An elephant as agile as a gazelle: the great display of a Spanish CH-47F helicopter

El Boeing CH-47F Chinook es el helicóptero más pesado que vuela hoy en día en España, tanto en la esfera militar como en la civil.

The Spanish Army already has 17 heavy CH-47 Chinook helicopters of the Foxtrot version
A FAMET pilot explains in detail the CH-47F Chinook helicopters of the Spanish Army

These helicopters are operated by the 5th Transport Helicopter Battalion (BHELTRA V) of the Spanish Army's Airmobile Forces (FAMET), which is based at the Coronel Maté Air Force Base in Colmenar Viejo, Madrid. Currently, the Spanish Army has 17 CH-47Fs and is expecting one more. This fleet of Chinooks is made up of 13 modernized CH-47Ds. These helicopters are painted in the FS34201 (Woodland Desert Sage) color, introduced in 2006 by the US Army for its CH-47Fs and which is more suitable for desert or sparsely vegetated environments.

Despite their size and weight, Chinooks are helicopters as heavy as elephants but as agile as gazelles, thanks to their two coaxial rotors in tandem, a configuration that also provides great stability, something very necessary for heavy load lifting operations, which this helicopter can carry out both inside and outside its fuselage, using slings attached to two anchor points.

Recently, at the Aire 25 festival held in San Javier (Murcia), a FAMET CH-47F gave a great demonstration of its capabilities and maneuverability. The Chinook that performed this display is the HT.17-32A (ET-432). Unfortunately, TVE did not show this flight in its broadcast of that air festival, but the excellent YouTube channel Fly By Wire Aviation (which I recommend subscribing to if you like aeronautical matters) has published a video showing how it went:

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Main image: Fly By Wire Aviation.