Hey guys, I aint been around much lately. Staying too busy and usually too tired to really do much after work.

So, lets see, in the past couple weeks, I spent a week doing Medevac Chase out at another small base, came back, flew nights for a week on QRF (quick reaction force), then went to days on QRF where I am at now.

We have done some pretty cool stuff and had some tough missions. I did a resupply into a tiny little field in the middle of the Argandab River Valley, (VERY bad area) a couple days ago that almost didnt turn out well! Luckily do to an excellent crew with me, we got it done without incident. The ground guys were quite happy to get some beans and bullets out there, and they looked like they needed it.

Yesterday we worked with some Canadian Special Forces fellas and inserted them into some landing zones that were pretty dang cool. We ended up doing 4 two wheel landings and two one wheel landings to drop off and pick up these guys at some mountinous areas that there was just no way to fully land the helicopter. Our sister ship got a few pictures of us doing the the infills and exfills that I'll post here.

Luckily in just a shade under 2 weeks, I'll be heading home for my 2 weeks of mid tour leave. I am so ready for it too. Some time off will be great and seeing my wife and kids again will be awesome! My oldest son just turned 17 a few days ago, and my youngest son will be 9 in a couple days, my wife recently had surgery and my youngest will have surgery in about a week and my 15 year old daughter just got her braces off. So, things have been busy at home too and I missed it all. Luckily I have a wife thats tough as nails and can handle all this stuff. Love you guys!

Enough rambling for now.

Laine.

HI LAINE,VERY INTERESTING AND DRAMATIC PICS OF YOUR MISSION,SO PLEASED YOU ALL GOT OUT UNSCATHED.JUST TO LET YOU KNOW I ONLY JUST JOINED RC GROUPS SITE AND AM FINDING IT SO GOOD.
I'M GETTING BACK INTO BUILDING SMALL RC ELECTRIC (I HOPE) AND EVENTIALLY FLYING AGAIN AFTER A LAPSE OF 45 YEARS.GOT PLENTY OF TIME ON MY HANDS AT MO AND HAVE BUILT A BALSA STICK N GLUE SE5a WW1 BIPLANE.JUST GOT TO FIND CORRECT COLOUR TISSUE NOW.NEXT I'D LIKE TO BUILD A VIC SMEED DESIGN LIKE 'POPSIE' 'TOMBOY'OR SIMILAR WHEN I CAN SCROUNGE A PLAN? ANYONE?AND MAYBE ADVISE ON CONVERSION TO ELECTRIC,AND ADVICE ON MOTOR?POWER?ETC.THIS IS NEW TO ME.
DIDN'T NOTE DATE OF YOUR THREAD BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR 2 WEEKS LEAVE WITH YOUR FAMILY.AND THE REST OF YOUR TOUR OF DUTY.I ONLY LIVE 20 MILES FROM ROYAL MARINES CAMP WHO HAVE RETURNED FROM 6 MONTHS TOUR OF DUTY IN HELMUN PROVINCE TODAY.THEY LOST 14 TROOPS IN THAT TIME.WEVE SEEN EVERY REPATRIATION OF EACH OF THEM ON TELEVISION.EACH A VERY MOVING EXPERIENCE,IVE HAD 2 NEPHEWS DO TOURS OF DUTY OUT THERE SINCE IT STARTED.CAME BACK UNSCATHED THANK GOD.
I'L BE LOOKING FOR MORE OF YOUR BLOGS?
REGARDS DEREK.UK

Hey Derek, thanks man. Glad you found the site and glad you are back into flying again.

As for the conversion to electric, if you do a search for the SE5a here on RCG Im sure you will find some info on it. If not, give me the specs on it (span, weight etc...) and I'll see if I can figure out what ya need to get it up in the air on E power.

Laine.

It has been very busy around this place in the last month, but we are all excited to have the month end and have you home with us again! Even if it is just for 2 weeks. We all love you and miss you very much!

And those pics are AWESOME!!!

Laine,
Well I am finally here up in Urzugan near Deh Rawood. You can fly my medivac any time after these pictures. Glad your heading home soon. Hope you have a beer or two or even three for yourself and me.
Well done and as always safe flying.
Shane

Great pics and stories Laine! I imagine you're often flying right at the edge of the performance envelope - those one wheel landings look pretty crazy.

You must have seen the video of two Navy MH-60Rs dunking in Lake Tahoe - any analysis on that from your professional point of view?

Stay safe,

-Matt

New meaning to the phrase, "special delivery"

Originally Posted by patrickegan

New meaning to the phrase, "special delivery"

Yeah, that it does. I love doing that stuff.

Originally Posted by Esprit440

Great pics and stories Laine! I imagine you're often flying right at the edge of the performance envelope - those one wheel landings look pretty crazy.

You must have seen the video of two Navy MH-60Rs dunking in Lake Tahoe - any analysis on that from your professional point of view?

Stay safe,

-Matt

Thanks Matt. We usually dont push it too far really. Conservative enough to give that little extra margin of safety. Especially when my crew and 8 or more passengers lives are involved. Then again, we train and train and train to do these things. Amazingly, most times it just seems like "another day at the office".

As for the MH-60 that took a drink in Lake Tahoe, all I can figure after watching that one is the guy was an idiot. There is no mechanical reason for it to happen. The only thing I can possibly imagine is that he tried to pull more power than the engines could deliver. When that happens, it "droops the rotor" meaning slows it down. When that happens, the aircraft CAN start to yaw due to the tail rotor not being able to provide enough thrust due to low RPM.

So, my theory... the dude pulled too much collective, drooped the rotor, the bird started to spin, he tried to correct the spin with application of pedal, that drooped the rotor even further and made them lose enough altitude to hit the water. Once in the water, the spin stopped, and Im certain the collective went down due to the impact (however minor it was). That allowed the rotor to recover, and the flew away.

But, thats just an educated guess.

Laine.

Great pics Laine...enjoy your mid-tour leave!

Lake Tahoe is good for some kayaking, not so much an LZ.

incredible!! i wouldn't even attempt those feats with an RC Heli! You have me wanting to build a scale blackhawk now.

You do us proud, just come home safely....

Love the pictures, Laine!

I wish they would let us practice pinnacle landings here at Rucker

Enjoy your time with your family and start planning for SEFF 2011.
McD

Thanks guys. Thats the kind of missions I really like to do. Gets kinda intense at times, but it makes ya feel like you have done something. Medevac is also a great job. I really like doing that sometimes too. Flying VIPs is cool sometimes, but, its usually just hardstand to hardstand. Not as "rewarding".

Laine.