Naval Aviation News articles from July 2001

Naval Aviation News archives from July 2001

HELOS HELOS EVERYWHERE!(navy helicopters)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... If you're haze gray and underway, chances are you will see the Navy's helicopters up close-and often. Unlike tactical jet crews who cruise the skies at higher altitudes, helo crews are on intimate terms with the earth's surface. Whether...

Spheres of Influence.(jet fighter aviation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... An F/A-l8C Hornet pilot was on his second visual flight rules low-level route of the day after refueling at an en route air base. He sighted a valley off to his right and performed a gentle, right-hand slice turn to enter it for the purpose of...

Friendly Flak.(air missile attacks)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Two F/A-18C Hornets were on a missile shooting exercise, the wingman armed with an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile. The target was a BQM-74 drone. In his attack run, the wingman approached the target from the rear quarter at...

Deployment Link Launched.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... In April, the Department of Defense launched a new web site, www.deploymentlink.osd.mil, to answer service members' predeployment health questions. The site offers tips on how to prepare for deployments, including immunization information and...

Lassen Commissioned.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... On 21 April, the Navy's newest Aegis guided-missile destroyer was commissioned Lassen (DDG 82). The ship's namesake, Clyde Everett Lassen, piloted his UH-2 Seasprite through heavy enemy fire to rescue two downed aviators during the Vietnam...

NFO to Pilot Program.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... In May, the Department of Defense announced the reinstatement of the Naval Flight Officer to Pilot Program. NFOs from any community who meet the eligibility criteria may apply for the selection board, which will choose between 12 and 36...

Crashworthy Helo Seat.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Naval Air Systems Command announced qualification of the new Common Crash Resistant Troop Seat System for future Navy helicopters. Designed to accommodate and protect nearly any size person--from an unequipped passenger in the 5th...

Mishap.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... A T-34C Turbo-Mentor of Fighter Attack Squadron 125, NAF El Centro, Calif., crashed near the station on 21 May. Both aviators were killed.

FIRE SCOUT MOVES AHEAD.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Northrop Grumman Corp. received a $14.2 million contract for low-rate initial production of the Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle. The Fire Scout is designed to autonomously operate from any aviation-capable...

JPALS TOUCHES DOWN.(fully automated landing at sea)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... On 23 April aboard Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) guided this F/A-18 Hornet from the Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron, NAS Patuxent River, Md., to the first global positioning system,...

NP2000 HAWKEYE TAKES FLIGHT.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... An E-2C Hawkeye equipped with the NP2000 propeller made its first flight on 19 April at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The digitally controlled, composite eight-bladed propellers will replace the electromechanical, steel spar four-bladed propellers...

SAR OLYMPIC GAMES.
July 1, 2001... A search-and-rescue crew member participates in the National Helicopter Association's 2001 Aircrew Olympics at NAS North Island, Calif. The games are held, annually to boost morale and to challenge the best of the best.

X-PLANE LANDS AT PAX RIVER.(Boeing X-32B Joint Strike Fighter)
July 1, 2001... The Boeing X-32B Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator arrived at NAS Patuxent River, Md., on 11 May to complete short takeoff/vertical landing flight testing.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS.(F-14 Tomcat munitions)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Fighter Squadron (VF) 143 is one of two F-14 Tomcat units based at NAS Oceana, Va., and attached to Carrier Air Wing 7 on board John F. Kennedy (CV 67). The Pukin' Dogs have taken their F-14s into the 21st century by adapting the fleet...

PORTRAIT OF A WARPLANE SKYRAIDER.(Skyraider fighter)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... CAPT. R. M. "ZIP" RAUSA, USNR (RET.) Skyraider number 405, painted gray and resting on its conventional (tailsitter) landing gear, is on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla. Despite its antiquity, it evoked...

THE RED DEVILS, YOU SAY.(FJ-4 Fury squadron)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Thirty-eight Marine pilots got the chance of a lifetime when they reunited with a former love--their fighter plane. A reunion on 12 May at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla., brought together former aviators from the...

Awards.(Naval Aviation News wins 2nd place in the 2000 CHINFO Merit Awards)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Naval Aviation News received second place in the 2000 CHINFO Merit Awards, in the publications for a specific audience category. Art Director Morgan Wilbur and Grampaw Pettibone artist Ted Wilbur received second place and honorable mention...

Constellation Battle Group Visits Australia.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Constellation (CV 64) battle group started its 2001 WESTPAC deployment with a visit to Australia. While there, Sailors and Marines participated in community relations projects that benefited others and permitted ship's company to experience...

AVIATION LOSES FAMED ARTIST.(Robert Grant "R. G." Smith)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Robert Grant "R. G." Smith, 87, died on 29 May at his home in California after a long illness. Smith is best known as a Naval Aviation artist, and his two tours as a combat artist in Vietnam and trips to naval units around the world led to...

Scan Pattern.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The CH-60S Seahawk was officially redesignated the MH-60S Seakawk on 6 February. The Minutemen of Fleet Logistics Squadron (VR) 55, Point Mugu, Calif., completed an around-the-world mission in a C-130 Hercules to support Underwater...

Records.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Records Units marking safe flying time: Unit Hours Years HC-3 168,000 27 VFA-106 100,000 16 VMFA-332 85,000 23 HS-11 30,000 10 COMCVW-1 Capt. Phil W. Grandfield achieved his 1,000th trap on...

Rescues.(multiple brief articles)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... On 3 February, while escorting three Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopters to Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) 100 miles off the coast of Florida, an HS-75 SH-60F Seahawk aircrew learned that one of the helos had developed mechanical problems. Shortly...

Spyplane: The U-2 History Declassified.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Polmar, Norman. Spyplane: The U-2 History Declassified. MBI Publishing Company, 729 Prospect Ave., P0 Box 1, Osceola, WI 54020-0001. 2001. 278 pages. Ill. $21.95. Following WW II, the emergence of the Soviet Union as a nuclear power and...

Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Lavell, Kit. Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam. Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402. 2000. 376 pp. Ill. $32.95. Most historians divide the Vietnam War into the Rolling Thunder...

EP-3E Crew Kudos.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... In an email to NANews, Yves Jounjaux from France expressed his sentiments regarding "the great courage of the members of the crew and commander of the EP-3" in China (see May-Jun 01, pp. 6-7), adding he is happy that crew members are again with...

Locator.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Peter Norris, SFO, wrote: "I was a Royal Navy petty officer on HMS Hermes from 1979 to 1980, when we were in the company of U.S. Navy ships in and around Norfolk, Va. I left the navy some years ago, but I am now a member of the USS Nimitz...

THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2000.
July 1, 2001... William T. Baker Mark L. Evans Naval Aviation greeted the new millennium responding to crises around the globe and developing the weapons that made it the muscle of America's power projection. Supported by squadrons ashore, the...