Rotor Review Winter 2010 #108

Winter 2010 Number 108

What’s Missing in the Common Cockpit?

The Beginning of Helicopter Development LAMPS Bubbas Don’t Get Shot At...Right?

MH-60R

Here and Now

A new bird is prowling the skies. Protecting the battlegroup. Operating with confidence in the complex environments our nation’s sailors face daily. The MH-60R is here. An all-new aircraft.

Armed with sophisticated equipment. Including integrated systems able to detect undersea objects at three to seven times the range of current helicopters, and track 10 times as many surface targets. And that’s just for starters. Future technology upgrades will make the MH-60R even more net-centric, more lethal, and more capable. MH-60R. The right helicopter, right now.

The cover is image of HSM71 out to sea with USS John C. Stennis Battle Group. Cover art by George Hopson, NHA Art Naval Helicopter Association

Editor.

Number 108 / Winter ‘10

©2010 Naval Helicopter Association, Inc., all rights reserved

Features 12

Editor

Human Factor Mishaps in Military Helicopter: The Cost and a Replacement Solution Peter B.. Mapes

Design Editor

Firefighting on Guam LTJG Derek DuBread, USN

16

HSC-3 Maintenance Ready for Expansion LT Jared Ott, USN

19 20

HSC / HS / HM Editor

The Osprey: She is High Maintenance, but Marines Love Her Anyway Grace V. Jean, NDIA Business and Technology staff

HSL/HSM Editor

What’s Missing in the Common Cockpit? A Moving Map. CDR Peter Corrao, USN

24

Navy Safety Center: Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” for Sailors and Marines Jack Stewart, Naval Safety Center

26

LCDR Kristin Ohleger, USN George Hopson

Aircrewman / Special Missions Editor

Page 16

AWCM Carl T. Bailey II, USN LT Julie Dunnigan, USN

LT Anthony Amodeo, USN

USMC Editor

Page 20

TBA

USCG Editor

LTJG Todd Vorenkamp, USCG

Book Review Editor

LCDR BJ Armstrong, USN

Technical Advisor

LCDR Chip Lancaster, USN (Ret)

Focus

Page 38

Squadron vs. Detachment

NHA Photographer

CDR Lloyd Parthemer, USN (Ret) LTJG Todd Vorenkamp, USCG

Historical Editor

CAPT Vincent Secades, USN (Ret) Page 42

Printing by Diego & Son Printing, Inc San Diego, California

Rotor Review (ISSN: 1085-9683) is published quarterly by the Naval Helicopter Association, Inc (NHA), a California nonprofit corporation. NHA is located in Building 654, Rogers Road, NASNI, San Diego, CA 92135. Views expressed in Rotor Review are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies of NHA or United States Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard. Rotor Review is printed in the USA. Periodical rate postage is paid at San Diego, CA. Subscription to Rotor Review is included in the membership fee in the Naval Helicopter Association or the corporate membership fee. A current corporation annual report, prepared in accordance with Section 8321 of the California Corporations Code, is available to members on request. POSTMASTER: Send address change to Naval Helicopter Association, P.O. Box 180578 , Coronado, CA 92178-0578

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

The True Value of the Transition LT Anthony Amodeo, USN

38

HSC and HSM Weapons Schools Assist Changing Communities LT Trevor “MENSA” Prouty, USN

40

Zero to One Detachment in Two Days LT Matthew Mravlija, USN

42

You Bet Your DET AWCM Carl Bailey and AWCS Jay Barney, USN

44

Perspective of the Now Reprint of excerpt from Preparing for the Future by LCDR Dom Strada, USN, from RR-84 (Winter, 2004)

71

1

Naval Helicopter Association, Inc.

Corporate Associates

The following corporations exhibit strong support of rotary wing aviation through their sponsorship of the Naval Helicopter Association, Inc

AgustaWestland Inc. BAE Systems / Electronics & Integrated Solutions BAE Systems / Land & Armaments Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc Binghamton Simulator Company Boeing Aircraft & Missile Booz | Allen | Hamilton Breeze-Eastern CAE Inc. Delex System, Inc EADS North America FLIR Systems, Inc. G.E. Aircraft Engines GEICO Goodrich Corporation Harris Corporation Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors L3 Communications / D.P. Associates Inc. L3 Communications / Ocean Systems L3 Communications / Vertex Aerospace Navy Mutual Aid Association Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Pen Air Federal Credit Union Raytheon Naval & Maritime Systems Robertson Fuel Systems L.L.C. Rockwell Collins Corporation Rolls-Royce Corporation Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation StandardAero Telephonics Corporation Whitney, Bradley and Brown Inc.

In appreciation of our advertisers

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors

University of San Diego GEICO Hovergirl Properties Navy Mutual Aid Association Robertson Fuel Systems Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Correspondence and membership P.O. Box 180578 Coronado, CA 92178-0578 (619) 435-7139 / (619) 435-7354 (fax)

National Officers

President................................................... CAPT John Miley, USN V/P Corp Mem......................... CAPT Mike Middleton, USN (Ret) V/P Awards ............................................CDR Mike Dowling, USN V/P Membership ..........................................CDR John Barry, USN V/P Symposium 2010...............................CDR Andy Danko, USN Secretary...................................................LT Sutton Feazelle, USN Treasurer ..................................................LT John Petrasanta, USN “Stuff”.................................... ................LT Jen McCollough, USN Executive Director.................Col. Howard Whitfield, USMC (Ret) Admin/Rotor Review Design Editor........................George Hopson Membership/Symposium ............................................. Lucy Haase

Directors at Large

Chairman........................RADM Steven J. Tomaszeski, USN (Ret) CAPT Mike Baxter, USNR (Ret) CAPT Chuck Deitchman, USN (Ret) CAPT John McGill, USN (Ret) CAPT Dave Moulton, USNR (Ret) CAPT Mike Reber, USN (Ret) CAPT Paul Stevens, USN (Ret)

Regional Officers

Region 1 - San Diego

Directors.……………….....................CAPT Frank Harrison, USN

CAPT Buddy Iannone, USNR CAPT Joseph Bauknecht, USN President..…................................. CDR Herschel Weinstock, USN

Region 2 - Washington D.C.

Director ..…………...…………......CAPT Matt McCloskey, USN

CAPT Andy Macyko, USN President ....................................................CDR Eric Bower, USN Page

C2 13 15 34 39 C3 C4

NHA Scholarship Fund President...................................CAPT Paul Stevens, USN(Ret) V/P Operations..........................................CDR John Bushey, USN V/P Fundraising .......................................................................TBD V/P Scholarships ................................CDR Eric Pfister, USN V/P CFC Merit Scholarship.............LT Nate Velcio, USN Treasurer....................................LT Price Balderson, USN Corresponding Secretary..................LT Sharon Stortz, USN Finance Committee.............................CDR Kron Littleton, USN (Ret)

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

Region 3 - Jacksonville

Director ...................................................... CAPT Carl Bush, USN President...................................................CAPT Neil Karnes, USN

Region 4 - Norfolk

Director ............................................. CAPT Steve Schreiber, USN President ...............................................CDR Shelby Mounts, USN

Region 5 - Pensacola

Directors........................................CAPT James Vandiver, USN

CAPT Steve Truhlar, USCG

President .............................................CDR Mike Fisher, USN

Fleet Fly-In.........................................LT Chad Christiansen, USN

Far East Chapter

President ......................................CDR Stephen McKone, USN

2

Departments Number 108 / Winter ‘10

Editor’s Log

4

Chairman’s Brief

4

President’s Message

5

NHA Scholarship Fund

6

Executive Director’s Notes

6

View from the Labs, Supporting the Fleet

7

Industry and Technology

9

LCDR Kristin Ohleger, USN RADM Steve Tomaszeski, USN (Ret) CAPT John Miley, USN Page 9

CAPT Paul Stevens, USN (Ret) Col Howard Whitfield, USMC (Ret) CAPT George Galdorisi, USN (Ret)

Page 33

Historical

Page 59

Page 67 Articles and news items are welcomed from NHA’s general membership and corporate associates. Articles should be of general interest to the readership and geared toward current Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard affairs, technical advances in the helicopter industry or historical anecdotes. Submissions should be made to Rotor Review with documents formatted in Microsoft Word ® and photos formatted as high-resolution JPEG and/or PDF by e-mail to: rotorrev@simplyweb.net or by FEDEX / UPS on a MAC or PC formatted CD to Rotor Review / NHA, BLDG 654, Rogers Road, NASNI, San Diego, CA, 92135. Also, comments, suggestions, critiques and opinions are welcomed, your anonymity is respected. Send to: by email: rotorrev@simplyweb.net, by mail: Naval Helicopter Association, Inc., P.O. Box 180578, Coronado, CA., 921780578, call (619) 435-7139 or FAX :(619) 435-7354 .

Helicopter Development: The Beginning CAPT Vincent C. Secades, USN(Ret)

33

Change of Command

50

There I Was

LAMPS Bubbas Don’t Get Shot At...Right?

Complacency Can Kill LT Troy Leveron, USM

52

Where Training Met Reality LTJG Justin Pacheco, USN

54

Regional Updates

55

Squadron Updates

56

USMC Updates

66

USCG Updates

67

Senior Officer’s Bookshelf

69

Stuff

72

Editors Emeritus

Wayne Jensen John Ball John Driver Sean Laughlin Andy Quiett Mike Curtis Susan Fink Bill Chase Tracey Keefe Maureen Palmerino Bryan Buljat Gabe Soltero Todd Vorenkamp Steve Bury Clay Shane

The Rotor Review is intended to support the goals of the association, provide a forum for discussion and exchange of information on topics of interest to the rotary wing community, and keep membership informed of NHA activities.As necessary, the President of NHA will provide the guidance to the Rotor Review Editorial Board to ensure the Rotor Review content continues to support this statement of policy as Naval Helicopter Association adjusts to expanding rotary wing community.

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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Editor’s Log

W

elcome to Rotor Review 108! As always, the editors and I tried to come up with a new and exciting focus for the magazine. We wanted to try and highlight something which most squadrons deal with at one point or another. With the Navy ‘Helo Master Plan’ in full effect, we decided to make this more of a perspective issue.

We were looking for accounts from the helicopter community about the differences they have experienced between deploying as a full squadron and deploying as part of a detachment. Unfortunately, the response was not as great as we expected, but I do have to admit that the articles we did receive are well worth the read.

The concept for this focus came about because our HSC/HS editor, LT Julie Dunnigan (HSC-3), and our HSM/HSL editor, LT Anthony Amodeo (HSM-41,) are both instructor pilots teaching students to perform in the opposite concept as compared to what

Chairman’s Brief

T

he NHA’s 2010 Symposium’s final Flight Plan is filed and approved. The planning meetings continue but we are ready to land at Jacksonville, Florida’s Hyatt Regency hotel. This promises to be one of the most professionally comprehensive Symposiums we have organized given the magnitude of community engagement with the Fleet around the globe. With the keynote address kicking things off , Flag and Captains of Industry panels set, leadership workshops across the rotary wing membership spectrum assembled, detailers locked and loaded, industry partners showcasing their equipment in the exhibition hall and a multitude of sporting events scheduled, we are in for another interesting professional event. One change we believe everyone will enjoy is having the Member’s Reunion for the first time in the Exhibit Hall. I believe you will enjoy this change in venue. So welcome to all NHA members: pilots, aircrew, maintainers, corporate members, former rotor-heads and

they experienced on their JO sea tours.

Julie’s background is HS, where she had routinely deployed as a full squadron, and Anthony has an HSL background, deploying with detachments and then as a full squadron during the ‘Bravo To Sea’ era with CVW-2. In 2008, while on staff at Strike Force Training Pacific, I took out the very first 60R and 60S squadrons attached to an airwing during their COMPTUEX onboard USS John C. Stennis. I found it interesting to see pilots and aircrewmen who had no knowledge of carrier life operate smoothly alongside those who only knew carrier life, but were now detached to the smaller ships. All of us have seen the differences between squadrons and found it to be quite intriguing. For some of us slated for a detachment, we will not deploy unless we are an H2P, whereas a squadron on deployment may have a brand new pilot join them once they have already been out to sea for a few months. Aircrewmen in detachments will deploy once they have received certain qualifications, while those in squadrons will come fresh from the

FRS sometimes in the middle of deployment.

While a department head in CVW squadron may interact with their CO/XO on a daily basis, another department head in an expeditionary squadron could be an Officer in Charge of his/ her detachment and may interact with their CO/ XO on a weekly basis and by e-mail only. The mentalities of both have to be just a little bit different. These, of course, are only a couple of the differences, which have been noted by those who have transitioned from squadrons to detachments and vice versa.

The editors of Rotor Review think this is a great opportunity for all of us to learn and generate discussions regarding the two concepts. Hopefully, this will lead to taking the pros from each side and help to eliminate the cons for both. As usual, we have many amazing and interesting articles in this issue that I am sure you will enjoy. I have enjoyed reading the many squadron updates and I am certain that you will as well.

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I have and I look forward to reading about you and your squadrons in the future.

friends. Our association and corporate partnerships remain strong in these challenging economic times. Why? Because our ever-operationally relevant rotary wing community has never been more talented or in better hands; we execute where others cannot. And we fly with the best equipment industry can produce. It’s an unbeatable combination for our Navy-Marine Corps-Coast Guard team.

Our retired helicopter community is also growing. I have received a number of inquiries this year on how NHA could help with legacy rotary wing squadron/wing/detachment reunions. While our membership is overwhelmingly active duty and our focus is on that membership, the positive impact our legacy members could have on NHA is an untapped resource. Given the popularity of our web site, NHA is a natural place to start when groups begin the reunion organizing process. How can NHA help and are we staffed to do so? This is a question your Board of Director’s discuss at every Symposium.

The larger question is should NHA actively pursue and embrace the retired helicopter community? It is instructive

to review our mission statement (pg. 70) and review our By-Laws, quoted below: Article II : Purpose and Objectives Section 1.

Purpose.

The Association is a non-profit professional organization whose purpose is to: (A) Provide recognition and to enhance the prestige of the United States naval vertical flight community.

(B) Promote the use of vertical lift aircraft in the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

(C) Keep members informed of new developments and accomplishments in rotary wing aviation.

Section 2. Objective. It is the objective of the Association to provide an organization composed of the widest source of interested membership for the accomplishment of the stated purpose.

Section 2’s statement on “the widest source of interested membership” certainly applies to our retired community. How we chose to pursue this growing population and their potential impact on our mission statement is the salient challenge. For now, to those of you who are planning reunions, I suggest you plan your event around the annual NHA Symposium, use our events to anchor and

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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LCDR Kristin Ohleger, USN

Rotor Review Editor-in-Chief

Continue on page 5

Continued from page 4

complement your separate reunion functions and re-join NHA! Detachments vs. Squadrons is our theme this edition. Our editors were looking for your perspectives on what deployment environment worked best for them. With our Helo Master Plan being executed we have crews that have never deployed as a squadron and of course there will always be squadron members who have never “detted out.” As a former HS pilot, I was a JO who never went on a det he didn’t like!

CQ dets, AUTEC dets, SAR dets, Phukets, Weapons dets, NATO ship dets, and the list of fond memories goes on. On my last squadron deployment (1987), HS-5 was assigned an additional, 7th, SH-3H to support a detachment on USS Peterson (DDG 969) for the entire deployment. We rotated crews (3 pilots, 3 aircrew, 5 maintainers) out every 6 weeks to maximize this unique “det experience.” I do recall our maintainers becoming somewhat bored with the different pace of aviation operations on a “small boy” compared to the carrier, especially when the destroyer found other “non –aviation related ways” to employ them. Bottom line in my experience: the detachment is an operational extension of your squadron. It represents “your squadron”

in every sense of war fighting capability and professionalism. A det is a unique leadership opportunity for all involved.

As Det OIC you feel for the first time that “weight of command responsibility.”

You were in charge. You are the aviation expert and sometimes have little time or recourse for reach back. Experience?

That’s how you get it. Pressure? Yes; it comes with the territory. Professional satisfaction level? The highest; if you know what you’re doing and command your det’s confidence. As a maintainer you had the call…get it right the first time; was the A/C “Up or Down?” Heavy stuff when you’re the det LPO. Dets are challenging, fun and remain essential character builders. But the place where the most action remains, and where I would rather be, is in a squadron, on the air wing team, deployed on an aircraft carrier. That’s Naval Aviation in its finest sense. Forged teamwork, camaraderie, daily competition achieving professional excellence in flight with the finest people I ever met. It’s the life I miss to this day.

That’s my opinion….let’s see what our members say inside.

Briefing Notes: I had the privilege of speaking

at Region 4’s annual NHA Awards luncheon in Norfolk on 19 February. A full house of 180 members turned out to honor their shipmates who go on to compete for national NHA recognition. Hosted by Commodore Steve Schreiber, and assisted by Skipper Mounts, Region 4 president, I had the pleasure of meeting Sailors and Coastguardsmen and their families who have excelled in the performance of their duties.

In mid-April, Region 2’s D.C. and PAX River members enjoyed their annual tour and reception at the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Observatory personnel conducted tours of the active, historic facility, including working telescopes, the majestic Gilliss Library and the Cesium atomic clock.

The Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC).

The letters of agreement between industry members have been signed and the VLC established (see RR #107 for background).

However, there is nothing to report on VLC progress or impact on the war fighter at this time. I will report on how this ambitious consortium is doing next Brief.

That’s all for this briefing. See you all in Jacksonville! Fly Well and Keep Your Turns Up! RADM Steve Tomaszeski, USN(Ret)

your community editors.

This issue, “Squadron vs.

Detachment”, continues that same standard of excellence.

Having spent the majority of my career in detachment-based squadrons, I know where my bias lies. There is nothing quite like the camaraderie of a Navy helicopter detachment away from Homeguard on an operational deployment being trusted to get the job done with the resources at hand. I know that my fondest memories of my Navy career will be of my times on Det. However, I also see the benefits of deploying as a squadron and I’m sure that if I had deployed that way, I would be a proponent of that model. A number of our members have taken the time to share their perspective and “sea stories”. I hope you’ll find their stories enlightening and entertaining. “Thanks” to all who had a hand in making this another fantastic Rotor Review issue.

Being here in San Diego, I’ve been able to participate in some of the recent Region 1 NHA events, including a Friday afternoon social at the World Famous I-Bar and a golf tournament. I also understand that the Flight Suit Formal was a huge hit. These were great opportunities for the local helo bubbas to get together and share stories. When the other Regions have similar events, please let the National Office know so we can publicize it on the web site. Events like these are excellent venues for increasing our membership.

As I’ve said before, NHA is your organization and Rotor Review is your magazine. Check out the web site (www. navalhelicopterassn.org). We’re even on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Share your ideas on how to make NHA better. Get involved. Contribute. Make a difference.

See you in Jax at the Symposium!

Warm regards,

President’s Message

F

ellow NHA Members, As you are receiving this latest issue of Rotor Review, we are inside of a month until our annual Symposium, 24-27 May, in Jacksonville.

The theme this year is “Skills You Can Use Today” and CDR Andy Danko (Symposium VP) and his team have been working tirelessly to make sure that it is another first class event. You should have already marked your calendars and made your plans to attend. You’ll find a schedule of events and a registration form for all of the events further in this issue and on our web site.

Your magazine, Rotor Review, keeps getting better and better thanks to the efforts of your editor, LCDR Kristin Ohleger, your design editor, Mr. George Hopson, and

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NHA Chairman

CAPT John Miley, USN

NHA President

NHA Scholarship Fund

W

e have come to a close on this year’s scholarship cycle and I must admit, the new online application process had a few bugs we had to work out. For the most part, that has been done and the applications are now being reviewed at the Regional level. We expect to be complete with deliberations by the end of April and ready to announce the awardees shortly thereafter. Word has filtered back that this year’s applicants are once again the best and the brightest and final selections will be challenging.

The health of the Scholarship Fund continues to improve especially as the market recovers. We are looking to add new scholarships this year for our active duty (rotary wing) personnel. These will focus on graduate work (both officers and enlisted) and enlisted undergraduate studies. Consensus seems to be to adjust the award levels so that we can give more than one in each of the categories. We hope to offer these this fall. Stay tuned for more info on the application process and schedule in the coming months.

With our focus on our rotary wing personnel and new scholarship plans, we ask that you seriously consider supporting our Scholarship Fund in your planned giving this year. Our retired community can really make a difference here and targeted CFC giving by active duty personnel is equally important to the life of the Fund. Thanks for your support.

CAPT Paul Stevens, USN (Ret)

NHA Scholarship Fund President

Executive Director’s Notes

B

y the time you receive this issue of Rotor Review this year’s Symposium at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Jacksonville, FL, will be upon us. CDR Andy Danko, Executive Officer of the Weapons School, HSMWL, and Vice President of the Symposium, along with his committee, have been working really hard to make this a unique and exciting event. The Symposium theme the committee came up with, “Skills you can use today”, has guided the selection of briefings to include updates from PMA-299 on the MH-60R/S programs, a safety overview covering structures and aerodynamics, and community briefs. There will also be personnel and program briefings for Coast Guard attendees, a first this year. This will be the last Symposium in Jacksonville through at least 2015 due to fewer squadrons than Norfolk and San Diego.

We will be in Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, in 2011 for the Centennial of Naval Aviation and again in 2013 and 2015. In 2012 and 2014 we will be in Norfolk, VA.

Consolidated Membership Report

Year 1 year 2 year “nugget” 3 year 5 year Other* Total * Honorary

Military Membership

Active Duty & Reserve

Retired

Mar 2010

Mar 2009

Mar 2010

Mar 2009

2,173 454

2,136 451

1003 557 819 522 122 3,071

1,038 521 815 519 124 3,017

Col. Howard M. Whitfield, USMC (Ret) NHA Executive Director

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A View From The Labs... Supporting The Fleet

By CAPT George Galdorisi, USN (Ret)

Squadrons and Detachments! Detachments and Squadrons! Will Ever the Twain Meet?

S

o…our editors tell me this issue is dedicated to “Squadrons vs. Detachments” as we morph from two distinct “ways” that helicopter aviators in the HC, HM, HS, and HSL squadrons have deployed in the past – and how they will deploy in the future. It’s a sufficiently broad and interesting topic that it’s at once a fun one – but also a daunting one – to address.

So…the best way to start any story is usually with a sea-story…and this is no exception. It may seem at first that I’m a bit ADD in going there, but with any luck why I’m picking this story will make sense – eventually.

In the early 90s I had the good fortune to be in command of “The Steaming Cleve” (USS Cleveland LPD-7), a 25-year old steam GATOR…and how it got that nick name is a sea-story for another time. We were working up to deploy with an ARG… that’s what GATORS do…when some other ship dropped out of the picture with an engineering casualty and we were sent on counter-narcotics ops with about two weeks notice.

Through a lot of hard work – and convincing – by some strong squadron COs and Wing Commanders, we were able to embark a LAMPS Mk III squadron for that three-month deployment – and the ultimate result was spectacular – but that is a whole different sea-story for another time.

Well, after making our way down the west coast of Mexico and Central America, we needed to go through the Panama Canal and get into the Caribbean where the real counter-drug action was. The CONOPS for that was to “present ourselves” and our ship’s drawings to the Panama Canal authorities so they could ascertain whether and how we would fit through the ditch.

When we showed up with our ship’s drawings we were not so politely blown off and were told that another ship of our class, USS Trenton, had just gone through the ditch two weeks ago and the Panama Canal authorities knew all they needed to know about LPDs – thank you very much.

We embarked the pilot bright and early the next morning and began our transit into the first lock when we became stuck – and I mean sparks flying, metal grinding on metal, and all those awful noises that tell you something is BAD wrong. We not-so-gracefully backed out of the first lock and went back pier-side as the Panama Canal authorities descended on our ship to find out what was wrong.

What was wrong was – we were too wide – by four feet! Unlike Naval Aviation where we make a religion out of configuration control, in the surface Navy – and especially in the GATORS – ship-alts go on all the time, adding thisand-that here-and-there on ships with no “Big QA officer” wondering about things like “Will that ship ever have to go through the Panama Canal?” Clearly, USS Trenton never had the ship-alts we had.

So…the Panama Canal authorities met with us and lots of other “helpers” who showed up and determined that if they cut off several platforms holding things like HF whip antennas, USS Cleveland would be skinny enough to fit through the ditch.

“All you have to do now Captain is sign this.”

Oh, did I tell you that the Flag operational commander on the other side of the ditch was screaming bloody murder for us to get there pronto? Guess not. Oh, and did I tell you that I had been in command less than a month?

Guess not. Oh, and did I tell you that my Commodore was the immediate past skipper of USS Cleveland ? Guess not.

So I did the sensible thing and tracked down the PHIBRON NINE Commodore at home (of course it was the weekend when all this happened) on “the long phone” (this was 1993) to get his advice. And here was his advice: “Well, Captain, that’s a big decision and one you’re just going to have to make yourself.” Are you kidding me!!

We made the “voyage ship-

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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alts” and made it through the ditch and had a great deployment with lots of drugs seized etc, but here’s my point. That experience defined the collective experience of virtually every helicopter aviator reading this column – you either deployed (as in the HS community and sometimes the HM community) with the skipper right there to ask those really hard questions or in the HC and HSL communities with the skipper as distant as the roundtrip-transit of Immediate-precedence naval messages flying (sometimes it seemed like they were crawling) back and fourth.

And if all of you who grew up in one of those two worlds REALLY thinks about it, you’ll readily admit that having one-or-the-other of those two NATOPS and CONOPS or whatever you want to call it “ways of doing business” was dramatically different, impacted all you did, and in many ways, became part of who you were professionally.

So now we have a brand new “way” we are going to do things as we execute the HELO CONOPS with more-and-more historic deployments like those USS John C. Stennis made not long ago. And we are going to have to merge the collective “ways of doing business” of thousands of helo aviators into one mainstream way of doing business – with enough flexibility to handle those other kinds of ops that may be on the fringes and not under this new model.

There is nothing mind-blowing or “too hard” about this. However, we are merging two entirely different kinds of professional experiences. If we’re not mindful of these differences and don’t give them the thought and care and attention they deserve then we may well be setting ourselves up for, at a minimum, some speed-bumps we just don’t need. However, if we make this change thoughtfully and carefully, talk about it openly (in the pages of Rotor Review and elsewhere), debate it if necessary (An NHA panel at the 2011 symposium perhaps) then clearly our community is poised to raise the bar even higher than we’ve raised it to date.

And to quote Martha Stewart, “That would be a good thing.”

Order Form is on page 72

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Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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Shop online starting Summer 2010

Industry and Technology

Newest MV-22 Trainer Delivered to Marine Corps Press Released by NAVAIR

T

he fully self-contained, $8.6 million containerized flight training device (CFTD) is the second of four MV-22 trainers for fleet use at MCAS Miramar, CA. “The arrival of this newest MV22 trainer marks another crucial step in increasing the training opportunities for our fleet aircrews,” said Capt.

