1G Turn and quick landing in a Black Hawk

So disaster season is in full swing. Many of you know I work for the government and get deployed to disasters.

So it's the summer of 2008 and Hurricane Gustav arrives. It totally looks like another Katrina. So I get nervous. I'm thinking that I am going to get deployed. After I came back from Katrina I have tried to entrench myself into programs that would keep me home. Of course when a disaster is big enough, it does not matter what you normally do. Big disasters require "All Hands on Deck" and on-the-job training begins in whatever positions are needed. There developed a need for a small team to perform damage assessments for Gustav to determine whether or not there was enough damage to justify a disaster declaration. I was tapped for the team, as there was basically nobody left. I agreed.

South Louisiana had enough power loss that the airport was closed and there seemed to be no rental cars. My coworkers and I drove in, waiting in line with the rest of the state at the gas pumps along the way. When I finally arrived in Baton Rouge I was sleeping on a cot in my section's conference room and eating MRE's for lunch and dinner.

If you haven't ate an MRE lately you should try them. There are several flavors that people trade like baseball cards. The sides are good trading commodities too, like a strawberry shake, or squeezable cheese, or cookies, or jerky. And they all come with a pretty cool "just add water" chemical reaction steam heater that will heat your meal or boil your cocoa water in minutes. These things are great for a 72 hour kit.

The only down side to an MRE is the meal stays with you...for DAYS. Each meal has about 3000 calories, suitable for getting you by in the worst survival situations. The first few meals tasted pretty good and seemed to sit well in my stomach. A day later I was regretting ever touching one. I had a stomach ache to match my headache.

So after a few days I realized that I was on standby for looking at damage until the local officials could organize enough to take me and the state on a tour of their damage. We had enough team members that I was not being used, and I was getting bored. The only thing worse than being away from home against your will is being BORED while doing it. So I took matters into my own hands. Our team was assigned to look at areas lightly touched by the storm to see if they qualified for assistance, and to skip the heavily damaged areas. Since I was bored I decided that instead of waiting around we would go see the heavily damaged areas instead. We divided the team, gathered our equipment, and headed out on our own.

Since it was my idea I picked ground zero to go visit, where Gustav made landfall. My friend Darrin and I had our GPS, notepad, extra gas can, MRE's, and a digital camera. We drove and SUV to get through mud and flood. The trip was amazing as we began to see where areas were affected. First there were trees down. The further south we drove there was less power. Then we saw damage. Gas station pavilions were shredded. Glass was broken. Power lines were all over the streets. When we got close to Houma we saw power poles knocked over. Trees were uprooted. Homes were splintered. We began to see evidence of flooding.

One of my responsibilities is to record how high the water was at it's peak, how far inland the surge came, and if there were any levee breaches. We also took pictures of anything else that we though other programs might find interesting. We drove by the public airport because we thought another program would want to know if it was too damaged to be operating. Just as we pulled up we saw a black hawk helicopter landing. I looked at Darrin and smiled. We met the crew and asked what they had seen. The Major said if we wanted a ride to head over to the Houma Emergency Operations Center and ask. So we took a few pictures of hangar damage and headed to the EOC.

When we arrived we introduced ourselves to the Emergency Manager, who happened to also be in a meeting with the Federal Coordinating Officer. They asked what we found and if we needed anything. We reported a few things, shook hands, and headed out of the office. And in the hall there was an announcement that a black hawk would be arriving at 2:45 and had empty seats. Darrin and I locked eyes. All I said was "Well?". His response was a smile back and "YES!". We got our names on the list, told them our weight, I made a copy of the maps I had with levee information, and we waited for the bird to arrive.

An Air Guard Sergeant told us to follow him and instructed me to hand my map to the pilot when the aircraft landed. We walked around the building to the baseball diamond and were told to cover our eyes. He radioed, looked in the air, and thats when i saw it. A few minutes later I was feeling the rotors of a running helicopter and was about to take my first ride ever. At this point I was really wishing I had not ate an MRE for lunch.

The pilot got out and I walked toward him with my map out in front of me. He gave me a thumbs up and headed inside the EOC. We boarded the helicopter and I got one of the front seats with an earphone and microphone. I later found out our pilot's name was Matt from Tennessee, who also happened to be a Major in the Air guard. Matt came back and we were cleared for takeoff.

I was surprised how smooth this helicopter flew. It was like being on a windy ferris wheel. The helicopter makes some noise of course, but the wind in your face is deafening when the doors are open. We had a full helicopter and we flew around the area for about 30 minutes and landed. It was a smooth ride, and I complimented the pilot. But I hadn't seen a single levee. Matt told his crew chief that there would be a 30 minute lunch, and everyone not on the "FEMA mission" needed to get off. The "FEMA mission" would start at 1600hrs. I grabbed Darrin and told him I think we are going back up.

And I was right. We went UP! Matt kicked everyone else off the helicopter except a state senator and his staffer. He told us the mission would take four hours and he would have to refuel. I asked if he was joking. Four hours! Are you serious?! The state senator wanted to see all the barrier islands, and we would see our levees on the way back. "Darrin?" I asked. He said "Sure!". The Sergeant and another airmen got on to distribute the weight. And off we went. We saw all the barrier reef islands. It was amazing! We saw turtles, dolphins, an otter, pelicans, and oil equipment everywhere. But after a couple hours of sightseeing it was getting dark and I needed to see my levees. We stopped to refuel and I told Matt what I needed. The Senator said he wanted to get back for a meeting. Matt asked what i wanted to do. I told Matt to do whatever he wants. Matt told Darrin and I he didn't particularly care what that Senator wanted and asked if I still needed to see the levees. I did.

To save time Matt had the doors closed and we were hauling copter at almost 150 knots. We arrived near some levees and saw serious flooding. I needed pictures, but I had no microphone. I tapped the crew chief and pointed down. He spoke into his microphone and all the sudden we were banking hard! Imagine what it feels like pulling the parking break in mid air and fishtailing...it was awesome! So I got some pictures and we found another levee. The problem is the best pictures were on the other side of the helicopter. I tap the crew chief again and moments later we are going down. All I can see is a small levee the width of a car and water surrounding it. the next thing I know we were on land and I was told to get out. I thought I was in trouble! We saw fish washed up and the crew chief held one up. The smell wafted into the black hawk and we all gagged. It was huge! It turns out they wanted me to move to the other side of the copter.

So I am sitting in the back of the copter this time and had no microphone. When I saw a huge break I tapped the sergeant in back with me and pointed down. He tapped the head of his airman in front and yelled something and pointed. We were passing the levees. I tapped Darrin's head in front of me and pointed at the senator's headset and then waved something like "give it to me!" The staffer handed over the mic and I told Matt I need to see that break. All I heard was "turning in three...two...one..." and then we banked into a 1G turn that had all the airmen yelling and smiling. I was puckering in my seat. It was better than any roller coaster turn. We got our pictures and headed to base.

A little later I talked with the Sergeant, told him it was my first helicopter flight, and asked how it rated. He told me "I have been on a black hawk maybe 250 times and that was the best ride I have ever had. That guy was crazy!" Apparently flights are lot more planned and boring.

We grabbed a bite to eat and I mentioned that I had been eating MREs for a few days. A nearby airman told me to "Make sure you chew the gum. It's the only laxative and those things will stop you up for days". I said "good to know..." Another great laxitive is a 1G turn and quick landing in a black hawk....