“IT LOOKS like an articulated lorry, but it flies like a sports car.”
This is how Flight Lieutenant Captain Matt Smyth described what it is like to fly a Chinook helicopter.
Sitting down with the Echo, Matt told us performing at Bournemouth Air Festival this year has been an “absolute blast”.
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He said: “When we ride with the Blades and come down to the beach it gives us a real chance to look at the beach and at the clifftop and just see all those people out there watching us.”
The Chinook is a highly capable military helicopter manufactured by Boeing Vertol and is one of the heaviest helicopters in the world at nearly 23 tonnes.
It can carry up to 55 troops or up to 10 tonnes of mixed cargo.
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Matt, who has been flying a Chinook for 12 years, added: “It does look like an articulated lorry, but it actually flies more like a sports car.
“It's got a ridiculous amount of power for what it is and because we fly so light for the display, it means we've got extra power to then use to wow the crowds with some of the maneuvers we can pull off with it.
“The maneuvers don’t look like they should be done by something that looks like a flying truck.”
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The Chinook, famous for having two sets of blades (technically called tandem rotors), has been used for a variety of important missions outside the air show – including delivering beer.
“I’ve dropped loads on dams, I've carried water, food, beer, all sorts underneath the aircraft. I know the aircraft has taken other fixed wing aircraft like the Harrier Jump Jet around,” Matt added.
“It's also been used to move bales of hay in Northern Ireland when the farmers couldn't get to their sheep to feed them.”
Describing the Chinook in a few words, Matt said it is an “incredibly awesome bit of kit.”
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