Darryl “Spike” Long, Aviation Training Systems program manager (PMA-205). “”V-22 crews use these type of trainers to accomplish more than 50 percent of their training requirements so when we deliver them early, on-time and onbudget, everyone benefits.”

Another benefit to these new training systems is how they are designed.

“Once these fully selfcontained training systems are built, they

“The cockpit view of the newest MV-22 Osprey containerized flight training device located at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CA.” Official USMC photo.

only require a concrete pad and dedicated p o w e r hookups,” said Lt. Col. David Owen, PMA-205, Marine Corps Department Head. “This saves the Marine Corps “The newest MV-22 Osprey containerized flight training quite a bit device is complete and operational at Marine Corps Air of military Station Miramar, CA.” Official USMC photo. construction funding.”

“Once operational, the MV-22 capability.”

CFTDs have a solid history of being The third and fourth reliable with very little maintenance trainers are scheduled to be downtime,” added Owen. “On average, delivered to MCAS Miramar in these trainers have a 98 percent reliability early to mid-2010. A fifth V-22 rating with an average of only 12 to 15 flight trainer is scheduled for hours of operational down time due to delivery to MCAS New River, maintenance per year.”

N.C. in the fall of 2010.

Over time, the cost of these trainers has gone down and their capability has increased according to Owen.

“When the first trainers were bought three years ago, they cost $12 million each but today they cost $8.6 million,” said Owen, “with the cost reduction and the increasing power Read more on the MV-22 in the feature section on page of today’s computers, we are able to buy additional trainers that have more 20.

L-3 Avionics Systems’ Trilogy™ Electronic Standby Instrument Approved for Helicopter Operations Press Released by L-3 Avionics Systems

L

-3 Avionics Systems announced today that it has received Technical Standard Order (TSO) approval from the FAA for the Trilogy™ ESI-1000 Electronic Standby Instrument on Part 27 and Part 29 rotary-wing aircraft. This allin-one glass standby instrument is the first system of its type certified for light helicopter operations. The Trilogy ESI was on display in L-3 booth 4829 at the

HAI HELI-EXPO, which ran February 21–23.

“The all-glass cockpit is now possible for our fixed- and rotary-wing customers,” said Larry Riddle, vice president of business development for L-3 Avionics Systems. “Trilogy saves panel space and reduces weight for light helicopter operators. These two significant benefits combined with Trilogy’s solid-state reliability and

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

9

precision make it an excellent package for this market.”

The Trilogy ESI combines attitude, altitude, airspeed and optional heading data on a clear, 3.7-inch diagonal Active Matrix LCD display.

By presenting flight information in a way that corresponds with today’s glass flight decks, Trilogy facilitates a smooth transition from primary to

continue on page 10

Industry and Technology: L-3 Avionics System Trilogy... continued from page 9

standby instruments in an emergency and enhances consistency across the panel.

With an integrated air data computer, solid-state attitude sensor and optional external magnetometer, the ESI presents accurate flight information independently of other systems. A simple four-button pilot interface, automatic brightness control and dimensions matching the standard 3-ATI mounting cutout make it easy to operate and install. Once activated, the system is aligned and ready for flight in less than three minutes.

The rotorcraft version of the Trilogy ESI is calibrated from 20 to 350 knots and -1,500 to 55,000 feet, and can detect roll rates up to 100 degrees per second – well within the flight envelope of today’s general aviation aircraft.

Additionally, Trilogy provides airspeed cues for critical reference airspeeds and operating ranges specific to the aircraft. The model will be available through OEMs as well as for retrofit to modernize both glass and traditional cockpit configurations.

The Trilogy ESI was developed with L-3 Avionics Systems’ advanced solid-state expertise, which has made the company a leader in electronic standby instrument systems for highend aircraft. Now, Trilogy makes this technology a smart and affordable option for helicopter pilots as well.

L-3 Avionics Systems has

been helping pilots fly for more than 45 years. The company provides a wide array of avionics technologies designed to improve situational awareness and enhance safety, such as the GH-3000 electronic and J.E.T.® standby instruments, the SkyWatch® Collision Avoidance System, the Stormscope® Weather Mapping System and the Trilogy ™ Electronic Standby Instrument, among others.

For more information, p l e a s e v i s i t t h e c o m p a n y ’s Web site at www.l-3avionics.com.

Trilogy™ ESI-1000 Electronic Standby Instrument

Headquartered in New York City, L-3 Communications employs over 66,000 people worldwide and is a prime contractor in aircraft modernization and maintenance, C3ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) systems and government services. L-3 is also a leading provider of high technology products, subsystems and systems. The company reported 2009 sales of $15.6 billion.

To learn more about L-3, please visit the company’s Web site at www.l3com.com.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release are forward-looking statements. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to events or conditions or that include words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “will,” “could” and similar expressions are forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements set forth above involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any such statement, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in the company’s Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-Looking Statements included in the company’s recent filings, including Forms 10-K and 10-Q, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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Industry and Technology

EADS North America Delivers First H-72A Training Helicopter to the US Navy Press Released by Rotorhub.com

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ADS North America has delivered the first of five H-72A training helicopters for the US Navy today, marking a new milestone in the company’s production of multi-role helicopters for US military services.

The H-72A fleet will be based at the US Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, MD, where it is to be used to train test pilots from the US military and allied countries.

The H-72A shares the same airframe and is manufactured on the same production line as the US Army’s UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter -- both of which are produced in Mississippi by EADS North America’s American Eurocopter subsidiary.

“Not only is this the first H-72A we’ve built for the US Navy -- it’s our first helicopter produced

specifically to fulfill a training mission within the US armed forces,” said EADS North America Chief Operating Officer Dave Oliver. “The expansion of UH-72A/H-72A missions demonstrates the adaptability of the aircraft to a wide range of operational scenarios. We’re certainly proud that a new generation of test pilots will be trained using these highly reliable and versatile helicopters.”

The Navy’s H-72As have several specific equipment additions for their pilot training mission -- including jettisonable cockpit doors, a cockpit voice and flight data recorder, a main rotor blade folding kit and an air traffic advisory system. All five H-72As will be configured in the Naval Test Pilot School’s high-visibility white and orange paint scheme.

Derived from Eurocopter’s proven EC145 multi-role helicopter, the Navy H-72As and Army UH-72As are among the most versatile and reliable helicopters in their class. They are equipped with a modern glass cockpit, and their high-set main and tail rotors provide unparalleled safety, access and space utilization.

The Army plans to acquire 345 UH-72As through 2016 in addition to the five H-72As being acquired on behalf of the US Navy.

In addition to the current production of H-72As and UH-72As, EADS North America is offering the Armed Scout 645 variant for the US Army’s armed aerial scout requirement.

U.S. Naval Test Pilot School UH-72A Lakotas Arrived in January.

CAPT Thomas Huff, Commander, NavalTest Wing Atlantic (center left) and Lt. Col. Roger Cordell, Commander, U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (center right), pose with the Tactical Airlift, Adversary and Support programs (PMA-207) and USNTPS UH-72A team with the five new UH-72A Lakota helicopters in front of one of the USNTPS hangars here. The first Lakota was delivered in November 2009; the last in January 2010. The new Lakota helicopters are the core aircraft in the USNTPS rotary wing curriculum replacing the venerable TH-6B Cayuse helicopter at the school.

USN photo courtesy of USN Test Pilot School

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Industry and Technology:

MH-60S Full Motion Simulator

Article by LCDR E. “Chip” Lancaster, USN(Ret)

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Features

he MH-60S and MH60R helicopters form the cornerstone of the Navy’s Helicopter Master Plan with both helicopters sharing a common cockpit and technology.

The MH-60S “Sierra” Knighthawk is used for vertical replenishment, mine countermeasures, combat search and rescue, anti-surface warfare and plane guard while the MH-60R “Romeo” Seahawk is used for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. Plans are to procure 271 Sierras and 254 Romeos.

CAE USA has been under contract since 2004 to design and build MH-60S and R OFTs (Operational Flight Trainer) and WTTs (Weapons Tactics Trainer). These trainers are designed to operate independently or linked. When linked the trainers operate together as a TOFT (Tactical Operational Flight Trainer) providing total aircrew mission training. CAE USA is now under contract to deliver seven Sierra OFTs and six Sierra WTTs. The first full motion Sierra simulator was delivered in early 2009 to NAS Norfolk. The second full motion simulator was delivered to NAS North Island in late 2009 for setup, acceptance and use in 2010. These simulators incorporate hydraulic piston motion bases to deliver a six-degree of freedom full motion system. The motion along with latest state of the art visuals will

provide a significant increase in realism for pilot training.

The new hydraulic system is state of the art, providing a smooth and quiet motion delivery. One new feature incorporated in this motion system is a separate cockpit seat vibration platform.

This allows the motion system to separately provide realistic The Sierra motion-based simulators are in the HSC-3/HS-10 helicopter vibrations training building simulator bays where the Foxtrot and Hotel to the pilots without simulators were previously located. Photo courtesy of HSC-3 vibrating the Public Affairs Office. whole simulator.

The seat vibration platform prevents and communication links. Instruction problems with visual projection screen can be provided from the station inside delamination which had a tendency the simulator or from an independent to occur in previous motion based outside station. simulators where the whole simulator The WTT is located separate vibrated. from the OFT in an adjacent room.

The instructor station and Linked OFT/WTT training can be operating system is similar to that facilitated from the separate outside previously built for stationary OFT 5 independent instructor console located thus providing operational continuity adjacent to the WTT. The linked trainers for simulator instructors without the will provide a total aircrew mission necessity of extensive additional training system. The pilots along with training.

The instructor station is the aircrew will be able to interact in the provided with three fully adjustable seats training scenario.

Human Factor Mishaps in Military Helicopters The Cost and a Recommended Solution Article by Peter B. Mapes

Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not purport to represent those of the Department of Defense or the Services. All statistics are from publicly released studies conducted utilizing Service Safety Center data.

During our study of all 917 of the class A and B helicopter mishaps that occurred in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) from October of 1984 through September of 2005 (FY 85-05) we made many interesting discoveries.

Among these was the finding that human

factor (HF) mishaps demonstrate much poorer survival rates and much higher occurrence rates than non-human factor (NHF) mishaps. I should probably start by defining (our definition) a HF mishap: HF mishaps are those mishaps which result from an act of commission or omission on the part of a crewmember

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aboard the mishap aircraft or aboard the aircraft which hit the mishap aircraft in the case of midair collisions. NHF mishaps are everything else. Overall across the Services, HF mishaps account for 62 to 65% of the mishaps.

Since this is a Naval venue, Continue to page 14

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Features: Human Factor Mishaps in Military Helicopters Continued from page 12

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hat kind of a benefit could we expect from properly executed HF simulator training and ground classroom instruction?

First, NHF mishap rates should remain unchanged and the 15% of NHF mishap outcomes complicated by HF problems should diminish.

we should describe the data surrounding these mishaps in the Department of the Navy.

During the study period, fatalities from HF mishaps made up fully a third of the exposed population (332 out of 992, or 33.47% lethality). Among the NHF mishaps, about a sixth of the exposed population died (113 out of 670, or 16.8% lethality). Calculating the relative risk (RR) for the NHF mishap lethality, we get a value of 0.50 which equates to half the relative risk of death in the NHF mishaps.

The p-value is <.00000001 which means that there is less than a 0.000001% likelihood that the difference between HF and NHF mortality is occurring by chance alone. This is what we epidemiologists like to call a ‘significant difference.’

If we take a look at similar data for the Army, we see that the HF mishaps claimed 216 of the 458 exposed lives for a mortality of 47.2%. The NHF mishaps claimed 139 of 437 exposed lives for a mortality of 31.8%.

When we look for the RR of death in the NHF mishaps for the Army we get a value of 0.87 with a p-value of < 0.097. This is not a statistically significant difference but we can gain more power by combining the two Services data producing an overall RR for NHF mortality in both Services of 0.54 times the HF mortality with a p-value < .00000005.

This is extremely significant! Not much point adding the USAF at this point because their 102 fatalities (38 NHF and 64 HF) will not alter the calculations at all.

This begs the question, everything else being equal: why is there such a difference in the mortality outcomes of the two different mishap types? I may be able to provide at least a partial answer to this. A great deal of emergency training for aircrew is

done in the simulator because it would create unacceptably risky situations to simulate the conditions in the actual aircraft. For those of you who are pilots, think back to your simulator training – how often did you practice dealing with NHF problems of engine failures, fires, fuel, electrical or airframe problems versus the HF issues of communication failures, fixation, spatial disorientation, task saturation, loss of situational awareness and distraction, to name a few. Before the institution of Aircrew Coordination Training (ACT: AKA – Cockpit <Crew> Resource Management or CRM) in the late 1990s, I’d be willing to venture a guess of ‘essentially none.’

Since then, these issues have slowly been finding their way into formal training but not nearly in the volume of the NHF issues and not in enough quantity to result in more than just familiarization with the desired responses. Maybe that is the part of the issue, sometimes it is very difficult to identify when someone is being affected by a NHF condition and it is even more difficult for a person to realize that they are being affected.

My point is that our performance mimics our training emphasis. We get results based on our investment in training because, when everything goes to the dogs in flight, and there is no extra time to accomplish anything as the situation deteriorates, we revert to our training. Those automatic actions that we rammed home in the simulator are what get done and we don’t have checklist items for most HF issues, so proper responses don’t occur and people die. The FAA has long recognized the importance of distraction and fixation in mishaps and has sanctioned the use of distractions by examiners in flight for over two decades and instructors train students to this standard. There is another piece to this puzzle, how much HF simulator training is enough?

Having spent three years as the officer responsible for all of the USAF’s T-1 and T-37 syllabuses at Air Education and Training Command (AETC) Headquarters, as well as being the officer responsible for the AETC CRM program, I have some concept

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of the investment required to add the necessary HF problems to simulator training. In my estimation we would need a complete redesign of the simulator syllabuses to integrate the HF and NHF training and a 40% expansion in simulator time for pilots. This would have to include distributed mission training since midair collisions are a significant source of helicopter aircrew mortality. This expansion would have to be matched by additional classroom time teaching aircrew how to recognize HF issues in themselves and others. Significant input from aviation psychologists would be required to get the lesson plans done correctly.

What kind of a benefit could we expect from properly executed HF simulator training and ground classroom instruction? First, NHF mishap rates should remain unchanged and the 15% of NHF mishap outcomes complicated

by HF problems should diminish. Yes, 85% of the time aircrew responded properly to NHF challenges! The HF mishap rate should fall precipitously after the institution of the training. For those HF mishaps that do occur, I would not expect to see a substantial change in the fatality rate, the value of the training is the anticipation and proper response to the HF conditions and preconditions so that the actual mishaps do not occur.

Those that do occur would probably have essentially the same outcomes.

The overall benefit should be a 50% or greater decrease in the HF mishap rates and a reduction of the overall mishap rate to less than 67% of what it currently is.

The savings in lives would be roughly 10 per year in the Army and the Department of the Navy combined, about 5 per year per Service. The simulator training and syllabus modifications would achieve breakeven based on preserved airframe costs in approximately 8 years. As usual, I don’t put a monetary value on the human lives saved because it becomes a point of argument and detracts from the overall discussion. If you combine this initiative with the expected results from the insertion of aviation safety technology the Services would make a significant step toward SECDEF’s goal of a 75% reduction in mishaps.

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Firefighting on Guam Article and Photos by LTJG Derek DuBreuil, USN

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uam provides the pilots of Helicopter Sea It was simply something we did not do that often.

Combat Squadron 25 with a unique set of It was a qualification that only a few people in the squadron opportunities and challenges that come with being deployed maintained. I set about the task of helping the SDO make phone on the far side of the world. Being the only helicopter asset calls to see who could actually do this flight. Unfortunately this in Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands, we work closely meant that I would no longer be the HAC, but the excitement with Coast Guard Sector Guam for any searches, MEDEVACs, of getting to fly quickly overcame the disappointment of being or, as I was about to find out, firefighting. the copilot. It took awhile but we finally put together two full As a new Helicopter Aircraft Commander in the crews. I worked with maintenance to get a second aircraft squadron, I found myself signing up for weekend search and ready for launch while everyone was recalled. rescue duty whenever I could. As the SAR officer for the With limited aircraft available that weekend, my squadron, I crew was put was anxious in Knightrider to get out 04, a block III there and armed helo p r o v e complete with a myself. In FLIR, batwings, my mind, I and an added saw myself bright orange getting a firebucket MEDEVAC, h a n g i n g something underneath. I simple and quickly did a set straight of calculations forward. I and realized spent my that our power second pilot margin was cruise in the really thin. A desert, so full bucket of I knew all water weighs about the over 3,600 business lbs; we would of flying need to be very HSC-25’s MH-60S carries 3,600 lbs of warter to the fire area in Guam MEDEVACs. careful until we I looked burned down forward to passing this knowledge and experience on to my enough gas. copilot for the weekend, who was leaving for Iraq soon.

We ended up taking off right at noon. Immediately However, rarely does any flight go the way we envision, as after leaving base, we could see the fire. Everyone knew that this day would soon teach me. this would be a long day. En route, we transited over the ocean After coming in for the daily maintenance spin and and dumped fuel to give us a better power margin. We needed checking the bird over, my crew did the NATOPs brief and to be able to drop all the water we could on this fire. left for the day. It was a routine we were all used to. Less Fortunately, there was a freshwater reservoir three than two hours later, my cell phone rang. The Squadron Duty miles from the fire; unfortunately it would be slow moving Officer relayed to me that there was a fire on the island and that having to cross three miles back and forth with the water.

Guam Fire and Rescue (GFR) was requesting our assistance. We came into a hover over the reservoir and started to fill The next few minutes go by in my memory with a the bucket. When we lifted it was clear to everyone that the blur; I was changing back into my flight suit, grabbing my aircraft was heavy. As soon as we pulled the bucket out of gear, and rushing out the door. Once in the car, I threw my the water, all the instruments glowed a warning red. The emergency flashers on and sped to base. Once at work, it was good news about using the reservoir was that we had room to pretty clear that I could slow down and take a few breaths. slowly start getting airspeed on the helicopter and get through GFR had requested two helicopters, and while we do maintain translational lift. It was not very comfortable watching the a primary and a standby SAR crew for the weekends, neither timers count down on all of our instruments, hoping that we Continue on page 17 crew was qualified to do a firebuckets mission.

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Features: Firefighting On Guam and the ranch. The only could hit translational lift before we problem was we were not had to prematurely dump the water. having any effect. The However, we also knew that with each fire kept advancing. No pass we would burn more gas and give matter how much water we dropped in front of the fire, ourselves a better power margin.

It was the first operational it continued to burn right firebuckets mission for everyone in both through it.

Now that I have birds. We all had attended the ground had more time to think school at one point, but with the Op about it, I realize that the tempo at HSC-25, it was hard to keep training we received did a bare minimum of people who had not come from Guam.

It completed the training with the bucket.

The MH-60S prepares to dump water over the came from people who My HAC showed me some tips on how damaged area. to fill the bucket and fly with the load, fought fires in the states. In but for me it was truly a “learn as you Guam, the ground is much more porous, nothing but red. It was getting really made from crushed coral and limestone close. I cleared the pond and started go.”

After leaving the lake and then topsoil. We quickly realized that forward. If I went just slightly right, proceeding to the fire, we saw that we building a barrier in front of the fire was there was a drop-off; I could use that to would have to work fast. The fire was not going to save that ranch, and we gain some airspeed. The whole thing closing in on a ranch from three sides. started to hit the fire directly. seemed to be happening in slow motion; Now we were making all of my instruments were red. I heard It was time to get to work. We started to drench the fields in front of the fire progress. We actually watched the Nr start to droop before I glanced at it line, building a barrier between the fire fire diminish. We ended up saving the and watched it go down; 99, 98, 97… ranch. Unfortunately, the three mile Airspeed, airspeed, airspeed! I needed transit to and from the lake was taking to get some speed on the bird or I was e were a lot of time. While we made progress going to have to dump the water. The at one location of the fire, the other airspeed slowly started to build; I could fatigued and side continued to grow. We were both feel it almost getting to translational the sun was running low on gas. My aircraft stayed lift. Nr continued to droop. Finally, to fight the fire, while my wingman went I felt that burble of translational lift; I setting through the back to refuel. followed the contour of the earth down haze of smoke, but After refueling, we came back knowing I wasn’t out of it yet. I needed to find that our efforts were making an more speed. I got us flying - got us away we knew there was no effect. My wingman found a pond that from the ground - and eventually all the one who could relieve was much closer to the fire. In fact, the instruments came back to their normal fire had burned right up to the edge of ranges. I’m not going to lie; I had been us. If we did not go the pond and stopped. The only problem sweating bullets there for a minute. back, people would with the pond was that due to the fire, we Unfortunately there was no time to had to accept a quartering tail wind on stop. The fire was advancing on another lose their homes. So the route out of the pond. This was not house. I set up for a run, dropped the we filled up, grabbed an ideal situation since there was heated water, and then it was time to go back air all around a weighted aircraft from to that dreaded pond. I had already got our night vision the smoldering fire, with an additional out of a tight situation once, I figured I goggles, and went could do it again. We drooped again on heavy load slung beneath it.

“Wow,” I thought to myself at the second pull but not as much. On the back to fight the fire. third we didn’t droop at all. one point, “We are really heavy.”

At first I doubted that we After filling up the bucket at the pond, I pulled collective to get it out would get much water out of this pond; of the water. The pond was shaped like a I thought maybe five or six buckets little bowl, so I had to keep pulling power each before we used it up. I still do not to get both aircraft and the bucket out know how much water was in that pond of the bowl. I knew I needed airspeed. or how deep it was, but surprisingly Continue on page 18 I glanced at the instruments and saw Continued from page 16

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Feature: Firefighting On Guam

Continued from page 17

we pulled over 50,000 gallons out and the water level never seemed to go down. Hopefully some rancher’s water bill did not sky rocket that month, but that little pond was a lifesaver and allowed us to fight the fire more efficiently.

We refueled once more throughout our firefighting mission. We were fatigued and the sun was setting through the haze of smoke, but we knew there was no one who could relieve us. If we did not go back, people would lose their homes. So we filled up, grabbed our night vision goggles, and went back to fight the fire.

Sunset was the worst time. The smoke seemed to thicken, and it got harder and harder to see. We contained the part of the fire which threatened several homes, but the opposite side was still raging up a hillside. We wanted to stop it before it crested the hill and moved into the next valley and caused more havoc.

As soon as it was dark enough we put on our goggles and found the difference they made was amazing. We could see exactly where the fire was.

Now there was no more guessing by just putting water on the jungle wherever there was smoke; we could clearly see the flames!

Finally, after seven and a half hours of fighting the wildfire, we had the fire under control.

All said and done, our mission dropped over 85,000 gallons of water. It was a long day, we all smelled like smoke and soot. I was looking forward to having standby SAR take over my duties for the evening.

We did a good thing. We saved several homes and stopped the fire from spreading. I received my fire buckets qualification unlike many other pilots ever will. It was the second time in HSC-25’s history that anyone had fought a fire on goggles. I smiled a little bit when the pilot training officer came up to me the next week and asked me to teach firebuckets ground school. Hopefully I can pass on my experiences to help someone else get a chance to fight a fire of their own.

After seven and a half hours of fighting the wildfire, majority of the wildfire was contained by HSC-25’s efforts.

A

fter leaving the lake and proceeding to the fire, we saw that we would have to work fast. The fire was closing in on a ranch from three sides. It was time to get to work. We started to drench the fields in front of the fire line, building a barrier between the fire and the ranch. The only problem was we were not having any effect. The fire kept advancing.

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Features

HSC-3 Maintenance Ready For Expansion Article by LT Jared Ott, USN

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SC-3 has one of the busiest maintenance departments in the Navy. While most helicopter squadrons have anywhere from three to six aircraft at their homeguard at any given time, HSC-3 currently has 13, and more are coming.

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et ready.

Helicopter Sea Combat’s biggest squadron is getting bigger. HSC-3, the West Coast FRS, a longtime hallmark as one of the safest squadrons in the Navy with over 222,000 Class A mishapfree hours, is gearing up to take on more aircraft, more maintainers, more everything. That’s saying a lot for a squadron that currently averages almost 600 flight hours per month.

The Merlins of HSC-3 will be expanding due to the merging of the Foxtrot-Hotel HS community into the Sierra-based HSC community, which will require almost double the number of fleet ready replacement pilots that the squadron produces each year. This past fiscal year, HSC-3 flew a little over 6,000 hours. By the end of fiscal year 2011, that number is expected to jump to almost 10,000 hours.

HSC-3 has one of the busiest maintenance departments in the Navy.

While most helicopter squadrons have anywhere from three to six aircraft at their homeguard at any given time, HSC-3 currently has 13, and more are coming. HSC-3 will have more than 20 aircraft by the end of 2010. “Right now I am mustering 264 maintainers each day,” says CWO5 Terrance Faunce, Merlin Maintenance Officer, “by the end of 2010, I’ll be reporting 320.” Asked how the department will manage 50% more aircraft with only a 22% increase in manpower, Faunce replied “We have a seasoned group of professionals here, most on at least their 2nd or 3rd tour in the

Navy, who are motivated and excited to be working for the squadron. So yes, I think we’ll be fine.”

HSC-3’s phase department, already one of the busiest in the squadron, is likely to get even more work. “I’d say we’ve been averaging six to seven phases a month since August,” says AM1 Jacques Cochran, the Phase Leading Petty Officer. Some phases are required when an aircraft is transferred from the fleet. Others come due because of accumulated flight hours on an airframe. HSC-3’s phase department will be moving to three shifts with 24hour coverage in the coming weeks, plus a weekend check in order to keep up with the workload.

HSC-3 will also continue to lead the way on ASM, the Navy’s new online maintenance training system.

As the model manager for ASM, or Advanced Skills Management, HSC3 has been using the data system for the past year to track all maintenance qualifications, training, and sign-offs.

Along with HS-10, HSC-3 was the

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first squadron in HELSEACOMBATWING Pacific to use ASM to track all maintenance training and qualifications. Gone are the old black training jackets with each person’s qualifications, sign-offs, and training summaries all stuffed-in and bursting at the seams. Now, each Merlin maintainer has an ASM account where all maintenance qualifications are initiated, worked on, and eventually signed off. HSC-3 ASM program manager AT1 Leo Kamin, along with personnel at HS-10, took hard copies of almost all MH-60S maintenance syllabi and turned them into an electronic signoff.

“Everything’s going digital nowadays,” says Kamin, “and ASM makes tracking and maintaining maintenance qualifications more precise, user-friendly, and more accessible.”

