The Night Stalker They Couldn't Shoot Down | Alan Mack | Ep. 447

Alan Mack flew Chinooks for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment for seventeen years. Chief Warrant Officer 5. Senior MH-47 pilot. Flight lead. Instructor. He was the pilot in command of Razor 03 on Takur Ghar — the aircraft shot up trying to insert a SEAL element on top of the mountain that became Roberts Ridge. He has logged over 6,700 flight hours, took rounds through his cockpit on Anaconda, ran fog approaches into walled compounds in Iraq, and helped write the procedures the Night Stalkers still use to land in zero visibility. After retiring, he commanded the flight detachment at West Point and spent a decade running emergency management for a New York county. He is the author of Razor 03 and the upcoming Chinooks in the Dark.

We cover the new Medal of Honor awarded to a 160th pilot and what it actually takes to earn one. The Anaconda shoot down — RPG, lost hydraulics, three cans of fluid, and a crew chief pumping a t-handle to keep him in the controls. Why he chose to dive at a Dishka instead of climbing. The myth around Extortion 17 and why the conspiracy doesn't hold up. How the unit trains pilots to fly through real lead. Air refueling at night in the weather. Cutting hoses with rotor blades. And the lessons every pilot — military or civilian — needs to internalize before the aircraft starts shedding systems on them.

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Chinooks in the Dark

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Timestamps:

[00:00:00] 160th pilot Medal of Honor

[00:08:51] Returning to combat flying

[00:29:35] Desert One and unit origins

[00:33:09] Pre- and post-9/11 changes

[00:45:47] Training for real incoming fire

[00:59:01] Future aircraft and modernization

[01:07:51] Extortion 17 and Red Wings

[01:22:22] Air refueling realities

[01:29:41] Hose strikes and fuel planning

[01:33:19] Memorable missions and new book

[02:04:10] 160th selection and qualification

[02:14:06] One-wheel landings and techniques

[02:24:59] Maintenance teams behind missions

[02:33:27] Life after the 160th