Approach articles from May 2006

Approach archives from May 2006

Common sense would dictate.(pilots)
May 1, 2006... Everyone entering the E-2 community quickly learns that the mighty War Hummer lacks some hardware jet guys sometimes take for granted. I'm not talking about afterburners or missiles, though. Here's a hint: It's got a yellow and black striped...

Open season at Pax River.(National Airports System, Patuxent River)
May 1, 2006... Our TACAMO crew just had come off a high op-tempo exercise the previous week, and we looked forward to a short, four-hour, air-refueling flight. After more than 30 hours of flying in three days, the crew was feeling the effects. As a team,...

Scheduling for success: "if it doesn't feel right, it's time to slow things down," and, "half the speed, twice the caution." That's fine, but we needed something concrete.
May 1, 2006... Two days before departing for Air Wing Fallon, the War Party of VFA-87 held a change of command. While the color guard barely had finished posting the colors, and the ink still was wet on the new SOP, we felt way behind in our preparations to...

Danger lurks.(jewelry to be removed before work)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The morning brought with it my annual egress drill from the AV8B Harrier. I was wearing all survival gear required for flight, as briefed by the safety officer. Upon strapping into the aircraft, I realized I wasn't wearing gloves. Further, I...

I remember this.(personal experience)
May 1, 2006... "I've done this before. It's an easy mission. All I have to do is hover." I remember saying these words to myself in the early morning of a late fall day as I briefed my crew on our naval-surface-fire-support (NSFS) mission. I had flown...

Remember my mistakes: to say our passes over the target area were low would be an extreme understatement.
May 1, 2006... A series of events took place during a flight, all of which entirely were preventable, completely avoidable, and eventually resulted in my probationary flight status. A senior officer and close friend also permanently lost his flight status....

A quick change of fortune.(personal experience about flight)
May 1, 2006... Our crew was having just another day in paradise. Our mission was to support the Naval Surface Weapons Center (NAVSWC). This flight was a good opportunity for us to leave the heat of the high desert in the middle of summer for the cool offshore...

Pop the tires, light the fires.(ORM Corner)
May 1, 2006... Newly graduated from the fleet-replacement squadron (FRS), I was excited to head back to the boat for 10 days of carrier qualifications (CQ) and about a week of cyclic ops. Strangely, the boat wasn't the most dangerous part of this detachment;...

Don't be the first one.(controlling flight mishap)
May 1, 2006... Shortly before we accepted our first eight-bladed NP2000 aircraft in June 2004, our squadron received training on the new system. One of the aircraft's new safety features is the pitch-rate delay (PRD). If the propeller hydraulic-fluid pressure...

The good, the bad, the ugly.(Crew Resource Management)
May 1, 2006... On every NATOPS check, one of the mandatory discussion items is crew-resource management (CRM). For any airborne situation, good CRM can prevent problems and help you deal with emergencies better and more efficiently. Many assume its principles...

Bumper cars.(air flight gone wrong)(Cover story)(Column)
May 1, 2006... September 23, 2002 is a day I never will forget; it was my first night-formation flight in the mighty Goshawk. I had been figuring out the complexities of the night rendezvous and sweating just trying to stay in a proper parade position. As we...

I don't want to walk home.(NAS West Coast)(Editorial)
May 1, 2006... I was stoked. I'd managed to get a good deal cross-country to NAS West Coast on a Friday, with a Saturday return to NAS Fort Worth. My plan? Drop off a part or two in Fallon and continue to the coast, where I had started my naval-aviation...

Bravo Zulu.
May 1, 2006... Warrior 23, a flight of one AH-1W and one UH-1N, was on a routine mission over the Al Anbar Province in western Iraq to conduct visual reconnaissance of the area. The UH-1N crew was Dash 2 of the mixed section. The crew was Capt. Clint R....