Approach articles from August 2000

Approach archives from August 2000

Convertible Mentor.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... We took off out of NAF El Centro on a beautiful day. The first order of business was a takeoff roll at less than 700 feet. "What were the winds again?" I wondered. "Oh well, as long as they're straight down the runway, who cares?" Just another...

Really Hot Brakes.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Watching the crash crew extinguish brake fires on both of my main landing gear, I realized how close I'd come to a major mishap. I'd let a minor problem develop into a situation I could have and should have handled better. As it turned out,...

My Foot Slip Can Take Your Foot Off.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... On my second set of work-ups in preparation for my second cruise, we had been bouncing for a week or so. As a pilot, FCLPs seem like running a marathon in the desert: tiring, repetitious, even a little boring. The main challenge seems to simply...

One Engine, One Radio, Plenty of Bombs.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... We were three weeks into the Kosovo campaign when my pilot and I got our first port call, compliments of an oil-breather-pressure light in our Tomcat, followed by a single-engine divert to Sigonella. As a FAC(A) aircrew, we had originally...

Hawkeye Flight Testing?(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The skies were crystal clear over NAS Pt. Mugu, and I was looking forward to flying. I did not suspect that the flight would bring an opportunity for another Hawkeye milestone. We were scheduled for post-maintenance functional check flight...

Semper Paratus.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... My first deployment as an H2P had been successful. I was part of the SAR detachment on board the USS Peleliu (LHA 5), and by the end of the cruise had become quite comfortable with my flying abilities in the H-46D. I was looking forward to...

Creature of Habit.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... We had just taken off from Monroe, La., for an easy flight back to Whiting Field. It was one of my last flights in the VTs, and I was beginning to feel at home in the front seat of the T-34C. The air was smooth, and there wasn't a cloud in...

Is This How They Do It in the Fleet?
August 1, 2000... We were flying our FRS SH-60B back from Portland, Ore., to NAS North Island after a terrific weekend at an air show. The level of experience varied widely throughout the crew. I was the least experienced, a CAT I jaygee with only a few dozen...

Dual-Piloted Partial-Panel.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... You'll always have at least one good set of instruments, right? Wrong. I experienced "dual-piloted partial-panel" coming back to the ship, under a low ceiling, on a very dark night, and it was no fun. In the East China Sea, we had...

Suspicion Becomes Reality.
August 1, 2000... We were in the middle of our work-up schedule. With an at-sea period and Fallon under my belt, I was back doing FCLPs in the S-3, preparing for FleetEx. The typical, night-bounce period was over to El Centro and then back to North Island. As...

Silent Night.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... We brief NORDO procedures before every flight. Sure, many of us have had an amplifier give out mid-flight so that we were unable to transmit, but in this age of two radios and state-of-the-art equipment, what are the odds of going completely...

My Day On the Deck.
August 1, 2000... During my first at-sea period (a good-deal, 56-day, WestPac "deployment"), I took turns standing duty as the air-wing safety officer. This watch rotates among the squadron safety officers; I had it every eighth day. Every time it was my turn,...

Roll Out the Barrel, We'll Have a Barrel of ... Yikes!(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... It was a beautiful day in southern Turkey. The flight schedule offered a training flight in which we were to do basic formation work, section approaches over the water, cruise maneuvering and a little tac form. After about a month with little...

Ok, That's Enough ACM--Let's Try Some Departures.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... It was the best of days, It was the worst of days. It started with typical Oceana summer weather, namely, beautiful. We were scheduled for the day's first go: 1 v 1 ACM check ride for the pilot. The first part went smoothly, and we prepared...

Getting Into the Zone.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Naval aviators have two types of jobs: the flying job, which we all enjoy, and the ever-present ground job, which seems to demand most of our attention. Too often, questions about paperwork interrupt flight briefs. After the brief, we dash to...

AIR Wing.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... Class A Mishaps AIRCRAFT SQUADRON DATE No. CH-46E HMM-2650 2/09/00 0 Sea Knight had an in-flight fire in a DLQ pattern and recovered aboard ship. Downgraded to Class B. ...