The title page is clickbait; otherwise, a very good video about MD and flying their Egg

[youtube]https://youtu.be/D7dBBnRYJUo[/youtube]

Just finished reading Low Level Hell by Hugh Mills.

Recounts his service as a 20 something Loach driver on hunter-killer teams in Vietnam.

To say their flying missions were 'unimaginable' is an understatement. What a machine!

Hard to believe that small helo was large enough to carry their balls.

I highly recommend the book. Couldn't put it down.

It's really a funny thing. I'm not helicopter rated as a pilot but got enough stick time that I could hover in a tailwind. Almost all of my time is in 500D's, with a bit in Bell mediums and AS350's. When I hear a conversation about helicopters it's often the "which is better for the mission, a Bell 206 or a Robby"... The conversation is pretty circular until I talk about the 500-series. Nobody argues about its position at the top of the heap as a pilot's helicopter and a real performer.

As a maintainer, well, let's just say they aren't the most comfy places to work. As the old saying goes, the ideal Hughes (yes, I've been around that long) mechanic is three feet tall, has arms six feet long and eyeballs on the ends of two fingers on each hand!

Back in the mid 80s as a student at UND, I got to ride back seat during a training flight in one of the 500Es they got that were used at the 84 Olympics.

I was a “normal” aviation student, but my buddy was in the Army ROTC doing his helicopter training.

Wow…the thing was impressive! I got the biggest kick out of the “pinnacle” (is that the correct name?) maneuver, where you land on a hill with sharp break or a cliff, taxi to the edge and then go off the edge by pushing the cyclic forward and pulling on the collective. Zero gain in MSL altitude, but instant gain in AGL as the ground dropped out from underneath you. Super cool watching the airspeed indicator spin up from zero to 100+ in what seemed instantaneous.

Not a helicopter pilot, so I might have described the actions wrong, but it was a trade altitude for airspeed move. Neat aircraft.

I was a controller at GFK for 4 years, 89-93. One day one of those 500's took off for UND's private airport that is about 5 miles SE of GFK. I was working tower. 15 minutes later the I get a call on tower frequency. "Uh tower, Copter 53. Call Al(chief pilot for UND as I recall), tell him to bring a camera and the trailer."
They were doing autorotations. They screwed this one up. They hit the tail first which then caused it to smack down hard and bust off one of the skids which then caused it to roll over and self destruct.

We rode one over a live volcano in Hawaii. Glad we did not have to autorotate.

A buddy tells story about a rainy day on the farm. The rain had increased significantly and a Hughes 500 emerged from the gray and landed on the gravel lane between the house and barn.

He was spending the day catching up on barn repairs. Barn door was open and his Piper Vagabond was visible just inside the door. Two guys sprinted from the helo to the barn. Arnie was enroute to Kings Island amusement park re: building a golf course.

I got to ride with the Border Patrol years ago in an OH6. We did about a 2 hr Patrol of the border around ELP. Friend let me fly it some in forward flight, flew nice. Later, after some fuel burned off, he let me try to hover over a farm field down by Fabens. That was humbling.

Made me nervous though flying the river through the city at about 50 ft.

Also rode a Huey to the high site on the Franklin Mountains to pick up a technician. High Site was above the max hover altitude for that model, so "interesting" ride.

Correct, that is a pinnacle landing, and they are a ton of fun! Other examples would be landing on an elevated hospital helipad, rooftop in a big city, top of a mountain, and a levee.

I did an accelerated helicopter add on (2 weeks) and that resulted in me burning off my 10 hours solo requirement in 2 days. I got bored and started shooting pinnacles to a local levee. Dozens of them. The next day I took my checkride and as I came in for my pinnacle landing the DPE noticed the row of skid marks and it was kind of awkward.

I designed a few fittings in stainless steel for the Facet oil filter system for the 500 series

One angle elbow 38 degree other 76 degre

Became tso assys per the Titeflex print

I supported the fleet from La county Sheriff and my favorite was Jetcopters van nuys who had the contract with Glen Larson productions for the Magnum PI show in Hawaii

Many fun times in the 80”s for me in Hawaii with the cast and crew .

Iam still supplying the seals for the 530 series as a oem supplier in Mesa

GB