NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
As a mid-grade tracked chief warrant officer 2 pilot in command (PC) stationed in Honduras, my commander assigned me with a mission. He tasked our crew, along with another crew and the air mission commander (AMC), on a two-ship, weeklong mission into Guatemala. Anyone who has spent time flying in Central America knows that the region can have unpredictable weather at best. Having the correct amount of fuel in unpredictable weather always pays dividends. This time would prove no different.
The local airstrip in Honduras sat in a valley surrounded by a mountain range. At times, weather would surround the mountain range, allowing for training flights within the airfield but preventing them from leaving the immediate area. With no instrument approach into the local airstrip, entering or leaving the airfield with any known instrument conditional weather did not receive command advisement nor approval.
The UH-60Ls based out of Honduras came equipped with the crashworthy extended fuel system, better known as CEFS tanks. When topped off in high, hot and heavy conditions, the aircraft can at times be power limited. The elevation of our mission in Guatemala, 5,000 feet, seems high, but the time of year held cooler temperatures, and only our crew accounted for our load. In other words, we had power for days. Knowing aircraft limitations and capabilities when given a mission proves extremely important, especially in capricious weather climates.
The trip from Honduras to Guatemala takes just under two hours. When topped off, the CEFS can extend your range from approximately 2.5 hours to nearly 4.5 hours of flight time, give or take. Additionally, flying at max range, one can extend the range the aircraft and fuel can provide.
We properly planned for the mission, creating packets that included all necessary items. The weather brief for launch granted us the right to take off and perform our flight. Once arriving in Guatemala, the conditions exceeded the forecasted weather we received. All week, we performed our missions with great success and accomplishment. By the end of the week, we had all of our mission tasks complete. Then, the evening before our return to base, the dark clouds rolled in.
The next morning, we awoke to near instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). As I stated earlier, the airstrip in Honduras did not have an instrument approach, so we could not file an instrument flight plan to fly home. Taking the chance to try and skirt the weather in the mountains did not seem like a wise decision either, so we decided to cancel and try launching again the next day.
The weather in Guatemala finally cleared the following morning; however, the weather in Honduras called for a scattered cloud layer. The AMC discussed our next move. Due largely to flying high, hot and heavy, the protocol we mostly used had us filling the CEFS tanks halfway. Less fuel would allow us to carry more weight, such as packs or supplies that needed moving. As I stated earlier, though, this mission did not require any extra packs or supplies. We only had our crew and our bags.
The AMC asked, “Do you think we should top them off?” Doing short math, I concluded that having half-filled CEFS tanks would not allow us enough flight time if clouds in Honduras covered the mountain range. Landing in the middle of nowhere in Guatemala did not seem like the safest course of action with no security or recovery team. I’d flown CEFS my entire career and knew that by doing the proper performance planning, topping off the tanks with fuel would not hinder our flight in the slightest way. Not only that, but by topping off the tanks, we would have the ability to safely return to Guatemala if we could not commence a visual approach. The AMC agreed. Little did we know that topping off the tanks would come into play.
After fully fueling the aircraft, we set to launch back to Honduras. The weather, “clear, blue and 22” in Guatemala would soon turn into scattered clouds, then broken clouds and, once arriving in Honduras, a mountain range fully engulfed with clouds. We never had to descend or slow down or had any inclination that we would go inadvertent IMC. The altitude of the clouds allowed us to remain in visual flight rules conditions the entire flight.
What did the clouds not allow us to do? We couldn’t fly over the mountain range to make a visual approach into the airstrip. After circling a few times and discussing our next move, we made a decision. We did the math and had plenty of fuel to fly back to Guatemala. We did that and once again stayed the night in Guatemala safely and soundly. We returned to Honduras the next day.
Lessons learned
The moral to this story should scream out to the reader, but I will make it clear. It pays to know your aircraft’s limitations. Had I not known the aircraft could hold that much fuel for the conditions; had I not known the range the fuel would take us; and had we not topped off our CEFS tanks, we would have slept in the Guatemalan jungle or worse. You may know how to fly the aircraft well, but if you do not know its limitations, you may not bring yourself home. Know your aircraft’s limitations, and if the aircraft limits will allow you, always top them off.