both doors on a super-$hitter ( CH-53 E)I had to look up the fancy sounding gun. You had a fricken 50 cal on the door?!?
if some AO rating offsets your headspacing on the timing plate, it makes a downright mess out sort out. Gunners never trust the ordnanceman tag sign-off, they always triple check their own timing plates.Don't roll a 12 with the XM-213/GAU 15/A for gods sakes.
Somalia ROE were no fire unless a firearm / SW could be seen engaging you. Amazing how many times EVERYONE in a helo stick, pax included, saw rifle fire incoming.When we left whatever shitty FOB we were on at the end we flew out on Chinooks to Anaconda. Sand bagged bunker on the ramp sporting MGs and MGs on the sides. I didn't look closely and assumed they were 240s. I had no idea you guys were packing that kind of fire power.
The rotor head is held on with a spanner nut about 3 feet in diameter, torqued on and with 13 lock-bolts in place all torqued on as well and safety-wired. If it came loose in flight, well, its 32 feet per second, squared, until impact.I read a book when I was young called Chicken Hawk (I think) about choppers in Vietnam. That was all I needed to know....no way was I going aviation!!!