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.

Enjoy

Chinooks in the Dark: https://a.co/d/0cOy6d88

Join the Cleared Hot Newsletter: https://www.clearedhotpodcast.com

Today's Sponsors:

Montana Knife Company:

https://www.montanaknifecompany.com

David:

David is offering our listeners a special deal: buy 4 cartons and get the 5th free when you go to https://www.davidprotein.com/CLEAREDHOT

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(774)

The Devil You Know | Full Auto Friday | 6.26.2026

Four questions this week. Two about relationships. Two that aren't. -A friend wants another shot with an ex after a long marriage. I've watched four couples try this. Two made it. Two didn't. The merr...

26 Juni 1h 9min

Ten Years in the SAS - What They Don't Teach You | Jay Morton | Ep. 455

Fourteen years in uniform. Four with the Parachute Regiment, a decade in the SAS. Patrol medic and qualified mountain guide. Afghanistan, Iraq, and covert deployments. Jay Morton left in 2018 and went...

24 Juni 3h 4min

What Does The Evidence Show? - Is Epstein Alive? | Nic McKinley & Ryan Dalton | Ep. 454

Nic McKinley went from Air Force pararescue to the CIA, then founded DeliverFund to fight trafficking with intelligence tools. Ryan Dalton was a trafficking attorney and federal agent at the State Dep...

22 Juni 2h 48min

One Oh-Shit Unwinds Every Attaboy | Negligent Discharge Friday | 6.19.2026

Michael's in the studio and we're working through the week. We start with two Pasadena officers horsing around with loaded guns. One of them ends up shooting the other through the windshield of the cr...

19 Juni 1h 11min

He Scheduled His Suicide for Midnight | Matthew Griffin | Ep. 453

Matthew spent six years in the Navy as a Search and Rescue swimmer. Then fifteen years as a cop — Virginia Beach, then undercover narcotics in New Hampshire during the opioid epidemic. He worked under...

15 Juni 2h 41min

Comparison Is the Thief of Joy | Full Auto Friday | 6.12.2026

Five questions this week. No real through-line, which is usually how these go. -A reader four years sober wants to rebuild the friendships he burned while drinking. -A father of two wants the kind of ...

12 Juni 1h 4min

The Most Dangerous Man in Vermont | Daniel Banyai | Ep. 452

He was called the most dangerous man in Vermont. The governor said it on television. The truth is more boring and more alarming. Daniel Banyai is a former protection contractor and a Seventh-day Adven...

8 Juni 2h 55min

BUD/S Was Hard, But It Wasn't Real | Full Auto Friday with JP Dinnell | 6.05.2026

Usually Full Auto Friday is just me and the questions. Not this one. JP Dinnell is in the seat — former SEAL, came up through Ramadi, now chief training officer at Echelon Front — and Michael is runni...

5 Juni 1h 22min