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CIA: Flying Skyhook Wasn't Just For James Bond, It Actually Rescued Agents

Posted by samzenpus on from the you're-outta-here dept.

coondoggie writes "This had to be one hell of a ride. The CIA today said it added a pretty cool item to its museum archives — the instruction card for officers being plucked off the ground by a contraption that would allow a person to be snatched off the ground by a flying aircraft without the plane actually landing."

16 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. It's in the Archive so now they use... by NinjaTekNeeks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Teleporter's most likely. Always wondered what you could come up with with an unlimited budget, now we know.

    1. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by jdray · · Score: 4, Informative

      IIRC, the skyhook was featured in "The Green Berets" (1968). I've definitely seen it in some Vietnam War flick. At any rate, when I was in the USAF, as a loadmaster on C-130s, I remember reading about a procedure and rig for the extraction. Definitely a corner case, though, like JATO bottles.

      --
      The Spoon
      Updated 6/28/2011
    2. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Teleporter's most likely.

      Or, y'know, a helicopter.

    3. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by Sez+Zero · · Score: 4, Funny
      Here's the CIA link I thought this was funny, regarding the development of the system:

      The first live test, with a sheep, failed when the harness twisted and strangled the animal. On subsequent tests other sheep fared better.

      Yes, hard to believe a subsequent test where sheep fared worse, but I'm sure slashdot will oblige.

    4. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by KrackerJax · · Score: 5, Funny

      Also from the CIA article:

      "Fulton first used instrumented dummies as he prepared for a live pickup. He next used a pig, as pigs have nervous systems close to humans. Lifted off the ground, the pig began to spin as it flew through the air at 125 mph. It arrived on board undamaged but in a disoriented state. Once it recovered, it attacked the crew."

      Too funny, I can only imagine what a berserker pig in an aircraft is like.

      --
      Sauer
    5. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by Jeng · · Score: 4, Funny

      You might be a computer if you only can only process information that is properly formatted and improperly formatted information gives you a segfault.

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    6. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by Darth_brooks · · Score: 4, Insightful

      and have a radar signature that's bit more... subtle.

      [[citation needed]]

      Those big whirly things on top, and especially that big old flat one on the back, aren't the most stealthy things on earth. A helicopter's advantage comes from being able to hug the nap of the earth and hide from radar, rather than deflect it away.

      True, we used "stealth" helicopters in the bin laden raid, but my guess would be that the concern there was the super secrete stuff was 75% noise reduction 25% radar signature.

      --
      There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
    7. Re:It's in the Archive so now they use... by Darth_brooks · · Score: 4, Funny

      especially one inside the confines of an aircraft. I can only imagine how the ground crew and engineers were treated upon landing.

      (Bay door opens)

      Engineer: So how'd it.....(several angry loadmasters exit with torn flight suits and reeking of pig shit).....nevermind. So, uhhhh, pork chops for dinner tonight?

      Loadmaster: Pork chops for dinner tonight.

      --
      There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
  2. Is this a surprise? by Lester67 · · Score: 4, Informative

    They practiced this, pretty regularly at Hurlburt Field, Florida... within view of the general public. Several of the MC-130's were fitted with the catch arms. (It's even had a wikipedia page for awhile now.)

    So, yeah, it's cool... but it's hardly new or a secret.

    1. Re:Is this a surprise? by G-Man · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yep, the Fulton Recovery System - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system

      I get the impression it was similar to ejecting from an aircraft: Yes it worked, yes it was fairly safe, but you only did it if you really had to.

  3. Re:The Unit... by j-pimp · · Score: 5, Informative

    They showed this extraction method on The Unit. Season 2, episode 1 "Change of Station".

    Also, Morgan Freeman used it to get Batman out of China without taking the bat boots off for the TSA.

    --
    --- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
  4. simpler system used 50+ years ago by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Interesting

    prop plane flying in special circles could keep a weight at end of winchable cable relatively stationary to ground. this method was used to take and deliver mail at remote locations, and at stunt shows to pick up and leave a stuntman.

    1. Re:simpler system used 50+ years ago by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Informative

      You could also lower a (wired) telephone for the person on the ground to discuss things with the aircraft crew, like what stuff needed to be delivered. Phone comes down, ground guy takes/makes call. Phone goes up. Cable with box comes down. Ground guy disconnects the snap. Cable goes back up. Rinse and repeat if you need more than one box.

      Fly the aircraft high enough and it looks like a phone, or a box of stuff, is just being lowered by a cable out of the sky with no obvious source. And the craft has to be reasonably high for the cable to be stable, rather than circling, when it's near ground level.

      I understand this was used by missionaries in remote locations. I wonder how careful they were to let the congregation know that they were talking to / getting stuff from other missionaries, rather than heaven. B -)

      I hear you can also use it to raise (or lower) a guy in a harness.

      The main disadvantage compared to skyhook is that the aircraft has to circle the landing zone for a half-hour or so - at radar-visible height. It's there long enough to shoot down, and puts a big target on whom/whatever you were interacting with on the ground. NOT what you want for a black op behind enemy lines. Skyhook just flies an airplane over the target, with nothing to distinguish that spot from anywhere else on the flight path.

      --
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  5. Re:Necessity is the mother of invention by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why would I believe it existed just because I saw it in a movie? i can't say I gave it a lot of thought, but I generally don't go "Gosh, I saw it in a james Bond movie, it must exist in real lifte."

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  6. aka Fulton Recovery System by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Many more details here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system

  7. Re:The Unit... by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He even described it accurately:

    Lucius Fox: Now for high altitude jumps you're gonna need oxygen and stabilizers. Now I must say compared to your usual requests, jumping out of an airplane is pretty straightforward.
    Bruce Wayne: And what about getting back into the plane?
    Lucius Fox: I'd recommend a good travel agent.
    Bruce Wayne: Without it landing.
    Lucius Fox: Now that's more like it, Mr. Wayne. The CIA had a program back in the 60's for getting their people out of hot spots called Sky Hook. We could look into that.

    --
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