Approach articles from August 2001

Approach archives from August 2001

Flying Off the Handle.(tricky landing)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... New to HC-2's "Desert Duck" UH-3H detachment in Bahrain, I was part of a CAG run for a personnel, mail, and cargo transfer to a couple small boys. With luck, we'd be back at the pool-deck by noon. I sat left seat with my OinC as...

BEAK to BEAK.(near collision)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... Showing up at your new squadron is always exciting. For me, this was especially true, because it was my first deployment and our Hawkeyes were flying combat missions in support of Operation Allied Force. My first few weeks at the squadron...

"What Do You Mean, the Engines Won't Shut Down?".(tailpipe fire)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... After a successful weapons det at NAS Fallon, Black Eagle 603 was returning on an evening flight to NAS Point Mugu. Everyone had worked hard at Fallon, and everyone was eager to return home for a few weeks before RIMPAC. This aircraft had been...

200 Feet From Disaster.(flying in bad weather)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... I was fresh out of the RAG and had been in my squadron less than two months. The op tempo had been slow, but things were spooling up for our spring cruise. Being a new COTAC with 60 hours in type made me eager to join the fold of our squadron....

Welcome to the Land of NOD.(pilot fatigue)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... I was enjoying a post-debrief PB-and-J in the dirty shirt, when I heard the bad news. CVW-1 had just completed its last air-wing strike at the end of a challenging COMPUTUEX-JTFEX. The flyoff was scheduled for early the next morning, and I was...

SHOW ME WHERE IT SAYS THAT.(differing operating procedures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... When I transferred from HSL-51 in Atsugi, Japan, to a new command, I felt more than ready for my second tour in a LAMPS squadron. I had more than 1,000 hours in the SH-60B and had been redesignated as an assistant NATOPS instructor before I...

High Noon with a Section of Talons.(overlapping flight plans)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... In July 1997, I was halfway through the advanced syllabus at Kingsville. Just when I thought I was going to be stuck doing all my low-level flights in southern Texas, I managed to get a cross-country to an airshow up north. On leg two of the...

Big Sky, Bigger Airliner.(sharing airspace)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... Why didn't I see it? "Traffic ten o'clock!" "Tally! Wow, that was close!" We had been flying in our Hawkeye, equipped with the latest APS-145 radar, trying to find low-and-slow fliers and go-fast boats. It was daytime and CAVU to...

Electro-Shock Therapy.(flying through thunderstorms)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... It was the third week of a seemingly endless COMPTUEX, filled with GQs, cold showers, and extra-greasy sliders. Even though I was a nugget lieutenant junior grade on my first set of work-ups, I was starting to feel salty around the boat. ...

Not Feeling Your Toes--Not a Good Sign.(cabin pressure problem)
August 1, 2001... "Cabin altitude." "Holding, eight K." How many times has every Prowler aircrew had that conversation? They do it at least once a flight on the climb checks. How often do you check pressure after the aircraft passes through 10,000 feet...

Just Be Ready To Bail Out, OK?(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... Every naval aviator loves a good deal, and mine was shaping up to be great. The squadron was sending a detachment to Midland, Texas, to grab lots of good flying weather and knock out a bunch of X's. The plan was For my form partner and I to...

Which Way Is Up?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2001... The night began like many other routine nights in the Gulf but ended with a lesson in ORM. Current tasking had our LAMPS SH60B routinely flying three bags a night. Well into our second week of this tasking, my circadian rhythm had finally...

Is This How It Works in the Fleet?(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... The plan seemed logical: Fly all six of the squadron's SH-3s to NAS Norfolk, where they would be staged for the upcoming deployment. The ship was scheduled to deploy in one week, only two days after Christmas. The thought of doing turn-around...

Seeing the Desert at 70 Feet.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... It was another beautiful day in May in Fallon, Nev., and I was looking forward to my flight in an FA-18C. The East Coast Hornet FRS was in town for a strike detachment, and my mission was a Low Altitude Training (LAT) chase on a Cat. I...

AIRSHOW ATTACK.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... Airshow season is our chance to show the American public the great machines they have bought for us. It is an even better opportunity to show them what great people we, who fly those machines, are. Though the Cobra usually doesn't perform...

Letter.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2001... Re: "Plenty of Skippers... Not Much Fuel" (April 2001) Lt. Churchill covers the incident precisely, not missing anything. He even brought back memories of when I was on USS Theodore Roosevelt with six Marine CH-53s, being put in a...

Snowing at 1,200 Feet Over Pensacola.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2001... There we were, about to land at another glorious, random stop and assume the backup. The pilot was in the left seat, and I was in the right seat. The aircraft was descending from 2,000 feet to 1,200 feet on the 12 DME arc at NAS Pensacola. ...