The maintenance department’s goal during this entire expansion will be to produce quality, ready-to-train aircraft so the pilots of HSC-3 can continue to instruct the newest Sierra pilots of the fleet. What lies ahead for HSC-3’s maintenance department is more aircraft, more phases, more launches and recoveries, and more MAFs to sign off.

One thing’s for sure—with this group of professionals they will continue to be one of the safest and most efficient maintenance departments in the Navy.

s the model manager for ASM, or Advanced Skills Management, HSC-3 has been using the data system for the past year to track all maintenance qualifications, training, and sign-offs.

Along with HS-10, HSC-3 was the first squadron in the HELSEACOMBATWING Pacific to use ASM to track all maintenance training and qualifications.

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Feature

The Osprey: She is High Maintenance, but Marines Love Her Anyway Article by Grace V. Jean. Reprint from NDIA’s Business and Technology Magazine (April 2010)

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arine Corps officials have raved about the MV-22 Osprey’s recent contributions to operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti.

Commanders like the tiltrotor aircraft’s advanced features and performance. The Osprey, however, is as high maintenance as it gets.

MV-22 maintenance squadrons in Iraq have faced reliability and maintainability challenges “stemming from an immature supply chain not always responsive to the demand for repair parts and aircraft and engine parts lasting only a fraction of their projected service life,” stated a Government Accountability Office report. The operations and support costs for the life cycle of the program, initially estimated at $75.41 billion, are expected to rise. As a leading indicator of potential increases, the GAO singled out the $11,000 cost per flying hour — more than double the target estimate.

“The Osprey’s Iraq experience demonstrated that the rise in cost is due in part to unreliable parts, the cost of some parts and required maintenance,” stated GAO’s Michael J. Sullivan, director for acquisition and sourcing management, last year before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“If there is no improvement, overall cost and maintenance hours may remain high.”

Because of the expense and labor associated with the large number of spare parts required to keep it in operations, Marine officials are now trying to come up with more efficient ways to maintain the fleet.

Classified as a medium-lift assault support aircraft, the V-22 carries 24 troops and can take off and land vertically like a helicopter but fly like an airplane. It has been operating in Iraq since late 2007 and is now flying combat missions in Afghanistan. A squadron en route to a war zone in January was

MV-22 Osprey in Afghanistan. diverted to Haiti to assist with the earthquake relief operations. Officials expect the demand for the aircraft to continue growing in the months ahead.

The Marine Corps’ fleet of combat-deployable Osprey aircraft in the last year has averaged an availability rate of 65 percent. The initial readiness level estimate for the aircraft had been projected at 82 percent. But since the tilt-rotor entered service three years ago,

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officials have discovered problems with the availability and performance of key parts.

“There are some select components that have not lived up to the reliability of the engineering predictions first conveyed,” said Lt. Col. Robert Freeland, aviation plans and mediumlift requirements officer at Marine Corps headquarters.

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espite the maintenance headaches, officials said that the MV-22s continue to meet commanders’ needs with the 65 percent average availability... based upon a “24-hour clock” metric based on the level of effort required to supply and maintain the aircraft on a continual basis.

Marine air ground task force commanders measure availability with another metric, called an aviation management supply and readiness report, which captures a snapshot of the fleet at a specific time.

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Feature: The Osprey: She Is High Maintenance, But Marines Love Her Anyway Continued from page 20

The GAO found that 13 components accounted for more than half the spare parts unavailable in Iraq.

Of those, six lasted less than 10 percent of their expected service life.

Swash plate actuators, which help the aircraft’s rotor systems to turn and articulate, have topped the list of culprits. Those components were expected to last for 12,000 hours, but marines have discovered that in actual operations, they withstand only several hundred hours before they have to be replaced. Removing and repairing those parts account for almost half of the fleet’s repairable-parts cost, said Freeland.

Because the service designed its maintenance processes based upon the engineering predictions of component failures, it lacked adequate repair and production capability to keep pace with the demand for spare parts when failures occurred.

It took too many parts and cost too much money to fix broken aircraft, Freeland said. “That’s what got our attention,” he said. “That’s what we’re fixing.”

In the process of addressing that problem, marines also discovered a cuff seal that does not work properly on the swash plate actuator. That piece alone accounts for 84 percent of the items that have to be removed from the aircraft for repair or replacement.

Maintainers increased the repair capacity and asked the aircraft’s manufacturers, Boeing Co. and Bell Helicopter, to correct the problem. The Corps also has set up a testing check to monitor the status of those parts.

Marine officials have decided that repairing parts at the fleet readiness center in North Carolina will reduce costs and give them better control over the process. “There are more and more components that we can repair at that facility rather than sending them back to the original equipment manufacturer,” said Freeland. “That is going to take a big bite out of crime. One, we’re going to save a lot of money, two, we’re going to the keep components on the aircraft longer, which is really the goal: To keep

the aircraft up for the war fighter to use.”

Despite the maintenance headaches, officials said that the MV22s continue to meet commanders’ needs with the 65 percent average availability. That percentage is tallied based upon a “24-hour clock” metric based on the level of effort required to supply and maintain the aircraft on a continual basis. Marine air ground task

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he MV-22 has been involved in a number of assault and support missions in Afghanistan, including an early morning raid that reportedly trapped a number of Taliban fighters in a “kill box” formed by Ospreydeployed marines and AH-1 Cobra helicopters. force commanders measure availability with another metric, called an aviation management supply and readiness report, which captures a snapshot of the fleet at a specific time.

For example, during a span of 19 months of operations in Iraq, officials calculated an availability of 64.1 percent on the 24-hour clock. That same time period using the snapshot metric yielded a rate of 71.6 percent. “That tells you that if I’m looking across the fleet over the entire time, I’ve only got six out of 10 [Ospreys] up, but on a daily basis, I had a little better than seven out of 10 up,” explained Freeland. “You can meet your mission with seven out of 10.”

But as demand for the MV-22 grows, the Marine Corps wants to reduce the risk of aircraft not being available to fly missions, Freeland said. “With the proper application of the engineering resources and the funding resources, we know we’re going to get this thing licked,” he said.

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Marines continue to defend the fledgling aircraft with a fierce passion.

Though still haunted by its rocky 25year development phase and tragic losses of life during testing, the MV22 appears to be climbing out of the turbulence into calmer skies. Ensuring that the maintenance piece comes together will help solidify the trajectory, officials said.

Commanders have lauded the aircraft’s speed and reach in both combat and humanitarian operations.

“We’d find ourselves going from the border of Jordan going all the way back to Baghdad and even east of there in the same day, and with the same aircraft. That was something that they hadn’t seen before,” said Freeland, who flew the Osprey in Iraq from January 2008 to May 2008. He deployed on numerous missions that previously required a turboprop aircraft, such as a C-130, and some pre-positioned helicopters to reach out to greater distances. “Now we just send one or two MV-22s in one afternoon to do what previously required two type model series over two days,” he said.

The Corps is excited to have true medium-lift capability again — an aircraft that can transport troops and more supplies at greater distances, officials said. Commanders mostly rely upon the CH-53 heavy-lift helicopter to do the task. Having the MV-22 frees up the CH-53 to return to hauling supplies and equipment.

In Haiti, the Osprey was used to transport marines and assessment teams to outlying areas of the country that were too far and too difficult to reach in a timely manner by conventional means, said Maj. Gen. Cornell Wilson, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South.

“The Ospreys were very critical in checking on some of the other areas that had not been checked on by the government of Haiti or the U.N. forces, or even by our own forces,” he said. The 12 aircraft, sailing aboard the Continue on page 22

Feature: The Osprey: She Is High Maintenance, But Marines Love Her Anyway Continued from page 21

USS Nassau that diverted while en route to a deployment to Afghanistan, also provided food, supplies and medical equipment to areas north of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. The northern part of the country suffered less damage from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, but towns there required assistance because they were receiving an influx of displaced Haitians seeking shelter, food and safety.

The Osprey flew a total of 149 sorties and 137.2 flying hours in Haiti — the aircraft’s first humanitarian aid and disaster relief operation. In conjunction with the MV-22, Marines flew the UH1Ns for aerial reconnaissance and also employed the CH-53E and MH-60 to fly assessment teams.

Together, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit

aircraft flew a grand total of 355 sorties and 406.5 hours.

“We had a great reach” with the Osprey, said Wilson. “It’s certainly proving itself to be a capable aircraft.”

After spending two weeks assisting in the relief operations, the Ospreys departed with the Nassau amphibious ready group to resume transiting across the Atlantic Ocean to support U.S. European and Central commands.

The GAO report raised concerns about how the aircraft’s mission capability rate might be affected by the harsher climates and high altitudes in

Afghanistan. Failures with the ice protection system, in particular, could jeopardize missions, the report stated.

Reliability of the ice protection system has been problematic, but when it has been used, it performed well, said Col. Kevin S. Vest, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 40, deployed to Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. The Osprey squadron there recently received new rotor blades with heater blankets along with updated hardware for the rotor system.

Officials hope those items will improve the system reliability. Vest also pointed out that no other rotorcraft in theater has an ice Continue on page 23

Farther, Faster, Stronger; Osprey Enhances Battlefield Capabilities Article By Cpl. Aubry Buzek, USMC

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he 40-year legacy of the CH-46 Sea Knight is built on stories of valor and heroism from Marines in combat missions around the world, but that era is coming to a close as the Marine Corps replaces the Sea Knight with it’s newest bird of prey, the MV-22 “Osprey.”

In 2006, the Marine Corps became the first service to host an operational MV-22 Osprey squadron.

Now almost four years later, the Marine Corps has six operating or currently transitioning squadrons on the East Coast, and is in the process of transitioning six on the West Coast.

The replacement of the 40-year-old CH-46 Sea Knight doesn’t come cheap, with a price tag of roughly 100 million dollars per bird, but the Osprey’s capabilities provide enhanced mission capabilities and more safety than the CH-46.

“The [advantage is the] capabilities we bring to the battlefield. It’s newer, we’re faster, we go farther and we can stay longer,” said Maj. Richard McGahhey, a Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 Osprey 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Marines and Sailors evaluate the area pilot. “All of the capabilities of the 46 ... It expands upon them.”

One of the important safety features of the Osprey is a reduced heat signature. Air-to-air heat of Corail, Haiti. Photo takeen by Sgt. seeking missiles will have a harder time tracking the Osprey because of the significant reduction in the Alex C. Sauceda, USMC amount of detectable heat from the aircraft. In addition to lower heat detection, the aircraft has a radar warning receiver, a ballistically tolerant airframe to reduce structural damage and an M240 Golf machine gun mounted on the back ramp.

Another vital part of mission capability for military aircraft, especially in a combat zone, is fuel efficiency. The CH-46 has low fuel endurance and must be refueled approximately every 90 to 100 minutes, which can be dangerous in a tactical environment. The Osprey has an increased fuel capacity, and according to Sgt. Darin Levesque, a crew chief who has deployed with both the CH-46 and the Osprey, the aircraft has proven itself in battle.

“It’s two different worlds,” said Levesque. “It’s a completely different aircraft. It goes twice as far so you can get Marines where they need to be -- faster.”

The increased fuel capacity means the Osprey can go longer and farther than the CH-46, and it also provides an increased payload. The CH-46 current internal and external weight restrictions are approximately 22,000 pounds and 12 combat equipped troops. The Osprey offers significant advantage in that it can carry over 20,000 pounds and 24 combat equipped troops, at twice the speed of the CH-46.

The high-speed, high-flight capabilities of the aircraft are made possible by its ability to convert to a turboprop airplane. Once airborne, the Osprey can convert to a turboprop airplane and fly more than 400 mph and reach altitudes of almost 25,000 feet, which is significantly greater than the CH-46.

In a mission where a pilot is navigating great distances in unfamiliar areas of the world, often in poor weather or at night, pilots must be able to rely on certain equipment in the cockpit to safely transport troops or lift external cargo. Upgraded navigation and communication systems and a cockpit lighting system that is compatible with night vision goggles greatly enhance the safety and success of medium lift missions.

Although the capabilities of the Osprey will significantly increase the mission capabilities and success of medium lift missions, according to Lt. Col. Evan LeBlanc, the commanding officer of VMM-161 -- one thing hasn’t changed.

“The things that make the Marine Corps strong isn’t the aircraft. It’s the Marines,” said LeBlanc.

Although the first VMM-161 Osprey landed at MCAS Miramar in early December, the squadron expects 11 more to complete the 19-month transition.

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Feature: The Osprey: She Is High Maintenance, But Marines Love Her Anyway Continued from page 22

protection system.

The MV-22 has been involved in a number of assault and support missions in Afghanistan, including an early morning raid that reportedly trapped a number of Taliban fighters in a “kill box” formed by Osprey-deployed marines and AH-1 Cobra helicopters. The aircraft have inserted Special Forces units and Afghan army units in nighttime operations and have ferried injured and wounded Afghan citizens to field hospitals.

“The Ospreys are invaluable and welcome assets in Afghanistan,” said Maj. Carl Redding, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps. Since arriving in early November, the aircraft have flown more than 11,000 hours in 650 sorties and counting. They have transported more than 9,000 passengers and more than 350,000 pounds of cargo. Their mission capable rating has been seven out of 10 each day, a comparable rate to their performance in Iraq.

“The MV-22 is the medium-lift assault craft of choice,” said Redding.

Freeland said marines are applying the lessons that they learned in Iraq about how to employ the aircraft. They understand its capabilities and are leveraging them. More importantly, they are treating the tilt-rotor like any other aircraft in the Marine Corps inventory. “That’s very, very good to see,” said Freeland. “We’re very pleased to see the normalization of the MV-22.”

AV-8B Harriers and MV-22 Ospreys from VMM 162 aboard USS Nassau sailing through the Caribbean Sea Photo taken by Sgt. Alex C.

Sauceda, USMC

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Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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Feature

What’s Missing in the Common Cockpit? A Moving Map Article by CDR Peter Corrao, USN

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oday, you’ll be hard pressed to buy a new car that does not offer the option of some kind of GPS mapping system. All though they vary by manufacture, these GPS moving maps are popular because they allow a quick easy way for the operator to orient their geospatial location as well as quickly determine a route to their intended destination. If this tool is so useful to the average driver, why was it left out of the Common Cockpit?

1.Moving Maps In general, moving maps all provide the same information: a representation of the relationship between the location of the user and a specific geographic area in which the user is located. As the user’s position changes, the map adjusts to keep the user’s geospatial position and thus geospatial awareness accurate.

The benefits of moving maps as an enhancement to situational awareness in general are well understood by both government and private agencies and will not be discussed in this paper. This paper will specifically discuss moving maps in relation to general U.S. military flight profiles.

The U.S. military recognized the need for a moving map as far back as 1979. The first digital map was created

by Harris Corporation for the U.S. Air Force F-117 Nighthawk. Since then, moving maps have been installed by several different companies on aircraft, such as the C-130, F-16, F/A-18, AH1Z, UH-1Y and the AH-64, to name a few .

MH-60S and MH-60R mission sets are well known and will not be rehashed in detail here. In review, the missions vary for purely over water actions including Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) to overland missions such as Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR or AH). From the author’s experience, seldom do these missions cover exclusively one type of geography over another, but instead start in one geographic region and end in another.

This can be attributed to the fact that Navy helicopters are often ship-based but work in the littorals. Even in the case of open water operations, artificial boundaries are instantiated by naval battle groups to de-conflict dissimilar operations. An example of this would be ensuring low-flying aircraft such as helicopters do not inadvertently wander in the carrier landing pattern of much faster fixed-wing aircraft. Even purely ASW work requires to some extent knowledge of sea bottom topography.

Generally, from the author’s experience, a sizable portion of Navy

2. Moving Map MH-60S Implementation With the corporate understanding of the benefits of moving maps prevalent in the helicopter community and aviation in general, the question is begged on how did a moving map get overlooked in the original common cockpit design process?

Early in the Common Cockpit acquisition process, the U.S. Navy never specifically identified a moving map solution to navigation and other functional requirements defined in the ORD. This has the potential to make a coherent human-cockpit interface design difficult. Sprinkled throughout the ORD were numerous requirements to display some type of geo-spatial information to the crew.

For example, section 4.2.1.1, in discussing the Airborne Mine Counter Measures (AMCM) functional requirements states the following: A precise helicopter AMCM minefield navigation system is required to accurately determine, display, record and report geospatial position of mine-like object… cockpit Continue on page 25

D HSM-71’s MH-60R in flight along the shoreline. Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin

flying is either overland or in close proximity to some form of land mass or relevant geographical partitioning.

This may include international maritime boarders as well as designated “restricted” areas where entry would violate national or international flight regulations. Thus, one should conclude that geographical situational awareness is applicable to both overland and oversea mission sets and is thus entirely applicable to the MH-60S and MH-60R and their associated missions.

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uring October of 2009, while doing research for a thesis, the author conducted surveys of pilots familiar with the MH-60S and DMK. The DMK was universally discounted by all pilots interviewed as a useful front seat tool for any type of relevant geospatial situational awareness information. Based on pilot comments, this is primarily due to the heads-down nature of the DMK. Interview subjects reiterated that the DMK was much more a distraction than help to mission accomplishment.

Feature: What’s Missiing In The Common Cockpit? A Moving Map

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primary navigation (either INS or GPS) position information and power supply to support the moving map. The MH-60S kneeboard moving map shall be capable of pre-flight loading and in-flight display of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) raster product format data and vector data that incorporates and overlays geo-referenced navigation and waypoint/ flight data onto a common map background. The moving map shall be capable of input and output in either latitude/longitude or Military Grid Reference System (MGRS). When hardware map features already located the Navy implements the Common on the MFDs. Grid Reference System (CGRS), it will be incorporated into the moving map 3.What about the Digital Map system. A cockpit moving map display Kneeboard? greatly increases pilot situational The introduction of Block awareness. A self-contained moving II and III production models and the map system will be an objective system implementation of the Armed Helo for the MH-60S. mission brought the need for a moving 4. Does the DMK Fill the Need? map to the forefront. Hamstrung by the FMC limitation as discussed in During October of 2009, while Chapter V, NAVAIR opted to integrate a doing research for a thesis, the author kneeboard moving map and introduced conducted surveys of pilots familiar a change to the MH-60S ORD that with the MH-60S and DMK. The DMK specifically outlined a kneeboard moving was universally discounted by all pilots map specification . Section 4.3.9 of the interviewed as a useful front seat tool for ORD defines the requirement: any type of relevant geospatial situational awareness information. Based on pilot A kneeboard moving map which comments, this is primarily due to is useable during both unaided and the heads-down nature of the DMK. Night Vision Device (NVD) flight will Continue on page 26 provide digital navigation for each pilot.

The aircraft will be modified to provide

H-60S and MH-60R mission sets are well known and will not be rehashed in detail here. In review, the missions vary for purely over water actions including Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) to overland missions such as Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR or AH). From the author’s experience, seldom do these missions cover exclusively one type of geography over another, but instead start in one geographic region and end in another.

Continued from page 24

displays shall provide the capability for the aircrew to maneuver the helicopter along a desired/selected track.

Consideration was given to an integrated moving map for the Common Cockpit prior to production.

Tasked by the Navy, Naval Research Laboratory did discuss the need for an integrated moving map for the MH-60S in 2001. Although the initial plan was to implement the first MH-60S moving map to support the CSAR mission, the major thrust of the program was to help support the ASW and MCM mission .

The push for the moving map was also driven by the success that moving maps had in providing heightened situational awareness in the F/A-18 Hornet and AV8B Harrier .

Prior to production aircraft 120, the possibility of MFD integrated moving map was moot. The first generation of the Common Cockpit included as part of its hardware a key computing device called the Flight Mission Computer (FMC) that lacked sufficient computing power to implement a moving map .

According to the MH-60S NATOPS, the FMCs “are provided for information processing and data management. The FMCs execute Flight Management Program (FMP) software and provide all flight management functions” , p.

VII-15-20]. Since production aircraft 120, however, the all FMCs in new production aircraft, as well as fleet aircraft, have been replaced with the Mission Computer (MC), which is capable of driving the necessary A pilot and co-pilot at the controls. Photo is courtesy of Lockheed Martin Mission Systems hardware and software to utilize the and Sensors.

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Feature: What’s Missiing In The Common Cockpit? A Moving Map Continued from page 25

Interview subjects reiterated that the DMK was much more a distraction than help to mission accomplishment.

This finding is not surprising.

The negative impact of any heads-down activity in a cockpit is well documented and blamed for a number of aircraft mishaps. A study analyzed National Transportation and Safety Board accounts of accidents attributed to crew error. Of those reported, “nearly half of these accidents involved lapses of attention associated with interruptions, distractions, or preoccupation with one task to the exclusion of another task.”

Of these distracting activities, four categories were defined: • both internal and external communication • searching for VMC traffic • responding to abnormal situations • head-down work An analysis 107 of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports that involved competing

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n general, moving maps all provide the same information: a representation of the relationship between the location of the user and a specific geographic area in which the user is located. As the user’s position changes, the map adjusts t o k e e p t h e u s e r ’s geospatial position and thus geospatial awareness accurate.

tasks was also conducted. Sixty-nine percent of these reports were attributed to “either failure to monitor the current

status or position of the aircraft, or failure to monitor the actions of the pilot who was flying or taxing” . In 35 of the ASRS reports, the pilot not flying was distracted from monitoring the flying pilot from other tasks, of which 13 involved some kinds of head-down activity. Clearly “head down” is not the place to be.

5. Recommendation Implement a moving map: All of the pilots interviewed said an integrated MFD moving map would greatly improve geo-spatial situational awareness during every aspect of flight regardless of mission. NAVAIR as well recognized this fact and developed the practically useless DMK as noted earlier. Considering the positive impact a truly MFD integrated moving map would have, NAVAIR should expedite this design well ahead of the current plan to field it in 2016, assuming it gets funded .

Naval Safety Center

Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” for Sailors and Marines Article by Jack Stewart, Naval Safety Center

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ommander, Naval Safety Center (NSC) advises the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) as a special advisor for managing the aviation, afloat, shore, and occupational safety programs for the Navy and Marine Corps.

Commanded by RADM Arthur J. “Blackjack” Johnson, the NSC focuses on providing safety assistance and advice to the CNO, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Deputy Assistant SECNAV for Safety, and ultimately to the Fleet and Fleet Marine Forces. The NSC oversees a network of safety training, education and mishap-prevention programs for Sailors and Marines. First a message from RADM Johnson...

NSC maintains a computerized repository for reports on injuries, occupational illnesses and property damage.

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Continue on page 27

Continued from page 26

Feature: Naval Safety Center -- Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” ...

A Message from Rear Admiral Arthur J. Johnson This is a dynamic and challenging time for Naval Aviation’s helo communities. Recent humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts have made a real difference for those in need.

Off the east coast of Africa our crews are helping to combat piracy on the high seas and keep the area safe for trade and passage. Operations in the Gulf have seen advancements in the use of UAVs, and the added considerations for airspace management. Our rotary-wing capabilities have never been more engaged or more needed.

To help meet these challenges the Naval Safety Center (NSC) provides the assistance, guidance, programs and resources to the fleet to promote safety and prevent mishaps. Our success, though, in reducing and eliminating mishaps requires a concerted team effort from all hands. Everyone needs to be a safety advocate, to step up and enhance our hazard recognition, trend analysis,

risk reduction and mishap-prevention efforts.

Although we have made recent progress in reducing mishaps, on and off duty, we continue to lose personnel and equipment; last year we lost 27 Sailors and Marines in off-duty motorcycle accidents—an unacceptable loss. On the inside front cover of our NSC magazines [Ed. note: Approach, Mech and Sea & Shore magazines], we state, “Mishaps cost time and resources. They take our Sailors, Marines and civilian employees away from their units and workplaces and put them in hospitals, wheelchairs and coffins. Mishaps ruin equipment and weapons. They diminish our readiness ...”

We talk about many programs in this article, but I want to emphasize our efforts with Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), Operational Risk Management (ORM)/ Time Critical Risk Management

( T C R M ) , and fatigue management.

Your partnership, feedback and recommendations are invaluable as we move forward.

Our Directorate of Aviation Safety has 55 committed Navy and Marine Corps officers, enlisted personnel, and civil service professionals. They represent a varied and in-depth level of fleet, Marine and safety expertise. I welcome the opportunity to share with you, the Rotor Review readers, many of the programs and resources provided by our team.

Beginning its operation in 1951, NSC maintains a computerized repository for reports on injuries, occupational illnesses and property damage. The Safety Center gathers information from the fleet, then analyzes and interprets data to help military and civilians develop programs on safety awareness and mishap prevention.

An essential part of naval readiness, NSC’s safety-management responsibilities include training every Sailor and Marine on operational risk management (ORM). The

Safety Center also conducts worldwide mishap investigations, oversight reviews, safety surveys, seminars, and culture workshops. The staff collects, stores and disseminates mishap information to the Fleet and provides liaison support with international military, governmental and industrial safety boards, committees, and councils. A key advocate of command excellence and safety culture promotion, the NSC develops hazard-awareness media, such as safety posters, videos,

magazines, presentations, and website.

As the Navy and Marine Corps’ “one-stop safety shop,” the NSC manages the Department of the Navy’s (DoN) Safety Management System (SMS) of aviation, afloat, shore and occupational and health safety programs. Supporting these efforts, the NSC maintains reports on hazards, mishaps, injuries, occupational illnesses and property damage.

Headquartered at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., the NSC has 220 military, civilian, and reserve staff members who provide support to more than 4,200 commands and detachments worldwide. You can find the Naval Safety Center on the web at: www. safetycenter.navy.mil.

An overiew follows of our Aviation Directorate and the various programs and resources available to keep our aviators, maintainers and support personnel combat ready. We also profile our Communications and Marketing Directorate, which carries our safety message to the fleet.

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lthough we have made recent progress in reducing mishaps, on and off duty, we continue to lose personnel and equipment. Last year alone we lost 27 Sailors and Marines in off-duty motorcycle accidents— an unacceptable loss. On the inside front cover of our NSC magazines [Ed. note: Approach, Mech and Sea & Shore magazines], we state, “Mishaps cost time and resources. They take our Sailors, Marines and civilian employees away from their units and workplaces and put them in hospitals, wheelchairs and coffins. Mishaps ruin equipment and weapons. They diminish our readiness ...”

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Feature: Naval Safety Center -- Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” ... the next big breakthrough in Naval Aviation safety?

NSC, in close cooperation with the Federal Av i a t i o n Administration, the other m i l i t a r y services, other federal agencies that operate aircraft, NSC’s poster on foreign object debris (FOD). Photo courtesy of Naval and industry, Safety Center is developing the next generation of safety programs.

The goal Continued from page 27 is to integrate historical and prognostic The Directorate of Aviation evaluation and management of hazards and their safety risk, to avoid future Safety — Supporting Navy and mishaps and incidents.

Marine Corps Aviation Capt.

