University of North Carolina Athletics
Helicopter Flyover Planned For Virginia Tech Game
November 9, 2010 | Football
Nov. 9, 2010
A helicopter flyover will take place prior to the Virginia Tech football game on Saturday, November 13th (approximately 1 minute before kickoff). There will be two (2) Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters involved and the lead pilot for the fly over is Captain Joe Elseroad, a 2003 UNC graduate. Practice runs will be made on Friday, Nov. 12 between between 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion is the largest and heaviest helicopter in the United States military. It first entered service in the Marine Corps in the 1980s. The CH-53E can transport up to 55 troops or 20,000 lbs of cargo and can carry external slung loads up to 36,000 lbs. The Super Stallion has a cruise speed of 173 mph and a range of 621 miles. The helicopter is fitted with a forward extendable in-flight refueling probe and it can also hoist hose refuel from a surface ship while in hover mode. It can carry three machine guns: one at the starboard side crew door, one at the port window, just behind the copilot, and one at the tail ramp.
The CH-53E has contributed critical combat support from the 1983 bombings of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, to the Gulf War in the early 1990s. The Super Stallion was involved in the troop evacuations in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1991 and was the rescue vehicle for Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady who was shot down in Bosnia in 1995. Today the CH-53E has seen combat operations in Iraq for six years and continues to provide assault support to combat operations in Afghanistan. The aircraft flying today are from Marine Heavy Helicopter Training Squadron 302 from Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.
This Squadron conducts combat capable helicopter flight training for all CH-53E Super Stallion Marine Corps pilots and aircrew. Saturday's flight of two aircraft is being commanded by Captain Joe Elseroad in the lead aircraft a 2003 UNC Chapel Hill Graduate and veteran of the Iraq War. His co-pilot is 1st Lt Trevor Tingle. The Wing aircraft is being commanded by Captain Mark Sutton a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and his co-pilot is Maj Gary Wilds also an Iraq War veteran.
Lead
Captain Joe Elseroad, Silver Spring, MD - 2003 UNC-CH Graduate, 2 tours Iraq
First Lieutenant Trevor Tingle, Coronado, California
Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Meade, Blacksburg, VA - 3 tours Operation Enduring
Freedom, 1 tour Iraq
Sergeant Brandon Wilson, Hickory, NC - 2 tours Iraq, 1 Afghanistan
Wing
Captain Mark Sutton, Manassas, VA - 2 tours Iraq, 1 Afghanistan
Major Gary Wilds, Jacksonville, FL - 2 tours Iraq
Staff Sergeant Richard Grimm, Baltimore, OH, 2 tours Iraq, 1 Afghanistan
Sergeant Sean Sandiford, Lynn, MA - 2 tours Iraq, 1 Afghanistan
