These are the best and most dangerous parts of flying the US Army's transportation workhorse, according to a pilot who does it

U.S. Army / Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

Dust lights up the rotors of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter as US Army paratroopers load for an air-assault mission near Combat Outpost Ab Band, in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, May 23, 2012.

Some 50,000 troops, tens of thousands of vehicles, and all their gear and supplies have descended on Norway, where they're taking part in Trident Juncture, NATO's largest military exercise since the Cold War.

Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen are jetting around Norway and through the air over the Baltic and Norwegian seas during the exercise, which NATO says is purely to practice defending an alliance member from attack.

Also present at the exercise is one of the mainstays of US Army aviation: The CH-47 Chinook helicopter, which has ferried troops and supplies to and from battlefields since the Vietnam War.

Below, you can see what one Chinook pilot says are the most rewarding - and most demanding - parts of the job.