Mike Zamesnik’s directorate includes more than 25 As a customer-focused organization, percent of the Navy and Marine Corps the Naval Safety Center aviation safety military and civilian personnel assigned directorate exists to enhance the war-fighting to the NSC and provides direct support capability of the Navy and Marine Corps, to to Naval Aviation. Many other people preserve resources and to improve combat in the command provide support to readiness by preventing mishaps and saving aviation safety and readiness through lives. To accomplish this mission, the NSC relies administrative, legal, financial, afloat, on naval leadership, teamwork, continuous traffic and recreation safety, parachuting, improvement, customer focus, and personal industrial and occupational health, integrity. The Naval Aviation Safety Program information systems, data management is outlined in OpNavInst 3750.6 series. and analysis, and communications and The Naval Aviation Safety marketing.

Program, much like programs currently in The various divisions within place throughout the military, the federal the aviation directorate include aircraft government, and the commercial and general operations, aircraft maintenance and aviation industries, relies on analyses of past material, aircraft mishap investigations, mishaps and identified hazards to prevent aeromedical, culture workshop, and future mishaps. This proactive approach to ORM. They analyze policies, procedures safety has provided considerable success over and practices affecting the safe operation the years. In 1951, Naval Aviation had 2,066 of all Navy and Marine aircraft and Class A mishaps, [Ed. note: See definitions of associated systems. They also analyze mishaps and hazards] with a mishap rate of mishap reports and statistics to detect 54.03 per 100,000 flight hours. By 2009, the aircraft-mishap trends and to formulate various elements of the Naval Aviation Safety corrective recommendations.

Program helped reduce the number of mishaps The divisions work closely to 15 and the mishap rate to 1.26. However, the with aviation operational staffs and units rate has leveled off during recent years. The to make sure they maintain an intimate challenge is not to maintain the current rates but knowledge of current fleet aviation to reduce them even further. How can we break policies, procedures and practices. through the apparent safety floor and achieve

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They conduct studies for initiation of mishap-prevention programs, and review and close-out all Class A Mishap Safety Investigation Reports (MSIRS) and reports of severe hazards. The directorate participates in program reviews, Naval Air Training Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS), contractor and other governmental agency conferences. The directorate also makes recommendations for safety techniques or products, and evaluates acquisition and change proposals.

Aviation Programs and Resources Aviation Safety Surveys The safety-survey program gives the requesting unit’s commanding officer (CO) a “snapshot” of the command’s safety posture. The team tries to visit each squadron once every two years. The survey team’s relationship to the unit is similar like a consultant to a client. Surveys are not inspections, but rather a “white hat” assist visit. No punitive actions come from a survey.

COs should use the survey as a tool for process improvement. Commands should not prepare for a survey, but should go through their normal daily routine on the day of the survey. The one-day survey is conducted on a notto-interfere basis with normal flight schedule, meetings and daily plan.

The survey team usually consists of 13 personnel (four officers and nine senior enlisted). The team looks for, finds and reports problem areas, but then the command takes action to fix any discrepancies. This helps the command to identify hazards and thus mitigate the likelihood of future mishaps. The team’s process of following a specific checklist, seeing what the command has, and then moving into “the training mode” helps to make sure the survey never feels like a reprimand. As a matter of policy, results of a safety survey are not releasable outside the command; in other words, the problem areas are not reported to the group, wing or type Continue on page 29

Feature: Naval Safety Center -- Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” ...

The airfield facilities branch conducts safety surveys of all Navy and Marine Corps air stations, airfields and outlying landing fields.

The team visits each field once every three years for a weeklong survey. The survey team consists of three Navy personnel including a lieutenant limited-duty officer, a master chief or senior chief aviation bos’n mate, and a senior chief or chief air-traffic controller. The facilities safety surveys are designed to provide a snapshot of the command’s airfield operations, support services safety posture and to provide air traffic control (ATC) safety team training. Additionally, the safety team surveys the command’s trafficsafety program. Airfield operations, ATC, Bird and Animal Strike Hazard (BASH), aircraft rescue and firefighting, visiting aircraft line procedures, aviation fuel programs and traffic safety are reviewed during the survey. At the end of the week the team leader debriefs with the CO.

and assistance to the controlling custodian with deep-sea-salvage of lost aircraft. A secondary mission includes supporting the training and education of fleet squadrons in executing their responsibilities in preparing for and conducting mishap investigations.

Although not always required, investigators are ready to depart within four hours for anywhere in the world. An expeditious arrival on-scene facilitates preservation of the evidence and provides timely expertise on site, supporting the mishap squadron and AMB. The investigators have been through the mishap process many times and know what actions and resources will be required for success.

Additionally, they have access to many valuable resources that can contribute to an investigation, including fleet technical-support personnel, aircraftmanufacturer representatives, salvage assets, and aircrew survivability equipment experts. After the field work, the investigators assist the AMB in drafting the MSIR.

Aviation Investigation Division

Aeromedical Division

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commander. However, the NSC shares trend information and common areas of concern with all squadrons and leadership.

Airfield Facilities Surveys

The phone rings at 0330, and the NSC duty officer answers. The caller says, “Good morning, sir,” and identifies himself as the duty officer from a squadron. “I’m calling to report that we’ve had a Class A mishap. Here’s what we know so far … .” With those words, another mishap investigator from the NSC will be on his way to help an Aircraft Mishap Board (AMB) determine the cause of the event.

The mishap investigation division consists of two civilian and three military investigators with over 25 years of combined experience investigating more than 200 mishaps. In addition to the investigators’ personal flying experience, each one has taken numerous courses and attended a host of schools to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the latest investigative techniques for rotary-, fixed-wing, and tilt-rotor aircraft mishaps.

The division’s primary mission is to support the investigation of Navy and Marine Corps aircraft mishaps to determine causal factors and provide recommendations in an effort to prevent recurrence. This effort involves such tasks as direct support to the AMB, liaison with engineering activities and manufacturers,

The aeromedical division has a small but highlyexperienced staff to a d d r e s s aeromedical safety issues.

In surveys of mishap causes, 80 to 85 percent i n v o l v e h u m a n factors, and over half the mishaps have aeromedical causes, so identifying a n d controlling these factors goes a long way to ensure

safe operations.

It’s worth recalling the many ways that aeromedical safety officers (AMSOs), aviation physiologists, aeromedical experimental psychologists (AEPs), aviation corpsmen (AVTs) and flight surgeons (FSs) serve the aviator. Many pilots tend to envision the typical flight surgeon, but this isn’t the only support aviators receive at the hands of their flight surgeons and other aeromedical experts. The division has two FSs, one AMSO, and one AEP on staff.

The aeromedical staff participates in all safety surveys, and works to assess the level of aeromedical services being provided to squadrons. Adequate flight surgeon, AMSO and corpsman staffing, up-to-date physical exams, waiver processing, aircrew education, training on the physiological hazards of flight, management of health and wellness programs, the thoroughness of premishap planning and mishap response are all areas for review. On these surveys, the aeromedical team member will conduct one-on-one training of squadron flight surgeons, aviation safety officers and corpsmen, debriefs the CO on the extent and quality of the aeromedical services he or she is Continue on page 30

MISHAP CATEGORIES AS DEFINED BY OPNAVINST 3750.6R Class A Severity. A Class A mishap is one in which the total cost of damage to property, aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) exceeds $2,000,000, or a naval aircraft is destroyed or missing, or any fatality or permanent total disability results from the direct involvement of naval aircraft or UAV. Loss of a UAV is not a Class A unless the cost is $2,000,000 or greater.

Class B Severity. A Class B mishap is one in which the total cost of damage to property or aircraft or UAVs is more than $500,000 but less than $2,000,000, or a permanent partial disability or the hospitalization of three or more personnel results.

Class C Severity. A Class C mishap is one in which the total cost of damage to progety or aircraft or UAVs is $50,000 or more, but less than $500,000, or an injury requiring five or more lost workdays results.

Hazards. Any occurrence in which to total cost of property or aircraft or UAV damage is less than $50,000 and there are no reportable injuries is not an aviation mishap. Report these events as hazards.

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Feature: Naval Safety Center -- Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” ...

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receiving and suggests areas for improvement.

Studies show that all mishaps have detailed causal chains extending back from the aircrew through staffing, training, resourcing, leadership policies, aircraft design, organizational climate and the like. One of the most recent tools for identifying these layers of influence is the Department of Defense Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). The division is using HFACS to analyze all Class A mishaps over the past 10 years, and has developed “threads” of evidence identifying actionable information over categories of mishaps, which give operators more detail to identify hazards and mitigate risk.

The division also analyzes the aeromedical issues present in all aviation mishaps reported to the NSC, and works closely with AMB flight surgeons and other aeromedical experts in the field to identify the medical and human causal factors which led to the mishap. Fatigue is increasingly being recognized as a root cause of mishaps, and the division is promoting the use of fatigue and performance software modeling programs.

Programs such as the Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FAST) and the Air National Guard’s FlyAwake program analyze sleep and duty schedules of aircrew involved in mishaps, and they proactively improve scheduling practices to control fatigue.

Bird and Animal Strike Hazard (BASH) Bird and animal strikes to aircraft

continue to be a hazard to all aviation activities. Bird strikes cost military and commercial aviation more than $1.5 billion each year in aircraft loss, damage and out-of-service delays. The most important aspect of any BASH program is reporting. Information in these reports of bird and animal activity and actual strikes around the airfield environment provide the most accurate and realtime information for pilot awareness.

The pilot on final approach, the person driving the duty sweeper, the contractor refueling parked aircraft—everyone should contact the tower and relay information regarding wildlife activities that may pose a threat to aircrews and aircraft.

Reports of near misses, aircraft strikes, and dead or wounded animals found in the area are important to maintaining an accurate database. This data increases our ability to address and solve wildlife issues. Information about species, location, and time of day can be valuable regarding problem areas in the airfield environment and low-level routes. We then can identify what attracts the species to a particular area, and in many cases, remove the attractant and modify low-level routes as necessary.

To assist reporting and hazardmitigation efforts, the Navy has partnered with the Smithsonian Bird Identification Lab. To identify remains, blood samples, feathers and skin are sent to the lab. This information is used to update mishap and hazard reports (hazreps). Required forms and instructions for submitting remains can be found on the Naval Safety Center’s website at: www.safetycenter. navy.mil/aviation/ operations/bash/ index.asp

Operational Risk Management (ORM) The NSC was designated Two NSC investigators in Iraq looking at the wreckage of an H-60 as the ORM that had hit another 60 that had landed. Photo courtesy of Naval Safety model manager Center

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to revitalize and improve integration of operational risk-management concepts across the fleet as part of decisions made and actions taken by every Sailor, Marine and civilian employee—on and off duty. As model manager, NSC provides subject matter expertise to the fleet, including collaboration with naval training and assessment commands to improve ORM training and evaluate its effectiveness.

NSC developed a four-pillar approach to revitalize ORM in the fleet: • Policy and leadership initiatives • A focused and relevant education and training continuum • ORM program assessment and feedback and • Tools and resources Development of a focused ORM training continuum is under way, which will direct training to applicable levels based on time in-service and level of responsibility. This effort will ensure all DoN personnel receive targeted ORM training. The Safety Center’s ORM division has two military and two civilians who develop, plan, evaluate, analyze and report all ORM initiatives.

The levels—in-depth, deliberate, time critical—are depicted in a shaded gradient because there are no definitive lines between the three levels of ORM. There is a flow from one level to the next depending on the time available. Each level plays a role in improving our chance of successfully completing the mission. The controls developed at each level are resources we can tap into to accomplish our job or mission during its execution.

Culture Workshops (CW) Dysfunctional organizational cultures lead to practices or habits that can result in mishaps and degraded combat readiness. The culture-workshop program assists commanding officers by identifying organizational strengths and potential hazards, which often arise from unit culture.

Operational excellence exists on a foundation of trust, integrity and leadership that is created and sustained through effective communication. During the workshop, a trained facilitator directs individual and group discussions to discover underlying culture elements within the command. The CO receives feedback during a frank debrief. Specific results do not leave the squadron. However, the NSC uses CO critiques as a process-improvement Continue on page 31

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Feature: Naval Safety Center -- Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” ...

tool, and to provide senior leadership with an aggregate list of risks faced by COs. After the workshop, COs may make hazard assessments and risk decisions, implement controls, and exercise leadership to fine-tune their unit’s culture.

To maximize objectivity and confidentiality of the results, the NSC carefully selects and trains Navy and Marine Corps active-duty and Reserve officers (typically O-5 or O-6) from outside the unit’s chain of command as facilitators. Units requesting a culture workshop need to arrange for two additional personnel (typically a lieutenant or company-grade officer, and a CPO or staff noncommissioned officer) from a sister or like unit to assist the facilitator.

Maintenance Risk Management Presentation The NSC provides a variety of services in an effort to raise fleet awareness and improve focus regarding safety culture and readiness.

Among our most successful and well-received services is the Maintenance Risk Management (MRM) presentation. NSC personnel present it in a multimedia format, upon request from the individual command. It runs approximately 1.5 hours in length. The MRM uses a mix of slides, pictures, videos and real-world experiences to emphasize concepts, practices, procedures and pitfalls associated with the aviation maintenance environment. This presentation targets the “deckplate” maintainer, all maintenance managers and serves as an outstanding tool to aid in the recalibration of individual and organizational mind-sets. This presentation is best suited for large audiences, i.e. aviation squadrons, organizational and intermediate level activities, air stations, aviation facilities and detachments.

Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) MFOQA involves analyzing and visualizing flight data to give users objective information they can act on to reduce risks and improve operational efficiencies. The military has derived MFOQAfrom commercial aviation’s Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program. The program includes animated flight replays and single-flight analysis/reporting that aircrew and maintenance personnel can use for flight performance feedback during postflight debriefs. The program enables aircrews to

self-monitor their performance and correct detected deficiencies. The program also gives squadron leaders automated reporting and query capabilities to provide greater insight into aircraft maintenance and operations, flight safety, and aircrew training and proficiency at the individual and squadron levels.

ORM Chart displaying the Risk Management Levels Type-wing and air wing commanders commodores aviation program. It is a web-based mechanism can objectively monitor and assess for aircrew and maintenance personnel to fleetwide operations, determine if and anonymously report information relevant to what changes in policies and directives aircraft operations and maintenance. ASAP may be needed, and effectively assess data is collected, analyzed, and trended to the results of any changes implemented. provide squadron leadership with a timely While MFOQA is being introduced to means to identify unsafe practices or the helo and Hornets communities, other conditions (i.e., mishap leading indicators) aircraft types will follow. and take appropriate action without the MFOQA animated replays have need to identify individuals involved. It also enhanced the quality of aircrew debriefs, provides insight into the command’s safety especially multiship engagements, and climate that augments information gained have been used to conduct postflight from other sources such as the NSC safety reviews of aircrew performance during surveys and culture workshops. No flight evaluation flights, actual in-flight data is required. emergencies and mishap investigations.

As with prototype MFOQA Timely and user-friendly capabilities, fleet users have benefited from MFOQA data-visualization capabilities the use of the first generation ASAP. Report have aided maintenance personnel submissions have alerted squadrons to with system troubleshooting. One user unsafe practices that have been mitigated reported a time savings of eight hours with leadership’s increased emphasis on to diagnose an engine malfunction, and standard operating procedures adherence MFOQA was credited for the successful and relevant training. Aircrew reports have resolution of a recurring flight-control- helped quantify the extent of specific aircraftsystem problem that had previously systems-related problems. ASAP has also been characterized as “cannot duplicate provided a more objective means to quantify on deck.” Quality assurance personnel the extent of unsafe conditions, including have used MFOQA to validate human and material factors.

ASAP analytical results include functional-check-flight data and to determine if functional systems checks summaries and trends of reported actions by aircrew and maintenance personnel (both were performed correctly. good and bad), recurring aircraft systems Aviation Safety Awareness problems, and individuals’ perceptions of Program (ASAP) their overall command safety climates.

ASAP, like MFOQA, is a derivative of an established commercial Continue on page 32

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Feature: Naval Safety Center -- Your “One-Stop Safety Shop” ...

Continued from page 31

The Communications and Marketing Directorate There are several ways to become aware of the NSC, including safety surveys and the many programs just described. The command’s website is a popular way that most fleet personnel know the command. Or read the safety center’s magazines: Approach, Mech, Sea&Shore, and Smart Ride.

Website Attracting more than 1.8 million page requests per month, www.safetycenter. navy.mil consistently ranks near the top Navy websites in terms of Internet traffic. The site offers the traditional safety tools: presentations, articles, news stories, checklists, statistics and technical information. A recent growth area for the website has been videos, as we create, acquire and post a steady stream of new, high-quality public service announcements and safety advertisements. Also available on the site’s main page, playable with a single click, are humorous vodcasts and podcasts showcasing the popular “Friday Funnies,” based on the command’s well-known weekly Summary of Mishaps AlSafe message. Another popular feature is the “Order by Mail” poster assortment, which sends hundreds of posters a week to fleet units on request.

Approach magazine “There I was.” Since 1955 Approach magazine has guided our Navy and Marine Corps aviation professionals with information, statistics and a bit of humor. Most of all, Approach has given aviators a place to share stories, misdeeds, and adventures, to make us better, safer and more effective. These firstperson, or “There I was,” stories have been the basis for Approach since its inception.

This sharing of stories also has bonded naval aviators—past and present—to one another and to the profession itself. Picture yourself with a damaged aircraft, operating in blue water, with a pitching deck and enough gas for one, maybe two, approaches, and you have everything needed for a “There I was” story. More than 15,000 copies published bimonthly, and as with all our media products, available on line.

Mech magazine Since 1961 Mech magazine has

helped improve Naval Aviation safety by providing a format to share stories and provide tips for military aviation maintenance professionals. Through the years Mech has been the Navy and Marine Corps’ leading aviation maintenance safety magazine. It deals with maintenance causal factors and servicing errors, and includes accidents, incidents, flight hazards and ground accidents. It’s published quarterly, has a fleetwide distribution of more than 17,000 copies, and is read by more than 100,000 Sailors and Marines.

Sea&Shore magazine This publication provides a forum for sharing safety-related stories from Sailors and Marines at afloat and shore-duty stations around the world.

Stories usually represent a mix of onand off-duty events, with emphasis on the latter. Perhaps the most popular attraction is Sea&Shore’s annual traffic-safety issue, which appears each spring. Published quarterly, Sea&Shore has a distribution of more than 25,000 copies destined for Sailors, Marines, and their families.

Smart Ride magazine This annual magazine addresses topics ranging from the all-important personal protective equipment to the differences between sport bikes and cruisers. It helps add to a rider’s knowledge after he or she takes an approved motorcycle-safety course. Articles deal with the basic mental strategies of motorcycle-safety awareness and risk management—one more tool to help riders stay ahead of the curve and on the road.

Award (sponsored by the Daedalian Foundation) and the Grampaw Pettibone Award.

Safety awards recognize operational excellence, exemplary safety contributions and to further the Naval Aviation Safety Program.

The awards recognize economy of operations through safety. In addition to an outstanding safety record, commands and ships selected must have aggressive aviation safety programs that contribute new ideas in mishap prevention for the general benefit of Naval Aviation.

Professional reporting is essential to the success of the Naval Aviation Safety Program, consequently, safety awards are presented partly as a result of comprehensive and reputable reporting. Consideration for CNO safety awards requires meeting the highest standards of aviation safety.

The CNO Aviation Safety Award is awarded to Navy and Marine Corps squadrons. The Admiral Flatley Memorial Award is awarded to one CV/CVN and associated CVW and to one LHA/LHD and associated MEU. The Naval Aviation Readiness Through Safety Award and Admiral James S. Russell Naval Aviation Flight Safety Award are given to an aircraft controlling custodian.

T h e G r a m p a w Pettibone Award is awarded to an individual and to a Navy or Marine Corps aviation unit that contributed the most toward aviation safety awareness through publications. Starting in 2008 the NSC added an award for excellence in electronic media.

The award commemorates the work of the late CAPT Seth Warner, USN, originator of Grampaw Pettibone, and the late Mr. Robert Osborn, illustrator of Grampaw Pettibone.

CNO Aviation-Related Safety Awards

On behalf of the CNO, the Commander NSC administers and reviews nominations and awards the CNO Aviation Safety Award, the Admiral Flatley Memorial Award (sponsored by The Boeing Company), the Naval Aviation Readiness Through Safety Award, the Admiral James S. Russell Naval Aviation Flight Safety

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Naval Safety Center publications

The Beginnings

Article and Photos submitted by CAPT Vincent C. Secades, USN (Ret)

The Breguet Gyroplane No.1, which was flown first in August 1908

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t is a seldom-recognized historical fact that throughout human history, man’s efforts to achieve vertical flight have significantly preceded and exceeded those aimed at building airplanes. In fact, the very first man-made device of any kind to fly under its own power was a vertical flight toy developed by the Chinese way back in the fourth century B. C. The toy was built with feathers mounted perpendicularly to a bamboo stick. The feathers were set at a slight angle of attack to generate lift upon rotation. The stick was spun by hand or by pulling on a wound string. This simple toy heralded the birth of the most wondrous of all flying machines, the helicopter, a real flying carpet with the ability to go straight up, or straight down, fly forward, backwards, or sideways, turn around or hover motionless in one spot, a mechanical hummingbird of unmatched versatility. The reason why practical airplanes were successfully built before helicopters is that the aerodynamic complexities, stability and control problems, dynamic balancing demands, vibration difficulties, and engine

power-to-weight ratio requirements of helicopters are immensely more difficult to master. It took centuries of efforts by many great minds to, step by step, find solutions to the myriad of perplexing problems inherent to helicopter design.

The first full-scale helicopter was proposed by Leonardo da Vinci in one of his notebooks from the 1480s.

Of his now famous drawing of the lifting airscrew design he wrote, “I find that if this instrument with a screw be well made – that is to say, made of linen of which the pores be stopped up with starch – and be turned swiftly, the said screw will make its spiral in the air and it will rise high.” Here we have the first recorded attempt at writing technical specifications for building a helicopter.

Jumping three centuries ahead, in 1784 Mikhail V. Lomonosov, a Russian scientist, actually built what is believed to be the first self-powered flying airscrew. His design was driven by a small spring motor. The Russian Academy of Sciences, after witnessing a demonstration, wrote in its review, “The honorable Advisor Lomonosov demonstrated his invention, called ‘Aerodynamic,’ to be used for the purpose of depressing the air by means of wings rotated horizontally in the opposite directions by the agency of a spring of the type used in clocks in order to lift the Sir George Cayley’s design for a full-scale helicopter in the machine into the upper 1840s layers of the air.”

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historical

Helicopter Development.

At about the same time, a French naturalist named Launoy teamed with an artisan named Bienvenu to build a similar device powered by a steel bow. A thin shaft was inserted through the center of the bow and the bowstring attached to the shaft. As the shaft was rotated by hand, the bow bent. When let go, the shaft rotated as the bow sprung back.

A set of blades was attached to the shaft and another to the base of the bow. Theirs was the first design to use counterrotating rotors to solve the torque problem. The miniature helicopter would shoot upwards, propelled by the counterrotating rotors. Launoy and Bienvenu demonstrated their ingenious device at a gathering of the French Academy of Sciences on 28 April 1784. The device hit the ceiling of the hall and fell back to the floor. The two Frenchmen speculated about building a full-scale model with a giant bow spring and ride it to the heavens. They never did.

In the first half of the nineteenth century Sir George Cayley, an English scientist, built several multi-rotor models that were able to lift into the air. Inspired by a toy helicopter, he began to study heavierthan-air flight at age 19. Throughout his long life, he was the first to organize the study of aeronautics in an orderly fashion. He built the first flyable manned glider. During the 1840s he designed a full-scale helicopter using two pairs of counterrotating rotors, one pair on each side of the fuselage, and an additional pair of pusher propellers to the rear. Cayley’s design was never built. He recognized that a propulsion system powerful enough to achieve flight did not exist. However, many consider his to be the first modern helicopter design.

Continue on page 34

Historical: Helicopter Development. The Beginninings Continued from page 33

In 1842, W. H. Phillips, another Englishman contemporary to Cayley, built and flew a model helicopter powered by steam from a small boiler fueled with charcoal, saltpeter, and gypsum. Steam flowed from nozzles at the tip of the rotor blades, causing them to rotate. The contraption could get airborne, but it was uncontrollable. On its first and only flight, it lifted quickly and zoomed across two farm fields before disappearing. After a long search, Phillips found his machine damaged by the crash landing. Thus, he gave up on the project.

Meanwhile, Cayley turned his energies to exploring the possibilities of powered gliders. However, in 1853, at age 80, he submitted to a French journal the drawings of a new helicopter design with a single three-bladed rotor, the blades made out of tin. A flying model soared to 90 feet.

It was powered by a string wound around the shaft. This design was significant in that it was the first instance of rotor blades made out of metal. Cayley died before he could further refine his design.

In the 1860s the Frenchman Viscount Gustave de Ponton d’Amécourt built and demonstrated various tiny helicopters, including one powered by a clock spring, which lifted into the air and remained aloft until the spring unwound, then descended safely with the aid of a parachute. In 1863, he built a steam-powered model two feet tall, with an aluminum boiler, bronze steam piston engines, and two rotors. The craft was beautifully built, but it could not get airborne with its load of water and fuel. D’Amécourt was the one that put together the words heliko, meaning “spiral,” and pteron, meaning “wing,” to coin a name for his rotorcraft machines. He called them helicopteres. The name stuck and perdured.

Another Frenchman, Alphonse Pénaud, in 1870, at the age of 20 found a way to improve the performance of model helicopters by using rubber bands. He built cheap and sturdy models that would dart to 50 feet and hover for several seconds before descending gently to the ground. Pénaud and other inventors struggled to expand their design into machines that could carry a man aloft. But they all lacked a suitable power source. So frustrating were the failures, and so cruel the ridicule, that Alphonse Pénaud committed suicide at age 30. The twisted

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rubber-band motors, n the first half of the nineteenth however, became the favorite option for model century Sir George Cayley, an English aircraft builders from that scientist, built several multi-rotor time on. Even the great models that were able to lift into the Arthur Young, the creator air. Inspired by a toy helicopter, he of the Bell Model 47 (H13), used rubber bands on began to study heavier-than-air flight his initial models. at age 19. Throughout his long life, In Italy in he was the first to organize the study 1878, Enrico Forlanini, a professor and inventor, of aeronautics in an orderly fashion. built a small steam-powered helicopter model.

He solved the steam engine weight problem scale. He then began to design and test different by forcing superheated steam into a rotors by measuring their lift capabilities. With sphere attached to the rotor shaft. The the motors at his disposal he could only obtain steam escaped through small tangential a maximum of 160 pounds of lift from the best nozzles, making the sphere and the rotor rotor design. He then set up to design and use turn and lift the model. It flew to a more powerful internal combustion engines. He described his efforts in his notes, “I used stockheight of forty feet.

