If I am doing a Blackhawk dio with a figure fast roping down... Do they use the winch rope to repel down or do they throw a line down attached some place else?

If it is the winch... then is it only available on the starboard side?

If memory serves me correctly the ropes were attatched to purpose built hard points on a tubular swing arm. There was one on each side. They had a quick release catch that dropped the rope after the last roper was clear. the Whinch was above the RHS door and was not used for fast roping. Perhaps someone can dig up a pic.
Cheers,
Bryan

Hey Brian, heres a link where a modeler put in the fast rope connections. Look at step #3.
http://www.scale-model-aircraft.freeserve.co.uk/pave-hawk/page17-sma.html
I used to have a real pic on this but for the life of me i can't find it. How ever it does look like this and the rings are red in color. The fast rope is 3'' in diameter (nylon)

Here is the Fast Rope attachment points on the SOAR birds courtasy of Aircraft Resource Center:

Here ya go. It appears my memory is not as bad as I thought :-) As you can see its actually mounted to the cabin roof and the whinch is above the door.HTH
cheers,
Bryan

For clarification, they are the red rings

Jeff.

that is perfect... thanks!

I'm sorry,
Yes, its in the middle between the Fual Bladder and two red rings with the green bungie cord. Notice the two cables coming from each attachment point, they are for the quck release. The bar extends out pass the door.
Sorry again, I hadd the pages from the manuals that showed this alot better becuase i did this to one of my Blackhawks too.

Howdy fellas,

Good read. And the pics of attachment points are nice to have.

I do have a question though....I was always under the impression that the "fast ropes" were attached via (non winch) to hard points, and then jettisoned after use to fall to the ground to be policed-up by the then ground-based infil team?

Are you saying that they are winched back into the ship?

Tread.

No, Tread, you are right. They are attached to the rings, which via the poles, extend out. Troops drop out and then followed by the ropes.

Jeff

Yup, usually dropped after the guys shimmy down. But, if you want some good PT, try hualing them back up into the chopper. They will smoke your bags.

Howdy fellas,

Thx for the replies...I thought that was the way it went. I was also aware that the ropes themselves were approx. 2.5 - 3 inches in diameter making them heavy buggers.

"......They will smoke your bags........"

LMAO!!!!!! :-) :-) :-)
Man, Gino.......I didn't know you did 'Stand-Up' .....

Tread.

I wonder just how heavy those things are? Figure approx. 30 - 40 feet of 3 inch diameter rope =....................