Chinook Flyby

A US Army CH-47 "Chinook" makes a flyby at an Eastern Illinois University football game on Oct. 20, 2007.

I'll never forget an encounter with a Chinook pilot when I was a student pilot making my last solo cross country flight before I took my private pilot check ride in 1986. I had flown from Robinson, Ill. to Mount Vernon. There was a Chinook on the ramp when I landed at Mount Vernon. After a short break I went to the pilot's lounge to phone my flight plan to the FAA. The Chinook pilot was on the phone filing his flight plan. Flight plans are fairly simple forms. They contain 17 spaces for information. After a while, a pilot becomes so familiar with the plan form that they do not look at it when they phone in a flight plan. The last three spaces are number aboard, color of aircraft and destination contact. The Chinook pilot rattles off "three S O B (which stands for souls on board), its big-its green-its ugly, destination on file. Hang on, I've got another guy here who wants to file (referring to me)." And he hands me the phone.

I was laughing as I took the phone from his hand. He looked at me, grinned and said something like... "You saw it. It is big, it is green and it is ugly. But it is a great aircraft."

And it is just that. They have been in service since something like 1962.