Approach articles from December 2000

Approach archives from December 2000

Fly-In Follies.(military pilot deals with turbulence)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... The lead did his best to keep the flight out of the clouds. Turbulence violently rattled the formation. I've never believed that we stop making mistakes when we get older, or that we ever get too old to learn from the mistakes we do make....

TERROR IN THE MOUNTAINS.(military helicopter and turbulence)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... I was on my first WestPac as a helicopter second pilot (H2P) in an H-46 detachment. We had just arrived in the Arabian Gulf, and I was part of a one-helicopter-and-crew mini-detachment to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The short,...

Who's on Final?(landing military aircraft)
December 1, 2000... During my initial Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) and Carrier Qualification (CQ) in the training command in Kingsville, Texas, I'm sure my class had as many comical stories to tell as any other. Each of us made the usual mistakes, and...

How To Create Your Own Fireball.(military aircraft engine problems)
December 1, 2000... During a day Case-I recovery, I was a single F-14A Tomcat in a low holding pattern overhead mother. The cycle had been short, so I had a lot of fuel to dump in order to make my max trap weight. This was the first sea period during our work-up...

Right Main, Where Are You?(military air pilot's problems with landing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... I visualized ejecting from a cartwheeling jet and decided it would be best for me to make a good landing Unlike most of the events recounted in this magazine, mine happened during daytime, not at the boat, and VMC. In fact, the nearest...

Uh-Oh on Iwo.(military air pilot encounters weather problems)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... The island looked like a scene from King Kong, enshrouded in fog with the exception of the very top of Mount Suribachi. Fresh from the Prowler FRS on my first FCLP det in CAG 5, I was primed to prove that I was ready for the fleet. For...

ORM CORNER: More Than Just Crew Rest.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Every crew brief covers operational risk management (ORM), but the ORM part often lacks depth. Mission commanders and flight leads simply ask if everyone has had enough crew rest or sleep. ORM is much more than that. On one particular...

Been Violated Recently?(violations committed in an airshow)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Incident 1: The pilot had 3,300 hours, more than 2,000 in type. He had participated in seven previous airshows and considered himself to be highly qualified for the Midwest aerofair listed in a recent message from CHINFO requesting aviation...

BALLISTIC, IN A CLOUD!(military air pilot finds himself flying in bad weather)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... The war hadn't begun yet. Our mission during a CV ops exercise off the coast of Puerto Rico was a night, peacetime escort on goggles. The weather wasn't cooperating. The Caribbean sky was littered with cumulus buildups and embedded...

BRAVO ZULU.(military air pilot makes a risky landing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... While deployed to NAF El Centro, Calif., crew members of VMU-2 prepared to commence outbound procedures from the NAF on a night drug-enforcement mission in support of JTF-6. Shortly after takeoff and a low approach in the local pattern to...

My First HAC Flight.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... I was on a detachment to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC), which is located in the Bahamas. East Coast ASW crews often go there for their torpedo weapon-drop qualifications. This was my first flight as a helicopter...

FLAME-OUT OVER SAGAMI-WAN.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... A recent mishap in the HSL community reminded me of my own brush with disaster under nearly identical circumstances. I was an H2P conducting a post-maintenance FCF with the detachment maintenance officer. We were shore-based at NAF Atsugi and...