A busted strut

I was finally only one flight away from finishing all the requirements to become RL (readiness level) 1 and be able to start crewing without a trainer.  One of the other new crew members was in the same situation I was, so we were both being evaluated at the same time.  We were supposed to be going on to the training area and finishing up some last minute details and final qualifications before we would be able to start flying on missions.  We had no more than left the active when we all heard a loud pop.  The other crew chief and I started looking around trying to figure out where it came from. 

The pilots were anxiously asking us if we saw anything and the trainer was looking around as well.  The other crew chief saw hydraulic fluid and immediately thought it was coming from the hydraulic deck, with the amount and the rotor wash it was hard to tell where it was coming from.  So he told the pilots what he saw and the pilots turned around and called the tower to tell them what was going on so they could clear the active.  Just as we were getting ready to land, the SI called for the pilots to 'climb'.  The pilots didn't know what we going on, but they followed the SI's orders and gained altitude. 

The SI began explaining that one of the landing gear struts was messed up and that's where the hydraulic fluid had come from.  As we were flying passed the tower, the pilot asked the individual in the tower if the landing gear looked different and was told that one of them was hanging lower than the other.  A call was made for maintenance to meet us on Alpha key and the pilots directed the bird there.  We stayed at a hover for about ten minutes there while some senior mechanics assessed the situation.  The landing gear strut had split in two and the lower section was now lodged into another part of the aircraft.  Attempting to land on it like it was would most likely cause the aircraft to roll over. 

The senior mechanics requested that the pilots move the aircraft to alpha row so they figure out a way for them to land safely.  The SI immediately wanted all extra crew members off the aircraft so that way in the event the aircraft had a mishap there was as few people on board as possible.  The pilots brought the aircraft down to hovering a few feet off the ground and the other crew chief, myself and another soldier who was going out to help with the training all unloaded. 

It wasn't until about 45 minutes later that they were finally able to land the aircraft, but that side ended up being landed on a stack of extra wood and pretty much anything else lying around.  In a few months time, there were three struts that due to being overserviced and building up too much pressure ended up exploding.  Luckily, no one was hurt in any of the situations.