In the 1880s, Thomas Alva ticker paper made into guncotton and fed the Edison tried to solve the challenge of paper into the cylinder of the engine and exploded vertical flight using his knowledge it with a spark. I got good results, but burned of electric motors. He built a test rig one of my men pretty badly and burned off some consisting of a vertical shaft powered by of my own hair and didn’t get much further.” He an electric motor mounted on a weight Continue on page 35

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Historical: Helicopter Development. The Beginninings Breguet built a contraption consisting and Cornu, a fixed-wing biplane with Henry of a tubular fuselage in the shape of a Farman at the controls won the Deutschcross with a pair of four-bladed coaxial Archdeacon prize on 13 January 1908. As rotors mounted over the end of each with Breguet’s design, Cornu’s craft was of the four arms. Breguet was aiming plagued with lack of stability and control in to win the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize flight. These problems, theretofore never (named after its two wealthy sponsors) considered, would besiege future helicopter of 50,000 francs ($10,000) offered to development. the first pilot who could fly its aircraft

In 1909 and 1910, a young around a one-kilometer closed circuit Russian named Igor Sikorsky attempted course. The Wright brothers, the only to develop a practical helicopter. He built designers with a machine that could two helicopters. This is how he described meet the challenge, had decided not his early experiences: “The first machine to compete for the award. Breguet’s machine, called the Gyroplane No. 1, first flew on 29 September 1907. At the center of the frame, next to the Antoinette 40 hp engine, sat the pilot, one of Breguet’s assistants named Volumard, chosen because he weighted 110 pounds, and because he was brave enough, or foolish enough to sit in the middle of 32 flailing blades. The craft rose to a height of two feet and hovered for two minutes while being held by four very courageous men to prevent erratic movements. This was the first Florine’s tandem-rotor helicopter first flew in time in history that a rotary-winged April 1933. The engine’s small propeller is only aircraft had ever lifted a man off the used for engine cooling. ground. In 1908, Breguet built two more helicopters. They where beset by achieved little results except mainly to teach lack of power and complete instability. me how things should not be done. This is a On 22 July 1908, one of his machines very important experience, as every engineer rose to fifteen feet and crashed. Breguet knows. In 1910, I built the second helicopter, gave up on the helicopter and became which was lighter and had a total empty a very successful airplane designer. In weight of about 400 pounds. The power was the 1930, however, he would return to again 25 hp with two lifting propellers of 19 helicopter development. feet diameter, rotating in opposite directions On 13 November 1907, another at 160 rpm. This was sufficient to lift the Frenchman, Paul Cornu, aiming at the machine off the ground without a man in it, same 50,000-Franc prize, achieved the however. While this was done, the machine first helicopter true free flight when his had to be kept inside a sort of railing because craft rose a few feet for twenty seconds. she was unstable.” This early attempts His was the first tandem rotor design, convinced Sikorsky that he didn’t have the consisting of two two-bladed rotors, knowledge, or the financial resources to twenty feet in diameter, mounted bring the helicopter to success at that time. forward and aft on a tubular fuselage. After a successful career designing and It also featured two tilted wind vanes, building airplanes, he returned to helicopters one under each rotor, intended to in the 1930s. Then the story would be quite provide forward propulsion. During different. the following months, Cornu managed Meanwhile, in Denmark a young to lift off the ground fifteen times, engineer named Jacob C. H. Ellehammer once with his brother, who was trying was also engaged in the design of a vertical to keep the machine from tipping, flight machine. A prolific inventor, he The de Bothezat helicopter first flew on 18 hanging from the frame. This was the had designed and built the first fixedDecember 1922. The dangling rope was used to first two-man helicopter flight ever. To wing aircraft to fly in Scandinavia. On 28 the disappointment of both Breguet Continue on page 46 measure craft altitude.

Continued from page 34

concluded that the helicopter would have to wait until an engine that weighed no more than about four pounds per horsepower could be developed.

Edison discontinued his research into vertical flight, still believing that the helicopter held the greatest potential for manned flight in the future.

He wrote, “Whatever progress the aeroplane might make, the helicopter will come to be taken up by the advance students of aeronautics.”

Finally, as the twentieth century arrived, more powerful gasoline engines were developed.

These engines enabled the Wright brothers to make man’s first powered flight in 1903. Up to this time, all the early rotorcraft efforts had consisted on building models that, with the propulsion devices then available, could achieve vertical lift.

With the new engines, now it became possible to build full-scale models that could carry a man aloft. In the next forty years men would finally achieve powered vertical flight, only to discover this to be but the first step in what would be an enormously difficult technological challenge.

With this new capability came the discovery of a new set of difficulties, theretofore only suspected.

The hideous stability and controllability problems that would ensue once the helicopter began to attempt hover and forward flight would plague the small band of visionaries that, braving skepticism and ridicule, labored persistently for nearly half a century before the first practical helicopters came to fruition.

Foremost among the early pioneers was Louis Charles Brequet, a French engineer, member of a family of makers of watches, scientific instruments, and electrical equipment. Since his childhood, he had a passion for aviation and believed that rotary-wing crafts would eventually overtake the fledgling airplanes. In 1905 he built a pseudo-wind-tunnel consisting of a motorized carousel with four arms where he could mount wing sections, rotor blades, or fuselage shapes and measure the lift and drag forces generated by their movement through the air. In 1907,

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n the present, the long awaited transition of the Helo Master Plan is well underway. MH-60Ss have been established workhorses for years, and new MH-60Rs are delivered every month. New squadrons are standing up or swapping aircraft on both coasts, and fresh fleet replacement pilots and aircrewmen hit the fleet almost daily.

The transition between aircraft may not have been easy, but the greatest hurdles in that race may already have been passed. Another transition, full of challenges and opportunities, is still largely ahead of us. We must redesign our squadrons and recondition our minds to fit a new mold: HSM and HSC carrier-based operations...

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Squadron vs. Detachment Rotor Review # 108 Winter â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10

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The True Value of the Transition Article by LT Anthony Amodeo, USN

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s a midshipman, I spent July of 2001 with HSL44 in Mayport, FL. It was an effective summer cruise, because the Swamp Foxes taught me several invaluable lessons that helped me get me where I am today. Hovering is harder than it looks.

Never play water polo with AWs. San Diego is better.

That summer was also the first time I had ever heard of a “Romeo”, and not in a pleasant context. Over lunch at Bogey’s the conversation must have turned to the aging SH-60Bs at the hangar.

Someone said “yeah, but we’re getting those Romeo’s any day now.” Everybody laughed. I didn’t get it, but I laughed too.

Six years later I was a junior HAC at HSL-47 in San Diego. Somehow I and a few peers from other communities were invited to CNAF’s house for breakfast.

The admiral and his wife were very good hosts, and the handful of us enjoyed a lovely morning.

As coffee was being cleaned up, the admiral asked if anyone at the table had flown an MH-60R yet. All eyes turned to

me, the only HSL pilot in the room. Full of pastries, I had let my guard down.

“No sir,” I said, “but the word on the street is that we’re getting them any day now.” Nobody laughed. And it had been such a lovely morning.

In the present, the long awaited transition of the Helo Master Plan is well underway. MH-60Ss have been established workhorses for years, and new MH-60Rs are delivered every month. New squadrons are standing up or swapping aircraft on both coasts, and fresh fleet replacement pilots and aircrewmen hit the fleet almost daily.

The transition between aircraft may not have been easy, but the greatest hurdles in that race may already have been passed. Another transition, full of challenges and opportunities, is still largely ahead of us. We must redesign our squadrons and recondition our minds to fit a new mold: HSM and HSC carrier-based operations.

I was fortunate to arrive at my fleet squadron near the beginning of this process. At the time, HSL47 was the only HSL squadron that

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deployed onboard an aircraft carrier as a whole. In a now-familiar design, three detachments spread across our strike group with one or two aircraft each. As an H2P on deployment, I spent three months on a detachment and another three months on the carrier. As a HAC during workups I bounced around a bit more.

As a result of all that moving around, I became comfortable in two different worlds. I found that each environment offers not only unique challenges, but also learning opportunities (in and out of the cockpit) that can’t be found anywhere else.

Rather than competing alternatives, they are really two distinct halves of a bigger picture.

Flying from an aircraft carrier is certainly intense. Especially as a junior aircraft commander, you must learn to be decisive, confident, and above all, punctual. The expectations for your performance could not be higher, and the scrutiny makes you sharp. Fortunately, for living with such stress you are Continue on page 40

Photo above: HSC-8 underway with USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Photo courtesy of HSC-8 Public Affairs Office

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The True Value of the Transition

HSL-44 Det SIX Continued from page 38

rewarded with a little extra space and a lot of extra food.

Inside the skin of the ship, exposure to the planning and operations of the strike group and airwing offers many opportunities for professional growth. Daily interaction with different communities develops a more thorough knowledge of naval aviation. Living on the carrier is at once exciting and humbling, and you quickly understand your small role in a much larger machine.

Similarly, smaller ships have many of their own advantages. Working on a detachment offers opportunities for leadership and camaraderie that just can’t be replicated elsewhere. The creature comforts may be lacking, but membership in a small, talented, and colorful team can be its own reward.

With fewer hands to share the load, each individual’s responsibilities are much greater on a small boy. You must be an expert in many areas at once and often get the feeling of performing without a net.

Most importantly, flying off the back of a cruiser, frigate, or destroyer is simply empowering. The sense of independence and ownership is unrivaled. The learning curve is very steep, and the maturation process quick.

Not to mention the daily (more often nightly) challenge of finding the trap on an unstable deck with the hangar face looming before you.

My ship-hopping experience was somewhat unique five years ago, although HSL detachments on aircraft carriers and HS detachments on single-spot ships are certainly not new concepts. Recently, however, more versatile helicopter squadrons have become the norm. On CVW-9’s 2009 deployment with the USS John C. Stennis Strike Group, HSM-71 operated three 3-aircraft detachments in addition to the deployed squadron core. HSC-8 also demonstrated the ability to cross-

deck MH-60Ss to CRUDES assets. It is not hard to imagine that within just a few years every rotary-wing aviator will have experienced multiple platforms first-hand.

Our new aircraft put fantastic new tools in our hands, but the new model of helicopter deployment will make us more capable to employ them. Armed with broader experiences, pilots and aircrewmen of the HSM/HSC era will be better integrated than their predecessors.

Perhaps the greatest advance in the naval helicopter community is not a hardware improvement at all, but a new way of operating – and a new generation of operator.

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imilarly, smaller ships have many of their own advantages. Working on a detachment offers opportunities for leadership and camaraderie that just can’t be replicated elsewhere. The creature comforts may be lacking, but membership in a small, talented, and colorful team can be its own reward.

With fewer hands to share the load, each individual’s responsibilities are much greater on a small boy.

You must be an expert in many areas at once and often get the feeling of performing without a net.

HSC and HSM Weapons Schools Assist Changing Communities Article by LT Trevor “MENSA” Prouty, USN

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he Navy H-60 community has gone through a renaissance over the last few years, as platforms that will continue to lead naval aviation into the twenty-first century replace airframes that have faithfully served the fleet for over twenty years. This transition has included more than a shift in mechanical platforms, but also a reexamining of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that have defined each H-60 variant and its operators. The introduction of the Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10 Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) and Helicopter Maritime Strike Continue on page 41

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he respective Weapons Schools of each community have worked to ease this transition, and have utilized the expertise of both the HSC and HSM communities to enhance their joint training evolutions. This effort has resulted in a closer degree of cooperation between the two communities, with the40end result being a more refined and efficient naval helicopter force.

HSC and HSM Weapons Schools Assist Changing Communities Continued from page 40

(HSM) communities, along with their associated new aircraft types, also signaled a new realm of operations for each of the H-60 communities.

Requirements now exist for the two communities to function not only collocated in a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) or theater of operation, but for them to effectively and efficiently complement each other onboard the same vessel.

The respective Weapons Schools of each community have worked to ease this transition, and have utilized the expertise of both the HSC and HSM communities to enhance their joint training

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he Navy H-60 community has gone through a renaissance over the last few years, as platforms that will continue to lead naval aviation into the twenty-first century replace airframes that have faithfully served the fleet for over twenty years. This transition has included more than a shift in mechanical platforms, but also a reexamining of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that have defined each H-60 variant and its operators.

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evolutions. This effort has resulted in a closer degree of cooperation between the two communities, with the end result being a more refined and efficient naval helicopter force.

Specific recent examples of the intertwined training requirements and their direct benefit to the fleet include the introduction of NVG tactical formation (TACFORM) flying to the HSM community, and the concentration on counter-illicit trafficking (CIT) operations as a mission set for the everexpanding HSC community.

Jacksonville, Florida A recent dark night in Jacksonville, Florida, indicated the increased degree of cooperation between the HSC and HSM Atlantic Weapons Schools. In order to ensure that the HSM Weapons School Atlantic is in a position to help the fleet in the future, it recently reached out to the HSC Weapons School Atlantic to receive initial training in NVG TACFORM flying and instruction. Although not a traditionally trained-to skill set in the HSM community, formation flying is emerging as a necessary capability in the realm of carrier based helicopter aviation. Carrier Air Wing NINE has already shown the ability of the Sierra and Romeo to operate in the high traffic airspace of the carrier. An aptitude for flying formation is often required in the vicinity of the battle group, both for air space management purposes and also for tactical reasons. To address this fleet need, the joint training evolutions in Jacksonville included four hours of NVG formation instruction. These flights encompassed two pilots and two aircrewmen from the HSC Weapons School Atlantic flying in an H-60 Bravo aircraft. These HSC Weapons School Atlantic aircrew provided advanced instruction to HSM Weapons School Atlantic aircrew regarding this valuable skill set. At the conclusion of the training evolutions, the HSM Weapons School Atlantic possessed four qualified aircrew who could instruct NVG TACFORM in the HSM community, a requirement necessitated by the realities of the modern Carrier Strike Group.

Western Caribbean Sea Another example of exemplary cooperation between the HSC and HSM Weapons Schools recently helped the Navy make world headlines. The February 16th deployment of USS Freedom (LCS 1) to conduct operation in the U.S. 4th Fleet area of focus has proven to be a ground breaking operation. The CIT mission sets, to which HSC-22 Det TWO trained, included roles traditionally carried out by the HSM community.

The HSC Weapons School Atlantic played a major role in ensuring the aircrew of HSC-22 Det TWO

Rotor Review # 108 Winter â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10 Continue on page 42

Armed MH-60R in flight. Photo courtesy of HSM71 Public Affairs Office.

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HSC and HSM Weapons Schools Assist Changing Communities

Continued from page 41

received the required training to excel in these mission areas, creating an entirely new syllabus to prepare the aircrew of HSC-22 Det TWO for CIT operations. The HSC Weapons School received input and advice from the HSM Weapons School and their acquired knowledge in this area. Only seven days into the deployment of USS Freedom, the men and women of HSC-22 Det TWO had an opportunity to capitalize on their training, and succeeded in a spectacular manner. LCS-1 and HSC-22 Det TWO productively combined to disrupt the operation

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lthough not a traditionally trainedto skill set in the HSM community, formation flying is emerging as a necessary capability in the realm of carrier based helicopter aviation. Carrier Air Wing NINE has already shown the ability of the Sierra and Romeo to operate in the high traffic airspace of the carrier.

of a “go-fast” vessel off the coast of Columbia, resulting in the recovery of over a quarter of a ton of cocaine.

Effectiveness through Cooperation

The new Navy helicopter H-60 platforms, and their expanded roles, have already proven their worth in the fleet. The joint training which has occurred at the respective Weapons Schools has laid the ground work for a highly agile and effective naval helicopter community which will continue to make key differences across the globe in the coming years.

Zero To One Detachment In Two Days Article by LT Matthew Mravlja, USN

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s the world realized and began responding to the devastation caused by the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, it became immediately apparent that the United States Navy would play a crucial role in both the initial rescue/relief phase and the country’s long-term recovery. Critical to this success was the Naval Helicopter community, comprised of a diverse group of detachments and aircraft from numerous sea-going squadrons, and at least one non-sea going squadron.

Fleet experienced pilots take for granted the flexibility that a detachment-based HS-15 in Port-au-Prince. Photo operational squadron provides. Many of us have been involved in short notice detachments courtesy of HS-15 Public Affairs in support of numerous operations or efforts. So it was no surprise that with only 24 hours notice, Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic (HSCWL) had 19 helicopters flying from the Office eastern coast of the United States to embark on USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and proceed to Haiti for an undetermined amount of time. Additionally, in the days that followed the Wing directed numerous other east coast fleet helicopter squadrons to put detachments to sea or have those already underway continue to Haiti, including the east coast MH-60S Fleet Replacement Squadron, HSC-2 Fleet Angels.

Rotor Review # 108theWinter ‘10 42Angels, but many things have changed over the past Historically, Haiti tasking would be “old hat” for the Fleet four years, and HSC-2 no longer maintains a sea going UIC. Things Fleet squadrons take for granted such as pre-established Continue on page 43

Zero To One Detachment in Two Days Continued from page 42

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detachments with personnel assigned, leet experienced pilots take for granted deployable NMCI computers, prethe flexibility that a detachmentdeployment checklists, and pack up kits, were not waiting for the next based operational squadron provides. order to go to sea. What HSC-2 did Many of us have been involved in short have though, which is the cornerstone notice detachments in support of numerous of any Navy helicopter squadron, was a cadre of personnel that were diverse operations or efforts. So it was no surprise in experience, flexibility, and had the that with only 24 hours notice, Helicopter full support of the squadron’s chain of Sea Combat Wing Atlantic (HSCWL) had command and all the resources they could muster.

19 helicopters flying from the eastern coast The diversity of experience of the United States to embark on USS Carl in the Det spanned the full spectrum of Vinson (CVN 70) and proceed to Haiti for an Naval Helicopter aviation. Two of the undetermined amount of time. Additionally, pilots’ operational experiences derived from numerous deployments to Iraq in the days that followed the Wing directed with HSC-84. Others spent their last numerous other east coast fleet helicopter underway time flying the MH-53 and squadrons to put detachments to sea or CH-46. One pilot completed VERTREP and amphibious SAR cruises with HSChave those already underway continue to 23 out of San Diego. Additionally, Haiti, including the east coast MH-60S Fleet there were pilots with fleet experience Replacement Squadron, HSC-2 Fleet Angels. gained at HSC-25, HS-9, and HSC-26.

Among the officers were previous (or current) Quality Assurance officers, NATOPS officers, a SWTI, Detachment (LSD 44). That first day, the detachment transferred over 162,000 pounds of supplies Operations Officers, and AOICs—the and cargo and flew 19 hours. Most of this flying was NVD VERTREP in smokelist goes on. The only people lacking obscured darkness. During the following weeks, the detachment transferred 2.7 were PQMs and H2Ps. The aircrew and million pounds of cargo to a dozen ships, flew 130 hours, completed an underway maintainers, all volunteering to take cross-deck of the entire detachment from Sacagawea to USNS Lewis And Clark a short hiatus from shore duty, were (T-AKE-1), and replenished in Mayport, Florida between runs to Haiti. The flights equally diverse and varied in background included eight to ten hour day VERTREP sessions with the aircraft being hot-seated to night crews working until near midnight. Customer ship positions varied from and experience.

With an all-hands effort by CONREP to those anchored a thousand yards away to those over seven miles away. the detachment, excellent support from Continue on page 44 the Wing and squadron, and a couple of great assists from sister squadrons along the Norfolk seawall, Detachment One embarked onboard USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE-2) on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 and made best speed toward Haiti with thousands of pallets of relief supplies and equipment onboard. Three days later, while 80 miles from anchorage in Port au Prince and one night of DLQs under their belt, the first Det mission in support of Haiti relief efforts launched with a cargo of chilled medical supplies and a motor for the Intensive Care Unit’s air-conditioning system onboard USNS Comfort (T-AH-20).

The Sacagawea dropped Haitian citizens receive water from air crewmen from HSC-9 assigned to the anchor in the bay of Port au Prince aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing shortly before sunset on Friday, January (CVW) 17 are conducting humanitarian and disaster relief operations near 22, 2010, positioned between the Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Rotor Review 43 COMFORT and# 108 USS Winter Gunston‘10 Hall Seaman Aaron Shelley

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Zero To One Detachment in Two Days Continued from page 43

Pilots, aircrew, and maintainers who had never deployed onboard a ship quickly became proficient. There were challenges throughout, most notably, once underway an ever-changing ship and customer schedule that shifted hour by hour, keeping both the aircrew and maintainers in a constant state of flux.

At times the Det was not even sure which ship they would be living on the following day. But, as previously stated, they stayed flexible, changing the things they could and rolling with the punches when necessary.

Regardless of how a squadron is set up or how it has historically operated, in the end its success is based on the personnel involved and the support they are provided. The Naval Helicopter community quickly adapted to overcome all challenges in order to meet the mission assigned, providing hope and critical support to the shattered lives of Haitian victims.

“You

Bet Your Det”

Article by AWCM Carl T. Bailey II, USN and AWCS Jay Barney

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n keeping with the theme of this edition of Rotor Review ”Squadron vs Detachment” I am submitting this article co-written with my fellow Naval Aircrewmen and friend AWSC Jay “Jay-Dub” Barney. Most of my Helicopter deployment experience has been the detachment type. So I will talk a little about the Detachments (Det for short) and Chief Barney will talk to his experience deploying as a squadron. There are basically two types of Det type deployments. The first being where the entire detachment deploys as a unit and the second being where the detachment (both people and aircraft) are ”forward deployed” in other words the Helicopter, Aircrew (both Pilots and Aircremen), and Maintenance folks are already out there at wherever the deployment site might be and people and supplies are cycled back and forth.

Being “Forward Deployed” has its benefits and probably the most beneficial being the constant and sustained source of experience. This is across the board for Enlisted Aircrew, Pilots, and Maintainers...

For every “new guy” you send out to the Det there is already someone there who can show them the ropes. Leadership just needs to be careful not to replace too many folks at one time so you don’t loose the benefit of the experience....another benefit of forward deployed is cost. The cost of sending out replacement personnel and supplies is a

smaller amount of money on a fairly regular basis, where as replacing an entire detachment and all the associated supplies is a fairly large sum of money all at once.

Whether forward deployed or deployed as a unit all at once, in my opinion one of the greatest benefits is the quality of the maintenance of the aircraft. That is not to say that deployed squadrons do not take great care of their aircraft it is just that when deployed as a detachment with one or two aircraft assigned you tend to really get to know those birds. You know all the ins and outs and what works best for each aircraft. I believe that each aircrewman and each pilot and every maintainer take on a kind of ownership of the aircraft and they tend to be maintained at a little higher level. In a squadron setting all the maintenance personnel are working on all of the aircraft at any given time and it is a little harder to attain that really high level of awareness of each particular aircraft.

I do believe that the greatest drawback to either type of Detachment is probably the supply line. There is usually not as much space devoted to detachments vice squadrons. You might run short of enough parts to keep your (one or two) aircraft up and flying so it is critical to ensure you keep an adequate

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s the world realized and began responding to the devastation caused by the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, it became immediately apparent that the United States Navy would play a crucial role in both the initial rescue/relief phase and the country’s l o n g - t e r m r e c o v e r y.

back up of the right parts to keep going. The advantage for the deploying squadron is that they can almost always keep two or three of their aircraft flying while awaiting crucial parts that may be on order. Also the squadron (helicopter type) deployment is always on an aircraft carrier and has the full support of the ships Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) which provides a huge advantage where parts and specialized maintenance are needed.

Please take all this with the proverbial grain of salt as the last time that I personally deployed it was of the earlier mentioned “forward deployed” nature with the HSL-31 “Arch Angels” and the “Bad Boys of Detachment Bravo” (just a nick name, we deployed even back then with both men and women, pilots and maintainers). We were forward deployed to Indonesia traveling the waters of the Banda Sea from Singapore to Australia, flying in the mighty SH-2F Kaman Killer dubbed “SHAKA”. Those were great times to be sure. We would occasionally run low on supplies to keep the old H2 up in the air, but for the most part had a pretty solid record of flying and re-supplying small island communication sites and keeping our search and rescues skills honed to a point.

I have since those days been involved with and around both detachment and squadron type deployments and I have to say that which ever way you go the level of success depends on the caliber of sailors, and the quality of leadership that you have making it happen.

I will now hand the “pen” over Continue on page 45

Continued from page 44

to “Jay-Dub” to get into the specifics of whole squadron deployments.

Ahhh, the Carrier life, jet fuel burning your eyes on spot three as 4 F-18s turn up in your face as your doing your hoist checks. The same “impressive” display of food in the galley at the ready 24 hours a day, over and over again. There are so many great things about the carrier, and the memories it brings that I could write for days about it. But alas, we are here to talk about the advantages of the squadron deploying as a whole and how they far outweigh the drawbacks and challenges of it. Having done time in both the detachment concept with EMIO Dets and “small boy” deployments as well as full blown Carrier deployments with 2 squadrons and 5 Carriers I can say that I have a pretty solid understanding of both.

With the Detachments we do have the advantage of getting to know each other’s behaviors, work ethic and operative pace. As a family, we can grow to know what to expect from one another a little faster and easier than in a full squadron of 300 people. We can see the direct outcome of what we do on the detachment, the aircraft, the squadron mates and the area we are detached to. On the Carrier, it’s much easier to get lost in the minutia of it all. There are so many moving parts to the Carrier deployments that it’s hard to explain just how grand the scale is to those that have never been there. Some of the things that we take for granted on the carrier are very big problems on the detachment side of the house. Conversely, some of the qualities of the detachments can never be realized until you have been alone and unafraid with 30 of your best friends trying to solve the biggest of problems with the smallest of resources.

One of the biggest complaints I used to have as both a junior guy and a more seasoned veteran of Carrier life was the constant packing and unpacking of the entire squadron. I always wondered how many man-hours the Navy would save if they just bought 2 of every thing for the HS squadrons. The logistics of moving 300+ people and all the gear to successfully fly 6 plus helicopters to and from the ship is a nightmare in of itself. People get injured, things get lost and tensions run painfully high around pack up and on load. Add to the fact that most of the time the Carriers are thousands of miles away (except for those “lucky” few that are stationed where their Carrier is) pack up starts weeks before you leave.

At times vital gear is being packed up when you need it or has already headed to the ship leaving you begging and borrowing around the sea wall

Focus: You Bet Your DET to make things happen. As much of a nightmare as pack up, on load, and off load is things have huge potential to work nicely when we finally get there and get away. I always said that I would rather do two full deployments rather than one work up cycle just to avoid the weekly on loads and off loads to and from the Carrier.

Once haze grey and underway, one of the biggest assets we do have is an AIMD on board that has a supply list that would make most Det chief’s mouths water. Most parts, from the smallest bolt to just about and entire helicopter are present and or accounted for making it possible to turn things around quickly, not to mention a vast array of specialized maintenance skills available if needed. We are also just a CODs flight away from getting just about anything we need, where as while on detachment in the middle of nowhere it makes it hard to get what you need.

