Anyone ever fall out of a Huey?

I remeber some Vietnam Veterans (friends of my dad) talking about this topic.  Apparently, people are held onto the floor of the helicopter by centrifical force when the helicopter is banking.  People are held into place during level flight by gravity.  One of the veterans stated "You'd almost have try in order to fall out of a helicopter." 

My own experience is on CH-53E's, which has enclosed cabins.  I know that aircrew have fallen out of the "Hell Hole" (a trap door in the center of the cabin used for lifting external loads).  However, I don't know of anybody else falling from the 53.  I'd imagine it is possible for people who aren't strapped in to fall out at the ramp if the A/C is at a severe nose-up attitude.  However, I think a person would "Almost have to try in order to fall out of the helicopter." 

I know a story about a special ops guy falling off of the ramp of a Chinook in Afghanistan.  He was firing his SAW from the ramp when the helicopter had to do some violent manuvering to avoid ground fire. The ramp of a cargo helicopter is a dangerous place for people who aren't strapped in, especially if they aren't part of the helicopter crew.  The guy probably didn't have time to get off of the ramp or strap himself in, he was too busy returning fire.  He probably saved that Chinook and everybody on it.    

Semper Fi,

Chris     

Ridleusmc,

you're talking about ABH1 Neil Roberts a SEAL with DEVGRU.  His team was being inserted via MH-47 on the top of a mountain.  The helo took fire and was hit.  the events only took a few minutes.  Roberts either sliped out the back or ran off, at the time the ramp crewman was yelling "GO,GO,GO" into his ICS.  Roberts could have mistaken this as the signal to leave the bird.  The aircraft landed 7 miles away without furter casualties.  The ramp gunner also fell out but he was straped in.  there are a couple books out about this battle.  later that day a Ranger QRF landed on the same mountain and battled the enemy the whole day.  Roberts Ridge tells about the fight starting with the SEALS and finishing with the Rangers fight in order a very good book.  Not a Good day to Die is more about Operation Anaconda but it does mention Neil Roberts and Nathan Self and his Rangers.  However niether book has Roberts firing his SAW from inside the aircraft.  I'm in a helo squadron and I know our crewmen wouldn't want someone firing form insided the bird.

Jose 

Thanks for clearing that up.  I heard the story on the history channel a couple of years ago, and I got a few important details wrong. 

Semper Fi,

Chris

i once fell on my face while walking onto the LZ on the radio calling the birds in  

i just fell didnt even put my arms out or nothing  everyone there thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen

k

Hi Rich,

   Chris and Mel nailed it... the aircraft maintains at least 1 positive G in normal operations.    Turns increase the G Force, but also insures everyone stays planted where they are.      If the aircraft were to go into Zero G while maneuvering, any crewmember who isn't restrained could "float" out, but there isn't too many pilots who would go into a controlled Zero G condition if they had personnel in the doors, regardless of what's happening outside.

   Of course, there were instances where ships were hit and lost the Tail Rotor while near the ground on an Air Assault, causing it to start spinning, but to intentionally put their aircraft into a configuration that would eject non restrained personnel, just don't happen.    (that pilot would end up an E-2 working some remote POL location!)

   Maybe a better question would be; Anyone ever fell OFF of a Huey?

Take care,

Frank

I have had a time or two during external load ops when a pilot let the A/C get WAY out of trim in a turn where I could have slid out but that is over 12 years on the job.  The only times that I know that someone made an unplanned departure from the A/C have been during a real deal go-around on an air assault with some sort of evasive action to avoid an obstacle or A/C.

Mac

Many thanks for taking the time to post those answers. They clear up something I've been wondering about every time a see a pic or film such as those in the question.

Cheers,   Rich

Hi Jose,

I have it from good sources ( my Son who was Neil "Fifi's" dive buddy )and was on a area ridge top while this all happened and was privy to much of the RT and visual that took place there. The book "Not a good day to die" is not a very good book about this event.. I won't go into long details here but The book "Robert's Ridge" is a very good account of what happened there.

My Son was then and is still assigned to DEVGRU.. I look forward to the day he can tell me more about Nav Spec ops in Afganistasn and Iraq since 9/11, I had the honor of meeting Neil at a Team reunion in Little Creek the Summer before 9/11.   Your version of the Go Go GO is what they believe Fifi may have heard and he departed the AC while it was buy then several feet off the ground...FiFi was armed with a M4 not a SAW........

Mixing different specop people on combined missions has gotten much better since then but it did have a bad start.

DBFSS385,

I agree with you that "not a good day" didn't really go much into the events on Robert's Ridge.  the author was very critical of what the SEALs did durring Anaconda.  All I know is what i read in the books and "Robert's Ridge" has a lot of info that was not covered in other books or articles.  I am a reservist with HCS-5 who has been activated for about two years.  Our primary missions are CSAR and Navy SPECWAR.  In Iraq our squadron worked with SEALs and other coalition Special Forces.  I am no expert on any Special Operation units or actions especially stuff that happened n Afghanistan.  In Iraq my job was to fix the weapon systems on our HH-60H helicopters.  HCS-4 our east coast counterpart is currently deployed to Iraq doing many different missions.  I think what happened on that ridge was tragic,  I really respect those guys who do what only those few men can do.

Jose

Jose,

My Son said the author of "Not A Good Day To Die" was snubbed by the Teams when doing his interviews for security reasons and his book reflected his feelings about that, All I know for sure is nobody is a Superman.

Good people die in War, always have and still do.

The SEALs have learned much from this "War" and so has the Army...

Hey Jose, Thanks for your service comrade. Keep Your powder dry....

