The Boeing CH-47 Chinook: the Workhorse of the Sky

The chopper happens to be particularly large, powerful, and nimble.
Loukia Papadopoulos

If the video player is not working, you can click on this alternative video link.

The military has many types of helicopters it uses to carry everything from cargo to wounded soldiers. But there is one helicopter that is more famous and perhaps more useful than all the rest.

It's called the Boeing CH-47 Chinook and it is renowned as the workhorse of the sky. Today, it’s the go-to transport helicopter for roughly 20 armies across the world. This begs the question: what makes it so popular?

Well, the Chinook happens to be particularly large, powerful, and nimble.

Despite being nearly twice the size of a typical helicopter, the Chinook has compact, very strong engines and a tandem-rotor design that allows it to soar through the skies at up to 180 mph (290 km/h).

The Chinook can handle 24,000 lbs (10,886 kg) of cargo in its 228 sq ft (21 sq m) hold. It also features an extremely useful loading ram that allows all manner of cargo to be easily transported including the massive Humvees that are so popular during military missions.

What other features does this chopper have? How was it engineered? What technology does it use to be so powerful? We answer all of these questions and more in our video.

Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.
Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.
message circleSHOW COMMENT (1)chevron
Job Board