Approach articles from October 2002

Approach archives from October 2002

Totally tubular, man aka strength of an idea.
October 1, 2002... It started simply enough: an NVG trainer with a sister helo and a local 41-foot, motor-life boat (MLB). This would be a great hop. The other pilot and I were HH-65 aircraft commanders, and the flight mechanic was upgrading his qualifications....

My wake-up thump.
October 1, 2002... I'm here to tell you even a flyer of 12 years can make dumb mistakes. We've all done it; we've read the articles that make you cringe and make you think to yourself, "What a knucklehead that guy is!" We always take something away from our...

I got deviated.
October 1, 2002... I finally got to sit down and hack away at the stack of papers in the Div O inbox. Over the past two weeks of flying, the stack had grown higher than the monitor. I soon was told I had been scheduled for a midmorning FCF. I was unhappy, but I...

I ain't de-goggling. (ORM Corner).
October 1, 2002... It was a cool, spring night in late October, and we were operating south of the equator. Four flights were on the schedule, all hot seats, and I was the HAC for the two middle sorties. Our mission was to locate and covertly monitor a fishing...

From our files ...(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Attempted Bailout 9-09-24-3 9-24-59 Flight Hayard AD-6 LTJG H. I. Feukilman No injury The night was extremely & unusually dark, without a horizon & cumulus clouds which could not be seen were present. These conditions made visual...

A rough day at Lemoore.
October 1, 2002... We were flying Ghost 600 from Point Mugu to Lemoore for an out-and-in. It was a hot day as we headed to the initial for a break to 13L. I thought we were flying a little slow for a master jet base, so we stood on the power levers. That's where...

VMC vertigo.
October 1, 2002... As is often the case for nuggets, I got a crash course in shipboard and Gulf ops during week-one ops and a hectic COMPTUEX and JTFEX. I was on my first WestPac as an H2P in the LAMPS Mk-III Seahawk. I had been in the squadron for a year and...

Squawking student naval aviator.
October 1, 2002... It was a crisp night in January, with a beautiful moon over Kingsville, Texas. My class was preparing to walk for one of our last night field-carrier-landing-practice (FCLP) periods before doing the real thing at the boat. Just before walking,...

Who failed that engine?
October 1, 2002... I was near the end of my first tour and serving as the squadron NATOPS instructor. After giving a couple of checkrides, my chance came to win one back for the JOPA. A senior department head needed an ANI annual checkride, and I was the man to...

There I was ... in the Congo.(operations in Afghanistan)
October 1, 2002... The night mission in support of a U.S. Army Special Forces A-Team south of Qandahar Airport went like most missions we had flown the previous two months, albeit a little more interesting. We hit Al Qaeda and Taliban targets at night in a final...

Bravo Zulu.
October 1, 2002... The crew of Sun King 601 were preparing for deployment by conducting air-intercept-control training at NAS Fallon. The crew included: Ltjg. Jason Clendaniel, pilot, Lt. Corey Johnston, copilot and aircraft commander, LCdr. Brian Groff,...

Our website has no maze.(safetycenter.navy.mil)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... It's easy to find your way around our web site. In July, people made more than 170,000 visits to safetycenter.navy.mil, finding thousands of safety resources. We have checklists for traffic safety, safety inspections and hundreds of other...

Flight-deck fender bender.
October 1, 2002... A beautiful afternoon in the Arabian Sea awaited me after an uneventful six-hour Operation Enduring Freedom mission over Afghanistan. I was halfway through my nugget cruise in a Hornet squadron, and operations had become routine: We flew the...

Stuck on a shock absorber.
October 1, 2002... Barely a month into my first sea tour, I was becoming a salty dog. I was confident the FRS training in San Diego had prepared me for every situation that could arise while flying the mighty H-46. I only had to master my ground job to become a...

Mishap-free milestones.
October 1, 2002... VFA-147 11 years (52,000 hours) VQ-1 15 years (93,000 hours) VAW-112 29 years (61,000 hours) VFA-146 17 years (71,900 hours) VAQ- 132 32 years (53,000 hours) VPU-2 20 years (50,000 hours) VS-33 7 years...

The last transmission.(aircraft accident due to hypoxia)
October 1, 2002... The flight started out simply enough: Ferry an FA-18 from point A north to point B south, to support a squadron detachment. The launch routine was normal. Cruise altitude was FL430 to avoid the numerous seasonal thunderstorms. Around 1+15...

Brownshoes in action comix: "the kind real aviators like". (Classic).
October 1, 2002... It was in the tanker pattern at the RAG that young "Butch" Fusco heard of the horrors... "Well Gee, this isn't so bad... "Heck, KA-6 are easy! Just wait until you have to plug a KC-135!" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The words...