Naval Aviation News articles from May 2004

Naval Aviation News archives from May 2004

Spoiled by the spoiler.(Grampaw Pettibone)
May 1, 2004... An F-14B Tomcat was on approach to an airfield for a full stop landing. The checklist was completed and all was normal until the aircraft passed the 45-degree position during the approach turn. The pilot felt and observed an uncommanded left...

Fly by wire.(Grampaw Pettibone)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... A section of A-6 Intruders was on a low-level flight in a scenic area of a foreign country. After completing a prebriefed simulated attack, the flight leader directed another attack on a "target of opportunity," a small dam in a narrow and...

Airscoop.
May 1, 2004... Second ESG Deploys The second Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) deployed in February with Marine Expeditionary Unit 22 embarked. Led by Wasp (LHD 1), the East Coast-based ESG comprises Leyte Gulf (CG 55), Yorktown (CG 48), Shreveport (LPD...

Coast Guard Aviation: service in transition.
May 1, 2004... When the U.S. Coast Guard transferred from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the service took on the added responsibility of maritime homeland security. All Coast Guard air stations and aircraft...

Barbers Point Dolphin deploys as Jaws in the gulf.
May 1, 2004... During Operation Iraqi Freedom, a lone Coast Guard helicopter was on station in the Arabian Gulf. The HH-65A Dolphin and an eight-man detachment--two pilots, a rescue swimmer, and five flight mechanics--flew numerous missions during the...

HITRON: one of a kind.
May 1, 2004... Smuggling drugs into the United States has been a problem for many years. It has evolved into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, with each side trying to counter the other. Today, drug traffickers use high-speed boats that can easily outrun...

Hank Caruso's Aerocatures[TM] Sketchbook: mercy & muscle ... U.S. Coast Guard Aviation.
May 1, 2004... The U. S. Coast Guard has an early association with aviation. It was Surfman J. T. Daniels from the Kill Devil Hill Lifeboat Station, N.C., who clicked the shutter for a photograph of the Wright brothers' first flight on 17 December 1903. In...

Early Coast Guard Aviation.
May 1, 2004... The Coast Guard shall, while carrying out its law enforcement and other duties, render all practicable assistance to any person or thing that lies within its sphere of action and shall give aid and comfort whenever it can reasonably do so....

USCG aviation ratings.(United States Coast Guard )
May 1, 2004... Aviation Survival Technician Aviation Survival Technicians (AST) inspect, service and maintain C-130 Hercules oxygen and wing raft systems; HU-25 Guardian oxygen systems and drag chute assemblies; and HH-65 Dolphin and HH-60 Jayhawk...

Lt. Jack C. Rittichier: Vietnam KIA pilot comes home.
May 1, 2004... Coast Guard search and rescue pilot Lieutenant Jack C. Rittichier drank chocolate milk shakes every day and called being a part of the Coast Guard "food for the soul." As a student at Ohio's Kent State University, he was captain of the football...

Coast Guard Air Station Salem: fate unknown.
May 1, 2004... It's not unusual to feel a sense of nostalgia after driving through the gates of the old air station, where a lone sign reading "U.S. Coast Guard" appears faintly above the hangar door as a reminder of times past. One might even imagine the...

Awards.(People Planes Places)
May 1, 2004... Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan's Combined Bachelor Housing received its fourth consecutive fivestar Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Award for Excellence on 29 January. The award is given to housing operations that meet or exceed the highest lodging...

Records.(People Planes Places)
May 1, 2004... VP-46 surpassed 280,000 Class A mishap-free flight hours. VMFA-323 marked 35,000 Class A mishap-free flight hours. SCPO Mike Allen, VPU-2 flight engineer, logged 10,000 flight hours on 1 February.

Rescues.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... AT3 Wesley Hollingsworth of VQ-3, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., was on his way home on 16 January when he saw three vehicles parked alongside the North Canadian River. Witnesses reported that minutes earlier, a car had veered out of control and...

Scan pattern.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... A 10 February ceremony at NAS Pensacola, Fla., marked the official establishment of Officer Training Command Pensacola (OTCP). Capt. John T. Nawrocki commanding. The new command provides three officer accession programs: Officer Candidate...