We also have a much deeper pool to pull from with people, parts, and aircraft that allow us to go for days, even weeks on end at a staggering operational pace, something that in the dot concept will wear and tear on both your aircraft and your people. On the Det if you lose one of the aircraft of a two bird Det there are big problems. Lose an aircraft for maintenance reasons or whatever on a carrier deployment and the bird goes down stairs to become Frankenstein and there is another one willing and able to take the next flight and save you from the wrath of CAG. Your talent pool of people is also substantially deeper. Where as on a detachment you do send some of your best maintainers and there are at most 2-3 of the same rate present on the Det for troubleshooting. In the squadrons we have an enormous body of qualified maintainers allowing troubleshooting of new and interesting problems more possible as there is an experience and a broader group of minds that is second to none.

There are several advantages on the flyers side of the house too. If you loose an Aircrewmen or Pilot to sickness or tomfoolery there are also many more to choose from. Drop a flyer off the list

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of a detachment and you start having to get very creative with your scheduling. It also allows for different people to fly together allowing for better more effective training to be held. I can speak from having flown many missions in Det concepts and in large squadrons and I feel that the flying is safer in large squadrons. If you and I fly with the same one or two guys and gals all the time you will eventually open the door for complacency to walk in. Briefs get shorter and corners start getting cut here and there, and the next thing you know you start doing the “same brief as yesterday” briefs and safety starts to fall thru the floor. Flying helicopters as inherently dangerous even when it’s done right, so the intense focus on safety needs to remain high to make sure we all come home alive. We have all lost too many brother and sisters.

I do believe that both there are great points to both sides of the coin allowing for a great time and good flying on both sides of the fence. The old term the grass is always greener on the other side doesn’t really apply here though as I am sure we would all fight till the end about how great “our” side of the coin is.

Truth be told I couldn’t really decide which I think is best, I just wanted to bring some points up to think about when trying to make your decisions so you can walk into your next set of orders or duty a little more aware of how the other half lives!

I (AWCM) believe the future of both detachment and whole squadron deployments is alive, healthy and ever expanding. With the advent and reality of the littoral type combat theatres we find ourselves in I believe that there will be more “Hunter-Killer” type squadron setups on carriers. The HSM community being the hunter and the HSC being the killers, in other words two full helicopter squadrons on the carrier during deployments, and the small boys attached to the Carrier Strike Group being equipped with the helicopter detachments aboard. All in all a lethal combination.

In closing, weather deployed as a squadron or as some type of a detachment the challenges and rewards are high. The bottom line is that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication of a lot of people to be truly successful. You often here that in the navy the real difference is people. It could not be truer then when deployed. All the parts, helicopters and supplies are pretty much meaningless without a heartfelt dedication to the mission, the Navy and our country......Thanks for giving this article a read and have a great Navy day..!!

Historical: Helicopter Development. The Beginninings Continued from page 35

September 1912, Ellehammer demonstrated his awkward flying machine to a group of Danish dignitaries on a field near Copenhagen, including His Royal Highness Prince Axel.

The aircraft resembled the da Vinci airscrew, with two large discs with stubby blades around the edges. With an assistant at the controls and Ellehammer standing alongside ready to turn the ignition switch off in case of trouble, the machine accelerated and lifted a few inches off the ground. Prince Axel issued an official declaration certifying that Ellehammer’s “screw plane” had indeed “risen by its own power into the air.”

In 1916, a helicopter designed by Lieutenant Stefan von Petroczy of the Austrian Army Balloon Corps, professor Theodor von Karman, and engineer Wilhelm Zurovec, reached 150 feet in an unmanned tethered flight and remained airborne for about one hour. The PKZ2, aimed at replacing the highly vulnerable captive observation balloons, consisted of a three-arm tubular frame with a 100 hp radial engine mounted on each arm, and two counterrotating concentric rotors overhead at the center of the fuselage. In June 1916, the craft crashed during a test flight and the project was abandoned.

In 1921, the U.S. Army contracted the expatriated Russian engineer George de Bothezat to develop its first significant helicopter program. What de Bothezat lacked in appreciation of the difficulties involved, he exceeded in self-confidence and bravado. He claimed, “Actually, we have all the necessary knowledge on hand in order to build a helicopter, and such an apparatus can be built, even with small expense, in a rather short time.” He set to build his helicopter in secrecy in Dayton, Ohio.

He built a monstrosity with four six-blade rotors mounted at the end of four tubular arms, similar to the Breguet design of 1907. The craft made its first flight on 18 December 1922.

It made numerous flights during 1923, once lifting the four men that were holding it, trying to keep it stable. The design was plagued with the same ubiquitous problems, lack of stability and control. Despite attempts to increase its controllability, the Army dropped the project, stating that it was considered too complex and unstable. It, however, concluded that the project contributed a definite step forward on the road to a practical helicopter.

Emile Berliner, the American inventor of the Victor phonograph, had been

experimenting with different helicopter designs since 1908. In the early 1920s, he and his son Henry built an awkward machine that managed to lift a few feet of the ground. He solved the torque problem by using counterrotating rotors.

In 1922 the Berliners altered their design to that of a triplane, somewhat resembling the Fokker DR1 of WWI fame. It had two separate rotors, one over each upper wing. In addition to the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, the rudder and the elevators, the empennage featured a third small rotor mounted horizontally over the tail. The pilot could control the speed of this third rotor to control aircraft pitch in a hover.

This aircraft flew many short hops, covering as long as 100 yards at a time.

During the next five years, the Berliners continued their experimental flights and made several design alterations. But, like all the helicopter designs that had preceded it, the Berliners machine was not really controllable. Eventually, unable to satisfactorily solve the stability and control problems, they were forced to abandon the project.

In France during the 1920s, an engineer at the Peugeot motorcar and bicycle factory name Etienne Oehmichen began to experiment with various helicopter designs. To augment the lift capability and provide more stability to his machine, he attached a large gas-filled balloon atop it. In 1922 Oehmichen built a helicopter that flew without the aid of a balloon. He used the cross design for the tubular fuselage, with four twobladed rotors, one above the end of each arm. He provided for controllability by adding five small propellers mounted horizontally around the fuselage. Each propeller had variable and reversible pitch. This helicopter made hundreds of short flights. On 4 May 1924, Oehmichen successfully completed the first helicopter one-kilometer closed circuit course, winning the 90,000-franc prize offered by the Service Technique de L’Aéronautique.

While Oehmichen was building his helicopter, the Spanish engineer Raul Pateras Pescara was building a successful helicopter.

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His machine featured two counterrotating concentric rotors. Each rotor had four pairs of blades, each pair assembled in a biplane fashion.

In September 1923, while trying to complete the first one-kilometer closed circuit course, Pescara crashed. The 16-bladed machine was severely damaged, but he suffered only minor injuries. On 18 April 1924, his helicopter flew 736 meters, breaking the record of 525 meters set a day earlier by Oehmichen. Pescara made an important contribution to the advancement of helicopter design. His machine incorporated a feature that permitted the pilot to collectively vary the pitch of the rotor blades. Additionally, the rotors could freewheel. These two features allowed the pilot to maintain control during power-off descent, and to use the kinetic energy in the turning rotors to cushion the landing. This was the beginning of power-off autorotation and landing, a capability unique to the helicopter.

In England, Louis Brennan built a helicopter with a single two-bladed rotor. Torque was provided by two small propellers at the tip of the rotor blades. The machine flew first in 1924, tethered inside a hangar. Free flights began in 1925. Brennan had planned to add gyroscopic stabilization assist to the flight control system, which used compressed air to actuate the mechanism. But the Air Ministry insisted on flight trials before the installation was completed. The program ended in 1926 when the helicopter crashed.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands engineer A. G. von Baumhauer developed a machine that incorporated two major advances in helicopter design. His helicopter used a tail rotor to compensate for the torque created by the single main rotor. It also used the swash-plate mechanism to provide for cyclic control of the rotor blades pitch. These design features would become predominant in future helicopters. Despite these advances, Baumhauser’s helicopter was a failure. On one occasion it rose a few feet of the ground, and then crashed. The project was abandoned.

Between 1928 and 1931, the Hungarian engineer Oscar von Asboth built and flew four different helicopters. He had been working on ideas for vertical flight since 1908. During WWI he worked with Theodor von Karman on the Petroczy- Karman-Zurovec helicopter. Asboth’s most successful design was the fourth helicopter. It featured two two-bladed counterrotating concentric rotors.

Continue on page 47

Continued from page 46

Historical: Helicopter Development. The Beginninings

vanes “tail elevators.” This helicopter provided valuable data on control and stability, but its complexity prevented it from being really successful. However, a few years later in the U.S. the American pioneer Charles H. Kaman would embrace this concept and would develop a line of highly successful helicopters using what he then called “servo flaps” as the means to control main rotor blade pitch without absolute dependency on hydraulic servos.

In the early 1930s, in Belgium an engineer named Nicolas Florine built a tandem rotor helicopter very similar to the one built by Paul Cornu back in 1907. The rotors, located at the fore and aft ends of the tubular fuselage, rotated in the same direction. Florine solved the torque problem by tilting the axes of the two rotors. The helicopter flew first in April 1933 with significant success.

In later flights it rose to twenty feet and remained airborne for hile these visionary men were making eight minutes. A relatively paltry advancements in few years later helicopter design, airplanes were the American otorcraft making history by flying over the continents, rpioneer Frank across the oceans, and around the word. The Piasecki would dream of men like Louis Breguet and Igor achieve great Sikorsky that helicopters might overtake and success applying the tandem rotor even supplant airplanes seemed more and design principles more like an idea whose time could never first explored really come to pass. It seemed that all their by Cornu and Florine. efforts were hitting the same formidable wall, While lack of stability and controllability. The quest these visionary for vertical flight might have been abandoned men were making paltry entirely had it not been for a young Spanish relatively advancements aviation enthusiast named Juan de la Cierva in helicopter [...] He observed the behavior of simple toy design, airplanes helicopters, which blades continued to rotate were making history by as the toy descended gently to the ground flying over after reaching its zenith. Both, his knowledge the continents, the of aerodynamics and his intuition told him across oceans, and that a properly designed freewheeling rotary around the word. wing would autorotate and produce lift, either The dream of by descending through the air, or by being men like Louis and pulled forward by an engine-driven propeller. Breguet Igor Sikorsky

It attempted controllability and stability by means of several hinged vanes controlled by the pilot using push-pull rods and cranks.

The 8th of October 1930, a helicopter built by an Italian named Corradino D’Ascanio set a record by flying 1,180 yards in an eight minutes forty-five seconds flight. Describing his emotions, D’Ascanio later recalled, “When I saw my helicopter leaving the ground I was overwhelmed with emotion. Not only because it was a victory – the indescribable joy of seeing many years of sacrifice and hardship now crowned by success – but particularly because I was able to prove to my children that I was not crazy.” D’Ascanio’s helicopter introduced a unique design feature. It had two twobladed counterrotating concentric rotors.

Near the end of each blade, mounted aft of the trailing edge there was a small vane that could be controlled by the pilot to change the pitch of the blades. D’Ascanio called these

W

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

47

that helicopters might overtake and even supplant airplanes seemed more and more like an idea whose time could never really come to pass. It seemed that all their efforts were hitting the same formidable wall, lack of stability and controllability. The quest for vertical flight might have been abandoned entirely had it not been for a young Spanish aviation enthusiast named Juan de la Cierva.

Since his boyhood, de la Cierva had been studying the advances in airplane design. In 1911, at age 15, he and two other teenager friends built an airplane. Amazingly, their creation flew well; it was the first Spanishbuilt airplane to fly successfully. In 1919, de la Cierva built a large trimotor bomber and tried to sell it to the Spanish Army. Its maiden flight was completed successfully.

On its second flight, the Army pilot at the controls stalled the airplane at low altitude.

The bomber was ruined. This accident had a profound impact on de la Cierva’s thinking.

He reasoned that fixed-wing aircraft suffered a crucial flaw; they depended on speed to remain safely airborne. Perhaps rotary wings offered the solution to safe flight at any speed.

The highly unsatisfactory stage of helicopter development moved de la Cierva to opt for a half way solution, an airplane with wings rotating overhead. He observed the behavior of simple toy helicopters, which blades continued to rotate as the toy descended gently to the ground after reaching its zenith.

Both, his knowledge of aerodynamics and his intuition told him that a properly designed freewheeling rotary wing would autorotate and produce lift, either by descending through the air, or by being pulled forward by an engine-driven propeller. Thus, the idea of the autogiro was born. De la Cierva knew that he faced a major problem, the inequality of lift produced by the advancing and retreating blades in forward flight. His first solution was to use two rotors, one above the other, with their blades angled to turn in opposite directions. By October 1920, de la Cierva was ready to test his first autogiro.

As the aircraft accelerated forward, only one side of the landing gear lifted of the ground.

The flight had to be aborted before the aircraft could tip over. De la Cierva quickly realized that the efficiency of the lower rotor was decreased by the downwash from the upper rotor. He continued experimenting with several schemes to counter the lift Continue on page 48

Historical: Helicopter Development. The Beginninings Continued from page 47

unbalance. While testing his autogiros, de la Cierva also experimented with small models powered by rubber bands. One model, its blades made of rattan, performed beautifully. De la Cierva was baffled. His autogiro worked in miniature, but the full-scale craft was a disaster.

One evening, while sitting in a theater enjoying the opera Aida, he had a flash of insight. The rattan blades were flexible and could flap up and down to equalize the lift! How could he add the necessary flexibility to his full size rotor blades?

His solution was to attach the blades to the hub with a hinge that allowed the blade to flap up and down. This single breakthrough brought the theretofore impossibly cantankerous helicopter to the threshold of reality.

On 9 January 1923, de la Cierva’s fourth autogiro flew successfully. For the next five years he demonstrated his autogiro throughout Europe, flown by the British test pilot Frank Courtney. In 1926, Courtney observed that the rotor blades were bending slightly near the hub and suggested to de la Cierva adding a lead-lag hinge to the blades attachment. De la Cierva was at first reluctant to do it. In February 1927, an accident in which the autogiro shed two blades and crashed convinced de la Cierva that he should listen to his test pilot. The lead-lag hinge was added. With its double-articulated rotor head, the autogiro left the experimental stage and became a practical flying machine. It began to be produced in large quantities. De la Cierva’s factory in England could not keep up with the demand. Japanese, German, Russian, and French companies bought licenses to build the aircraft.

Harold Pitcairn purchased the American franchise and produced 58 machines before sublicensing the brothers Roderick G. and W. Wallace Kellett, who turned 22 more. During the early 1930s, the autogiro was commercially successful. It was put to many practical uses including forest fire patrol, news coverage, archeological survey, crop dusting, and many others, including search and rescue. De la Cierva continued to improve on his design. In 1933, he developed a system that enabled the pilot to control the pitch of the blades collectively. The fully articulated rotor head had arrived. This improvement, coupled with a system of shafts, gears, and clutch to use the engine to spin the rotor, allowed the new autogiro to execute a vertical take-off.

Juan de la Cierva was killed in an airline accident in December 1936. The autogiro’s guiding genius was suddenly gone. The great depression was wrecking havoc on the world’s

I

find that if this instrument with a screw be well made – that is to say, made of linen of which the pores be stopped up with starch – and be turned swiftly, the said screw will make its spiral in the air and it will rise high.

L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i

economies. Autogiro sales began to decline rapidly. By the early 1940s the autogiro industry would disappear for all practical purposes. But, by solving the autogiro problems one by one, Juan de la Cierva and his colleagues had opened the way at last for the practical helicopter.

After his early frustrating experiences with rotorcrafts, Louis Breguet had embarked in the design of fixed-wing aircraft and quickly became one of the world foremost airplane makers. During WWI his factory built over 8,000 Breguet XIV reconnaissance airplanes. After the war ended, in 1919 he founded the Campagnie del Messageries Avienne, which in time became Air France. But Breguet’s true love was still the helicopter, and he returned to it in the mid-1930s. This time, with the assistance of a young engineer named René Dorand, he was successful. His design featured two two-bladed counterrotating rotors mounted concentrically. The greatest advance in this design was the mounting of the rotor blades to the hub by means of universal joints. This enabled each blade to adjust to the constantly varying aerodynamic forces to which it was subjected throughout each revolution.

This innovation, first used by Juan de la Cierva in his fourth autogiro, would prove to be a most important step toward achieving stability and controllability in rotary-winged aircraft. Breguet began to flight-test his Gyroplane No. 2 in November 1933. In the first attempt, the craft began to lift, tipped to the right, and crunched into the ground.

The test pilot, Maurice Claisse, escaped unhurt. After two more years of design refinements and ground testing, on 26 June 1935, Claisse made a successful

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lift, followed by several flights at slow speed close to the ground. During the next few months the helicopter underwent several design improvements and further testing.

Finally, on 22 December of that year Breguet and Dorand were ready to demonstrate their helicopter to the world. The helicopter reached 67 miles an hour, a world record. On 26 September 1936, it set an altitude record of 517 feet. The following 24th of November it set the close-circuit course distance record of 27.4 miles. The Breguet-Dorand helicopter had passed all the tests required by the French Air Ministry. This helicopter flew so well that many consider it the first practical helicopter. Upon receiving an Air Ministry contract, Breguet continued his development work, but made little progress. In June 1939 the Gyroplane No. 2 was heavily damaged during an attempted autorotational landing.

By then war in Europe seemed imminent.

Breguet dropped his helicopter work and returned to the production of bombers.

At the same time that Breguet was achieving success with his Gyroplane, Professor Henrich Focke in Germany was working on an entirely different design that would also achieve significant success.

Focke was a WWI pilot who had teamed with Georg Wulf in 1923 to form the Focke-Wulf Aircraft Company. A critic of Adolf Hitler, he was removed from his own company in 1933. After studying the work of earlier helicopter pioneers, he put his own ideas on a new design. The resulting helicopter, the Fa61, would be the best performing machine of its time. The design featured a conventional open cockpit airplane fuselage. Instead of wings, it sported two tubular outriggers with a three-bladed rotor at the end of each one.

The rotors were driven by the 160 hp engine mounted at the front of the fuselage. On 26 June 1936, exactly one year after Breguet gyroplane’s first successful flight, test pilot Ewald Rohlfs lifted the Fa-61 a few feet off Continue on page 49

Historical: Helicopter Development. The Beginninings Continued from page 48

the ground and set it gently back, a flight of 28 seconds. The Fa-61 had a unique set of controls. By moving the stick fore and aft, Rohlfs could tilt the rotors forward and backward together to control pitch. By moving the stick sideways, he could increase the pitch of the rotor blades on one side and reduce to pitch of the blades on the other side to control roll. By using the rudder pedals, he could tilt the rotors forward and backward in opposite directions to control yaw. During the following months, Focke continued to fine-tune his design. On 10 May 1937, the Fa-61 made its first power-off autorotational landing. The fact that the Fa-61 did not have full collective pitch control made this feat quite remarkable. The pilot entered autorotation by activating a switch that decreased the pitch of the blades to the full autorotation setting. The following month the Fa-61 began to break every official helicopter record, leaving the Breguet Gyroplane in the dust. The new records included speed (77 miles per hour), altitude (8,000 feet), endurance (one hour, twenty minutes), and controlled flight over a closed-circuit course (50 miles). The success of the Fa-61 moved the Nazis to relax their restrictions on Focke.

In 1937 he and aerobatic pilot Gerd Achgelis were allowed to form a new helicopter company. In February 1938, with the renown aviatrix Hanna Retch at the controls, the Fa61 made history by providing three weeks of nightly exhibitions inside the enormous Deutschlandhalle sports arena in Berlin, where she flew up and down, fore and aft, and sideways over the full length of the hall, to the amazement of the public packing the seats. Soon thereafter, the Berlin government awarded Focke-Achgelis a contract to build a bigger version of the Fa-61 for military applications. The new machine, the Fa223, was tested in the spring of 1940. With a 1,000 hp engine, it could fly at 115 miles per hour, climb to 23,400 feet lightly loaded, and lift up to one ton. The Fa-223 remained in production throughout WWII. At the end of the war the British flew a captured Fa-223 to England. This was the first helicopter crossing of the English Channel.

Another German named Anton Flettner, whose career as an aeronautical scientist and inventor dated back to 1905, also took on the helicopter challenge in the 1930s.

His first design, with two small engines and

propellers attached to the end of the two rotor blades, proved to be too complex to be practical. The machine crashed in 1933. Flettner switched to build autogiros to learn more about rotary wing control mechanisms. He built the Fl-184, an autogiro that featured full cyclic control.

Encouraged by his autogiro success, he modified it, adding collective pitch control and replacing the propeller on the nose with two smaller propellers on

Breguet’s Gyroplane No. 2 - the first real helicopter, which flew in the mid-1930s outriggers on each side of the fuselage.

These propellers provided thrust and countered torque simultaneously. The design was complicated, but it worked.

In 1937 Flettner used his newly acquired experience to design a totally different machine, the Fl-265. This true helicopter featured two counterrotating rotors set close side by side on two diverging shafts so that the rotors intermeshed like the blades of an eggbeater. Ten years later, in the U.S., Charles Kaman would fly his first helicopter, the K-125, which followed these same design principles.

In May 1939, the Fl-265 took to the air for the first time. By August it had proved itself fully controllable and able to perform autorotations very well. The following year Flettner introduced an improved version of his design, the Fl282 Kolibri. This small helicopter could carry a pilot and copilot in front and an observer at the rear facing aft. It could reach nearly 90 miles per hour, climb to 13,000 feet, and carry 800 pounds of fuel, crew, and payload. During atsea tests the Kolibri landed and took-off from the gun turret platform of a cruiser

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in heavy seas. The Fl-282 was the world’s first helicopter to reach the practical stage and be capable of doing useful work, including wartime deployments as a fleet scout and submarine spotter. The German Navy placed a mass-production order of 1,000 helicopters.

Finally, all the pieces of the puzzle were in place. It was now up to Igor Sikorsky, Frank Piasecki, Arthur Young, Charles Kaman, Stanley Hiller, and other pioneers to keep pushing this wondrous machine to its full potential.

Writer’s notes.

The efforts of helicopter designers in the U.S. that ran concurrently with those of Breguet, Focke, and Flettner in Europe are not covered in this article, as they are the subjects of separated articles. The writer extracted most of the material for this article from the following sources : Solving the Vertical Flight Puzzle: The Early History of the Helicopter, by Steve Wartenberg, published in the book Vertical Flight, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1984.

The Epic of Flight, The Helicopters.

By Warren R. Young. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1982.

Chapter 1. Turning Fantasy into Reality. Chapter 2. The Amazing Autogiro. Chapter 3. The Dream Come True.

Change of Command And Establishment

CHSMWP

CAPT Joseph A. Bauknecht, USN relieved CAPT Donald E.Williamson, USN(Ret) on February 11, 2010

HT-28

Hellions

Fleet Angels

CAPT James L. Vandiver, USN relieved Col John S. Walsh, USMC on March 18, 2010

CDR Mathew R Frost, USN relieved LtCol Clay A. Stackhouse, USMC, December 4, 2009

CDR Shelby Mounts, USN relieved CAPT Christopher Rapp, USN on January 14, 2010

HSC-25

HSC-84

Red Wolves

Wolfpack

CDR Benjamin G. Reynolds, USN relieved CDR Hugh P. Everly, USN on January 15, 2010

CDR Scott R. Goatee, USN relieved CDR Sean A. Butcher, USN on January 30, 2010

CDR Mark E. Johnson, USN relieved CDR Michael W. Baze, USN on February 18, 2010

CDR Michael Sawin, USN relieved CDR Charles A. Armin, USN on February 19, 2010

HSM-71

HSL-45

Island Knights

HSMWSL

Raptors

HSC-2

TRAWING FIVE

HS-7

dusty dogs

CDR Jeffrey M. Vorce, USN CDR, Larry G. McCullen, relieved CDR Jeffrey S. Dodge, USN relieved CDR Sean D. Mordhorst, USN on April 8, USN on April 8, 2010 2010

HSC-9

Tridents

CDR, William T. Cox, USN relieved CDR Scott B. Starkey, USN on April 16, 2010

Rotor Review # 108 Winter â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10

50

HMLA/T-303

Atlas

HSL-49

Scorpions

CDR John J Barry, III, USN relieved CDR Christopher M. Mills. USN on February 25, 2010

HSMWSP

LtCol Brian M. Kennedy, CDR, Russ C. Raines, USN USMC relieved LtCol Mark E. relieved CDR Randall J. Sojourner,USMC on May 7, 2010 Biggs, USN on May 14, 2010

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Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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Online Copy Version 2010

There I Was

LAMPS Bubbas Don’t Get Shot At . . . Right?

Complacency Can Kill

Article by LT Troy Leveron, USN

T

he flight started out like any other. We had been on station for three days and had been doing routine surveillance flights of two suspected pirated vessels, the Win Far and the Charelle. During the NATOPS and Operational Risk Management (ORM) brief, we covered potential threats on the pirated vessel, primarily several large caliber rifles. I told to crew that we needed to respect the flight and the potential threats it might incur, however, I sensed complacency had already set in. I admit I was a victim of this feeling.

The rules of engagement (ROE) told us to maintain a nonthreatening, de-escalatory posture.

As such, we had the crew served weapon (a .50 caliber machine gun) in the inboard stow position with no ammunition in the loader box. On a flight the previous day, I received indications of a potential missile launch through our missile warning system.

The effect of this was two-fold. First, it brought the importance of defensive maneuvering to the forefront of my mind. I was spring loaded to execute those maneuvers. Secondly, I briefed my crew that we would activate the flare dispensers so they were easily accessible with the press of the switch on the cyclic.

We launched without incident at 0600, thirty minutes after sunrise.

Red Stinger 101 took up station circling Win Far at approximately 0645. The initial surveillance plan composed of an orbit around Win Far, an orbit around the Charelle, and lastly a check of the shore line for skiffs on what we had come to call “Skiff Beach.” Upon completion, we commenced alternate orbits around WIN FAR and Charelle with occasional surveillance along the shoreline. Of particular note early in the flight was the surprising amount of suspected pirate (SP) activity on the Win Far. This particular day I flew a 0.5-1.0 nautical mile arc around the Win Far based on our best known radar track. Previous flights by other pilots had all used this distance and we briefed it to the chain of command that it was a good distance for intel. I also flew right hand orbits so that the aircrewman and I would be able to see any threats, weapons or unusual

actions that arose.

The sun was still rising in the east. To our tactical advantage, I utilized the “up-sun” approach. Several times, I pulled into a hover at 1.2 nm to allow the aircrewman to take better pictures. My Airborne Tactical Officer (ATO) worked the FLIR to downlink imagery to the ship. After a hover to the east and south of the ship, we made several more orbits at 500 feet. I then asked the crewman and ATO if we should increase altitude to get a better look. Both commented that the altitude increase would yield better intelligence on the cargo hold where we suspected hostages were kept.

