Denying Satisfaction

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Key Takeaways:

  • Army pilot Jim Hardy heroically flew a battle-damaged Apache helicopter back to his forward operating base in Afghanistan.
  • The helicopter's Timken transmission had been critically damaged by an RPG round and small arms fire, creating a hole.
  • Hardy pushed the "run-dry" capability of the transmission to its limit, determined not to let the enemy claim the aircraft.
  • His courageous actions to recover the helicopter earned him a medal.
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When a fellow Army pilot’s Apache helicopter took an RPG round and small arms fire over Afghanistan, punching a hole in the transmission, Jim Hardy says he wasn’t about to let the enemy have the satisfaction of stripping the chopper in a victory celebration. Hardy tested the “run-dry” ability of the Timken transmission to the limit by flying it back to his forward operating base, winning a medal in the process. He spoke with AVweb‘s Russ Niles at Heli-Expo in Orlando, Florida.

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