by Ed Darack
The Phrog’s crew had made the decision to offload the aircraft’s passengers based on standard contingency procedures repeatedly practiced during training. With just one engine powering the fully loaded CH-46E—a de facto hovercraft once on the reservoir’s surface—the pilot might have overwhelmed the turboshaft in his attempt to maintain a level attitude, causing the Phrog to lurch when the rotors’ thrust waned. Heaving left or right—even slightly—would have led to the helicopter sinking within a few seconds as water rushed into the aircraft, likely drowning everyone in the frigid lake. Despite the severe initial drop in power available at launch and the subsequent failure to reignite the affected engine, the pilot successfully “water taxied” the CH-46E to shore.
The accident investigation revealed that the Phrog’s life raft had been removed and no personal flotation devices had been provided because the squadron was based on land, not on a ship. Shortly after the incident, the Marine Corps began issuing body armor that was more easily removed. “When we found Corporal Sticklen, he was frozen, with his arm up on his throat protection, trying to unbutton that awkward design,” an officer familiar with the incident stated. Not long afterward, designers changed the closure to one using Velcro. “For a few years there, the Corps forgot that we were an amphibious force and had purchased gear that just did not work for overwater flight.”
Despite the risks the crew of Extortion 17 faced during that period-of-darkness as they awaited word on their next role in the mission, the operation could not have been in better hands. Takeaways and after-action reports from years of war—including previous incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq, from the shoot-down of Turbine 33 to the Marine helicopter accidents outside Korean Village and at Haditha Dam—continually hone not only pilot skills, including those of Bryan and Dave, with thousands of aggregate cockpit hours between them, but also refine ever more precise maintenance and operations procedures, like those practiced by Spencer, Alex, and Pat. The five men onboard Extortion 17 were among the best examples of the U.S. military’s relentless drive toward perfection.
The downing of Turbine 33, the crash of Sampson 22, the tragedy at Haditha Dam, and myriad other wartime helicopter tragedies, regardless of cause, hold the public’s attention, often for decades. This focus, unfortunately, can skew laypeople’s perception of the reality of military rotary-wing efficacy and safety. The vast majority of flights, from short hops to hours-long journeys, end with passengers, cargo, pilots, and crew disembarking safely and without incident after successfully completing a mission. To achieve this stellar record, however, requires consistent, ongoing care and maintenance of equipment by highly skilled and dedicated crewmembers.
“I can’t emphasize enough just how important maintenance is for helicopters and, by extension, ground operations dependent on helicopters,” said Buddy Lee. Considering the number of operationally critical systems on a Chinook, an array of problems can ground the aircraft and as a result negatively affect operations that Extortion Company supported, such as the one in the Tangi Valley.
Twenty-four-year-old Sergeant Alex Bennett took great pride in his work ensuring that the Chinooks of Extortion Company stood ready to fly, mission after mission, in all conditions imposed by the austere Afghan environment. Kirk Kuykendall, who first met Alex in Iraq, immediately recognized his mechanical talent. Like all crew, Alex had begun his Chinook career as a 15U, the military occupational specialty (MOS) designation for Chinook mechanics. He joined Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment (1-214 AVN), a Reserve CH-47 unit based at Fort Lewis, Washington, after graduating high school in Tacoma, Washington. Kirk volunteered to deploy with the Washington-based group, a sister Chinook company to B Company of the 7-158 AVN (Kirk’s unit), for their 2009 Iraq tour. The Army Reserve provides three Chinook companies from three aviation battalions spread throughout the United States: the 7-158, 1-214, and 5-159 AVNs. Members of each often volunteer to join sibling companies for deployments when needs arise for specific jobs. “It’s kind of a group effort,” explained Kirk. “They pull several people from throughout the three companies to fill vacancies.”
Based out of Al Asad Airbase from January through December 2009, Kirk, Alex, and their Chinook unit, Bravo Company of the 1-214 AVN, supported Marine Corps ground operations throughout Al Anbar Province, augmenting the Marine Air Wing’s CH-46E Phrogs, CH-53D Sea Stallions, and CH-53E Super Stallions. Their mission included transporting Marines and cargo throughout western Iraq day and night, and because of the fast operational pace during that period of the Iraq war, their unit flew constantly.
Bravo Company, revering the ground units they supported, shared as much as possible of the supplies their command allotted them with the Marines, bringing them Gatorade, soda, and snacks. Despite the swift pace of their work and the often dangerous missions the Marines conducted, Bravo Company experienced only one brush with disaster when one of their Chinooks, flying along the Syrian border, was fired upon, nearly striking a crewman sitting on the helicopter’s ramp.
Though keenly aware of the danger to him and fellow members of Bravo Company, Kirk worried less about his own well-being than that of his son, Wes. Nineteen at the time, Wes was an infantryman with the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, deployed to the Arghandab River Valley, west of the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. During the 2005–06 deployment with Buddy and Bravo Company of 7-158 AVN, Kirk had helped support combat operations in the same region where his son now fought. “I’d been there. I knew what the enemy was like there. The place was brutally violent,” the elder Kuykendall said, adding that the enemy had killed and wounded many in his son’s unit. “I was sick with worry.” Yet Kirk did not allow his anxiety to interfere with his work supporting Marines in Anbar.
During the year-long Anbar deployment, Kirk mentored Alex and grew to like him. He struck Kirk as a stereotypical joker who loved boyish yet harmless stunts. Once the Marines departed the base, a Black Hawk unit from the 1st Cavalry Division arrived and promptly hung a huge 1st CAV flag at the headquarters, then ordered the junior enlisted personnel from Kirk’s reserve unit, including Alex, to serve night guard duty. “Their gigantic flag disappeared that night. It was like an international incident to find who took it,” recalled Kirk, who eventually discovered it hanging above Alex’s couch when he visited him after returning from the deployment. Stateside, Alex had stirred trouble with his pranks but never caused serious problems, his antics clearly another aspect of his high intelligence. Just starting his career in the world of Chinooks during the Iraq tour, Alex, Kirk recognized, possessed not only the mental aptitude but also the desire to advance in his profession. “He loved the Chinook and really loved his job, and he was exceptional at it.”
Alex Bennett at Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, October 2009, wearing a helmet with the name of his platoon sergeant, Michael Noche, who used a bicycle to get from point to point on the large base. Credit 11
As a 15U Chinook maintainer, Alex became very familiar with the CH-47’s systems and components. Once assigned to a Chinook unit, crewmen first serve in Delta Company, which maintains the helicopters. Chinooks, like all military aircraft, must undergo scheduled maintenance at regular intervals, called phases, that are based on hours of flight time: 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 hours. Each phase becomes progressively more thorough, and after the 400-hour phase, the schedule resets to the 25-hour mark. Completely disassembling and then reassembling a CH-47D with his phase team built and honed Alex’s skill set and inspired him.
Those who excel at their jobs in Delta Company can move into the flight company, Bravo, where they progress to crew chief. Only those who are skilled at a number of aspects of their job as a 15U, demonstrate a positive attitude, and prove their willingness to continue learning will advance. Buddy summarized one of the most important outlooks that a Chinook company’s senior enlisted and commissioned officers seek in repairers looking to progress: “They have to understand t
hat a mistake can cost lives.” The gravity of that principle instills a work ethic like few in any profession. If not done to specification, each adjustment made, each part replaced might cost lives or negatively affect a combat operation because an aircraft must return to base for repairs. Working with SOF night after night on complex and often dangerous missions meant that repairers could not afford even a minor problem. “The guys we supported had 100 percent confidence in all of us because we were made up of people like Alex Bennett, Kirk Kuykendall, and Spencer Duncan,” Buddy concluded.
“Crew chiefs ensure the aircraft can continue to fly,” Kirk explained. As crew chief, Alex had a number of responsibilities, from making minor repairs, overseeing maintainers, and cleaning cockpit glass prior to a mission to programming radios with “fills,” cryptographic mechanisms that scramble radio transmissions on a specific channel so that only those with the same fill can decode the transmissions.