I continued to orbit while they gathered more imagery. The ATO again made a comment about increased activity around the pilot house and on the main deck directly below it.

We had just finished a right hand turn to north past the ship’s bow to put the vessel’s starboard side down our starboard side. The twenty-knot southerly wind pushed me in as far as 0.3 nm when I completed the turn. I put in a small heading crab to regain our separation. As we came abeam the Win Far, I had reduced visibility on the vessel because it was now up sun from me. The sun also hampered the crewman’s vision as well, even though he was alternating looks through the camera and the binoculars. That is when a series of rapid events took place.

Simultaneously, the ATO commented on the appearance of the SP throwing something overboard on FLIR. I heard the bridge-to-bridge (BTB) radio key with the sound of quick clicks. The internal communication system (ICS) keyed momentarily. Then something occurred that sounded like the Sensor Operator (SO) table dropping two to three times above and over my right shoulder. The commotion caused me to roll the aircraft left to increase my distance from the Win Far. From what I can recall, the cockpit conversation went something like this: ATO: “I see black things, like they’re throwing something overboard, like a

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spray of black.”

BTB: Key, click, click, click, release.

ICS: Key, release.

Pilot: “What was that sound? Did you hear anything? Black things? You’re up black hot, right?”

ATO: “Yes, black hot.”

Pilot: “So, they where hot?”

ATO: “Yeah, so what is black is hot. SO, did you see what I saw on FLIR?” SO: “No.” ATO: “Control, did you see anything?”

CONTROL: “No, my head was down but the guy next to me said that he saw something.”

Pilot: “SO, did you hear anything?”

SO: “Yes, it sounded like the rotors flapping in a turn.”

Pilot: “Did you hear anything?”

ATO: “I thought I heard a ‘pop, pop’.”

Now with an increased distance of one nm from Win Far, we continued the right hand orbit.

Pilot: “I heard BTB key with a click and heard something above and right. Did anything move or fall in the cabin?”

SO: “It looks secure back here.”

At this time I started to feel my body temperature increase and the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

Pilot: “Control, pilot, mark tape.”

Within a minute, the Tactical Action Officer (TAO) came on the radio: TAO: “Pilot, TAO, what’s going on?”

Pilot: “I don’t know. ATO is saying they sprayed something overboard. We heard noises around the aircraft and BTB keyed with clicks.”

TAO: “What do you think happened?”

Pilot: “I’d rather not say what I think I am going to say.”

TAO: “What!”

Pilot: “Are you on a headset or broadcasting this, is it just you listening?”

TAO: “Headset.”

Pilot: “Roger, good. I’m not sure, I’d rather not say, but I think we just got shot at.”

Several minutes went by and our Officer-In-Charge (OIC) came over the radio.

OIC: “What’s going on?”

Pilot: “I’m not sure. We saw something go overboard and I heard loud noises. I told Control to mark tape.”

Continue on page 53

There I Was: LAMPS Bubbas Don’t Get Shot At ... Right?

Continued from page 52

OIC: “Ok, we’re trying to look at it.”

OIC: “Can you rewind the VHS tape and play it down HAWKLINK? What did you see?”

ATO: “Lots of activity on the pilot house and directly below it above the cargo hold on the starboard side, where they keep the hostages. I saw black things going overboard, like a spray.”

OIC: “How about your instruments, gauges and controllability?”

Pilot: “All normal.”

OIC: “Ok, setting flight quarters now.”

We were unable to replay the video down HAWKLINK due to a bad connector. Several more minutes passed.

We found out later that the Digital Video Recorder in Combat had filled up its hard drive and did not record the incident via FLIR either. Fortunately, we had a tape recording on the aircraft’s antiquated VCR. I looked out my mirror for any indications of damage and told the aircrewman we were slowing down for him to look outside for damage. I told him to specifically look for bullet holes. After he was complete, I cycled the controls to make sure I got normal responses from the aircraft.

I grew anxious on the flight back. My mind was focused on one thought about the situation and could not wait to get out and check my aircraft for evidence. Upon landing, the OIC told us to pull the VHS tape and bring it in for review. I tasked my SO with this as we completed landing checks. When I saw the chains secure, I was out of the aircraft. I was surprised to see three maintenance technicians enter the rotor arc and commence checking the aircraft for damage.

After a look around the aircraft, I met OIC at the nose and we went into the hangar. I took off my helmet and told him the situation again. We went to combat to see what was going on and how the plan for the day’s remaining missions.

To say there was a lot of activity would be an understatement. I saw a template for a Navy Blue situation report (SITREP) on the big screen and heard a bridge announcement to gather in the Chief’s mess (where the only operable VCR was

located on the ship) for a review of the footage.

After shutdown, there was no usual post flight water wash and every maintainer on the shift was on the aircraft as soon as the engines shut down. After watching the tape, my OIC met us in the hangar and said we had definitely been fired on. I felt angry at the pirates, angry at myself for not having better readied my crew. I wondered how I would be looked at and judged as a helicopter aircraft commander (HAC) for letting my aircraft and crew be fired on and for not returning fire. I continued to wonder as the day was finished out with tape reviews, flight debriefs, and interviews with everyone from my OIC to an embarked NCIS special agent.

In retrospect, I learned several things from this incident: 1. Complacency – Even when we recognize it and brief ways to mitigate it, we still fall victim to it. I let my crew become complacent with the tactical situation and the threat.

We had no previous knowledge of hostile intent but we did not give the threat the respect it deserved.

Fly every flight as if you will have to defend yourself. I’m not saying to fly normal Surface Surveillance and Control (SSC) flights identifying Group 3 merchant vessels with the .50 cal locked and loaded, just be ready to defend the aircraft for the one in a million chance the merchant poses a threat.

2. ROE – The ROE guidance required a non-threatening posture that meant flying with crew served weapons in inboard stow position. I, as the HAC, should have brought this to the attention of my chain of command that the people we were flying against had weapons. Thus, we should not intentionally limit our response options. Conversely, even if we were ready to fire, I did not see the threat action and would not have felt comfortable giving the order based on the information I had at the time. In this situation, we had opened the threat when we pieced everything together, so the right of self defense no longer applied.

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Additionally, we knew hostages were close to where the firing had occurred.

3. Defensive Maneuvering – Be ready at any time. We should practice defensive maneuvering more so it becomes second nature to defend the aircraft when someone yells “Break right!” The previous day, I had received a faulty but unexpected missile warning and did not maneuver due to my altitude and location. I learned from that flight and was more keyed to maneuver this time should something arise.

4. Aircraft Survival Equipment– We do not consider this gear much until we fly during the Helicopter Aviation Readiness Program. Our aircraft are not equipped with the best gear available so what we do have should be in working order.

Equipment should be tested and reported if it is not working. As pilots, we should be accustomed to turning it on, knowing how it works, and responding accordingly to its indications.

5. Responsibility – Every member of the crew has an important role to play. We use Crew Resource Management from the moment we start flight training. We take it on board and practice it. This event illustrates how important the role of each crewmember is. So much depended on the ATO in this instance, the ATO had the most situational awareness. Even the most junior pilot should know and feel that their actions, words, and knowledge (or lack there of) dictate the path of the flight. My ATO did an excellent job with the information she had. It will not always the HAC who is going to be in the best position to know exactly what is going on.

Now my crew, the detachment and I know what it looks and sounds like to be fired on. We will attempt to share this with all who will listen so they too can be better prepared.

This “There I Was..” article is a different perspective based off “From SSC to Pirates at Sea” by LTJG Heather Talley, in RR107, page 17

There I Was

Where Training Met Reality Article by LTJG Justin Pacheco, USN

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s I watched the sun rise for the first time over this war-torn ocean of sand, my mind raced with uncertainty and excitement. Off in the distance a single Navy flag flew high and proud over a group of small buildings near the outskirts of the Army base. Just beyond it sat four gray MH-60 Sierra’s, all perfectly aligned and maintained.

Each bearing an unmistakable Red Cross, symbolizing that they were Navy MEDEVAC helicopters.

Fresh out of training and still green behind the ears, LTJG Chris Webster and I wandered curiously around the Army base that first morning, taking in the sights and attempting to adjust to the sweltering heat. It wasn’t long before we realized that these soldiers hadn’t seen too many Navy pilots walking on their turf. One thing for sure was that this was Army country and we had much to prove. After an unwanted seven day vacation in quarantine fighting off swine flu, I was unaware that in just a few days all that training would be put to very good use.

“MEDEVAC MEDEVAC MEDEVAC, 1st UP off-going,” crackled over the radio around 0730 while our crew was still sound asleep in the alert hooch. Instantly the lights came on as I fell out of bed, oddly thinking to myself that I still had my earplugs in, so why not just leave them there? I was going to need them anyway in just a few minutes!

Flight suit, boots, and earplugs securely in, I raced out the door towards the TOC (Tactical Operations Center). I slipped my flight vest on, grabbed my pistol, slammed on my helmet, and bolted out the door towards the flight line. A plane captain was standing by outside with a gator to expedite my advance towards the helo. Once there I dropped my gear in the cabin and climbed up into the right seat and started the alert launch checklist. I actually practiced this the day before so I would be smooth and errorless, but the excitement was causing my feet to tremble with anticipation.

Not long after, LT Wilder and the rest of the crew had climbed aboard. Within minutes the mighty Sierra was ready for takeoff as two firemen in heat shield suits jumped in and we were airborne in only 12 minutes from the moment we awakened!

At this point I still didn’t even really know the situation yet because it was my job as copilot to get that helicopter airborne as quickly as possible. HM2 Criss, our corpsman filled us in on the remaining details. We were headed to the POI (Point of Injury) on the Udairi Range for a suspected vehicular accident. That’s all I needed to know as I pointed the helicopter towards the west and pulled maximum pitch.

The range wasn’t far by air, and Range Control quickly cleared us into the area.

The POI wasn’t hard to find with all the overturned vehicles. Range control also advised the on-scene commander to pop red smokes to aid in our identification of the landing zone. I was flying, lined up into the wind, and landed right on top of the MK-18 smoke, just feet away from the carnage on the crowded highway.

As the brownout dissipated, HM2 and AWS2 Minchew, our crewman, left the helo for the injured and began directing the scene. It then became clear that we would need a second helo to handle the call.

I remember thinking how exciting this was watching everyone work together as a team. While I did wear a grin, I was very serious about my job and getting the injured to a hospital.

Our patient was an American soldier who collided with a Kuwaiti national.

He had a compound fracture in both his leg and wrist, and severely dislocated hips. He was broken up and blood was pouring out of his flesh onto the deck of the armored cabin, filling the cockpit with an eerie iron-smell.

Just prior to our departure out of the zone, a familiar voiced sounded over the radios as LTJG Webster piloted his aircraft down into the wreckage,

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right next to ours. I thought to myself this was just how we practiced coming into an LZ back at home guard! I then pulled pitch and departed for Udairi to stabilize our patient who was bleeding profusely. After stabilizing him there, we then departed with him enroute to Camp Arifjan in southern Kuwait where a higher level of care could be administered. He eventually recovered and later we received a letter from him thanking us for our service. It was all I needed to validate the years of training I had completed prior to this flight.

The other helo took the Kuwaiti to Al Jahara Hospital, where he survived and recovered from his wounds making our mission a complete success.

On our way back to Udairi, our mission nearly complete, we were engulfed without warning by a thick brown cloud of sand that had risen from the arid landscape. Visibility diminished to near nothing as 45kt winds tossed the helo around the thermals like a rag doll.

My mind focused on the instruments as LT Wilder and the crew figured out how to get us home. At 500ft, the ground all but disappeared, someone found the road leading into Udairi that ultimately lead us home. We landed as the field was closing due to poor visibility and blowing sand, knowing full well we had dodged a bullet.

That mission and its complications duplicate what many have done in the past. Our command is small but we impact lives on a daily basis. Our risk is calculated and outweighed by the thousands of lives we have transported in and out of Kuwait and Southern Iraq.

To serve in the NAAD is an honor that few in the Navy get the privilege to experience.

Commander Naval Air Force Atlantic Announces Battle ‘E’ Award Winners Press released by CNAL Public Affairs

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ommander Naval Air Force Atlantic (CNAL) announced their Aviation Battle “E” (Efficiency) award winners for FY 2009 which include a ship and numerous squadrons based in Oceana and Norfolk, Virginia.

CNAL award winners include Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), Strike Fighter Squadrons THIRTY ONE (VFA-31) Tomcatters and EIGHTY THREE (VFA-83) Rampagers, Electronic Attack Squadron ONE FOUR ZERO (VAQ140) Patriots, Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron ONE TWO FOUR (VAW-124) Bear Aces, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron FIFTEEN (HS-15) Red Lions, Helicopter AntiSubmarine Squadron Light FOUR SIX (HSL-46) Grandmasters, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWO SIX

(HSC-26) Chargers, Patrol Squadron TEN (VP-10) Red Lancers, and Fleet Logistics Support Squadron FOUR ZERO Rawhides.

The criterion for the Battle E award is the overall readiness of the command to carry out its assigned wartime tasks, and is based on a yearlong evaluation. The competition for the award is, and has always been, extremely keen. To win, a ship or unit must demonstrate the highest state of battle readiness.

To win a Battle ‘E’ a squadron must excel in several categories to include number of flight hours, number of arrested carrier landings, safety, readiness and training, ordnance delivered, pilot qualifications, fullmission capable aircraft, enlistment, advancement and retention, and hazard reports (HAZREPS).

Regional Updates

NHA Region 3 & 4

VADM Thomas J. Kilkline Commander, Naval Air Forces extended his personal congratulations to the winning squadrons in the official message sent from Commander Naval Air Forces.

“The winning squadrons are truly the best of the best.” Kilkline furthered with “ These awards reflect only a small portion of the outstanding work done around the fleet every day. I am truly proud of your contributions to our nation’s defense.”

NHA Region 1 Region One Host A “Social” at the I-Bar

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n February 5, 2010, hundreds gathered for food, drinks and a bunch of laughs at the I-Bar, NAS North Island for a Region One Social. The social was hosted by HSC-3 Commanding Officer / Region One President CDR Herschel “Hashi” Weinstock. The event was used to kick-off 2010 NHA Membership Drive within the region. All photos were taken by NHHS President CDR(Ret) Lloyd Parthemer.

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Squadron Updates

German Aviators Tour the Navy’s Newest Helicopter

Article by LTJG Frederick D. Grant, USN

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he Raptors of HSM-71, based at Naval Air Station North Island, recently hosted fellow helicopter aviators from Germany. Ensign Stephan Eisele and Senior Chief Heiko Ortmann came to represent the German Navy’s Airwing 3 along with LCDR Sonke Nielsen of Airwing 5. Ortmann and Eisele fly the Lynx Mk-88A, an Anti-Surface (SUW), and Anti-Submarine (ASW) warfare platform much like the MH-60R, currently flown by HSM-71.

LCDR Nielsen flies the SeaKing, whose primary missions include Search and Rescue (SAR) and Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP).

Nielsen, Eisele, and Ortmann all received tours of the squadron, day familiarization flights, and even night vision goggle (NVG) flights in the MH-60R. Additionally, Raptor pilots led their German counterparts on tours of the USS Preble (DDG-88) and USS Antietam (CG-54), two ships that deployed with HSM-71 detachments during their recent maiden cruise. The German pilots were especially interested

to learn about the smaller air-capable ships of the US Navy because German Naval helicopters operate solely as detachments off of frigates. However, as noted by LCDR Nielsen in his brief to HSM-71, the newest German frigates possess the armament and capabilities to more accurately be described as destroyers.

Embedded with the Raptors on a day –to-day basis, the German aviators provided insight to their American hosts regarding the Allied approach to shipboard aviation and the tactical aspects of their core missions. The two week exchange program has been characterized by a fluid exchange of ideas about the similarities and differences of how the American and German Navies conduct helicopter operations.

“I really like how the Americans have everything they need within the squadron. The pilots, the maintenance professionals, the support personnel – they’re all in-house, and that’s an efficient way of doing things” explained LCDR Nielsen. “Our organizational structure is very different. The squadron consists solely of the pilots, while the maintenance is separate part of the

Airwing. There are a lot of chances along the way for things to go wrong.”

Many of the Raptor pilots were very surprised to learn that German military pilots, even while flying in Germany and talking to German controllers, use English in the cockpit.

In fact, to obtain anything other than a private pilot’s license in Germany, aviators are required to pass an English proficiency test. This leads to some interesting linguistic issues that German pilots encounter, explained Ensign Eisele.

“Once I was flying in a rural area of Germany, were local civilian pilots don’t speak English. I was approaching a small airfield and wanted to request a low approach. Since I had been trained in English, only then did I realize I didn’t know how to make the official request to tower in German.”

The two weeks was rewarding for both the Americans and Germans. It was a great opportunity for exchanging ideas, flying, and camaraderie at the local I-Bar.

HM Community Supports Quadrennial Defense Review: A JO’s First Days as a Blackhawk

Article and Photos by LTJG Dominic Simone, USN

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aving just completed the FRS and SERE, I checked into the Norfolk Detachment of HM-15. The squadron was in a transition period during a Base Re-alignment and Closure (BRAC) move from Corpus Christi, TX to Norfolk VA, in which the first wave of people and aircraft were operating as a detachment.

On Tuesday, I checked in and was ready to hit the deck running. Wednesday, I stood Operations Duty Officer (ODO) watch under instruction, and Thursday I flew my first flight with the Blackhawks.

On Friday, three days after checking in, I received the news that I would be

spending the next week on a boat in support of the Quadrennial Defense Review. Naturally my first question was “the quad-who-what?”

The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is a DoD study conducted by a team of high- ranking military and civilian personnel who review U.S. military strategy and all of its supporting programs, as well as resources with our strategic objectives in mind. They look at how well the military is meeting its current objectives, formulate future objectives, and publish their findings in the QDR Report,

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USS Nassau (LHA 4) at sea. resulting in the primary public document that describes U.S. military doctrine. Our Continue on page 57

SQUADRON UPDATES: HM-15/HSC-22

HM-15 Det ONE onboard USS Nassau Continued from page 56

tasking, in conjunction with HM-14, was to provide a three aircraft heavy lift capability for VIP transport, as well as to showcase the Navy’s only dedicated AMCM platform.

On Tuesday afternoon of the following week, HM-15 DET ONE launched a single MH-53E followed a short time later by a flight of two MH-53Es from HM-14. All three aircraft were bound for the USS Nassau (LHA-4), which had set sail earlier that day from a nearby pier. In the back

of our helicopter, I was surprised to find over 20 aircrew and maintenance personnel, along with a multipallet maintenance pack up kit. Also onboard were three pilots and over four hours worth of fuel. Our single aircraft detachment was fully prepared to support itself for a week or more. I guess that is part of what it means to have a 72 hour world-wide readiness capability. HM-14 brought a similar complement for their two aircraft, and all three helicopters flew and maintained 100% mission capability all week on the boat. In addition to dedicated QDR support, each transit day included a flight window to support multiple training flights for pilot and aircrew signoffs, including DLQ events and an instrument check. Besides the training events, the Blackhawks of HM-15 were tasked with flying a MEDEVAC mission to New River, NC where one of the USS

Nassau crew would receive urgent care.

On the day of the QDR, two MH-53s, one from each squadron, departed USS Nassau to pick up the QDR team of VIPs from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). They returned with the VIPs to the deck of the LHA and remained airborne for a total of five hours, occasionally performing bounces in the pattern along with four MV-22 Ospreys that arrived the night before.

While the aircraft were airborne, the QDR team was treated to a display of LCAC well-deck operations, an MH53E static display, an MH-60S Armed Helo static display, and an Airborne Mine Countermeasures static display.

When the Nassau portion of the QDR was complete, the flight of two MH53Es transported the QDR team back to the Truman. After the VIP pax drop off, the Blackhawks returned to the Nassau to pick up the remaining detachment personnel and top off fuel. We then flew direct from the ship, 150 miles east of Jacksonville, Fl, to our new home in Norfolk, Virginia, mission complete!

A Year Of Firsts For HSC-22

Article courtesy of the HSC-22 Public Affairs Office

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he first Littoral Combat Ship and the MH-60S Armed Helicopter are coming to a port near you!!

The Sea Knights of HSC22 have been working vigorously the past six months to safely execute new missions and maintain new systems in the Armed Helicopters. Late last June the Sea Knights were selected to provide the USS Freedom (LCS-1) with an Armed Helicopter detachment for an early proof of concept deployment. The requirements were determined, the plan put in place and within 90 days two fully trained MH-60S Sea Combat Armed Helicopter crews were ready to deploy.

With true Sea Knights can-do spirit, Detachment TWO worked their way through more than the usual complicated work-up process due to the accelerated

employment/deployment timeline and the above average complexities of a new ship. The successful completion of all training evolutions was achieved with tremendous support throughout HSCWL, our sister squadrons, the H-60 FIT and the HSCWSL. In only the third year since squadron standup, HSC-22 accepted the first two Fleet Expeditionary Armed Helicopters, qualified three crews with live Hellfire shots, landed and embarked the first helicopter on USS Freedom (LCS-1), and completed the first Fleet LCS - MH60S LINK 16 operations.

Additionally, the LCS Armed Helo Det will be the first HSC detachment authorized to operate at night in the AUF role with Coast Guard snipers embarked. In conjunction with training for Freedom’s first operational

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deployment, HSC-22 developed a training syllabus and drafted a new USCG-USN MOU leveraging SWTP syllabus training for qualification to operate with the USCG for Airborne Use of Force in the Counter Narcotics, Counter Terrorism and Homeland Security Missions.

Sea Knights coming in for a landing.

SQUADRON UPDATES: HSL- 51

50 Years Strong Article and Photos by LTJG Rob Jamplis, USN The commands of HSL-51 and VX-51 gather around two kadomatsu, which are placed at the entranceway of the Warlord’s hangar to bring good luck in the upcoming year.

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t is not often that leaders from opposite ends of the world come together in a show of unity.

However, just such an event occurred on December 9, 2009 between the HSL-51 Warlords of Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing Pacific (HSMWINGPAC) and the VX-51 “Mighties” of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF).

On his last visit to Atsugi as Commodore of HSMWINGPAC, Captain Donald “Willy” Williamson met with 513 Flight Squadron Commander Yamauchi of the JMSDF to further enhance the relationship between the American and Japanese helicopter communities. This visit also happened to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Status of Forces Agreement signed between the United States and Japan in 1960. The importance of the anniversary of such a momentous event was not lost on the parties involved. As a tribute, both leaders came together at a ceremony in commemoration of the strong relationship their organizations share.

Both HSL-51 and VX-51 share the common missions of Anti-Surface Warfare (SUW) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), however each has its own unique approach and capabilities that it brings to the mission. HSL51 flies the SH-60B helicopter built

by Sikorsky, commonly referred to as the “Bravo”. The Bravo has been the workhorse of the US Navy’s helicopter fleet, originally put into service in 1983.

Its dependability and long service life have allowed it to remain a formidable

asset in both the areas of ASW and SUW. VX-51 originally flew the SH-60J, which was a hybrid of the SH-60B and SH-60F “Foxtrot” models. These aircraft had been licensed from Sikorsky to be built

by Mitsubishi. However, in 2005 the Mighties began a transition to the upgraded SH-60K. Despite having a similar outward appearance to the Bravo, there are many differences between the two models. The “Kilo’s” cabin was extended by a foot to compensate for the new avionics system it received.

Additionally, the Kilo is equipped with a dipping sonar, automated ship landing system, and all glass cockpit.

The exchange began with a meeting of the leaders of the two groups. Commander Yamauchi greeted Commodore Williamson and the CO of HSL-51, Commander Stephen McKone, outside the Warlord hanger. To show the Commodore the capabilities of the Japanese squadron, the group took a tour of the Mighties’ SH-60K. The group from HSL-51 was very impressed by the technology of the Kilo.

Commodore Williamson commented on the similarities between it and the new MH-60R to which the US Navy LAMPS community is transitioning.

LT Brian Conner saw the tour as a great opportunity to better understand the operational capability of the Japanese.

“We deal with their squadron constantly, whether it is training out in the Tokyo Bay or during joint exercises such as Annual Ex. Seeing their equipment and hearing them explain how they employ it has greatly improved my understanding of how we can better coordinate our capabilities to complete the mission.”

Following the tour, Commodore Williamson entertained the groups by telling stories of the creation of HSL-51

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in Atsugi almost two decades ago. As a Warlord “Plank Owner”, Commodore Williamson was present for the standup of the squadron in 1991 and its first few years of operation. “It was much different back then,” he mused to the group. “We used boxes as tables and cement blocks as chairs. Now to see how far 51 has come since then, and to see the relationship that has developed between the Warlords and the Mighties, is amazing.”

To finish up the day the two squadrons exchanged gifts with one another. The JMSDF offered two kadomatsu, which translates into “gate pine” and is a decoration used to celebrate the Japanese New Year, or Shogatsu. It consists of bamboo stalks that are sliced diagonally across the top and decorated with pines and other plants. Commander Yamauchi explained that the bamboo symbolizes growth and strength, while the pine represents long life and endurance. The slice at the top of the bamboo is made to trap evil spirits inside. The kadomatsus were placed at the entranceway into the Warlords’ squadron as a spiritual blessing and to bring good luck throughout the upcoming year. In exchange, Commander McKone gave two holiday wreaths from his home state of Maine.

Very few squadrons in the Navy have the opportunity to experience cultural exchanges on a daily basis. The Warlords and Mighties are keeping their relationship strong through daily cultural and operational interactions. Over the past 50 years both countries have learned extensively from one another, and by continuing to strengthen and grow their relationship, they are ensuring another great 50 years ahead.

SQUADRON UPDATES: HSl- 51

The Commodore of HSMWINGPAC Flies With The Warlords For The Last Time Article by MC2 Steven Khor, USN

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elicopter Maritime Strike Wing Pacific Commodore Donald “Willy” Williamson flew with the Warlords of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 51 (HSL-51) on Wednesday for his final flight in SEVENTH Fleet’s Area of Responsibility before returning to the United States for his retirement.

The Commodore got into an SH60B Seahawk helicopter with the squadron’s Operations Officer LCDR Daniel Fillion, and Naval Aircrewman 3rd Class Thomas Gaeta.

The two hour flight was the conclusion of a four day visit to the squadron which also included a cake cutting ceremony, Japanese Wreath celebration, and helicopter tour with HSL-51’s allied squadron VX-51.

“This was my last opportunity to say farewell. HSL-51 does such great work, and I wanted to come say goodbye to them,” said Williamson.

