Approach articles from July 2008

Approach archives from July 2008

Focus on command excellence.(Admiral's Corner)(successful commands in aviation)
July 1, 2008... As soon as the wheels lifted from the runway, the young student naval aviator and the instructor heard and felt a "thud." They quickly assessed the situation, completed the checklist steps, and landed--a scenario custom-made for Approach. The...

Command excellence through safety.(The Initial Approach Fix)(Awards list)
July 1, 2008... The Naval Safety Center is proud to announce the winners of the safety awards for CY07 CNO Aviation Safety Awards. These award winners are recognized for their professionalism, commitment to excellence, solid leadership and competent...

Naval Safety Center supports the fleet aviation topside survey team.(Safety Surveys)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A team of aviation and maintenance safety professionals from the Naval Safety Center (NSC) visit more than 90 squadrons every year. They share the knowledge and best practices found at commands around the globe...

Aviation culture workshop.(Culture Workshop)
July 1, 2008... Dysfunctional organizational cultures lead to practices or habits that can result in mishaps and degraded combat readiness. The culture-workshop (CW) program assists commanding officers by identifying organizational strengths and potential...

Safety-climate-assessment surveys.(CSA-MCAS)
July 1, 2008... Your unit probably has undergone many changes over the last few months. Perhaps you've had a change of command, deployments, high op tempo, lack of resources, morale concerns, or possibly an on- or offduty incident or mishap. Is your...

Making "saves" with GPWS: CFITs claimed 241 lives and 104 Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, with a cost of more than $1.4 billion.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) occurs when a fully capable aviator inadvertently flies a fully functioning aircraft into the terrain, water, trees, or man-made obstacle before planned touchdown. CFITs,...

Be the first.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Last one to the alternate is the last one to get gas." That is an old saying my father, a former naval aviator and commercial airline pilot with more than 40 years of flying experience, always told me. This adage...

Uninterrupted services.(emergency preparedness)
July 1, 2008... April was a transition month for the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment (NAAD) on Camp Buehring, Kuwait. HSC-21 and HSC-23 were turning over to HSC-25. On April 30, the sun rose above the horizon to reveal a dismal picture: high winds, poor...

It's not over 'til it's over.(Crew Resource Management)(aircraft piloting)
July 1, 2008... If you've flown out of NAF El Centro, Calif., you know how hard it can be to find entertainment. This problem is typically solved by traveling "over the hill" to San Diego. However, this August night was different; my WSO and I got all the...

Pushing the limits of ORM: the cross-country that took an extra week.(ORM Corner)
July 1, 2008... It wasn't a CAVU day, but we had 1000/3 to launch on our four-day, cross-country from New River, N.C. to Yuma, Ariz. Our squadron planned to launch six AH-1Ws and four UH-1Ns on a ferry flight for the fall WTI (weapons-tactics-instructor)...

HSL-49.(Bravo Zulu)
July 1, 2008... LCdr. Ron Finch (maintenance officer), LCdr. Stan Fisher (safety officer), and AW2 Travis Parker were conducting a post-PMI, functional check flight on Red Stinger 103. The last procedure of the day was a routine, in-flight, overwater,...

HSL-51.(Bravo Zulu)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] During a night, hot-refueling evolution on board USS McCampbell (DDG-85), AW2 Adam Wuest discovered a stream of fluid leaking from Warlord 716's tail-pylon-fold hinge. Petty Officer Wuest quickly told the aircraft...

HT-28.(solo flight landing protocol)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ens. Jason Patterson, USN, and Lt. Jack Souders, USCG, were returning to NAS Whiting Field after their first solo flight. With only 21 hours of instruction in the TH-57 Bell 206 JetRanger under their belts, both...

No flaps, no slats, no problem.(multiple-emergency scenario in aviation)(Personal account)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This is the story of a very strange flight--one that we thought only could happen in the simulator. Operating off the coast of Guam under blue-water flight rules, our Prowler crew found ourselves in a...

Better instrument approaches.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Spatial disorientation and SA are intimately intertwined and often are causal factors in mishaps resulting in controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Spatial disorientation is characterized by an erroneous sense of...