Letters From Tim

Yesterday was my first flight into Baghdad. Most sane people would not intentionally fly into Baghdad, but for us, the patients we transport, and MEDEVAC mission - it’s a must.

We were originally scheduled to fly in at night, under night vision goggles - but the aircraft we intended to fly had some mechanical difficulties and we had to cancel the departure. So, it pushed the mission to the following morning.

Before takeoff; we received an updated intelligence brief, checked and rechecked the maps and digital maps, received a pilot’s brief from the some of our guys who have already flown in there and headed to the aircraft.

We were approximately 25 minutes from touchdown, when the first set of three flares launched from the aircraft [the flares are countermeasures used against heat-seeking (infrared) missles]. Simultaneously, the crewchief responded “flares, left-side.” Letting the front-seaters (pilots) know what happened (just in case they were sleeping ). Moments later a second volley of flares dispensed and our radar detection system began talking, “radar searching.” Within the next few minutes, two more sets of flares dispensed - as well as the radar detection system activating again.

Since we began flying, many of our pilots have experienced flares dispensing from the aircraft and EVERYONE has continued flight - without incident. It’s just kind of a “gut check” the first time it happens. It will also “get your attention” when it happens under night vision goggles - due to the brightness.

Keep in mind that just because the flares go off, does not always mean a missile has launched (although it certainly can be a missle). It’s a proactive countermeasure that deploys the flares when the sensors do not like something they are seeing.

Other than that, it was just another day flying Blackhawks in Iraq.

Tim