300,000th mishap-free flight hour.(People Planes Places)
May 1, 2004... Capt. Scott Proffitt, VT-27's Instructor Pilot of the Year, poses with a T-34C Turbo-Mentor aircraft after flying the squadron's 300,000th mishap-free flight hour. This is an especially significant milestone in the Naval Air Training Command...

Single-engine Sun King.(People Planes Places)
May 1, 2004... An E-2C Hawkeye assigned to the VAW-116 Sun Kings comes in for a recovery aboard Constellation (CV 64) with one engine out after an in-flight emergency. The Hawkeye made a textbook landing aboard the carrier, which has since been...

Navy pilot trains to fly Air Force B-2.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The 394th Combat Training Squadron (CTS) is currently training a Navy pilot who flew his first B-2 sortie at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., on 6 January. Lt. Michael Orr has been flying the EA-6B Prowler for the Navy since 1998 and began his B-2...

Life in the dust bowl.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... During a year deployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, the Rooks of VAQ-137 worked nearly 18 hour days to support tasked requirements. VAQ-137 normally conducts operations from the deck of Enterprise (CVN 65), and the maintenance department...

Admiral Thomas H. Moorer.(People Planes Places)(deaths)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
May 1, 2004... Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN (Ret.), passed away on 5 February 2004 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1933. After completing Naval Aviation training at NAS Pensacola, Fla., in...

Boxer mentors guide junior sailors.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... In today's Navy and on board Boxer (LHD 4), mentors are guiding junior sailors in a way that is beneficial to the crew, the command and the Navy. Following Chief of Naval Operations guidelines, Boxer's program ensures mentorship is...

Blackhawks.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Blackhawks of HM-15 participated in GOMEX 04-1, a mine countermeasures (MCM) exercise held off the coast of Panama City Beach, Fla., in December 2003. The exercise included five MCM ships and two explosive ordinance units from Ingleside,...

Midway memories.(People Planes Places)
May 1, 2004... When Midway (CV 41) became the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum in January, the retired carrier took on the role of educating visitors about Naval Aviation's history. The 58-year-old ship harbors many memories, and one story recently came to...

Change of Command.(People Planes Places)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... EAWS: Cdr. John Bamonte relieved Cdr. Angelo A. McCoy, 6 Feb. HC-3: Cdr. Francis L. Harrison relieved Cdr. George M. Matais, 26 Feb. HC-85: Cdr. Douglas C. Beyer relieved Cdr. James M. Ellinger Jr., 17 April. HELTACWINGLANT: Capt....

Angles of Attack: An A-6 Intruder Pilot's War.(Professional Reading)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Hunt, Peter. Angles of Attack: An A-6 Intruder Pilot's War. Ballantine Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. 2002. 368 pp. Ill. $6.99. This newest Gulf War memoir really puts the reader in the cockpit. Like the A-7 Corsair, its stable...

U.S. Navy: A Complete History.(Professional Reading)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Goodspeed, M. Hill, ed. U.S. Navy: A Complete History. Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 9 Burr Rd., Westport, CT 06880. 2003. 728 pp. Ill. $75. Advice to the prospective buyer: a few days of exercises are essential before trying to pick...

Chariots of the Damned: Helicopter Special Operations from Vietnam to Kosovo.(Professional Reading)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... McKinney, Major Mike and Mike Ryan. Chariots of the Damned: Helicopter Special Operations from Vietnam to Kosovo. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. 2001. 215 pp. Ill $24.95. This book is written on...

Defenseless: Command Failure at Pearl Harbor.(Professional Reading)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Lambert, John W. and Norman Polmar. Defenseless: Command Failure at Pearl Harbor. MBI Publishing, Co., Galtier Plaza, Suite 200, 380 Jackson St., St. Paul, MN 55101-3885. 2003. 256 pp. $29.95. For the last six decades, the surprise attack...

Cockpits of the Cold War.(Professional Reading)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Nijboer, Donald. Photography by Dan Patterson. Cockpits of the cold War. Boston Mills Press and Firefly Books, Ltd., 132 Main St., Erin, Ontario, Canada N0B 1T0. 2003. 192 pp. Ill. $39.95. The fourth in a well-produced series, this latest...