Alan C. Mack

Oh, these are like the thing that the eyeglass doctor used. You put them on your face, right, like a diving mask. Think of a diving mask where it's just got toilet paper tubes sticking out of it, right, and everything else is black. That's what they started with.

And I got there, somebody in the army had figured out that if you took a saw, you know, and you cut one half of the MBG away, the plastic housing, turned it upside down, you could stick the lip of it without the foam up into your helmet where the visor is. And then with surgical tubing, you wrap the surgical tubing around in Velcro and you, suck this thing to your head, right?

And I got there, somebody in the army had figured out that if you took a saw, you know, and you cut one half of the MBG away, the plastic housing, turned it upside down, you could stick the lip of it without the foam up into your helmet where the visor is. And then with surgical tubing, you wrap the surgical tubing around in Velcro and you, suck this thing to your head, right?

And I got there, somebody in the army had figured out that if you took a saw, you know, and you cut one half of the MBG away, the plastic housing, turned it upside down, you could stick the lip of it without the foam up into your helmet where the visor is. And then with surgical tubing, you wrap the surgical tubing around in Velcro and you, suck this thing to your head, right?

And you had to have a weight bag because it's way out here like this. And you had to, when you did it on a rotation, when you drop the power, the engines split off. Like the rotor and the engine split the needles. But if it doesn't, you're going to fall out of the sky. So you have to make sure it happens because sometimes it doesn't, right? Wait, what do you mean? So...

And you had to have a weight bag because it's way out here like this. And you had to, when you did it on a rotation, when you drop the power, the engines split off. Like the rotor and the engine split the needles. But if it doesn't, you're going to fall out of the sky. So you have to make sure it happens because sometimes it doesn't, right? Wait, what do you mean? So...

And you had to have a weight bag because it's way out here like this. And you had to, when you did it on a rotation, when you drop the power, the engines split off. Like the rotor and the engine split the needles. But if it doesn't, you're going to fall out of the sky. So you have to make sure it happens because sometimes it doesn't, right? Wait, what do you mean? So...

There's two big needles, right? Big needles? Needles, like gauges.

There's two big needles, right? Big needles? Needles, like gauges.

There's two big needles, right? Big needles? Needles, like gauges.

And so one of them is the rotor and one of them is the engine. Okay. So whenever you pull or reduce power, they should work together, right? So that means the engine is driving the rotors, which is good. But if for some reason there's a clutch, it's called a sprag clutch. It's a one-way clutch. And if the engine rolls off, it's supposed to freewheel, allowing the rotors to spin.

And so one of them is the rotor and one of them is the engine. Okay. So whenever you pull or reduce power, they should work together, right? So that means the engine is driving the rotors, which is good. But if for some reason there's a clutch, it's called a sprag clutch. It's a one-way clutch. And if the engine rolls off, it's supposed to freewheel, allowing the rotors to spin.

And so one of them is the rotor and one of them is the engine. Okay. So whenever you pull or reduce power, they should work together, right? So that means the engine is driving the rotors, which is good. But if for some reason there's a clutch, it's called a sprag clutch. It's a one-way clutch. And if the engine rolls off, it's supposed to freewheel, allowing the rotors to spin.

So you should have a split in the needle. So if you drop the power, roll the throttles off, it should split, right? But if you don't get a split, that means you've got a clutch failure and you've got to recover because you're not going to survive if you don't do something about it. So you've got to focus one tube inside at the instruments while the other one's outside.

So you should have a split in the needle. So if you drop the power, roll the throttles off, it should split, right? But if you don't get a split, that means you've got a clutch failure and you've got to recover because you're not going to survive if you don't do something about it. So you've got to focus one tube inside at the instruments while the other one's outside.

So you should have a split in the needle. So if you drop the power, roll the throttles off, it should split, right? But if you don't get a split, that means you've got a clutch failure and you've got to recover because you're not going to survive if you don't do something about it. So you've got to focus one tube inside at the instruments while the other one's outside.

and determine that, okay, that's good. Then you can focus it back out and then finish the maneuver. It was insane, right? And the army at the time was going, we own the night. We learned, we kind of were renting it. You know, we don't really own it yet, but... There was no NVG lighting in the cockpit. It was red lighting. And so you had to turn off all the lights.

and determine that, okay, that's good. Then you can focus it back out and then finish the maneuver. It was insane, right? And the army at the time was going, we own the night. We learned, we kind of were renting it. You know, we don't really own it yet, but... There was no NVG lighting in the cockpit. It was red lighting. And so you had to turn off all the lights.

and determine that, okay, that's good. Then you can focus it back out and then finish the maneuver. It was insane, right? And the army at the time was going, we own the night. We learned, we kind of were renting it. You know, we don't really own it yet, but... There was no NVG lighting in the cockpit. It was red lighting. And so you had to turn off all the lights.

So what we did is we had these little tiny chem lights, right? They look like maybe an inch, inch and a half long. You'd break those and you'd tape them into place over key instruments. And you had what was called blind cockpit drill. So every switch in the cockpit, you had to be able to find without looking at it because you've got these things on your face.