Approach articles from January 2005

Approach archives from January 2005

Mishaps and malpractice.(Admiral's Corner)(flight violations)
January 1, 2005... Last year an experienced FA-18 pilot operated his section in complete violation of established procedures on a low-level route below the route structure. The mishap aircraft hit charted powerlines, FODed both engines, and was destroyed. Though...

BASH: bird/animal strike hazard.(Work Zone: reducing mishaps by 50%)
January 1, 2005... You're on final approach; you look up, and a cloud of 10,000 shore birds are between you and the runway--obviously a dangerous situation, but was it avoidable? Every time you strap in to fly, there's a possibility you will encounter a bird or...

You smell that? As we completed our after-takeoff checks, smoke now was visible around the center console and was blowing around the cockpit.(Ltjg. Ferrara in the recovery-tanker mission)
January 1, 2005... The squadron had been aboard USS George Washington (CVN-73) foe almost a month, and we were near the end of my first set of work-ups. We were scheduled for a "pinky launch" on a standard S-3B recovery-tanker mission but with the added...

An ounce of prevention.(Motorcycles.)
January 1, 2005... The lesson of this saying is well practiced in the naval-aviation community. We start each day by walking our airfields and ships, picking up every piece of FOD that a gas-turbine engine possibly could ingest. While our mechanics are checking...

Rushing to a midair.(near mid-air collision with KC-135)
January 1, 2005... Everyone I talk to has bad stories about visiting the "Iron Maiden" (aka the KC-135). We frequently receive lectures and discuss techniques about getting into its unique metal basket. When it was our turn to visit the big-wing tanker, the...

Not quite the massage at the MGM grand.(ORM Corner)
January 1, 2005... Just another standard day in the Eastern Pacific op area: hot. Wow, it was hot! We were in the third week of a three-month counter-drug-op deployment aboard USS Valley Forge (CG-50). This cruise was to be her last time underway--decommissioning...

Who's "that guy"?(Directions how to drive safely)
January 1, 2005... If you're reading this article, chances are you're a lieutenant stuck on duty in a ready room, so I'll do my best to make this entertaining. It's late afternoon, another week has passed, and we're all much closer to that great green pasture in...

Hauling trash.(Crew Resource Management)(Column)
January 1, 2005... I awoke before the alarm that morning but remained in bed to squeeze out all of the rest I could. I knew we had a long mission scheduled that day: Fly from NAS New Orleans to Panama, pick up five pallets that weighed about 23,000 pounds, and...

Bravo Zulu.(helping distressed civilian aircraft)
January 1, 2005... Lt. Thomas J. Oneglia, a VT-6 flight instructor, and his student, Ens. Glen Cabarcas, were on a mid-stage, day contact flight (call sign Shooter 252) out of NAS North Whiting Field. As they climbed through 4,500 feet, they received a call from...

What's that noise?(Operation Iraqi Freedom.)
January 1, 2005... We had manned-up for yet another Operation Iraqi Freedom mission, and the ORM buzzword of the day was complacency. We had been in theater for more than three months and hadn't missed a sortie yet. Our coveted 100-percent sortie-completion rate...

Bad call on Airspeed.
January 1, 2005... We were fat, dumb and happy while we planned our trip home from a glorious weekend cross-country in Tokyo. The weather was bad enough to make four helicopter pilots file IFR. We double-checked fuel for both aircraft and figured we had enough...

Rubbin's racing.
January 1, 2005... I had been pumped about flying Tomcats ever since I put it as my first choice out of the training command. Not only Tomcats look good in the break, but, because I was flying the F-14 Delta, I had a Gucci HUD and extremely powerful...

NORDO in the Rhino.
January 1, 2005... My pilot and I briefed for a day recovery tank and SSC mission with our section lead. We planned to do package checks at our lead's tanking altitude, then proceed to a separate altitude for recovery tanking. We then would rejoin as a section...

Ride of a lifetime.
January 1, 2005... We preflighted in the late afternoon for a day-into-night unaided flight. As a CH-46E crew chief, I frequently fly on confined-area-landing (CAL) hops. Although we often don't fly at night without night-vision goggles, I was well rested and up...

Just another tanker rendezvous.(Column)
January 1, 2005... I will never forget night 16 of Operation Iraqi Freedom. No, I didn't perform some heroic feat, but it was the night I nearly flew my wingman and myself into an Air Force tanker. I was scheduled to lead a section of Hornets on a...

Missiles fly at 30 knots.(Operation Iraqi Freedom)
January 1, 2005... The days before Operation Iraqi Freedom were busy ones for trash-haulers in the Arabian Gulf. The Deuces of HC-5 Detachment 2, deployed on USNS Flint (T-AE-32), were the first operational MH-60S det to deploy on the T-AE-class ship. We had...

Who's seen the T-handle?(Aircraft piloting)
January 1, 2005... Our crew was tasked to turnover the airborne-command-post (ABNCP) primary alert that included a plane swap of our E-6B. Our six-hour mission was scheduled to depart Offutt AFB, Neb., and relocate to Travis AFB, Calif. At 1415, our relief...

Best practices: information for continual improvement.(Training of aircraft pilots, safety survey)
January 1, 2005... What are we doing right? Much of what you read about safety usually focuses on mishaps, near-mishaps, and what our Sailors and Marines are doing wrong. As professionals, we need to continually improve the way we do business. As the articles in...