The next promoted step, flight engineer, oversees crew chiefs and maintainers and manages the aircraft before, during, and after operations. As per Army regulations, a Chinook must have three specific individuals onboard before it can leave the ground: a pilot-in-command, a copilot, and an FE. During Extortion Company’s operations, however, flights included at least four and sometimes five personnel to man weapons and ensure they covered all necessary procedures for their missions. Drawing on Air Force cargo-handler lineage, the Chinook ranks as the sole Army aircraft with an FE as a member of the crew. The position requires the FE to understand the aircraft intimately, know the Chinook’s engineering, and properly place passengers and cargo so that it flies efficiently and safely, among a long list of other duties.
The FE oversees all other crewmembers, regardless of their actual rank. Kirk, who held the position of FE instructor for 10 years, said, “He calls the shots and therefore requires detailed maintainer knowledge, crew chief experience, and leadership ability, meaning maturity.” Halfway through the 2009 Iraq deployment, Kirk believed that Alex was ready to advance from crew chief to FE. In Army aviation, the FEs act as the primary mentors of crew chiefs, and Alex proved to be a great one.
Six months after Kirk returned to Kansas from his 2009 Iraq tour, he spun into predeployment mode with his home unit, Bravo Company, 7-158 AVN, training new crew chiefs, FEs, and door gunners. He flew frequently with Buddy and Bryan Nichols, strengthening his rapport with Buddy and building a strong one with Bryan. Meanwhile Alex began texting Kirk, saying that he wanted to deploy again. A few weeks later, Alex packed his belongings, drove to Kansas, and promptly jumped into his role as FE, helping train new members. Roughly the same age as Kirk’s children, Alex started spending time with the Kuykendall family once he moved into the Kansas Reserve unit. “He became a member of my family,” Kirk said.
Although he was maturing, Alex nevertheless caused some minor trouble, but Kirk kept him from official reprimand while helping him continue to grow up and hone his professional skills. “He just needed a little more guidance,” Buddy said. “Extortion Company became Extortion Family just weeks into our deployment at Shank. And we definitely were family to Alex. He really grew up there. He had to.”
Early in their predeployment workup, Buddy and Kirk’s Reserve unit had not yet determined which personnel would go to which of three in-place commands in Afghanistan: Task Force Tiger Shark at FOB Salerno, Task Force Phoenix at Bagram Airfield, or Task Force Knighthawk at FOB Shank. By far the most dangerous mission set was that of Task Force Knighthawk, and thus their command exercised extreme care and diligence in deciding who would deploy there. They needed the best, most experienced, most mature pilots and crew. Despite his minor run-ins with command, they chose Alex to go to Shank along with Kirk, Buddy, and the others who would become Extortion Company.
Alex Bennett eating breakfast at FOB Shank in early August 2011, just days before the downing of Extortion 17. Credit 12
At Shank, Alex proved to be an invaluable piece of the Extortion machine, flying as many missions as possible. Every evening, he would reliably arrive at the flight line two hours before he needed to be there to ensure that the helicopter was in perfect operational readiness. In a country lacking transportation infrastructure throughout much of its regions, and with roads often impassable due to neglect and laced with powerful IEDs by insurgents, rotary-wing aviation was essential to the war effort. Alex and the other crewmembers provided a key service to the military effort in Afghanistan, which relied heavily on rotary aircraft—a technology that many of us simply do not understand.
Like airplanes, helicopters move through the sky from point to point, unencumbered by road blockages, intersections, and other constraints faced by modes of two-dimensional terrestrial travel. But helicopters, unlike airplanes, can also stop midflight and hover in place, stationary in all three axes. They can fly backward, sideways, or land on an LZ as small as a courtyard or as steep as the slope of a 10,000-foot-high mountain, making them ideal for supporting raids such as that of Extortion 17 in the Tangi. While the general public sees helicopters on a more or less daily basis, how these machines get into the air, fly the way they do, and then safely return to the ground remains a mystery to most.
