True story here.
I was being medivaced off the ship when I had my heart attack. I was in the back of a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helo on my way to Gitmo. About halfway there I hear the pilot say to the co-pilot, "That doesn't look right." to which the co-pilot responds "It's only at 5% but I'll keep my eye on it."
Mind you I'm in the back having a heart attack already but I'm still consious and listening in on the headset.
About ten minutes later the co-pilot "Showing 8% now...what do you think, an instrument problem?" The pilot "Must be, if it was real I'd be able to feel it by now."
At this point I'm more worried that the helo is going to drop out of the sky than I am about my heart so I ask them what the problem is.
The pilot "Don't worry dude, the intruments are showing an 8% tourqe split but the bird is flying just fine. Has to be an instrument problem. We're OK." (for those that don't know what this means. A tourqe split in a twin engine helo is BAD. It means the engines are not operating in sync anymore. When that happens for real there is the very real possiblity of the engine power split tearing the transmission apart because each engine is delivering different power levels to the transmission and then the helo goes out of control and crashes)
Ten mintues later the co-pilot "OK we're showing 12% and rising. The manual says we can't hover over 8%. You want to call Gitmo or do you want me to do it?" The pilot "I'll call the tower and let them know."
The pilot "Gitmo tower, CG6565, we're showing 12% tourqe splits on intruments and we cannot hover. Request a rolling landing at the airfield and request that you have the emergency crews standing by. Also request you have EMS standing by with ambulance and high speed boat to transport our patient over to the hospital since we will not be able to land at the hospital pad. ETA ten minutes."
Me in the back "WTF is going on up there guys??????"
Pilot "Relax dude, we're almost there."
Yeah right.....I'm having a heart attack inside a helicopter that can't hover, the pilot is asking for the crash crews to standby when we land, and now I'm going to have to take an abulance ride as well as a boat ride through the harbor in Gitmo at night, but I'm supposed to relax.
What the hell, I survived, but that will be my most memorable flight EVER!!! At least I can laugh about it now.
