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| Pegasus Standardization and Training |
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| 24 February 2012: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Carlos Gonzales and Sgt. Ernesto Gallegos assist pilots during a run up of a CH-47F Chinook helicopter on Camp Marmal, Afghanistan. Gonzales is a Flight Engineer Instructor (FEI) and Gallegos is a Crew Chief (CC). Both are assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division's Company B, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, Task Force Lobos. Click-N-Go Here to view a larger version. |
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Greetings, young Jedi and welcome to the CH-47 Chinook Standardization and Training web page. I am CW5 Pat Trotter, the Command Standardization Instructor Pilot (SIP). After you complete your 12 mile ruck sack march and in-process the unit, I am the first guy you will meet on your way to the flight line. Hopefully, if you are new to Chinooks, you enjoyed your brief vacation at the CH-47 |
| Aircraft Qualification Course (AQC). Now I will teach you how to fly the finest helicopter in the United States Army inventory and in the known world. Please study these pages and get to know this fascinating machine. Those of you who have been around for awhile, you know what you have to do. Come on - lets go have some fun ! |
| Height Velocity Diagram Explanation |
| Trivia: Watch your torque indication very carefully when flying in gusty conditions at a stablized hover or inflight. When no pilot thrust input in made and a large gust of wind is encountered you will observe the torque increase. This is due to the Digital Electronic Control Unit (DECU) sensing a reduction in engine speed as a result of the increased drag on the rotor system. The drag change is a result of the angle of attack change on the blade (remember basic aerodynamics?) More fuel is supplied to the engine to maintain the N2 speed, hence the applied torque increases. This could be critical to the operator when operating at the limits of the aircraft envelope. If hovering or flying in high density altitude situations (mountains - high, heavy and hot) and at 100 pecent dual engine torque, a gust of wind will cause a dual engine over-torque incident. |
(Requires Java to be installed on your computer) |
| The presence of ice pellets at the surface is evidence that: |
| Military Flight Plan |
| Click-N-Go Here to download a fill in the blanks standard DD Form 175 Military Flight Plan in Microsoft Word format. |
| Performance Planning |
| Click-N-Go Here for CH-47 Performance Planning Information. |
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| I want to be an instruktion pilot when I grew up because it's fun and easy to do. Instruktion pilots don't need much schooling, they just need to learn numbers so they can read the instruments. I guess they should be able to read maps too so they can find themselves when they get lost. I here instruktion pilots get lost a lot sometimes. Instruktion pilots should be brave so they won't get scared if it's foggy and they can't see or if a wing or motor falls off they should stay calm so they'll know what to do. Instruktion pilots have to have good eyes so they can see through the clouds and they can't be afraid of lightning or thunder because they are closer to them than we are. The money instruktion pilots make is another thing I like. They make more money than they can spend for just sitting there all day. This is because most people think that flying is dangerous excpet instruktion pilots because they don't know how easy it is. There isn't much I don't like, except girls like instruktion pilot and all the stewardesses want to marry them so they always have to chase them away so they won't bother them. I hope I don't get airsick because if I do I couldn't be an instruktion pilot and would have to go to work. |
| Getting to know the helicopter. |
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Slide your mouse over the image below and click to select an area that you would like to learn more about. | |
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| The designation system prescribed by the Army (AR 70-50) is used in aircraft designations as follows: |
| Example: CH-47D |
| C - Mission symbol (cargo) H - Basic mission and type symbol (helicopter) 47 - Design number D - Series symbol |
| EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTION AND FEATURES |
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| The CH-47D Chinook is an all weather (instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) certified), day, night, or night vision goggle capable tandem rotor cargo helicopter. It is powered by two T55-L-712 engines in nacelles on the aft cabin fuselage section. Torque from engines is transmitted to rotary-wing blades through a series of mechanical transmissions. These transmissions are interconnected by a system of synchronizing drive shafts. Each rotor system consists of a rotary wing head and three rotary wing blades. Rotor systems are controllable from the cockpit by both pilot and copilot through dual hydraulic boosted control systems. The helicopter is equipped with four landing gear, with dual wheels on each forward landing gear and a single wheel on each aft landing gear. Each aft gear can swivel 360 degrees. Power steering is connected to the right aft gear. A hydraulically operated cargo ramp and door is incorporated in the aft end of the fuselage. A hydraulically operated rescue and cargo handling winch is located in the forward cabin area. An Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) mounted above the cargo ramp area in the aft pylon permits operation of all helicopter systems without the use of a ground power source. Additional descriptive and operational data can be found in the Chinook Operator's Manual, U.S. Army Technical Manual (TM) 55-1520-240-10. |
