ENCLOSURE 7

STRANGE PLACE FOR A LANDING

By: Kameron  (Kim) Brooks (Ghostider  25)

In my defense, I was only 20 years old  ............ and, it did seem like the thing to do at the time.

It was a sunny day in April, 1970. I was part of a formation of three or four slicks that were inbound to Pleiku from somewhere near Qui Nohn, following Route 19 along Happy Valley. We may have been working around Camp Radcliff, servicing one of the LZ's in the area. No matter, the important thing is that we were heading westerly along Route 19 at about 1,500 feet when we came upon a truck convoy returning from a run to Pleiku. There were several trucks in the convoy, including one empty flatbed. As we flew overhead, I allowed my free wheeling mind to ponder: "Does a Huey fit on a standard size flatbed?" I had never considered the question before; but it now it was beyond consideration. A twenty year olds curiosity overcame prudent judgment as I keyed the mike and announced to the rest of the flight "what do you bet I can stick this thing on that flatbed?" Of course, my comrades (the names of which escape me now) remarked that I couldn't do it. Well, that was the substantial equivalent to a "D Double Dare", or so I immediately thought. So, I peeled off to the left and descended to the road heading easterly and began gaining on the unsuspecting flatbed and its driver. The funny thing is that now, 35 years later, I can still remember the event and the exhilaration of trying something really stupid.

I came in behind the flatbed, descending to about 50 feet. I caught up with it, while descending down to a few inches above the trailer. I eased on up to the front of the trailer and set the left skid down on the left edge of the deck. It was at that defining moment when we all on board realized the physical truth  ........... the right skid would not fit - the Huey was indeed to wide for its intended landing zone. So, feeling at least some sense of accomplishment, I left the left skid light on the trailer and hovered behind that trucker for I don't remember how long. What I do remember is that all of a sudden the truck began making erratic movements to the left and right. A smile came over my young face when I realized that the trucker now new that he had an H Model Huey as cargo. OK, maybe he didn't know it was an R model Huey, and, maybe he didn't know what on earth we were. Either way, I think he was at least a little surprised and unsure of what to do.

As sneaky as I was trying to be, I am not sure what alerted him to us. Was it the "blade whop", dust in his rear view mirrors, or the rotor wash vibrating against his cab? I don't know whether I'll ever really know, since I have no idea who was driving the truck. After what seemed like 30 seconds or so, I pulled up and peeled off to the left to rejoin my friends who were circling above.

While back at the ranch, we all had a good laugh about the incident and I never stopped to think that perhaps I might have been the only helicopter pilot in Vietnam to ever land a Huey on a moving vehicle; well, at least one that wasn't expecting it. To this day I cannot remember who my crew was; and if it were not for the foresight of a crewmember with camera from one of the other ships, this little incident may have only amounted to a forgotten moment in history.

Epilogue: To the truck driver - my sincerest apologies (35 years late), it was just so inviting and too good to pass up!