Anyone remember a chinook accident when the nose section got cut off?? Just wondering..I remeber it in late 76 or early 77.I was stationed there.

Hello Leroy,
My name is Rickey Standridge. I think I know you. Yes I was there. It was a sad day for everyone when we lost Carl Redd. He was a good man. I will always remember him. It happened in 76 I belive, We hadn't had the 47's long. The accident investagation revieled that the Rotors were out of phase. back in those days they could be de-phased by a lever on the C-Box. some how this was done and not properly phased back. How it happened is beyond me, I have heard many stories about it. When the Acft was doing a ground run it cut itself in half just shy of the cabin enterence door as the aft pylon tore off the acft. Carl was standing in that area when it happened and lost his life. god bless you Carl Redd,

Hello Leroy,
I remember the accident very well, I was sitting in the flights ops office, suddenly it happened, everything seemed in slow motion, we went running to the helicopter, If I remember correctly, the crew chief was outside of the copter and his leg muscle was gone, went inside and that's when I seen Carl Redd (his upper torso was sitting on the seat, by the door, and his waist and legs were at the rear of the copter. It was a very sad day, the worst part was, we had to walk around the flight line looking for body parts. YES.. I remember the accident well, and we all lost a very good friend.

I was there when the crash happened.I thought it was metal fatigue.

I remember the accident very well. I was sitting in the Flight Platoon Office watching the aircraft taxi by when the aircraft suddenly started coming apart. The aft Rotor Blades cut through the fuselage just behind the cockpit as the Aft Pylon separated from the aircraft and the Forward Blades wet slapping the taxiway. The nose of the aircraft had dropped to the ground. The pilot ( I think CW Cannon) and Copilot (don’t remember who) were exited the aircraft through the cockpit doors after the Forward Blades stopped turning. The young Crew Chief (new to the Flight Platoon) exited through the cabin door ( think he was knocked outside) with a broken ankle. SSS Carl Redd (FE) was killed instantly when one of the Aft Blades tore through his torso. I was assigned by the Commander to work with the accident team from Ft. Rucker. The teams investigation revealed that the accident was caused by the Rotor Heads not being properly phased. The Heads were de-phased to put the aircraft on the wash rack after maintenance. This was witnessed by many personnel. However, no one witnessed the crew re-phasing the heads after cleaning of the aircraft. It was the investigation’s conclusion that one of the heads moved slightly during phasing but allowing the phasing handle to be locked and safeties. As a result of this accident and others, Boeing changed the Combining Transmission by MWO to do away with the Phasing process.

Sadly, my father CW2 Frank Cannon, Jr. was the pilot on that fateful day. He absolutely loved the CH54 Sky Crane and would have flown that forever if he could have, but he and others were transitioned to the Chinook. Not sure how long after the transition the accident took place but it changed my dad, and I later learned that he did not want to fly that machine again. I was only 5 or 6 years old so it must have been around 1976. I had no idea at the time about any of this. I only saw that my dad was under a GREAT deal of stress which worked its way to our barracks in Mainz. What you and others posted is the first time I ever saw the account of what happened, and I'm now 55 years old- 50 years later!!! The only thing I know is that my father was a great pilot and my inspiration for getting my pilots license, which had happened more recently in January of 2022. From the age of 4 to this day he still inspires me.
Thank you for sharing your account of what happened. As you can imagine, that's something that my dad would not likely want to talk about, much like a lot of his experiences in Vietnam. I guess it's something only other men like yourself who lived it would truly understand.
God bless you my friend and again thank you.
My phone number is 859-621-5324 and you're welcome to call me anytime. Maybe I could even get my dad on the line with us also.
Merry Christmas!

Johnson Cannon
guardian95@yahoo.com