
The Marine Corps’ new CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter rose from Sikorsky’s Palm Beach, Fla., tarmac for the first time Tuesday morning, marking a significant milestone for the program that has suffered delays due to structural deficiencies found during ground testing.The first flight consisted of about 20 minutes of ground test and taxiing followed by a half-hour flight that tested basic aircraft-to-ground response, control characteristics of the fly-by-wire avionics system in all axes, chief test pilot Stephen McCulley said…