Approach articles from October 2000

Approach archives from October 2000

Letters.
October 1, 2000... Re "Got to Pull the Pins," May 2000 Approach I wanted to address the issue of why the back-seaters pull the two command-sequence gas-generator pins on the front seats as part of their pre-flight. The author of this article attributed it to...

ATASC Editorial.(Air to Air Safety Conference)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Everyone in the military--and aviation, in particular--knows that the magic word today is "interoperability." You can expect that during your next deployment, you will operate with or conduct an exercise with another U.S. service or foreign...

Part I: Bringing the Players Together.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Recent history has shown that Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps aircraft must operate from Navy ships. Helicopters from services other than the Navy or Marine Corps have markedly increased their shipboard operations aboard Navy, Military...

Part II: J-SHIP Tests Rapid Helo Re-Arming on USS Essex.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Rockets on target, on time--that's what our ground forces expect, and J-SHIP intends to deliver. Recently the J-SHIP JTF deployed aboard USS Essex (an amphibious assault ship, LHD 2) to investigate how to better operate Army and Special...

"Brakes! Brakes! Brakes!".(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... I hadn't landed on a small-boy since the FRS, so I was eager to try my hand at getting aboard a Canadian frigate. The senior JOs grumbled that this hop ought to be added to the growing list of unwarranted privileges extended to the new guy, and...

A Harrier in the Bristol Channel?
October 1, 2000... Another beautiful spring day in southern England: 1,000 feet OVC, tops at about 4,000 feet and CAVU above. Not much chance of seeing the sun unless you're a pilot. I was nearing the end of a fantastic three years as an exchange pilot with...

The Wingman's Tale.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... What would you do if your wingman or an aircraft from outside your flight declared an emergency? How often do we pay lip service to drills and procedures? How many of us believe that, outside the simulator, we will actually have to react...

A Collision and Its Effects: Cultural Change After an F-15 Midair.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... I arrived at the squadron in the middle of 1988. A fatal midair involving the squadron commander and an experienced squadron pilot occurred soon after. It's hard to describe the blow absorbed by a squadron following this type of event. We were...

Too Bad to Be True ...
October 1, 2000... The memories from that night are the most vivid and frightening of my career. It was a cold, rainy night, dark as a sack of coal. The sea state was whatever number is bad on board USS John F. Kennedy. It was my first cruise. I was a fledgling...

Right to Right, in the Pattern.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Two weeks after leaving the FRS at Lemoore, I was scheduled for my first night flight in my new squadron. We went out to the area for a target-acquisition and attack hop that was mostly aimed at gaining some experience with the FLIR. It was a...

Trouble in Paradise.
October 1, 2000... Three hard power calls and two waveoff calls later, the Hornet crossed the ramp... Recently, a friend of mine who was a CAG LSO waved a recovery in which a Hornet trapped with the wave-off lights on. The Hornet was working a little high...

The Fine Line Between Can-Do and Stupid.
October 1, 2000... We've all read the mishap reports and heard briefs about causal factors of mishaps. Some of us have survived brushes with death and told our stories. We all know that a chain of events leads to a mishap. The hard part is recognizing those links...

I Get It--You're in a Hurry.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The day's flying had been, without a doubt, some of the best of my short career. We'd completed some great training, including day VFR and IFR, which got us back into the charts and pubs. We also got to see historic sites in New York and D.C.,...

Hacking It.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Members of the Prowler community have had considerable exposure to the Air Force "crew rest" mentality, primarily because of myriad USAF personnel in our community and because of the expeditionary deployments our squadrons make in support of...

Did I Do That?
October 1, 2000... The incident I'm about to describe could yield three Approach articles, even though it wasn't a mishap. Here's one of the articles. I'll have to write the others after I leave the service. One of the dangers of operating from a small inland...