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    Helicopter pilots return to the air

    Helicopter pilots return to the air

    Photo By Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky | Capt. Joseph Seibert prepares a model remote-controlled helicopter for a flight on...... read more read more

    By Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky
    2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

    FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – It had been nearly six months since Chief Warrant Officer Jake Baird last flew a helicopter when he decided to test his skills again on April 10. After running through a quick inspection and starting up the blades, Baird took off - and promptly crashed about 10 seconds later.

    It was just one of many crashes suffered by Baird and his fellow pilot Capt. Joseph Seibert that day, but like the other crashes, this one cost no loss of life or damage to government property.

    The two helicopter pilots, who both flew UH-60 Blackhawks before being transferred to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division's brigade aviation element to monitor flights, have decided to return to flying, although this time using a radio-controlled helicopter about the size of a football.

    "We're trying to make it our new hobby," said Baird, a native of Hodgenville, Ky.

    The hobby began after the two inherited the model from a Soldier who redeployed to Fort Stewart, Ga. The Soldier, Baird said, had crashed the helicopter and broken a few parts. He left it in the hands of the two pilots, who set to work repairing the damage.

    Seibert, from Monroe, Iowa, said the helicopter needed new rotors, but was in good shape otherwise. Seibert ordered the replacements and the two set to work restoring the craft.

    The skills gathered from the reconstruction will go a long way toward keeping the craft in the air, based on the early test runs.

    "We've probably crashed it about 20 times," Seibert said.

    One of the difficulties the two said they have with flying is the make of the helicopter. "We'll probably keep crashing it until it doesn't work," Baird added.

    The model, European in design, has rotors that rotate clockwise. American helicopters, like the ones Seibert and Baird flew, have rotors that spin counterclockwise. Thus, Baird said maneuvers that are second nature to him are reversed due to this difference.

    "Everything's backwards," he said. "All the maneuvers I'm used to are backwards."

    Still the two will continue flying until the little helicopter quits on them. They take it back inside for repairs and let the day's lessons sink in. For Seibert, it is one that reinforces a feeling he's had for a while. "I don't really miss it (flying)."

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 04.17.2008
    Date Posted: 04.17.2008 23:13
    Story ID: 18543
    Location: ISKANDARIYAH, IQ

    Web Views: 138
    Downloads: 109

    PUBLIC DOMAIN