Will You Be a Happy Camper?

By CDR “Dangerous Dave” Diamond, USNR (Ret.)

When you walk to your aircraft, are you ready to be a happy camper? I learned early in my career that in helicopters you don’t always land where or when you planned. When I was flying off frigates, the more seasoned pilots advised me to always carry my checkbook and wallet in a waterproof bag when I made a run to an airfield. You never knew if the aircraft or ship might have an issue that would require you to spend one or more nights ashore. You also never knew if that flight might end with an unplanned swim call.

When I later became an instructor at HT-18, I needed to be that seasoned pilot and guide students to bring their jackets during winter flights. I would explain even if it’s warm now, it will be cold tonight. If the aircraft breaks, you will need your jacket. During the summer, I would remind them to bring water in case we had to make an emergency landing.

On a hot August afternoon, I somehow missed reminding two RI-18X students to refill their water before the return leg from Keesler AFB to NAS Whiting Field. About an hour into that flight, the TH-57C TR CHIP Light illuminated. The bird had a previous gripe for the same issue and with a tail wind, it felt like we had secondary indications. We were over a heavily wooded area of Alabama and my best landing option was a dirt logging road aligned with the current winds.

I knew we were screwed. It was an hour before sunset and we were landing in a very remote location. We let ATC know our issue and our plan to execute the PEL. The student exercised good crew coordination when he said “Sir, you concentrate on landing, I’ll talk to ATC." We landed safely, and within ten minutes of shutting down, a T-34C marked on top of us and we were able to relay over the PRC-90 we were safe on deck. That is when the real fun began. We attempted to walk to a main road and encountered two snakes within a quarter mile of the aircraft. I had noted when we were contacting the T-34C, both students wanted to use their PRC-90s at the same time. They also wanted to shoot a flare in a wooded area that hadn’t seen rain in weeks. I asked, what did they teach you during land survival? They said land survival was not included in API any more. I knew I now had to train some things that weren’t covered in the HITU Syllabus. I did a quick inventory of our gear and realized neither student had water. I split what I had in my CamelBak between the three of us.

Twenty minutes after landing, another TH-57C landed with room for one passenger and I sent the first student home. About fifteen minutes later, a second TH-57C landed and the second student headed home. In the rush to get them airborne prior to sunset, I forgot to get back my water. I was now alone with a third of a CamelBak in August in a snake filled field. In Naval Aviation, it doesn’t get much better than that. I was getting paid to go camping. I had a cellphone with limited battery life and made contact with the squadron duty officer (SDO). He had the coordinates from the T-34C and the TH-57Cs that recovered my students. He had the duty driver searching for the entrance to the logging road. It looked like I might get lucky.

As darkness approached, I knew I would be sleeping that night not in my king-sized bed, but crunched up in the back of my Bell SeaRanger. My phone battery was quickly draining and my water supply was about empty. I called the SDO and told him I was calling it a night and would contact him when I woke up the next morning. I asked him to make sure the maintenance recovery crew brought me water when they came to get me.

As I tried to sleep, the small sliding windows were letting in too many bugs, so I closed them and my TH-57 now became a sweat lodge as I tried to sleep. Just about the time I had some semblance of comfort and was about to drift off in sleep, I heard a rumbling noise and the sky lit up with lightning. After weeks without rain, the drought would be broken with me trying to sleep over a fuel tank and inside the only piece of metal for miles. Being a true Naval Aviator, I slept right through it.

The next morning I awoke to a very dry mouth and an equally dry CamelBak. I practiced recycling by wiping the condensation that left my body and collected on the windscreen and returning it to my mouth. I called the SDO and the maintenance recovery aircraft was on the way and I confirmed they had a couple of one gallon jugs of water.

About twenty minutes later, I heard the helo and contacted them with guidance on how to land. The road was in a depression surrounded by berms. I recommended landing aligned with the road to provide tail rotor clearance. The maintenance crew had trouble seeing me, so, I got to pop smoke. Although I had provided landing guidance and tried guiding them with hand signals, they proceeded to land perpendicular to the road with less than a foot of clearance from the ground to the tail stinger.

There was a student in the right seat when I climbed in the aircraft and drank my first water in hours. The maintenance crew pulled the chip detector, found fuzz and would perform a penalty turn to make sure it was safe to fly back to Whiting. I would take control of their aircraft, fly overhead to relay messages back to Maintenance Control and trail them back to Whiting.

I was concerned that I could place the tail rotor in the dirt with a normal takeoff. I asked the student if he had ever heard of a no hover takeoff. He said no. I told him it was a NATOPS approved maneuver and explained why I needed to do it. The takeoff went smoothly, the penalty turn had no issues, and both of the aircraft made it safely back to Whiting.

By the time I got back to Whiting, I was hydrated again, but my t shirt and flight suit were stiff and crusty with salt and sweat. If it had taken the maintenance crew longer to find me, or if they didn’t bring water, I would have been too dehydrated to safely fly. Either one of those conditions would have tied up additional aircraft and aircrew to get me and my original aircraft home.

From then on, I warned all the instructors that their students didn’t have land survival training. I told them to take extra care that their students carried the supplies they would need if things didn’t go as planned. Otherwise, they and their students would not be happy campers.

About the Author

CDR David D. Diamond (NHA Lifetime Member #367) flew the SH-2F Seasprite (LAMPS MKI) with HSL-30 Det ALFA, Neptune’s Horsemen, and HSL34, the Greencheckers. He was a Selected Reservist assigned to CTW-5 NR Det 282, the Elks, and providing direct support to HT-18, the Vigilant Eagles, when he got to take this all expenses paid camping trip. He retired with over 3,600 Mishap Free hours of flight time. He also holds the unique distinction of wearing five different ranks and holding three different designators while assigned to HT-18.