CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 3 JUSTIN CROW
B Company, 3-2 GSAB
Camp Humphries, South Korea

Aircrews are aware there are periods during a flight that require extra situational awareness and increased concentration. From the time we taxi out of parking until the time we return, the potential for an accident or incident exists. While we tend to concentrate on those peak demand times, like takeoffs and landings, especially in blowing sand, dust or snow situations, things sometimes happen when we least expect it.

For those of you unfamiliar with the CH-47, a four-wheel taxi is when the pilot in the left seat controls the power steering and brakes while the pilot in the right seat has the cyclic and thrust (collective). The right-seat pilot usually applies just enough thrust to get the aircraft started and, after returning to flat pitch, doesn’t have much else to do except scan, clear the aircraft and monitor the thrust. It’s during those times when the other pilot is doing the “work” that pilots tend to let their minds wander, which can cause big problems.

Our unit was in the eighth month of deployment supporting Marines in western Iraq when, during a four-wheel taxi, we lost our aft-right landing gear. By this time in the deployment, the missions were starting to seem as though the only difference was the date. We had taxied into and out of passenger terminals at different airfields at least a thousand times, all with little or no problems.

On this particular day, we left our parking area and flew to the other side of the airfield for our first load of passengers and cargo of the day. Once we were loaded, we headed to our next stop, another airfield. Everything seemed to be going fine. We performed a visual meteorological condition approach to the active runway and exited at the appropriate taxiway. Once on the ground, we performed the after-landing check and went right into the before-taxi checklist.

Our sister aircraft had gone to another part of the airfield and we were to meet up at the pickup zone after each aircraft had dropped off its current load. We were cleared to taxi into the parking area and perform our download. We weren’t scheduled to pick up anything at the main parking area, so our time in parking was quick.

We requested to taxi to the approach end of the active runway via a different taxiway than we had used to get to parking, per the airfield’s procedures. We left parking and made a right turn on the approved taxiway. We had been out of the turn for about 10 feet when the aircraft seemed to roll right and pitch up. From the left seat, I realized the power steering was unresponsive. The pilot on the controls instinctively applied forward left cyclic and increased the thrust to bring us to a hover. As with any unanticipated situation, we were all trying to talk at once over the integrated communications system.

After a few seconds, the crewmember positioned on the ramp informed us that we had lost our aft-right landing gear. The statement kind of caught the whole crew off guard. Although it wasn't uncommon to lose a landing gear after landing to an unimproved landing area, losing one while taxiing was kind of odd. We immediately called tower and requested an air transition to an unused parking area while we figured out how we were going to put our aircraft back on the ground.

The crash rescue team brought mattresses and wooden pallets to the area where we were hovering. With help from our sister ship’s crew, they rigged a pallet and mattress sandwich with ratchet straps to hold everything in place. During the process, we dropped a long mike cord out to one of the crewmembers on the ground. Once the mattresses were in place, the crewmember guided us down onto the makeshift landing platform.

It turned out that losing a landing gear was not a big deal for us. Had the pilot in the right seat been daydreaming or even a bit slower in reacting to the situation at hand, it could’ve been much worse. This incident goes to show that aircrews must remain engaged throughout the mission from preflight to postflight. Doing so can prevent complacency from victimizing us.