Had to steal a ride this morning from the Air Assault Taxi Service.


Anyone guess the ride? Fooling around with guns and ammo at 600ft, 190kts.

While us taxpayers have to foot the bill, you scoundrel!... I mean you scoundrel, sir!

MH-53?
Nice ride btw!

That's definitely a -60, but how the in hell are you going 190 knots?

By the way, this bird actually less sound-proofing than a legacy Navy -60. That's quite an accomplishment.

Yeah, its a UH-60, and older A model, the last tail number before the BN upgrades to the Mike model with the glass cockpit, FMC, and all axis autopilot.

Okay, 120kts but when you are hanging out the door in the "L" shape, it certainly feels like 190KTs. We did have a wicked tail wind. So TAS may have been considerably higher.

What soundproofing?? lol. I wear earplugs and the headset and my Kevlar and its still loud. And I used to be a tanker!


I do love my job.

Psst... TAS has nothing to do with wind...



Yeah, the sound proofing has less to do with actual sound proofing and more to do with channeling air from the ECS to all the electronics. The legacy Navy birds generally have a lot more black boxes so keeping them cool was the original design intent. It will also dampen some of the tranny noise, but not much, and it also holds all the plumbing and drip pan for the overhead.

It looks like that A models has a HUD. I didn't realize they put those in the -60A.

Sorry, tanker + infantrymen + cavalryman = equals limitied airspeed terminolgy.

I start flight lessons June 30th, so intend to sound wicked pilot-smart by the end of the summer.

In the assault Hawks, the soundproofing is Kevlar lined. Same for the Seahawks?


No HUD, if youre referring to the cable, that's the power supply for the passive PNVS and the new thermal PNVS as well as the usual ICS stuff.

No, just honey-comb and covering. It's mostly for plumbing and ducting. The Hotel (and I think the Sierra) has some armor in the seats. The Hotels put down kevlar mats on the floor boards, I believe. The Bravo and Romeo have no real need for any armor.




I'm not talking about the battery packs (you can see one on the back of the helmet of the guy in the left seat), but the cables with the open connectors hanging down next to their helmets, one on each side. If they're not HUD cables (and they may not be), they're in the same place as the cables in birds that do have them.

I really need to get myself another ride in some kind of Hawk. Been almost two years now since my last and I miss the sound of the transmission driving me nuts...