, was forced to perform an emergency landing on a rice field near Wallisville, 30 miles to the east of Houston.

Although the landing was successful and nobody was hurt, the attack chopper had to be moved away from the field and, two days later, the disabled Army helicopter was rescued by a CH-47 that lifted the AH-64 a carried it for 16 miles to the Baytown Airport.

With a 26,000-lb sling load capacity on the central hook the Chinook is capable to lift and carry other aircraft: for instance, in August 2013, a CH-47F Chinook helicopter transported a U.S. Air Force A-7K Corsair II to the Goldstar Museum at Camp Dodge, in Johnston, Iowa.

Top image: screenshot from AP video

 

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About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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11 Comments

    • I would guess it’s for preventing the Apache from starting to rotate wildly, it might even position it facing forward.

    • It probably blocks the Apache from rotation while it is dragged. The air stops the tail from rotating and the “rope/chain” does not enfold/coil.

    • I’d assume it’s used to add some drag to the tail so the nose points forward. Doesn’t seem to have much effect in this video, but the video does cut off before they really get moving forward.

  2. Much more dignified than dragging it out with a team of mules – although a bit more expensive.

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