IFR IN AN H-13 G MODEL

HELICOPTER

As an Army Aviator I have always used good judgment when I was at the controls of an aircraft. I would guess all of us have at least once done something that you swore you would never try again. Mine was penetrating into IFR conditions in an old beat up H-13 G model helicopter---not once, I tried it a second time in an attempt get a VIP to a certain location.

The winter of1967/1968 was a snowy winter. We had received a record amount of snow. We had received a total of 120 inches over the winter. In late March the snow season was about over but now the moisture we had been getting as snow now falling in the form of rain. Along with some warmer temperatures and almost three days of rain much of the snow on the ground began to melt. This was causing flooding condition in the southeastern part of the state where the Governor was about to declare a State of Emergency. He was to officially make the declaration at an athletic stadium down in the flooded part of the State..

At the time of this event I was the only active duty helicopter pilot in all of New England. As such I was constantly called upon to perform maintenance test flights for the State of Massachusetts National Guard Aviation Company stationed here at Fort Devens. On the day of this event at approximately 0900 I was test flying a National Guard L-19. I received a call from the Fort Devens control tower to return to the airfield immediately. Naturally I inquired what was up. I was told I was to take the helicopter, fly to Hanscom AFB and pickup a VIP. No other information was available. I was also informed a local flight plan had been filed so no need to come into Base Operations.

After a quick preflight I headed for the AFB Base about 20 miles east. In route I contacted Hanscom Tower for landing but was told my destination had been changed to Norwood Airport, a civilian airport located about 20 miles south of Boston. I was informed I was to pick up the VIP there. The weather was overcast but several thousand feet high so I gave it no thought. Upon arrival at that airport I checked in Operations and was informed I was to fly Congresswoman Margaret Heckler to meet with the Governor at an athletic field somewhere southeast of our location. The Congresswoman had not yet arrived but would be there within the hour. I filed another flight plan to cover that flight and waited for her and "her party" to arrive. An hour later I had to file another local flight plan and again began the wait for her arrival. Another hour lapsed so I filed another flight plan. Eventually she arrived and immediately wanted to know where was her Huey. I looked at her in astonishment and informed her that the nearest Huey was probably at Fort Rucker Alabama. Her next question was how she was to get her staff of 6 to the destination. I told her that if they were to be there with her they should get on the road by car now.

I noted she was using crutches and favoring her right leg as she headed toward the helicopter. She informed me she had a recent knee operation to repair damage she suffered when she slipped on ice in her driveway. I was surprised at how petite she was---under 5 feet tall and probably less than 100 lbs. I would have an opportunity later to better judge her weight. I had to assist her by holding her while she stepped over the skids. She kept the right crutch to keep her weight off the right knee while she stepped over the skids with her left leg, then lifted her right leg over the skid. She repeated the same procedure while seating herself in the helicopter. Since I had not been briefed on where we were actually going I asked her our destination. She said it was an athletic stadium near the city of Taunton, Massachusetts. I strapped her in and placed her crutches next to her by putting the lower ends down in the bubble. They were short crutches. I had not checked with the weather lately as there seemed to be no visible change. I pulled pitch and turned southeast. As I gained altitude I noted a very low deck of clouds not far to the southeast. In order to continue the flight I knew I would have to fly between decks. I could see there was very little altitude under the lower deck. Although having no land objects to check my position I still foresaw no problems.

She did not want to put a headset on as it would "muss" her hair so I changed from my brain bucket to a headset. That way I could set the right ear piece above my ear and converse with her. She explained the reason she wanted to arrive in a helicopter was the Governor would be arriving in a police helicopter. She wanted to arrive in the same mode of transportation. She stated she was sorry she could not arrive in one of the famous Huey’s.

While in route she tried to draw me into a conversation about Vietnam. We had been warned never to get into a conversation with anyone about Vietnam. I gave her noncommittal answers that either satisfied her or she got the idea I was not going to commit myself.

