A National Guard Apache helicopter got a little help from a bigger and stronger friend Thursday after it became mired in a muddy rice field near Baytown, Texas. The helicopter was on a training flight late Tuesday when it had what the Guard says was a minor mechanical issue. The pilot put the attack helicopter down in an open area but the aircraft sunk almost to the top of the landing gear in the wet ground and spent a couple of days there. A Chinook helicopter was dispatched and the rescue took some tinkering.
The Chinook crew didn’t like the rigging on the first hoist and had to try a second time. The 11,000-pound load didn’t strain the big twin rotor (it will hoist up to 24,000 pounds) and the second try went smoothly. A drogue parachute was attached to the tail of the Apache to keep it nose first in the direction of travel and it was dropped off at a nearby airfield for repairs.
