“Okay, crew, let’s try a north approach again.” And I turned in, slowing the aircraft and passing over the opening at about five feet above the trees.
“Okay, talk me down.”
“You need to bring the tail left, sir.” Damn, same as last time.
“How much?”
“About ninety degrees.” Nothing had changed.
“Clear left,” Peters said, and I began to make the turn. With every degree of pedal, a bit more power was required. Grandpa was reading off the power settings to me, and I was glancing at the torque gauge to confirm his information.
“Stop turn,” Peters said.
“Clear down left.”
“Clear down right.”
“Clear down front.”
And I began to descend.
“Stop descent. You need to slide right,” Lovelace said.
“Clear right,” Peters responded. I thought about moving to the right, and the aircraft responded.
“Stop,” Peters said. “Clear down right.”
Lovelace came back with “Clear down left.”
Grandpa said, “Clear down front.” I started down another couple of feet.
“Stop,” said Lovelace. “You’re going to have to move forward.”
“Clear to come forward,” said Grandpa. I was so focused on keeping the aircraft stable that I didn’t dare look up at the tip of the main rotor. “Stop,” Grandpa said.
“Clear to come down right and rear.”
“Clear left.”
“Clear forward.”
This continued for a full five minutes. The aircraft was literally sliding under and around tree limbs. Finally I could see a soldier standing on the top of the crater, giving me a stop signal. We were at a hover and not able to put the aircraft down.
“Stop, sir.” I did.
“Sir, we can’t go any lower. We’re at ground level but sitting over a crater that must be fifteen feet deep,” Lovelace informed me.
“Okay, gently kick the water cans out. Try not to rock the boat, please,” I added. They moved into the cabin from their positions and began tossing the water cans out.
“Dog-meat Six, Chicken-man One-Niner.”
“Go ahead, Chicken-man.”
“Okay, I can’t set down, so I won’t be able to backhaul from this location. We’ll kick out each turn. Do not, I repeat, do not have anyone standing on the crater or in the crater. If we lose the engine, I’ll be coming down right on top of them. I got no place to go. Over.”
“Roger, Chicken-man. I have one pack that I need to get out tonight if I can. Over.”
“In this hole, there’s nothing I can do about that. Over.”