This isn't really too random, I guess. It's just a bad-ass video, IMO anyway. The pilot in command of the aircraft in this video is a maintenance test pilot in my unit. He's an older guy who has a bad heart and can hardly hear but can fly the fork out of a helicopter.
The helicopter in the video was crashed by another unit on top of a mountain in northeast Afghanistan in 2008. Near Jalalabad, I think it was. Joe was called in to fly it home.
A couple of notes to illustrate how impressive this really is:
1.) The slope landing limitations of the helicopter are 15 degrees nose up, or right or left wheel high. When Joe climbed in, the helicopter was resting at 25-degree bank.
2.) It had been buried in the mud so deep that the wheels and right side of the aircraft had to be dug out. In one of the early photos, you can see a Soldier under the left wheel digging it out.
3.) Notice on the right side, just behind the cargo door, a tree is what's keeping the helicopter from rolling over.
4.) This is at about 8,000 feet, where helicopters are very, very power limited (that's how it crashed; ran out of power).
Disregard the lame-ass music; I don't know who posted it.