| Things to Remember |
| In the Cockpit, the Pilots seat in the CH-47 is on the right, and the Copilots is on the left. The Pilot in Command generally sits in the left seat (There is more room over there). |
| The maximum gross weight of the CH-47 is 50,000 pounds (22,679.6 kg). Typical weight of the Chinook helicopter is 32,000 pounds (14,514.9 kg)with a full load of fuel. |
| The minimum crew required to fly this helicopter is two coherent pilots (excluding staff aviators wherein a senior instructor pilot shall be seated in a seat in such a way that there is continuous and full access to the flight controls), and a flight engineer. |
| The typical range of the Chinook flying at 120 Knots (nautical miles per hour) Indicated Airspeed (KIAS), or 138 statute miles per hour (mph - as in driving an automobile), is 300 nautical miles (345.2 statute miles). A typical mission profile would include a gross weight of 45,000 pounds (20,411.6 kg), fuel consumption of 2,400 pounds (1,088.6 kg) per hour (roughly 358 gallons or 1,355.2 liters), and 6,000 pounds (2,721.6 kg) (roughly 895 gallons or 3,387.9 liters, depending on the outside air temperature) of fuel available at takeoff. Gross weight is the empty aircraft weight, plus fuel weight, plus cargo (internal or external), and passengers (PAX). The duration of a typical Chinook mission is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. |
| At engine start, for a typical Chinook mission, the aircraft has approximately 6,600 pounds (1,028 gallons or 3891.4 liters) of JP-8 fuel on board. On the mission, the helicopter will consume approximately 6,300 pounds, or 940 gallons (3,558.3 liters) of fuel. At 2 bucks a gallon for jet juice, that's $1,880.00 a flight just for the fuel. |
| Winch / Rescue Hoist Limitations: |
| a. The winch shall not exceed: | |
| (1) 3,000 pounds (1,360.8 kg), straight line pull. | |
| (2) 6,000 pounds (2,721.6 kg), using one pulley. | |
| (3) 9,000 pounds (4,082.4 kg), using two pulleys. | |
| (4) 12,000 pounds (5,443.2 kg), using three pulleys. | |
| b. The rescue hoist is limited to a maximum load of 600 pounds (272.2 kg). |
| Cargo Hook Limitations |
| The limits presented below are structural limitations only. | |
| a. The structural limit of the forward and aft hook is 17,000 pounds (7,711.2 kg) each. | |
| b. The maximum single load that can be suspended as a tandem load from the forward and aft hooks is 25,000 pounds (11,340 kg). | |
| c. The center cargo hook is limited to a maximum load of 26,000 pounds (11,793.6 kg) (or just slightly under the gross weight of an entire Army Command and Staff Powerpoint presentation, if printed on regular 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper). |
| Maximum Airspeeds: |
| The below listed airspeeds are expressed as Velocity Never Exceed (VNE). | |
| a. Maximum airspeed in forward flight is 170 knots (195.6 statute miles or 314.8 kilometers per hour). | |
| b. Maximum airspeed in sideward flight is 45 knots (51.8 statute miles or 83.3 kilometers per hour). | |
| c. Maximum airspeed in rearward flight is 45 knots (51.8 statute miles or 83.3 kilometers per hour). | |
| d. Maximum cross wind or tailwind for hover is 45 knots (51.8 statute miles or 83.3 kilometers per hour). | |
| e. Maximum airspeed with the lower section of the cabin entrance door open and locked is 60 KIAS (69 statute miles or 111.1 kilometers per hour). | |
| f. The rescue hatch door shall not be opened or closed above 90 KIAS (103.6 statute miles or 166.7 kilometers per hour). Otherwise the limitations specified in b. and c. above apply. | |
| g. The windshield wipers shall be shut off at airspeeds above 130 knots (149.6 statute miles or 240.8 kilometers per hour). | |
| h. Cabin door escape panel operation - assure that the airspeed is less than 100 KIAS (115.1 statute miles or 185.2 kilometers per hour) before closing door in flight. | |
| Still ignoring your Cruise Guide Indicator and unconcerned about retreating blade stall? Read this interesting and eye opening article concerning this issue. Written specifically about tests done on the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, the concepts and dangers translate directly into CH-47 Chinook helicopter operations. Click-N-Go Here to read the article. Many have asked: "Why aren't there any warnings in the Chinook Dash 10?" |
| Download the Commander's Guide - TC 1-210 |
| Download the Aircrew Training Manual (ATM) - TC 1-240 |
| A Study Guide |
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| Would you like a one source study guide to help you stay current in your knowledge of the CH-47? Download this study guide and use it as a quick reminder of the many varied items a Chinook pilot needs to know. Click on the link below to download a compressed Microsoft Word 2000 document and save it to the directory of your choice, Then double click on the downloaded file to uncompress it and just open it with Word. (Under revision, but useful as it is.) |
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| Download: A Pilot ATM Study Guide [317 Kb]. | |
(Updated 12 August 2003) |
| Related Sites |
| Publications |
| Visual Illusions |
| Aviator Classes |
| Flight Engineer Standardization - 1984 |
| CH-47F Flash Cards |
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