Don’t Send It Down Again!!

One time during my second tour I was out with a “Pink Team” on a mission and got a change of mission just before returning for fuel. A “Pink Team” was one scout helicopter from the scout or “white platoon” and one Cobra from the gun or “red platoon”. Pink teams were used to do reconnaissance missions. They “scouted” for the enemy.

We were getting close to the time we would have to return for fuel when I got a call asking if I had a few minutes of fuel left and if I could go to a nearby place and cover a medical evacuation helicopter which was making a pickup. He was taking some fire and needed cover. I had rockets, grenades, bullets and a little bit of fuel left so of course I said yes. Who wouldn’t cover an aircraft picking up wounded folks? Normally a mission like this would call for two Cobras so they could cover each other but I figured I could handle it.

The area of the medical evacuation was only about a ten-minute flight away. In just minutes I was on the scene to help. I made radio contact with the medical evacuation and the American on the ground. It was an American advisor working with a South Vietnamese unit. They were in the jungle and needed a severely wounded man evacuated. Every time the medical evacuation helicopter had tried to get near the unit he received small arms fire.

So my scout was assigned to help watch for where the fire was coming from and then I would suppress it. The medical evacuation helicopter went in again. Because of the jungle he had to hover over the tops of the trees and lower a lift device called a “McGuire Rig”, all of which takes time. Sure enough he started being shot at by small arms fire. And then mortar rounds started landing around him. I started shooting at as many of the places as I could to stop the fire. I would shoot at one spot and stop the fire and then another one would start. It was like trying stomp out a forest fire!

But soon up came the McGuire Rig with two South Vietnamese on it. The rig is supposed to be for one person but some other South Vietnamese soldier wanted out of there and so he jumped on. So the medical evacuation pilot said he was sending it down again to see if there were any more wounded. More rounds are being fired at him, the guys on the ground and me. But shortly up comes the rig with two or three more Vietnamese on it. He announces on the radio that he is going to send it down again to see if there are any more wounded. The American on the ground said, “Don’t do that! As long as you keep sending it down here South Vietnamese are going to get on it and they don’t need to be medevac’d. Pretty soon I’ll be the only person left here! And as long as you are here we are going to be taking mortar fire!”

But the medical evacuation pilot still sent the rig down! I guess he was out to save the world. By now my fuel situation is becoming a bit of a concern. My aircraft burns six hundred or more pounds of fuel per hour and I don’t have a whole lot left. The closest fuel point is probably twenty minutes away. I thought this was going to be quick pickup and go mission. I called the medical evacuation pilot and told him I was critical on fuel and couldn’t stay much longer. The rig went down and then after a couple of more minutes came back up.

To my utter astonishment the medical evacuation pilot said he was going to send the rig down one more time! The American on the ground yelled on the radio, “Don’t!!” I calmly called the medical evacuation pilot and told him, “If you send the rig down again you are going down with it because I will shoot you down!! I am running out of gas, the American advisor has told you not to send it down again. There aren’t serious wounded down there, those are just cowards down there!” He wisely chose not to send it down again!!

The medical evacuation pilot headed out for Bien Hoa and I headed for “Black Horse” which should be the closest place for fuel. I made a radio call to Black Horse to tell them that I was inbound and needed to get to the fuel station quickly. They replied and told me that they no longer had fuel!! I am in trouble!!

My Cobra burns about 600 to 700 pounds of fuel per hour. The fuel gauges are normally more accurate than are automobile fuel gauges but still not perfect. The fuel gauge was indicating about 200 hundred pounds of fuel. So I’m looking at about twenty minutes of flight time before “she flames out”!! When a helicopter runs out of fuel it doesn’t just coast to the side of the road like a car. First the pilot must have a place to land and the second thing is that the pilot must land the helicopter - which isn’t the easiest thing in the world without power. And the side of the road is not always a good place to be in “bad guy” country!

I turned north and headed for Xuon Loc, which was the next closest place for fuel. It was about fifteen minutes away so it was going to be tight. Shortly the “low fuel” warning light came on. That meant that there should be about 160 pounds of fuel left or about fifteen minutes of fuel left. Next the “aft fuel boost” light came on. Now there was only the fuel that was trapped in the front fuel cell, which was an unknown amount but certainly only a few minutes worth. I briefed the copilot for an emergency landing. He was to jettison the rocket pods, which still contained some rockets and lock his shoulder harness.

With about 50 pounds of fuel showing on the gauge we landed at Xuon Loc! As fast as I could, I turned the controls over to the copilot and jumped out to start pumping fuel into the aircraft. We had made it by the “skin of our teeth”.

Most things, even good things can be overdone!! Trying to help people can be over done. Sometimes we do things for them that they should do for themselves. People become dependant upon those who do everything for them and become unable to do for themselves. Know when to stop by always evaluating whether you are helping or gone beyond being helpful.