Hey guys,

First of all, sorry it’s a day late, but happy Veteran’s Day for all those members that have served…

one huge “THANK YOU” from this old airline pelican.

Secondly, yesterday was spent flying a terrific mission from the twisted brains of “Showtime” and “SIX”. Those boys really know how to put up a challenging little hop in the Huey. If you ask the members of the local LAN group I’ve been making missions for the last 15 years, they’ll tell you that I too am one twisted bastard. My mission “Commandments” are:

- attempt to have historical accuracy if the mission allows

- have at least as many crappy weather missions, as ones that fly on calm, sunny days.

As I told one dude that recently joined our group, “if you spawn in and the sun is shining, you better check the wind, density altitude, etc….SOMETHING weather wise is probably brewing!”

With that said, I was TOTALLY blown away by this mission. A simple “Huey Drop” style mission…with a few issues.
1) It’s getting dark,
2) It’s raining like (as we say in Texas) “a cow pissing on a flat rock”.
3) It’s windier than hell,
4) The FARP is sitting in the hills at almost 2000’ MSL,
5) The temperature is warm, the load is heavy and the machine is struggling.
6) There are plenty of bad guys trying to put holes in your Huey.

In other words, it’s the PERFECT mission to challenge one’s flying ability…not to mention one’s “combat flying ability”.

Here are a few shots…



Mission start. Ugly as hell weather…music to my ears (eyes).

==============================



Inbound to the first LZ…not much in the way of horizon, eh?

==============================



Coming off the LZ following “Showtime”. I counted him getting hit by the bad guys 5 different times…

=============================



Arriving back at the FARP. We landed downwind the first time, and it was “interesting”…later we approached into the wind and it was MUCHO easier.

=============================



On the next trip after this one, I had my ADI shot out (it was still there, just with an “OFF” flag and showing a constant 30 degree left bank). I switched seats to the left side to use that ADI, but then I has trouble seeing the ADF needle that was leading me back to the FARP. It’s always something…right?

=============================



Mission end. Several trips to different (difficult) LZs and back in the completely ugly weather. It was a super fun mission, very challenging, and I can’t wait to fly it again!

Thanks Show and SIX…keep making those “easy” missions!

 
BBall

Thanks BBall?

I always love your after action reports and pictures.

Showtime.