Alan C. Mack

I could see it coming at me, sparks coming out of the back, and it hit.

You know, about two feet behind me.

Now, behind me is what's called the flight control closet.

It's this closet full of actuators and hydraulics that when you move the controls, they go through this series of bell cranks and gizmos.

They go to the top, call this PFM, right?

Pure magic, you know, is how the Chinook flies.

But it missed that.

If it had hit it, we'd have been done.

If they had shot forward, they would have hit the cockpit.

We would have just died.

That would have been done.

And if they had gone another foot backwards, they would have hit the main fuel tank, and we probably wouldn't be here.

So they ran it right through the one spot they could do the minimum danger, and it came through the aircraft, exploded inside.

Now, typically, when these things hit armor, the overpressure is what kills everybody inside.

But the doors are all open.

And so there's no real overpressure.

So it came through this side, hits the ammo can.

Metal and bullets are flying everywhere.

And it goes out the other side, put a couple of big holes in the rotor blades.

And it took out three separate electrical systems as it all went through.