The Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade got their first taste of the new Chinook cargo helicopter at Hood Army Airfield June 20.

The new CH-47F helicopter will replace the current CH-47D helicopter fleet in the inventory of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, by the beginning of next year.

The new Chinook model made its brief first appearance at Fort Hood before leaving Friday – providing the Soldiers of the cargo helicopter company with a delicious taste in their mouths.

“It’s still a Chinook – it’s just a way better Chinook,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brandon Tipton, a Chinook helicopter pilot in the Iron Eagle Brigade’s cargo helicopter company. “(I feel) as giddy as a school girl.

We’re all tickled pink about getting something new. It’s the first time we’ve had a new Chinook in a long time, and we’ll be the first unit to deploy with the new Chinooks.”

The new model enhances the CAB’s logistical and combative abilities to transport troops, equipment, cargo, mail and supplies, and is a step up in comparison to the CH-47D model the Iron Eagles flew during Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07 and during Task Force Katrina in New Orleans prior to the brigade’s deployment.

New technology in the crew station makes the information flow smoother, and the new digital equipment increases the crewmembers’ situational awareness like never before.

“The main difference in the cockpit is the multi-function displays,” Tipton added. “We’ll have moving electronic maps, flight maps and the ability to change plans as far as the mission is concerned. You can make it happen a lot easier, and it makes our jobs easier.”

Despite the increased capabilities the new Chinook model provides, there are no required increases in personnel or specialized jobs. The CH-47F uses the same maintenance support structure as the old Chinook, but the Soldiers will require extensive training to learn how to maintain and employ the advanced technology.

“I’m excited, because it’s a new piece of equipment,” said Sgt. Jace Pedersen, a Chinook flight engineer who works with Tipton in the cargo helicopter company. “The F model, with its newer avionics and designs, will make the Chinook a lot more maintenance friendly for us. I think of it like a new car.”

Like modern cars, the new Chinook has a digital interface with an interactive electronic technical maintenance management system, according to the aviation wing of the Army’s Program Executive Office.

Pedersen said he hopes to turn around an old saying about the CH-47D model in the Chinook community: “If it ain’t leaking, we ain’t flying,” in explaining that the new helicopters are not just rejuvenated CH-47D helicopters. The aircraft are stripped down bare and then put back together from the ground up.

The basic CH-47F configuration retains all the previous model’s features but has an integrated personnel cooling system, along with a state-of-the-art missile warning system, and an improved countermeasure dispenser coming standard on the new model.

Other new and improved features include: revamping the skeleton of the aircraft, changing the cockpit controls from analog to digital, integrating a satellite-based tracking system, upgrading the steel engine mounts for the Chinook’s bigger engines, overhauling the interior and exterior lights, and revamping the air filter to keep rocks and small debris out of the engines.

Another key addition of the aircraft will lengthen the crewmembers’ endurance during the desert nights full of pushing pallets at forward operating bases. A new electric pump for the helicopter’s auxiliary power unit will enable the teams to take off faster after a complete engine shutdown when delivering cargo. Without it, the crewmembers would have to manually pump-start the engine’s power unit when it would fail to start.

“The electric pump will start the system almost instantly,” Pedersen added. “It gets tiresome when its 120 degrees and you have all your gear on.”

The pilot said new technology will allow the crew to fly in zero-visibility conditions, such as sand storms, better than the old CH-47D model.

“You can be in zero visibility and come straight down all the way to the ground,” Tipton explained. “It makes it easier to fly in Iraq when a dust storm comes through. You don’t need to freak out when you have to fly in the clouds or a dust storm where you can’t see anything.

“The integrated GPS (global positioning system) in this new aircraft is a lot more reliable and precise than the old one,” he added. “You can do safe approaches in zero visibility and fly back to an airfield when you can’t see anything up, down, left or right.”

The pilots are scheduled to learn 21 more tasks required to fly the helicopter properly, while the crew chiefs and flight engineers will learn skills on 16 more tasks. The aircraft electricians, avionic mechanics and Chinook mechanics will have 11, 31 and three additional tasks to maintain the helicopter respectively.

The additional training will bring the Chinook team to the new cargo helicopter standard.

“It’s like going from a ’57 Chevy to driving a 2007 Corvette with all the nice digital readouts,” Tipton explained. “But, you don’t have parts on top of your car spinning at 400 mph.”

Like getting a new car, the Soldiers of Co. B, 2-4 Avn. Regt., said they look forward to the CH-47F’s “new car smell.”

“The old helicopters have grease and oil stains, but the new helicopters have that new-car smell,” Tipton said. “There’s not grease and oil leaking everywhere and no stains that are 25 years old. It’s just like a new car, and it’s going to make life a lot easier for all of us once we learn how to use it.

“You’re in shock and awe when you’re in it,” said the pilot, in described his first experience in the CH-47F’s prototype during his tour at Fort Campbell, Ky. “But once you learn it, it’s really intuitive. It’s intimidating at first, but it becomes second nature. It’ll take a couple months of collective unit training to get where we’re the experts with the piece of equipment.”

The new digital crew station is redesigned, notably including a digital map, enhanced communications and navigation equipment for better situational awareness.

“We’re going from the steam gauges in the D model and having to know exactly where you’re at,” Tipton explained. “We had GPS with it, but you had to do a lot of navigating. Not to say that about the F model, but it just makes it a lot easier when the map moves along with you.”

After keeping an estimated 4,392 convoy trucks off Iraq’s bomb-laden roads last year, the new helicopters are the icing on the cake for the Chinook company.

“The amount of accomplishments we made there (in Iraq) were so great (with the old Chinooks),” Pedersen said. “Now we’re getting ready to possibly go back (to Iraq) with the new F models. That says a lot about us and our capabilities.”