Approach articles from December 2001

Approach archives from December 2001

Las Vegas or bust!(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... IT was my first Red Flag exercise, and I was looking forward to getting to Vegas. I had heard all the stories about bright lights, big city, and lots of parties. Of course, the flying was supposed to be fun, too. Our plan was to take off early...

What ship's radar blind spot?(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Our air wing was participating in a carrier-deck certification off the coast of sunny Southern California. We were attempting to maintain currency while the test pilots worked the Mode 1 approaches. It had been nine months since anyone in the...

I can hack it!(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Even two hours after the incident, I still didn't fully realize how close I had come to giving my wife the benefits of my SGLI policy. Let's step back to the night before to see the full story. As a junior ECMO with just over a year in my...

Below ladder and going lower.(bomber fuel loss)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... We were in the Persian Gulf, about two months into deployment, and scheduled for night-bomb-smoke proficiency mission. It was a nice and short, Hornet-friendly, 1+15 cycle. A look at our planned fuel ladder showed we should have 2,000 pounds of...

Low fuel and everyone's snowed in.(safety measures)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... As new P-3C patrol plane commander, I was tasked with organizing a cross-country flight to Hill AFB, Ogden, Utah. Although I was the second most junior of 10 qualified plane commanders on the manifest, I signed for the plane since I had done...

Make a decision.(helicopter malfunctions)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... "Lieutenant, I think we're about to lose our aft transmission!" With this ICS call from my crewchief, I was thrust into the definitive helicopter-aircraft-commander scenario. For those unschooled in the transmission system of the venerable H-46...

The danger of night tanking.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Have you ever been to the Arabian Gulf on an Operation Southern Watch (OSW) mission and were Worried about the AAA or SAM threat? How about your designated mean point of impact at 25,000 feet on the less-than-impressive Nighthawk FLIR? Maybe...

Who says single-seaters don't need crew coordination? Situational awareness assertiveness decision making leadership communication adaptability/flexibility mission analysis. (Crew Resource Management).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... CRM Contacts: LCdr. Scott Stroble, OPNAV N789F3 CRM Program Mgr. stroble.scott@hq.navy.mil, DSN 664-7721 CRM Model Mgr., Pensacola, Fla. www.act.navy.mil, DSN 922-2088 LCdr. Mike Reddix, Naval Safety Center...

A CRM analyst's take: an adaptability/flexibility portrait.(cockpit resource management)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... CRM is a set of interrelated skills, and just like the brush strokes of a masterpiece, they work together to form a pleasant reality. The reality in this case being an OK 3-wire by a wingman who discovered he was NORDO with a poorly-performing...

Who are we?(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... As controllers, E-2 NFOs understand the duties involved in airspace management. They often control numerous aircraft in confined airspace, and they must therefore have a good sense of situational awareness (SA) of the air environment. However,...

So why do we really follow NATOPS?(Naval Aviation Training and Operating Procedures Standards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... It was a beautiful, cool, spring morning in Norfolk, and my CH-46 crew was doing para-drops with a local EOD unit. After a preflight and brief with the EOD HRST master, we fired up the bird and were on our way. The drops were scheduled for a...

Going mad.(magnetic anomaly detector )
December 1, 2001... Although the SH-60B is a great aircraft, very reliable and a joy to fly, it is still a helicopter. The question isn't if, but when, a serious emergency is going to happen. As a LAMPS Mk-III helicopter aircraft commander (HAC), I always wondered...

(Almost) everything I ever needed to know I learned in primary.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... As I sat in my tiny FFG stateroom, muddling through the final weeks of a counter-drug ops cruise, I realized there are axioms of aviation that, no matter what your experience level, will always hold true. I learned a few of these early in my...

Sandstorm in Saudi Arabia.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Things were becoming routine three weeks into our deployment to Prince Sultan Airbase, Saudi Arabia. A sprawling complex located in the heart of the Persian Gulf sandbox, the base is not a hospitable home in the middle of July. Severe...

Stranded at the mine field.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... H-46s are older than most of the men and women who fly them. The manufacturer's plates are dated mid- 1960s. The logbooks, on average, report about 12,500 to 13,000 total hours on each airframe. Four months into a cruise, with a two-plane...

Below weather mins for everyone.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Our squadron was in the throes of COMPTUEX during winter in the Southern California operations area. The ceilings were falling, and the deck was pitching. As the squadron operations officer, I had been tasked by the air wing to fly our battle...

A nuggets first emergency off the boat.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... I had been in the squadron for a couple of months, and we were on a RIMPAC exercise working up for cruise. I was standing my first alert seven when they called, "Launch the alert seven. Launch the alert seven. Contact eagle on button twelve....

Brownshoes in action comix: "the kind real avaitors like". (classic).
December 1, 2001... VF-3. 14 finds itself in need of an LSO as "Regin'" Mike kagin abruptly drops his letter... "Hey, but don't you worry! I'm a team player I'll give you all the straight gouge in my passdown." "Sounds good to me, "Ragin'" "Mike." ...

Ready room gauge.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... LSO to nugget after 3rd unsuccessful trap: "You've got to land here, son. This is where the food is."