Despite the adage that helicopters fly because they “beat the air into submission,” they actually fly due to the same basic principles that allow fixed-wing aircraft to take to the skies. “A fixed-wing aircraft flies when it moves through the air fast enough for its wings to generate lift,” said Major Tom Renfroe, a CH-47D Chinook pilot in the Colorado Army National Guard who earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University and has accrued more than 3,000 flight hours (primarily in the CH-47D Chinook, but also in the UH-60 Black Hawk), including a combat tour in Iraq. He explained that an airfoil—a wing—generates lift when its angle of attack increases (the leading edge rotates higher than its trailing edge), which causes pressure on the top of the airfoil to lessen and pressure on the bottom to increase. When the pressure difference becomes sufficient to overcome the force of gravity, the wing lifts into the air—it flies. Helicopter rotors work the same way; they are just like airplane wings, except they rotate rather than being fixed in place relative to a fuselage. Hence the term rotary wing. The amount of lift that rotors generate depends on airspeed, the shape of the blades, and the angle of attack at which the blades move through the air, all of which is also true of an airplane’s fixed wings.
The most common type of helicopter, a tail-rotor helicopter, has a main rotor system that rotates above the airframe to provide lift and thrust as well as a tail-rotor system to counter the torque produced by the rotation of the main system. Engineers set the rate of rotation of a main system at a fixed number. The only adjustment that the pilot can make with his controls is the angle of attack, or pitch, of the blades. Pitch control can be collective: all blades move based on a control input, or cyclic, in which only one blade adjusts. To lift a helicopter off the ground (in windless conditions), the pilot collectively increases the angle of attack of the craft’s rotating wings—the main rotor system—with the collective control, a lever on the left side of his seat. Pulling up on this control equally increases the angle of attack (known as feathering) of all the rotor blades, and as a result, pressure increases beneath the rotor system and decreases above it.
As the angle of attack increases, however, the main rotor system encounters an increase in drag that exerts a counterforce to the transmission and engine(s). Sensors in the helicopter’s power system (all military and most civilian helicopters use turboshaft engines) detect this, and automatic engine controls inject more fuel, increasing power and torque to maintain the requisite rotor system speed. With enough collective input, the main rotor system overcomes the force of gravity and lifts the craft off the ground—just like the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft, but without the need for an aircraft’s forward speed. Cyclic control allows the pilot to roll the helicopter left and right and pitch it forward and backward through the adjustment of single rot
or blades.
Through a complex transmission, the engine(s) provides what is all-important to the operation of a helicopter’s main rotor system: torque, essentially twisting force. During flight, a pilot continuously checks a helicopter’s torque gauge, which displays the force not in physical units, such as foot-pounds, but as a percentage of what the main rotor system needs to maintain its required constant rotational speed, or revolutions per minute (rpm). If the amount of torque applied falls even a few percent (called a droop), the helicopter may lose its ability to stay aloft, as the main rotor system’s individual “wings” cannot produce sufficient lift. As such, the torque gauge is the primary diagnostic tool that helicopter pilots check during flight.
While the engine(s) and transmission in the airframe of the helicopter provide torque to the main rotor system, the rotor system in turn imparts torque to the airframe. In a helicopter with a counterclockwise-spinning main rotor system, such as a UH-60 Black Hawk, this counter-torque forces the airframe to spin clockwise or, from a pilot’s perspective, to the right. A helicopter’s tail rotor, mechanically connected to the main rotor system, counters this motion with lateral thrust. Pilots control the yaw (left-right flat rotation) of a helicopter with anti-torque foot pedals, the third type of helicopter control input, through the collective change of pitch of the tail rotor blades. This changes the amount of lateral thrust the tail rotor assembly produces. Less thrust allows the torque imparted by the spinning main rotor system to turn the airframe. More thrust overcomes this torque to keep the airframe on a straight-ahead course, while supplying even more thrust turns the craft away from the direction imparted by the rotating main rotor system.
