On Thursday we had a Black Hawk helicopter touch down in our neighborhood park. We found out about it when we signed Timmy up for Trick or Treating. But even if we hadn't found out early, there would have been no missing the helicopter landing in the park. It was LOUD! Since Timmy is into helicopters and planes (and pretty much anything else with a wheel) we thought it would be cool to take him to see the helicopter up close. At first he was a little hesitant but I think that's more because he's shy than anything else. The helicopter came from our National Guard base in Madison and had a crew of 4 guys who were around to answer questions. They were really great and kept thing fairly under control, even when the kids got rowdy.
They had the helicopter open so that people could sit in the back (well, in reality that's always open) but you could also sit in the pilot's seat. That was pretty cool. The helicopter holds 15 guys with gear or can transport supplies. One of the crew mentioned how he always thinks the helicopter is so crowded but then he saw all the little kids sitting in the seat where the seat belt couldn't be tightened enough. He thought it was really neat to see so many people interested in the Black Hawk and how he was able to gain a different perspective on the equipment as seen through the eyes of little kids.
Overall Timmy had a great time but I think his daddy and Uncle Jake had a better time. They were able to talk to some of the crew members while I took Timmy over to the park to crash through the leaves. One of the dads at the park thought they should have brought a Huey as well for comparison purposes. Umm...they don't use them anymore so what would that matter? Erik and Jake overheard someone asking where the pamphlets were and when they were going to start their recruitment speech. The crew member said that they were there as a gesture of good will because our neighborhood association asked them to come. Apparently the hardest thing was obtaining permission from the Parks Department. I don't understand why people can't just accept that sometimes people do nice things just to do nice things.
There are some other pictures from our Black Hawk experience here.
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