Ride with a FAC
I arrived at NKP in October of 1968. I went into training to become a flight engineer/gunner on CH-3Es with the 21st SOS. I went through all the training and before I could be qualified to fly across the river on a combat mission I needed to take an orientation flight with a FAC.
I had my choice of either the O-2 or the OV-10 aircraft to go on. With all I heard about the OV-10 jocks liking to give FNGs a “good” ride I elected to take the O-2. A “good” ride included two helmet bags of your lunch at no extra cost.
The day came for my day as a FAC. I met with the pilot and received a briefing on aircraft emergency procedures and what we would be doing on this flight. We were to fly out to the Ho Chi Minh trail, mark targets with smoke, and call in the fast movers, which were the F-4s.
After takeoff the pilot ask if it bothered me to be straight and level for more than a minute at a time. His jinxing made it more difficult for the bad guys to target the aircraft with any accuracy.
This pilot knew his area like one knows the back of their hand. He pointed out all sorts of things most of which I could never see. He was more accustomed to picking out targets in the trees, Karst, etc.
We spent several hours flying around, marking targets, and then getting out of the way to watch the fast movers do their thing. The F-4s were there and gone in a blink and put their ordnance right on the smoke. I could hear the F-4 jocks joking to each other when one thought the other was off target.
When it was time to RTB the pilot ask if I had ever fired a smoke marker. Didn’t think I had or I would have remembered it. He pointed out a green area, which I figured was a rice paddy. He told me to mark on the windshield with a grease marker when the target was about centered in my field of view through the windshield.
We rolled around and when the field was lined up I marked the windshield. Then this trusting sole told me to take the controls and make a slow 360 to the right, my side, and when the X on the windshield was lined up with the field to fire the smoke.
All went smooth and I lined up and fired the smoke. All I can say is, if this had been for real, the green space would have been the safest place to be from an air strike. I missed by quite a bit.
On the way back to NKP I was pretty relaxed. We hadn’t drawn any ground fire I was aware of, wreaked havoc on the bad guys and were still flying.
After we crossed the river the pilot prepared for landing. When it came time to lower the gear we got an unsafe gear condition. We could see the main gear but not the nose. He tried recycling a few times with the same results.
He called the tower and requested permission to go into a holding pattern and explained our problem. The tower acknowledged and informed us another aircraft would be there soon and do a fly by and check the status of the nose gear.
Before the other aircraft could get there, the rear engine suddenly quit. Talk about being quiet.
The pilot very anxiously called for immediate approval to land due to engine failure. I could tell from his voice we were in trouble. All I could think was this was going to be my first and last flight. I had heard that with all the comm gear the O-2 carried, plus an extra person, the aircraft wouldn’t stay up with one engine.
The tower done a good job keeping the pilot calm and we landed with no problem. As we were taxiing in the pilot told me in the excitement he had forgot to tell me to lock my shoulder harness. I replied that I had done that early and was now waiting for the color to come back into my hands from the white-knuckle syndrome I had from hanging on.
Several folks from the pilot’s unit were there to meet us when we taxied in. I thanked the pilot for the opportunity, got out of the aircraft, and onto a truck to return me to life support.
I found out later that during the before landing checklist the pilot had inadvertently switched to a fuel tank that was nearly empty. The engine quit due to fuel starvation.
I don’t know what purpose the orientation flight served as making me combat qualified in a helicopter but I knew I had my one and only flight with a FAC. (Jim Moore)
I had my choice of either the O-2 or the OV-10 aircraft to go on. With all I heard about the OV-10 jocks liking to give FNGs a “good” ride I elected to take the O-2. A “good” ride included two helmet bags of your lunch at no extra cost.
The day came for my day as a FAC. I met with the pilot and received a briefing on aircraft emergency procedures and what we would be doing on this flight. We were to fly out to the Ho Chi Minh trail, mark targets with smoke, and call in the fast movers, which were the F-4s.
After takeoff the pilot ask if it bothered me to be straight and level for more than a minute at a time. His jinxing made it more difficult for the bad guys to target the aircraft with any accuracy.
This pilot knew his area like one knows the back of their hand. He pointed out all sorts of things most of which I could never see. He was more accustomed to picking out targets in the trees, Karst, etc.
We spent several hours flying around, marking targets, and then getting out of the way to watch the fast movers do their thing. The F-4s were there and gone in a blink and put their ordnance right on the smoke. I could hear the F-4 jocks joking to each other when one thought the other was off target.
When it was time to RTB the pilot ask if I had ever fired a smoke marker. Didn’t think I had or I would have remembered it. He pointed out a green area, which I figured was a rice paddy. He told me to mark on the windshield with a grease marker when the target was about centered in my field of view through the windshield.
We rolled around and when the field was lined up I marked the windshield. Then this trusting sole told me to take the controls and make a slow 360 to the right, my side, and when the X on the windshield was lined up with the field to fire the smoke.
All went smooth and I lined up and fired the smoke. All I can say is, if this had been for real, the green space would have been the safest place to be from an air strike. I missed by quite a bit.
On the way back to NKP I was pretty relaxed. We hadn’t drawn any ground fire I was aware of, wreaked havoc on the bad guys and were still flying.
After we crossed the river the pilot prepared for landing. When it came time to lower the gear we got an unsafe gear condition. We could see the main gear but not the nose. He tried recycling a few times with the same results.
He called the tower and requested permission to go into a holding pattern and explained our problem. The tower acknowledged and informed us another aircraft would be there soon and do a fly by and check the status of the nose gear.
Before the other aircraft could get there, the rear engine suddenly quit. Talk about being quiet.
The pilot very anxiously called for immediate approval to land due to engine failure. I could tell from his voice we were in trouble. All I could think was this was going to be my first and last flight. I had heard that with all the comm gear the O-2 carried, plus an extra person, the aircraft wouldn’t stay up with one engine.
The tower done a good job keeping the pilot calm and we landed with no problem. As we were taxiing in the pilot told me in the excitement he had forgot to tell me to lock my shoulder harness. I replied that I had done that early and was now waiting for the color to come back into my hands from the white-knuckle syndrome I had from hanging on.
Several folks from the pilot’s unit were there to meet us when we taxied in. I thanked the pilot for the opportunity, got out of the aircraft, and onto a truck to return me to life support.
I found out later that during the before landing checklist the pilot had inadvertently switched to a fuel tank that was nearly empty. The engine quit due to fuel starvation.
I don’t know what purpose the orientation flight served as making me combat qualified in a helicopter but I knew I had my one and only flight with a FAC. (Jim Moore)
posted by Jim Moore at 8:00 AM
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