Approach articles from January 2002

Approach archives from January 2002

No HUD and counting on the paddles upgrade! I noticed my heads up display (HUD) began to flicker before eventually kicking off-line.(F-18 flight mission, Iraq)(Column)(Evaluation)
January 1, 2002... Four months into our cruise, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and Air Wing 8 team found itself in the steamy Persian Gulf. After three months of combat in Kosovo and Serbia, we were anxious for our crack at Saddam. Cyclic ops in the Arabian Gulf...

Is this a transmission line or a garden hose?(H-46D aircraft servicing alert)(Brief Article)(Column)
January 1, 2002... After wrapping up the NATOPS brief, we preflighted for my final fam flight in the H-46D FRS. It was uneventful, with the exception of a loose transmission-return line that runs down the right side of the aircraft into the mix-box assembly....

SADCLAM.(helicopter mission off USS Benfold, California)(Brief Article)(Column)(Evaluation)
January 1, 2002... It was one of my first flights as helicopter aircraft commander (HAC). I had been training to do this since I started flight school. I was the mission commander with a nugget who had never been to the boat. We were flying in support of a...

My mech-on spacer pass and landing.(F-18 maneuvers over Australia)(Evaluation)(Column)
January 1, 2002... Back in intermediates in Meridian during my student days, I was one of a group of T-2 and A-4 student knows as the "hybrid" class. I flew half the T-2 syllabus, up to my first cruise-form flight, before I was sent down the hall to VT-7. I had...

C-2 + CRM = BOQRO3N.(USS Kitty Hawk air military maneuver over Atsugi)(Brief Article)(Column)(Evaluation)
January 1, 2002... We were halfway through our WestPac cruise aboard USS Kitty Hawk. Well, we hadn't actually been aboard for the whole time. We COD guys prefer the comforts of the Atsugi BOQ., Doug and I were paired to fly to Atsugi with mail, cargo, and...

Aircraft to pilot--how do you read?(T-34C military instructor qualifying run)(Brief Article)(Column)(Evaluation)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... I was scheduled to fly with another instructor and give him a fam check ride. This qualification would allow him to instruct the fam stage flights for student naval flight officers and navigators. I was in the front seat of the T-34C, with my...

Scotland's beautiful, but I don't want to be a permanent part of it.(Joint Maritime Course, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and United States Air Force Maneuver)(Brief Article)(Column)
January 1, 2002... We were in the North Atlantic, flying off the coast of Scotland, in the annual British-run exorcise called the Joint Maritime Course (JMC). Our two-plane, three-crew detachment was working a round-the-clock ops on USW, ASUW, NGFS, you name it....

This isn't like the sim at all!(military flight simulator training and the first course)(Brief Article)(Column)
January 1, 2002... Many hours of a student's life with the EA-6B FRS are spent in the simulator. After spending much time there and experiencing many situations, I felt comfortable I could handle an emergency when airborne; but I found out on my graduation hop...

Loud bangs: are not a good thing.(U-2 military maneuver over California)(Column)(Evaluation)
January 1, 2002... It was a hot June day as I donned my pressure suit for a local, high-altitude sortie above California. As the life-support crew strapped me in the cockpit, I checked to see where all the switches were in this airplane. No two U-2s on the ramp...

Snakes in the cockpit. (ORM Corner).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... It was the first night of cruise, and the air wing was getting its carrier qualifications. We launched into a low-overcast-dark sky, with scattered showers. As we pushed from marshal, we descended into the rain and low clouds. At six...

Water-skiing at 100,000 pounds.(Netherlands Royal Navy flight maneuver off Lajes, Azores)(Column)(Statistical Data Included)(Evaluation)
January 1, 2002... I was halfway through my two-and-a-half-year exchange tour with the Dutch Navy, flying P-3s. While their training is based directly on our NATOPS and training procedures, there are some differences. But I had gotten up to speed with the Dutch...

Get-to-the-ship-itis?(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... One month into deployment, my S-3 crew was assigned our first good deal. We were operating in the Adriatic Sea, and I was to fly a passenger to a Greek Air Force Base. The flight across Greece into Larissa went as planned. We kicked out...

Bravo Zulu.(includes multiples articles)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... VT-3 Air Force Capt. Robert Noonan, attached to Training Air Wing Five at NAS Whiting Field, was flying solo in a T-34C as pilot-in-command of Maintenance 511. The flight was a post-maintenance, functional-check flight after an engine...

Below minimums.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Here we were, two seasoned naval aviators departing an East Coast Marine Corps Air Station on a Sunday morning for a squadron deployment out west. We filed a stopover flight plan with a fuel stop in Tulsa. I was the flight lead. The departure...

Brownshoes in action comix: "the kind real aviators like". (Classic).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... VF-3.14's new safety officer wants his term to be characterized by "innovation."... "Now stick with me on this one, Skipper." "We'll start by changing everyone's callsigns to important safety tips..." "Hey, `Head-on-a-Swivell'...

Ready room gouge.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Truly superior pilots are those who use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills.