Book of Stone: UH-60 Blackhawk

For April, Stone Soldiers.info is celebrating the A to Z Blog Challenge with daily letter-themed entries about the people, places, and things of the series. To view past and present entries visit the Book of Stone by clicking on the link on the righthand side of this page.

UH-60 Blackhawk

Designed in the late 1960s, the UH-60 first entered active service with the U.S. Military in 1979, replacing the venerable UH-1 Iroquois as the primary helicopter of the US Army. 

With a crew of four, including to pilots and two gunner/crewchiefs, the Blackhawk is used by all the branches of the US Military and and by allied nations around the world. The helicopter can carry eleven passengers and has a maximum takeoff weight o over 23,000 pounds. The Blackhawk can reach speeds of 220 miles per hour and a maximum ceiling of 19,000 feet. It's maximum range is 1,380 miles. 

The Blackhawk has countless variations an configurations, capable of carrying external fuel tanks, machineguns, rockets, missiles, and can even be used to lift cargo from the ground bu means of external cargo lines. Stealth variants of the Blackhawk exist, capable of ferrying special operations soldiers to targets behind enemy lines. 

As a mainstay of US forces, the Blackhawk is often used by the Stone Soldiers, ferrying teams to sites or aiding in the clean up of supernatural battles after the fact. As such, all combat-ready members of the Detachment receive pilot training for the Blackhawk, as well as rudimentary technical training to maintain and repair the aircraft in the event a situation would arise where the team had to operate in a region where conventional support and maintenance crews could not venture.