Boeing's Mark 2 (HC2) Chinook ZA704 - A British workhorse.

 

 

Dateline 23 November 1999: Soz, Oman, near the city of Muscat. Utilizing tail number ZA704, a British Mk II Chinook, a new and proven technique of rapidly removing the aft pylon is demonstrated.

 

 

The following photographs clearly indicate why it is so important not to exceed the 20 degree nose high condition when attempting a running landing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the Falklands War, Argentine Chinook AE-520 was captured intact and transported to the United Kingdom as a training aircraft. Upon arriving in the U.K., AE-520 was re-serialed as ZH257. When ZA704 experienced the accident it was evacuated to Fleetlands for repair. Fleetlands is a Royal Navy aircraft overhaul facility in Gosport, U.K., located on the English channel near Portsmouth. The RAF does aircraft overhaul and repair on part of the facility. The aft pylon from ZH257 was removed and modified from a C model to a D model. ZA704s aft pylon was cannibalized for any usable parts to complete the conversion of ZH257's pylon to the RAF HC Mk II standard. The pylon was then placed on ZA704, returning it to flyable service. Any of the mechanical systems that were common to the RAF Chinooks were cannibalized from the remainder of ZH257. The cockpit of ZH257 was donated the the American POW/MIA search team in hopes of finding missing soldiers still in the Republic of Vietnam.

The British Royal Air Force (RAF) Mark 2 Chinook is essentially equivalent to the United States Army CH-47D helicopter. The Mark 2 is also known as the HC-2, or Helicopter 2. Note the helicopter pictured above has the Engine Air Particle Separator (EAPS) installed.

 

 

A map of the area around Fleetlands.

 

 

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