25Feb70 I was flying Pete for Tim Norton on a multi-ship CA into an LZ with lots and lots of tall (3 to 6 feet) stumps. First lift was after lunch, 6 GI's - w/full packs, full fuel, density altitude over 5 grand. No problem, we'd been hauling stuff around all morning and plenty power, right? So there we were, fat, dumb, and happy on short final when we ran out of pitch, left pedal, rpm, lift, and clean underwear --- all at the same time! Six months later I'm checking the 317 out at a 50-ft hover to determine if I can get another box of bangalores on and still get off the ground. Was I concerned about landing? Landing? Aint that the easy part?? I have long been convinced that about half the stuff we did we got away with, not (just) because we were good, but mostly 'cause we were too green and too dumb and too poorly trained (an AC with 500 TOTAL hours??) to know it couldn't be done -- so we just went out and DID it!

And those guys at Bell built us aircraft that let us get away with it. God, I love a Huey!

Pickett