Got to ride in a "Huey" yesterday!

[MarkG]

I got to ride in one maybe 10 years ago. They said "who wants to ride in the hell hole" aka door gunner seat.

The "hell hole" is NOT synonymous with the door gunners position. It is in fact a hole in the bottom of the aircraft directly below the transmission. Not a fun place to take a ride in a UH-1... Just sayin'

Hell Hole.jpg

[Crow Hunter]

I got to ride in one maybe 10 years ago. They said "who wants to ride in the hell hole" aka door gunner seat. Nobody said anything so I immediately hopped in right there. Very cool experience.

Never ride in a B17 or B25. It will ruin you for life, but will be the best 300-500 bucks you will EVER spend.

The EAA generally takes their B17 around the country for rides on a tour. I highly suggest looking into it. Oh wait, I just said never ride in one. Scratch that, do it.

Actually, that is on my list.

I am planning on doing it in 2016 with my brother when he gets back to Tennessee. The Yankee Lady comes every year to the Halls TN Air Show. They are the centerpiece actually since the DYAAB was the last stage of training for B17 crews before they went into combat. This year they flew in formation with two P51s as "high cover". It was pretty awesome.

They also did a TBM Avenger with a Wildcat.

My plan is the Cobra next year and the B17 the year after. I actually have a ride owed to me in a P51 Mustang I just need to get to the same air show they are at. (CAF Dixie)

[ABNAK]

On our final FTX at Benning for Infantry OSUT (1983) there just so happened to be an aviation class needing flight time from Ft. Rucker. They flew us into our FTX on Hueys. Cool as hell! I never rode in a Huey after that as the Blackhawks were the new thing, even though some Hueys were still around and also used by student pilots. Sitting in that door as it banked and bobbed was one of the most fun rides I've ever taken.

[Jellybean]

I knew it.... Everyone in the world IS having more fun than me!

[MistWolf]

Helicopters are cool. The comparison is like a fixed wing is like a car and a Helo is like a motorcycle.

Cars are nothing like flying. The closest thing to flying a fixed wing is riding a motorcycle.

Flying in a helicopter is like nothing else!

[scoutfsu99]

Some are still hanging around various combat zones One of the perks of my last tour.

[AKDoug]

I have a ton of civilian helicopter time as a passenger. I've spent a bunch of time in Bell 205's (civilian Hueys) and Hughes 500's... I'll take the "little birds" every time I ship building materials to remote areas using a top notch outfit that has a few Hueys. This guy is a long line magician.

[Crow Hunter]

Cool picture AKDoug.

Here is the outfit that was at the Halls Airshow.

I highly recommend their Huey ride!

http://www.armyav.org/"

I really hope they come back next year with both the Cobra and the Huey! I'll be waiting with my credit card.

[Hmac]

Years ago, our TAC Team trained using Huey's through the DARE program for helicopter "assaults" on marijuana fields along the Canadian border. Two Hueys would fly up to the local National Guard base for the day from the squadron based in Minneapolis. I got to see the other side of it too, as at the time I was a Mission Pilot for the local Civil Air Patrol squadron and we were periodically assigned to fly the area with a DEA agent to look for such fields. We never did any actual "assaults", but the training was a blast.

I remember the first briefing from the crew chief....he wanted to make sure that if any of us had to vomit that we do so down the front of our shirt. Otherwise, that stuff apparently gets whipped around the cabin until it coats everything and he promised that it wasn't going to be him that cleaned it up.

[Irish]

My old man flew Hueys a long time ago and I got to ride in a few as an Army brat in Germany and Tacoma. Went on to Ft. Rucker in Bama as an instructor, blah, blah.

One of the scariest white knuckle experiences I ever had was off the coast of Trinidad leaving an oil rig on a Huey. Dude barely manages to get us a few inches of the pad, due to weight, noses over and dives straight for the water to gain air speed without telling anyone on board what was gonna happen! Holy mother F'ing scare city as I'm sitting here laughing about it now.

They still use tons of Hueys in Louisiana and places like that where rigs are abundant. When I was in that type of work they were nothing more than noisy taxis to us after a while.