As we progressed southeastward I could not see any breaks in the lower decks to let down through near our destination. The visibility between decks was excellent. We were still quite a distance from our destination. As I continued the flight in a general direction of our destination I was becoming a little concerned about my let down under the lower cloud deck. After 12 months in Vietnam with a Huey strapped to my backside practically every day I was confident I could handle most anything with a helicopter although I was not instrument rated in a helicopter. I was flying by a magnetic compass heading in the direction of what I estimated would take me near the athletic stadium. After about 20 minutes between decks I saw a dark area ahead. I knew the lower deck was going to give me no more than a hundred feet, if that. I was hoping and saying a little pray it was a hole in the lower deck. I continued on toward the dark area. The Good Lord was surely with me, it was a hole in the lower overcast. As I was letting down I saw the roof of a building directly in front of me that looked like a huge two story barn with the letters "TAUNTON" painted on the roof. This was the city I was looking for. I had to fly over the roof of that building before I could get under the scud. A little beyond my let down I saw some brick buildings with a lot of bare ground. There was some men working in the yard so I landed a short distant from them, locked down my controls, got out of the chopper to ask directions to the athletic field. They pointed in the general directions I needed to go. I thanked them and asked what the complex was. I was told it was a minimum security prison I never told Mrs. Heckler. I got airborne and turned in the direction I needed to go. I could only get, at most 75 feet in the air. I was passing over some homes by 25 to 30 feet. She kept insisting she wanted to arrive by helicopter. Mrs. Heckler being a petite, attractive woman and a member of Congress I was trying to get her where she wanted to land. In a few minutes we flew over a giant milk bottle at a road intersection. She recognized it as an ice cream stand during the summer and pointed to the road to take us to the field, saying it was only a very short distant down the road. As this was Mrs. Heckler’s home Congressional District she was somewhat familiar with the area. Thankfully she didn’t recognize the prison. We no more turned over the road when I hit a wall of scud that reached to the ground. I did a tight 180 and told her I couldn’t get her any further. She asked if there was another way to get around the surface scud. Of course I was not about to go searching for another route. I knew my rabbits foot was about to run out of luck. I asked her if she remembered what was between us and landing area. She said she could not remember. I told her I would try flying into the scud with hopes it was only a short distance to higher scud. I lined up with the road, physically froze the cyclic and pedals, kept my eyed glued to the instrument panel, mainly the needle and ball, airspeed, altimeter and compass. I knew if I kept the needle straight up and the ball in the center, watched my airspeed and altimeter I would be straight and level. I penetrated the scud and flew what seemed a life time but could only have been two or three minutes. When I thought I had gone about as far as I go (borrowed from the musical Oklahoma) I did a flat pedal 180 degree turn, never moving the cyclic, using the pedals only, and flew back out to the open area. She asked if I would try one more time and I foolishly said OK. I repeated my first attempt but after about a minute I gave up when she said she was going to be sick. As I wasn’t wearing my brain bucket and it was on the seat between us I told her to use it. I began another flat pedal 180 and got out of there. I had noticed a drive in movie across the road from the ice cream stand and told her I was going to land there and possibly get her a ride to the stadium to meet with the Governor. The movie had been closed for the season. With all the melting snow and the heavy rains the ground was a sea of mud. I had no more put the a/c on the ground when a not so new car pulled in the drive-in movie grounds behind me. I shut the helicopter down and went over to the car. They said they could hear the helicopter but could not see it until I broke clear of the scud. I shut down and asked the two men if they could take Congresswoman Heckler to the stadium. The replied they would be happy to take her as there was a large crowd assembled there. I went back to chopper and asked her if she was willing to go with them to the stadium. She replied she would but looked out and said she was afraid she would slip in the mud with these crutches. I looked at her for a brief moment and said if she used only her right crutch and put her left arm over my left shoulder I could put my arm around her waist we could possibly make it to the car. She still looked a little apprehensive. I told her I would assist her over the skid. She said she was afraid of trying to step over the skid with the ground condition. I asked her if I lifted her over the skid did she think she could make it to car with my suggested assistance. She asked if I thought I could lift her high enough to get her over the bar as she referred to the skid and onto her feet on the other side. I told her that I was sure I could lift her without dropping her and safely get her over the skid and on her two feet. She smiled and said well let’s give it a try. I removed her crutches from the a/c and laid them over the skids out of the way. I assisted her out of the helicopter and onto her feet. I smiled and asked if she was ready. I got on her right side so my right arm would be under her legs and would bear the weight on my stronger arm. Without any hesitation I scoped her up, took a step and let her down on her feet over the skid. I steadied her while reaching for her right crutch. She took it and placed it under her right arm pit. I then got on her left side, took her left arm and we slowly made our way to the car. The two men had not gotten out of their car until I lifted her over the skid. The man on the car passenger side opened the back door for her. I got her in the car. I returned the helicopter and got her other crutch. I closed the door, saluted her and waved to the men in the front. Mrs. Heckler smiled and said thank you. I watched the car head in the direction of the stadium. That was the last time I saw Mrs. Heckler in person.

I got back into the helicopter, cranked it up and pulled pitch. After getting airborne I turned back toward the prison area. I quickly found another hole to get on top of the low deck. I climbed maybe a 1000 feet and called Devens tower that I was on the way back. The tower informed me they were socked in, zero zero, as was Hanscom AFB. They told me the entire area was socked in. I uttered a four letter word that can’t be included in print in this story. Here I was at least a 100 miles from home, in between decks, not knowing where I was nor could I see the ground. I decided I had to get back below the lower deck and find a place to land. I was in the air maybe 5 minutes when I found another small hole. I saw a paved surface with white hash marks down the center of the pavement. I told myself that it was a highway and I could follow it until I found a decent place to land and secure the a/c for the night. I did a tight spiral let down through the hole and lo and behold it was the runway at Marshfield, Massachusetts Airport, a one runway airport with no tower. The Good Lord was with me again. I thought I was so lucky I was going to buy a lottery ticket but the nearest lottery at that time was in New Hampshire. I landed and tied the blades down. That ended my flying for the day. There was a small building that contained the operations and was open. I called and had a staff car pick me up at the Marshfield Airfield. That took another two hours. It was well after dark by the time I got home. The next morning I had another pilot from Natick Laboratories fly me down to my little H-13. I flew home CAVU.

I later heard from Mrs. Heckler that the Governor never arrived and she returned home with her Staff that finally made it to the supposed meeting site. For years I received a Christmas card from Mrs. Heckler until she was defeated by none other than Barney Frank. Does that tell you something about Massachusetts politics?

Mrs. Heckler passed away a number of years ago. She was every bit the lady and gracious through the entire ordeal.