I'm a Vietnam Veteran as well as an old Sewer Pipe Sailor... I'm not sure how I feel about all this but I do now and always will support you guys and gals who do the dirty deeds in this War on Terror.

I must add that my Son's respect and admiration for the Rangers was very high after this event. He has made and maintained very strong friendships with these guys since then and during his following deployments to Afgan and Iraq.

Be well

Hi Rich

on 19/4/1968 a member of,A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division, fell out of the left door of a UH-1D, from an altitude of between 3000 and 4000 feet while on a combat assault mission into the A Shau Valley.

The huey he was in was hit in the tail boom by anti aircraft fire which caused it to go into a spin and throw him out, due to the tactical situation and nature of the terrain it made a search for his body impossible.

Its a heartbreaking fact but yes it did happen.

Andy

oldhooker

Ive had the displeasure of falling off a Huey and a Blackhawk, my left knee is toast after I walk a few flghts of stair or spend too much time working off of ladders.  Slipped off a couple of 206B/Ls while working for PHI.......you need a Mountain Goat award with oak leaf clusters awarded just for walking around on top of those skinny cabins especially when the anti skid is shot and it's a humid night! (for that that dont know,oilfield birds fly all day and we started working on them around sundown)

My time in a Huey was mainly strapped in the back held firmly in my seat when we took a turn. I never saw anything move, shift or fall over..... 

David 

PatlaborUnit1

Sorry to hear about the knee, thats a fair old drop from the top of a huey, honourary mountain goat award and non slip sneakers in the post

Andy

OK, just to provide a little constrast to all of the (interesting) military stories, here's mine...

I paid for a ride in a sightseeing Hughes 500D back in the '80s on Kauai, Hawaii.  An older couple, my wife and I were passengers.  The pilot saw that I was the only one with a camera and suggested I take the left rear seat, which I did.  After I fastened the seat belt I realized that I was the only one without a door and figured this would be the closest I would ever get to "The Huey Experience".  As weird as it may seem, there was very little wind or noise even considering that I was wearing a headset.  Almost instinctively I put my hand "out the window" to "play with the air" as you typically do with a car window.  As soon as I got my palm outside of the door frame, it was slammed back into the rear of the frame.  I guess we really were moving through the air pretty fast!  I looked over the front seats to see that the airspeed indicator read 80 knots.  So with a little caution, I was able to stick the camera and my head outside to take a peek at the main and tail rotors (don't how how safe this was but I had to try it ;^).

As for falling out of the helicopter, I never felt like I was at risk of tumbling out the door, even if I hadn't been wearing a seat belt.  I found this a little surprising.  At the end of the tour, I thought the ride was pretty sedate but the other passengers were not walking very straight and my wife was turning green.  Even though it was a totally tourist thing, I still thought it was a terrific experience!

Martin  IPMS 44668

For all of the missions I was on in Vietnam, I newver once came near falling out or saw anyone else falling out, but I did have a bad experience in 1988.  I was in the Washington State National Guard at the time and we were in Utah at Dugway during FIREX 88.  We were going to set up a remote relay antenna on top of a hill and had to rappell down because it was too lumpy to land there.  I was just at the ned of the rappell rope and an updraft of hot air caught the Huey and pulled it up an extra 20 or 30 feet just as I dropped off.

I've had three surgeries on my right knee since then.  Quite a drop it was and I had full ruck and combat gear, including my weapon.  Ouch ......

MBT70 wrote:

For all of the missions I was on in Vietnam, I newver once came near falling out or saw anyone else falling out, but I did have a bad experience in 1988.  I was in the Washington State National Guard at the time and we were in Utah at Dugway during FIREX 88.  We were going to set up a remote relay antenna on top of a hill and had to rappell down because it was too lumpy to land there.  I was just at the ned of the rappell rope and an updraft of hot air caught the Huey and pulled it up an extra 20 or 30 feet just as I dropped off. I've had three surgeries on my right knee since then.  Quite a drop it was and I had full ruck and combat gear, including my weapon.  Ouch ......

Just listening to your experience makes my knee hurt.  Hope you are fully recovered from that injury

lots of stories of people "almost" falling out of the cabin........but never seem to.  However, lots of stories of vietnamese falling off the skids during lam son 719.......also, story is told in "ripcord" book of an american who panicked and grabbed a skid under fire only to fall to his death after the helicopter had gone quite a ways downrange and gotten quite high.......

fall out of a huey, Yes While Stationed at fort campbell KY with the 159th avn.

It was 1977 And the company commander was giving joyrides on his bird while we were out in the field on war games VS the 82nd airborne. Well he decided to do some combat manuvers and I go falling out of the bird. Luck has it I was wearing my strap so Just some dings to my body But mostly my pride. Found out later the major did this quite often to keep the crew sharp. Safety is the rule in military aircraft, But for a wheeled vehicle/generator tech I really loved flying in the huey, chinook, and cobras when the opportunity arose.

I've never fallen out of a Huey, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. 

don't mind me, but I couldn't resist.

It is possible to go 0 Gravity in a helicopter. There is a great clip of this on youtube showing some amazing flying by a French helicopter crew. one of the crew members is seen floating around the troop compartment with all the little bits of items floating with him. They are doing some extreme flying in the video.

The Vietnam incidents are usually related to insertion accidents or of taking fire and loosing someone due to crashes. When I was in high school my girlfriends father flew with 1/9 as a gunner. He described having to clear weapons while in air of the twin 60s mounted outside his 'office' & he didnt drop off so they had their preverbial 'stuff' wired pretty tight. There are images of this online as well and I saw his photos of guys doing crazy things inflight like riding rocket pods. 

Flying got boring evidently. My dad said if they had anything left RTB they would take out Water Buffalos for fun.