5 Feet — that’s the altitude Roadrunner held on a self-appointed decoy mission in Vietnam, and it’s the heart of Episode 227. It’s also the reason he walked away with a Bronze Star.
This week, RePete and Fig welcome Chuck Howard, callsign Roadrunner. He flew with the 175th Assault Helicopter Company, earning two Bronze Stars and 25 Air Medals for valor.
Roadrunner’s path started on a Jersey City hammock, watching jets land at Newark. Actually, he almost became a commercial artist before the Army got him first.
He walks us through flight school and a co-pilot who froze on short final. Then there’s the Cessna climb to twelve thousand feet that ate an entire afternoon. Consequently, we get one of the funniest bike-to-the-airport stories in show history.
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I Never Exceeded 5 Feet: The Decoy Mission
The Bronze Star story is the centerpiece. Roadrunner grew tired of rules of engagement that only let him fire after getting shot at first. So he built his own workaround.
He stripped down a demilitarized Huey and lit it up like a Christmas tree. Then he flew it straight at the tree line at night. He hovered along the perimeter at an altitude he never exceeded, five feet, daring Charlie to take the bait.
However, the story doesn’t stop there. Roadrunner later flew Port Authority helicopters and was first on scene for Sully’s Hudson River landing. He also worked the water recovery after TWA 800, marking wreckage while FBI agents jumped aboard his aircraft mid-hover.
Furthermore, he shares two separate tail rotor failures. In one, he saved a multi-million dollar helicopter by nursing it into a drainage ditch. His book, Tales from the Cockpit, covers even more of this.
This episode is also brought to you by DC Artworks. The veteran-owned laser-cut steel shop is keeping gift-buyers out of the doghouse this season.
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