We need more, newer helicopters, say stressed pilots (2006)

Here are some unedited excerpts from an article with the above headline from the Daily Telegraph on October 4th 2006 By Tom Coghlan, in Camp Bastion, Helmand

The acute shortage of Chinook helicopters available to British forces in Helmand is pushing pilots flying antiquated machines to the limits of their endurance in the face of increasingly determined efforts by Taliban insurgents to shoot them down.....

Eight Chinooks are flying in Helmand, although a proportion of that number is always being serviced because of the harsh conditions as well as the stresses to the machines from extreme flying and battle damage during resupply and evacuation missions....

Many are relics of a bygone era. A Chinook flying in Helmand and known by the call sign Bravo November ZA 718 served during the Falklands conflict some 25 years ago. ...

"The airframes are antiques," said Flt Lt Steve Hewer. "There are up-to-date versions of the Chinook but we don't have them. We do have the latest self-defence systems and we are grateful for that."....

RAF Chinook pilots based in the province have had their six-month tours divided into three two-month mini-tours because of the demands being placed upon them. "It is an issue of cumulative fatigue," said Flt Lt Hague. "No crew could cope with a six-month tour." .....

The six British forward operating bases in the province are too dangerous to supply by road, unless large numbers of troops are deployed as a protection force, so the resupply burden falls almost exclusively on the Chinooks. Four Lynx helicopters in the theatre have been unable to fly in daylight during the summer months because of the heat. .....

The risks were so extreme last month that the British commander, Brig Ed Butler, nearly withdrew helicopters from Musa Qala, where an uneasy ceasefire now holds with the Taliban. Although pilots will not say so explicitly, they are clearly alarmed that one of the helicopters could easily be shot down if and when full hostilities resume. ......

The pilots say taking small arms fire through the aircraft when flying into forward bases has now become so regular as to be unremarkable. ....

Even so, the Chinooks flying into the town of Musa Qala last month gave themselves a maximum 60 seconds on the ground. At least one soldier has been shot and wounded inside a Chinook.....

While flying under fire and at extreme low altitude into "hot" landing zones, the pilots must also contend with a wall of fine sand that builds up around the Chinooks in the seconds before they land. In the last 20ft of their decent the pilots are usually flying blind.....

"It is extremely challenging flying," said Flt Lt Hewer......

A year earlier General "Janus" Mike Jackson , war criminal and retired warrior was quoted , " The British Army looks after its own.” (Times, 12 Oct 2005).