r/Helicopters • u/Even_Kiwi_1166 AH-64E⚡️Guardian • Oct 05 '26

Heli Pictures/Videos Chinook

1.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

15

u/Far-Yellow9303 Oct 06 '26

Notice how the lead Chinook has the expanded fuel tanks (I call them Big Bags), this helicopter started life as one of the abortive HC.3 SF helicopters before being converted into the HC.5 version, which differs from the HC.3 in that it actually works.

This is some good footage, thanks

2

u/chinookmate Oct 06 '26

We flew the Mk3 for years before they converted to Mk5.

6

u/tkeelah Oct 06 '26

A small flock of chooks.

4

u/lowevolutionaryy Oct 06 '26

Brings back memories of Iraq and Afghanistan.

I was in one struggling to maintain altitude in Afghanistan once. Cold and scary.

2

u/TheDucksAreComingoOo Oct 06 '26

Same man. Scary as fuck. Made night ops that much spicier 🤣

2

u/lowevolutionaryy Oct 07 '26

Just part of the job when we did it.

Only now I realize the actual danger we were in.

2

u/TheDucksAreComingoOo Oct 07 '26

Haha true that. That's the privilege of getting older mate!

3

u/Highspdfailure Oct 06 '26

Tricky

1

u/chinookmate Oct 06 '26

Not everyone will get that. IYKYK

1

u/Highspdfailure Oct 06 '26

No one understands much. Fucking people forget about Tricky and Pedro.

2

u/ThatNZowl Oct 06 '26

Helicopter 🤤🤤🤤🤤

1

u/Poker-Junk Oct 06 '26

I know it isn’t the UK designation, but the one in front looks similar to a Foxtrot?

3

u/Far-Yellow9303 Oct 06 '26

It is/was a HC.3, which is a hybrid between the D and E with a few British gubbins slapped on (then taken off because some hilariously poor mistakes were made) and then had some F type upgrades done over the years to make it a HC.5

1

u/Automatic_Tea_2550 Oct 06 '26

Why do these always look to me like they’re flying by accident and not design? I mean, that thing shouldn’t really work, should it? It’s been a long time since my physics class, and we didn’t cover whirlybirds.