In August of 1991, Williamson was one of the squadrons first seven officers when HSL51 was stood up as a pre-established unit called PEU-51 at Naval Air Facility, Atsugi. “Building the squadron up from scratch,” Williamson said, “was challenging because there were no

other facilities to get help from, and being the only SH-60B helicopter squadron at Atsugi at the time, you had to create all your programs.”

During his three years with the Warlords, Williamson was the command’s Quality Assurance Officer, and Assistant Operations Officer. As a Lieutenant, he deployed with Detachments 5 and 2 from 1991 to 1994.

“I have had nothing but fond memories of HSL-51, This is The Commodore (left) chats with HSL-51 the best operational squadron we Operations Officer LCDR Daniel Fillion at the have in the HSL community and squadron’s flight line while waiting to board an they do a phenomenal job,” said SH-60B helicopter for one of his last flights in the Williamson. His next stop is Hawaii Navy. Photo taken by MC2 Steven Khor. where he will fly with the HSL-37 Easy Riders, then back to San Diego for bright future for HSL-51, as well as the entire his change of command and retirement helicopter community. He said, “There is a lot of opportunity out there and it’s an exciting time for ceremony.

Fillion had the opportunity to all the young folks coming up through the ranks. fly with the Commodore and said, “It The future for helicopter aviation has never been was an honor to go up and fly with him brighter, so it’s something that they should all be especially because he had not flown in proud to be a part of...” this area for a very long time.”

Williamson believes in a very

HSL-51 celebrates receiving the Golden Wrench Award Article by MC2 Steven Khor, USN

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aval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan – The Sailors of Helicopter AntiSubmarine Squadron Light (HSL-51) held a cake cutting ceremony on December 7, 2009 in honor of receiving this year’s Commander, Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing, U.S Pacific Fleet’s Golden Wrench Award for maintenance excellence.

Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing Pacific (HSMWINGPAC) Commodore Donald “Willy” Williamson as well as the squadron’s Commanding Officer CDR Stephen McKone was on hand to thank all the sailors for their hard work.

“It’s a very fitting recognition for all the hard work that our maintainers do day in and day out, at sea, and at home. It’s very well deserved,” said McKone.

At the cake cutting ceremony, the squadron was greeted by McKone, who advanced the squadron’s new frockees, and was followed by a brief speech by Williamson. After his speech, the cake was cut by the squadron’s senior leadership, and handed out to everyone. Williamson gave cake out to many of the junior personnel at the command, and thanked them for their hard work and dedication.

The HSMWINGPAC Golden Wrench Award is given to the squadron with the most efficient and effective maintenance program. The award is based on an evaluation of each squadron’s performance in major Naval Aviation Maintenance programs for the

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fiscal year. HSL-51 is one of many squadrons that belong to the Navy’s SEVENTH Fleet Area of Responsibility.

The Warlords had a very successful year in maintenance with zero mishaps and faster rebuild times after a major inspection than other squadrons. 154 of 167 maintenance programs received a passing grade and an average Material Condition Inspection grade of 4.3 on a 5.0 scale.

This is a fiscal year award and HSL-51 has won it two out of the last three times.

“It was awesome. It represents the dedication and hard work that all of us put in here at HSL-51 on a daily basis,” said Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class James Augustin about receiving the award.

SQUADRON UPDATES: HSC-12 / HS-6

HSC-12 completes HARP Article courtesy of HSC-12 Public Affairs Office

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s of March 12th 2010 the World Famous Golden Falcons of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWELVE (HSC-12) have finished their Helicopter Advanced Readiness Program (HARP). The HSC Weapons School provided a challenging and educational HARP to help the Golden Falcons begin to prepare tactically for deployment, utilizing their new MH-60S Block 3Bs. HSC-12’s HARP began in midFebruary in San Diego, CA and included mission specific briefings combined with simulator and flight events. In these first two weeks, the pilots and aircrew found themselves planning and executing both day and night missions including Helicopter Visit Board Search and Seizure (HVBSS) and Maritime Air Support (MAS). During these flights the Golden Falcons provided training for SEALs, continued to refine the use

of Link 16 to enhance their situational awareness of the battle space and conducted a successful live Hellfire missile shoot on the SCORE range. This was the Golden Falcons’ first missile shoot in the MH-60S. The Golden Falcons then packed up the squadron and headed to Fallon, NV for the overland stage of HARP. While in Fallon, the squadron focused on Close Air Support (CAS), Special Forces Insertion/Extraction, NonTraditional Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (NTISR), and Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR). The CAS training included another live Hellfire shoot resulting in a direct hit on an armored personnel carrier. The scenarios that the squadron experienced included the participation of Opposing Forces (OPFOR) while one helicopter crew found themselves evading capture after a simulated “shoot down,” eventually

being “rescued” later that evening by fellow squadron members.

In the end, the pilots and aircrew as well as the exceptional performance by the entire Golden Falcon team were able to prove that the hard work, professionalism and skill that defined the World Famous Golden Falcons of HS-2 hasn’t changed since the re-designation.

With the Navy’s newest helicopters, HSC-12 is ready to meet and exceed the challenges that will confront them throughout the rest of workups and their scheduled deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and the USNS Rainier.

The Screamin’ Indians’ WESTPAC Article by LTJG Anthony Teschner, USN

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he Screamin’ Indians of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron SIX have just returned from a successful eight month Western Pacific Deployment aboard USS Nimitz (CVN 68). During the transit West, HS-6 began their underway supporting CSG-11 and DESRON 23 during a highly successful AntiSubmarine Warfare (ASW) exercise in the Hawaii operating area. The Indians also completed terrain following (TERF) flights into Hawaii, and two complex Heliborne Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (HVBSS) training exercises with embarked Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel in an effort to exercise in all primary mission areas.

As USS Nimitz approached its first port call in Yokosuka, Japan, one of the ship’s sailors decided he’d had enough of deployment and jumped ship. HS-

6’s Search and Rescue helo was quick to respond and on scene in a matter of seconds. LT Kasey “Biscuit” Scheel was on the controls for the rescue while Aircraft Commander LCDR Margaret “Shaggy” Vasak, backed him up in the left seat. Rescue swimmer AWR2 Brian “Dori” Pancoast entered the water without hesitation and had the regretful Sailor in the helicopter in less than ten minutes with the help of crew chief and hoist operator AWR3 Jon “Nuggz” Hampton. After a busy and eventful first month, the Indians had the chance to enjoy some time off during a port visit to Yokosuka, Japan.

HS-6 continued to capitalize on every training opportunity while operating in 7TH Fleet, utilizing USS Chosin’s LASER Evaluator System and the Okino Daito Jima (ODJ) training range to gain proficiency and enhance

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combat lethality in Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW). The Indians completed their ASuW training with an unprecedented coordinated dual-ship Hellfire missile exercise with an SH-60B from the HSL37 Det 5 Easyriders designating the target. HS-6 also fine-tuned their ASW prowess, participating in round-theclock operations in a major multi-unit CSG USWEX against two submarines, and again during dual CSG operations with USS George Washington (CVN 73). With HS-6’s time in the Pacific drawing to a close, the Indians enjoyed a phenomenal visit to Singapore—their final port call prior to commencing combat operations.

The Strike Group’s next destination was the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility, to conduct operations in support of Operation ENDURING Continue on page 61

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Freedom. While concurrently providing the necessary SAR support for fixed wing flight operations, HS-6 also flew several sorties into Al Udeid, Qatar and Masirah, Oman in an effort to maintain currency and conduct unit level training. Flights to Masirah were challenging, as each event required a 200 NM transit just to get to the range. The 400 mile round-trip and extra-long crew days were worth it, though, as Masirah offers an exceptional environment for Strike and ASuW training. The training events to Masirah yielded valuable dual-CATM training, and permitted some all-too-rare TERF and TACFORM events which allowed junior pilots to progress in the ACTC syllabus. Additionally, multiple Junior Officers were cross-decked to USS Pinckney (DDG 91) and USS Sampson (DDG-102) ensuring professional development and exposure to the LAMPS way of life.

Each trip into the Arabian Gulf required a high-visibility Strait of Hormuz transit during which Indian HH-60Hs and Strike Group SH60Bs provided force protection for Nimitz and her escorts. These transits were rewarded with relaxing port visits to Manama, Bahrain and Dubai, UAE. During our time in the 5th Fleet AOR, HS-6 welcomed a number of new pilots and aircrew to their ranks. LCDR Glenn “GT” Todd, LTJG Dorian “NASA” Belz, LTJG Larry “Frank” Camp, AWR3 Garrett “Honcho” Houle and AWR3 Alexander “No Call Sign Yet” Watkins arrived during cruise to fill spaces left by LCDR Wesley “Doughy” Daugherty, LCDR Margaret Vasak, LT Bruno “M80” Mannello, LT Brian “Trench” Storjohann, AWR2 Brian “Whitey” White, AWR2 Brian “Wags” Wagoner, AWR2 Damon “Cheese”

Ransbarger, and AWR2 Jacob “Doon” Muldoon.

In late January, after flying over 1600 flight hours in support of OEF, the Indians along with the Nimitz Strike Group departed the Indian Ocean for the voyage home. The transit included three very enjoyable port visits, commencing with Phuket, Thailand, where the wardroom stayed in an exotic hilltop villa that set a new standard for what a squadron admin should be.

Next up were Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Many Indians took the opportunity to fly their significant others to Hong Kong to enjoy a taste of the Orient, and to take part in an intense shopping exercise.

With only a month left in cruise, the Indians quickly resumed full-throttle training and made the most of a two week stay in the Okinawa operating area. HS-6 sent numerous flights into Okinawa for overland CSAR ACTC training, and conducted another successful Hellfire exercise, firing two missiles during another dual-ship event to the ODJ range. Two Indian HH-60Hs also had the unique chance to fly around Mt. Fuji, only to encounter intense weather that required the flight to abort their intended TERF event. They failed to get the training cards completed, but succeeded in making it to the NAS Atsugi Exchange, setting a record for the most expensive Taco Bell run ever!

With “COMPTHREE-EX” finally over,

CSG-11 resumed the transit East towards home. A blur of rough seas and constant time changes brought the Indians back to the U.S. in Bremerton, Washington -- the final port visit prior to arriving in San Diego. In Bremerton the Nimitz on-loaded over 1200 “Tigers” for the three day commute home. Upon arrival in San Diego, the Indians of HS-6 were able to look back on a very successful deployment.

Throughout WESTPAC 09, HS-6 flew over 2400 flight hours, and had eleven pilots and aircrew achieve a major qualification upgrade.

LT Amelia “A” Owre, LT David “Duck” Miceli, and LTJG Joshua “Buster” Leibovich qualified as Helicopter Aircraft Commanders, while LT Kasey Scheel, LTJG Anthony “Lennie” Teschner and LTJG Nicholas “PD” Puno earned qualifications as Helicopter Second Pilot. In the aircrew shop, AWR2 Shawn “Shep” Venable, AWR2 Michael “Eeyore” Papada, successfully completed their Tactical Sensor Operator (TSO) qualifications. AWR2 Paul “Golden Boy” Otal, and AWR3 Tadashi “Tokyo” Morishita, managed to progress through both Acoustic Sensor Operator (ASO) and TSO qualifications, while AWR3 Thomas “Woody” Fortney and AWR2 Brian “Dori” Pancoast qualified as ASOs. Despite being deployed for nearly 70% of 2009, the pride and professionalism demonstrated by every Indian of HS-6 has been nothing short of exemplary. The Screamin’ Indians are happy to be home for some muchneeded time with family and friends!

Education Fair

Article by LT David Yoon, USN The Naval Base Coronado (NBC) North Island Navy College Office and HSC-3 Merlins co-hosted an education fair overlooking San Diego bay on yet another beautiful southern California winter day.

Sailors had the opportunity to talk to many different college representatives, learning about several school programs and the benefits available through the Navy.

This event was organized by Sally Lambert of the Navy College Office; HSC3’s Command Career Counselor, NC1 Susan

Foster; HS-10’s Command Master Chief (CMC), Mike Lucas, and HSC3’s CMC, Melanie Kerns. Over 20 schools were represented, including Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, National University, University of Oklahoma, and Central Texas College to name a few. These schools informed attendees of the education opportunities available through their institutions and how these programs could be tailored to fit the sailors’ needs and busy schedules.

Many of the schools even offer on-base

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classes to allow sailors a convenient avenue to pursue higher education. HSC-3’s First Class Petty Officer Association provided burgers and lunch. The Department of Veterans Affairs, Troops to Teachers, and Navy Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (C.O.O.L.) also participated. For those unfamiliar with Navy C.O.O.L., the program allows enlisted sailors to receive civilian certifications paralleling their Navy qualifications. Funded by the Department of Defense, Navy C.O.O.L. helps sailors attain these equivalent civilian qualifications and Continue on page 62

SQUADRON UPDATES: HSC-3 / HSM-70 Continued from page 61

licenses completely free of charge, equipping them for post-Navy success.

Ms. Lambert is an education counselor with the Navy College Office. She emphasized that all Navy personnel should take advantage of the numerous higher education resources available to them, whether the service member is officer or enlisted.

“Too many sailors are just not aware of what the Navy has to offer,” she said. “Some of the benefits include up to 16 semester hours [of college courses] per fiscal year through Tuition Assistance.” Programs other than

Tuition Assistance include the Graduate Education Voucher (GEV) and Navy C.O.O.L. Ms. Lambert is one of five education counselors at the NBC North Island College Office. These dedicated counselors are available specifically to assist Sailors working towards their higher education goals.

By all accounts the education fair was a resounding success.

The college office received more than 350 requests for more information on different benefits and schools from attending sailors-an impressive turnout

for this type of event! Many thanks go out to Ms. Lambert and NC1 Foster for their coordination of the event.

The NBC College Office and HSC-3 intend to co-host a similar event later this year or early next year, details will be forthcoming. Service members not able to attend can contact the Navy College Office or their command career counselor for more information on Navy higher education benefits. The Navy College Office on NBC Coronado North Island can be reached at (619) 545-9589.

Spartans at Sea

Article and Photos by LT Nate Scheiber, USN

Spartan 705 in flight during the exercise.

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he Spartans of HSM-70 recently returned from a successful Flight Deck Certification embarked upon USS Carl Vinson. This exercise was the squadron’s first detachment to an aircraft carrier and the first underway period for many of the personnel involved. The Spartans, based out of Jacksonville, FL, flew two MH60-R helicopters to Norfolk, VA to augment HSC9’s SAR detachment. Along with the aircraft, 13 pilots, 7 aircrew, and 33 maintenance and administrative personnel were aboard Carl Vinson for the period from December 7-16, 2009. The exercise provided valuable flight and flight deck experience for HSM-70 pilots, aircrew, and maintenance personnel.

Being comprised primarily of traditional LAMPS crews, there was much experience to be gained operating on the

carrier.

Spartan operations and administrative personnel transitioned from the air support request and allocation request way of being tasked to working directly with CAG Ops, Strike Ops, and Air Ops aboard the carrier. The pilots and aircrew gained experience operating in CVN airspace from startup to shutdown and in the flight deck environment.

Additionally, much was learned as to the flexibility required for such an exercise aboard an aircraft carrier.

Furthermore, maintenance crews gained outstanding training and experience maintaining, launching, and recovering aircraft in the environment of the CVN flight deck with only three previously qualified LSE’s. This detachment also provided for HSM-70’s first at-sea reenlistment, that of AD3 Chase Barber.

Overall, the Spartans flew 29 sorties and more than 85 hours of SAR and logistics in support of Carl Vinson’s Flight Deck Certification and Carrier Qualification period. This experience created a cadre of personnel to grow upon as HSM-70 continues to support future exercises.

From living aboard an aircraft carrier to launching and recovering

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aircraft, the CVN is much larger and more complex than traditional LAMPS capable ships.

This detachment provided an opportunity for many of the Spartans to establish their bearings, refine procedures, and learn new ways of doing business. The invaluable experience gained while embarked upon USS Carl Vinson has improved the experience and readiness of HSM70 as the squadron moves forward to embark upon USS George H.W. Bush for future exercises and deployments. The Spartans of HSM-70 are proud of the effort and performance of all the sailors on this detachment and look forward to the endeavors that lie ahead.

Aircrew heads towards Spartan 705 as it prepares for departure for the Flight Deck Certification exercise.

SQUADRON UPDATES: HS-5 / HSL-43

HS-5 Squadron Update Article by LTJG Jim McNamee.

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he Nightdippers of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron FIVE (HS-5) are currently underway in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. After a quick five month turn-around, HS-5 is back out with Carrier Air Wing SEVEN providing SAR and logistical support on board USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). In keeping with the ethos of their mission “We Rescue, We Protect, We Deliver”, HS-5 has managed to make the most of their first two and half months at sea.

Things have not been ordinary for the Nightdippers since embarking on their 2010 cruise. On the first day underway they were called upon to perform a rescue at sea. Off the North Carolina coast the sailing vessel Gloria A. Dios signaled for help while being

brutalized in 30 foot seas. HS-5 was able to answer the call of the distressed sailor through diligent coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard. The flight crew successfully saved the man’s life, and despite the extreme weather conditions made the rescue seem routine.

Since that first night HS-5 has completed 5 MEDEVAC sorties. The most interesting of the five happened quite impromptu. While preparing to transport an injured sailor off of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), HS-5 was tasked with assisting the US Embassy in Oman with helping an American citizen that was involved in a violent car accident. The individual was paralyzed from the neck down. Canvas 617’s crew flew 100 NM up the Coast of Oman to a small hospital in Sohar, Oman. The crew was able to deliver

the American to Seeb International Airport in Seeb, Oman where he was immediately airlifted back to the States.

Thanks to the effort of the Nightdippers the American has greatly improved in health since checking into a hospital in Boston, MA. The Nightdippers have been able to maintain high tempo operations thanks to the tireless effort put in by all of the members of the squadron.

Upon their return HS-5 will be making a permanent duty station change from NAS Jacksonville to NS Norfolk.

The squadron eagerly looks forward to moving into their new hangar and catching up on some quality time at home.

HSL 43 BattleCats: 25 Years of Excellence

Article and Photo by LTJG Shane Kigin

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n Friday, 9 October 2009, the BattleCats of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light FOUR THREE (HSL 43) celebrated 25 years of excellence.

Friends and family joined HSL 43 sailors in the squadron’s hangar for bagels, coffee, entertainment, and a tribute to the BattleCats’ celebrated heritage as the Navy’s first operational SH-60B squadron on the west coast.

In addition to the dozens of spouses, children, and friends in attendance, CDR John F. Bushey, BattleCats’ Commanding Officer (CO), welcomed two distinguished visitors in attendance to the anniversary: RDML Earl Gay, a former BattleCat CO and now Commander of Expeditionary Strike Group THREE; and CAPT Donald Williamson, Commander, Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

HSL 43 was established as the Navy’s first operational west coast LAMPS MK III squadron under the

control of the Commander, Naval Air Force U.S. Pacific Fleet on 12 October 1984. The squadron’s mission is to deploy fully combat ready detachments aboard U.S. warships. LAMPS III detachments significantly magnify the ship’s war fighting capability, extending undersea and surface detection and strike ranges well beyond the horizon.

Secondary missions include search and rescue, medical evacuation, and vertical replenishment.

What began in October 1984 as a single aircraft with six pilots and less than 100 maintenance personnel, has expanded at times to reach 13 aircraft with 285 personnel. Today, HSL 43 operates with 42 officers, over 230 ground personnel, and eleven SH-60B Seahawk helicopters. Upgrades to the SH-60B airframe since 1984 include advanced navigation capability based on the Global Positioning System (GPS), the GAU16 machine gun, and the FLIR/Hellfire missile system. These upgrades reflect changes to the LAMPS mission, which

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now include direct airto-surface strike and strike support capability against enemy vessels.

In reference to the ever-adapting mission of the squadron and the lofty expectations placed on HSL 43 pilots, aircrew, and maintainers, CDR Bushey said, “Our operations are not easy. The hours are long, and the work is challenging.

At the establishment ceremony 25 years ago, the guest speaker, Commodore Rich, challenged the BattleCats to ‘maintain the highest standard of excellence now, on the hangar deck, around the squadron spaces and with the aircraft itself.’ I can proudly say that the BattleCats set and maintain that standard everyday. The challenge from Commodore Rich lives on today as a tradition of teamwork that forges the BattleCats into an unstoppable team.”

Friends and family visiting the squadron for the 25th anniversary caught a glimpse of that excellence: from the Continue on page 64

SQUADRON UPDATES: HSL-43 / HS-11 Continued from page 63

spotless hangar deck to the striking paint job on the BattleCat 20 parked inside, and from the photo-ops with the spirited squadron mascot (in full tiger regalia) to actually flying the SH-60B simulator across the street. LT Justin Letwinsky, who managed the simulator during the family fly-time, said, “I really enjoyed seeing the excitement on the faces of our family and friends when they actually got to experience, hands-on, what we do.”

The BattleCats of HSL 43 continue to embody the excellence envisioned many years ago, and look forward to the developments and challenges that the next twenty-five years will bring.

RDML Gay and CDR Bushey pose with the HSL-43 Battlecat

HS-11 in Haiti

Article and Photos courtesy of HS-11 Public Affairs Office

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he World Famous Dragonslayers of HS11 embarked on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) as part of the Navy’s Haiti relief effort. Early Wednesday morning on the 13th of January, sixty-five men and women of the NAS Jacksonvillebased helicopter squadron received the call to pack their bags for a detachment to Haiti.

“At first I thought it was a joke when I got the call. I thought they were kidding. Still, I packed as quickly as I could,” said AWR3 Jacob Steinmetz, a naval aircrewman. “I was pretty excited. Being one of the junior guys to participate in the humanitarian effort was a good feeling.”

In a span of a few hours, the squadron was ready to go as two SH-60F and two HH-60H helicopters were filled with passengers and cargo destined for the Carl Vinson. After a few runs back and forth from NAS Jacksonville and the carrier, the entire detachment was onboard and ready to begin the Haiti Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) effort, now designated

Dragonslayers and ground troops in Port-au-Prince.

as Operation Unified Response.

Haiti, with a population of 9 million, was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 12 January.

Already one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere, vital infrastructure necessary to respond to the earthquake was severely damaged or destroyed.

The estimated death toll was over 150,000 people in the capital alone with thousands more in the countryside.

Other squadrons also embarked on the USS Carl Vinson were the HS-15 Red Lions flying the SH-60F/H, HSC-9 Troubleshooters and HSC-26 Chargers flying the MH-60S, and HM-14 Vulcans and HM-15 Hurricanes flying the MH53E. After steaming south, the carrier arrived off the coast of Port au Prince, Haiti, the capital and largest city in the country. With nineteen helicopters on board, flight operations began at dawn on Friday, 15 January. The first crews to survey the areas brought back descriptions of the devastation. There were crumbled buildings all over the city as well as displaced and homeless people the streets still in shock. The main goal for the day was to survey the damage and find suitable landing zones (LZs) large enough for helicopters to offload supplies. Focusing on Port au Prince, approximately ten LZs were chosen based on their size and location.

Meanwhile, medical supplies, food and water began to arrive at the International

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Airport.

While the aircrews flew long sorties over Haiti, the maintainers spent long days and nights on the carrier keeping all the aircraft fully mission ready.

AT3 Andrew Gaither and the Dragonslayer Line Division spend their time launching and recovering helicopters on the flight deck. “It’s long hard days and nights but it’s worth it to see a difference being made,” said Gaither.

“It’s nice to tell stories to our families about doing something worthwhile as they watch it unfold on the news.”

On the second day, helicopters began to bring water to all the LZs. The people at first stood off in the distance watching the helicopters, unsure of what to think. But as the crewmen began to unload cases of bottled water, more and more people started gathering around and taking the water, some even drinking the bottles right away. .

The men and women of the USS Carl Vinson were also taking part in the HADR. Every morning, teams of working parties flew ashore to help the loading and unloading of supplies at the airport. Spending the long days under the hot sun, these volunteers organized the tons of food and water at the airport into smaller groupings, preparing them for delivery to the landing zones.

Another major focus of the HADR was finding injured people and evacuating them to medical facilities.

The USNS Comfort, arriving in Haiti a day later, opened its doors to the thousands of injured Haitians. Hundreds of medical emergency Continue on page 65

SQUADRON UPDATES: HS-11 / HS-10 Continued from page 64

evacuations (MEDEVACS) occurred in the first week. It was not uncommon for Dragonslayer crews to continuously drop off food and water and then pick up a MEDEVAC and transport the injured people to a hospital.

Navy personnel from all over the country flew down to assist the relief effort.

Dragonslayers PS3 Chrislet Nau and AM3 Adrien HS-11’s MH-60Fs and Vertil, along HH-60H all aligned on with PRAN the flightdeck aboard D u v e n s o n USS Enterprise Maneau of HS-10 in San Diego and volunteered to fly out to the Carl Vinson. Born and raised in Haiti,

both Nau and Maneau speak fluent French and Creole. “I volunteered to help out with the relief effort. Right now I help out in the ship’s medical department by translating for the Haitian patients,” said Maneau. “The first day, I was heartbroken to see so many desperate people with injuries. It was hard to watch. When I translate for the patients, they are usually asking for help because they are in a lot of pain.

Sometimes, I have dreams that I’m the injured one crying out in pain.”

In regards to the HADR, Maneau says, “I think we are doing our best everyday, making sure the people get food and water. We are doing a good thing and I’m proud to be a part of the relief effort.”

As Operation Unified Response entered its third week, an additional thirty members of the Dragonslayers flew out to the carrier. As the long days started to fatigue the detachment, it was

a welcome relief to see the additional pilots, aircrew and maintainers. Two weeks into the detachment, HS-11 alone flew 257 flight hours and 54 sorties.

The Dragonslayers also hauled 79,230 pounds of water, 43,730 pounds of food, and an additional 23,190 pounds of cargo. HS-11 flew 117 MEDEVACS patients, 120 members of the media, and 918 other personnel.

HS-11 is part of Carrier Air Wing ONE and deploys on the USS Enterprise.

HS-11 arrives to lend aid to the people affect by the earthquake.

HS-10 Squadron Update

Article and Photo by LTJG Sarah Sparks, USN, and LTJG Leif Walroth, USN

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Twelve helicopter Fly-by across skies of the San Diego Harbor

he HS-10 Warhawks 2000 aircrew, and 6,000 maintainers. In will celebrate their 50th the last 38 years, they have also rescued anniversary at Naval Air Station more than 100 civilian and military North Island this June. Helicopter individuals, and continue to be on call Anti-Submarine Squadron TEN (HS- for Search and Rescue (SAR) operations 10), a shore-based unit of Helicopter off the coast of Southern California.

Sea Combat Wing Pacific Fleet, was The sailors of HS-10 held an commissioned on 30 June 1960 as early commemoration of the 50th year the “Taskmasters” at Naval Auxiliary anniversary with a 12 aircraft flyover Air Station Ream Field, Imperial of NAS North Island on Friday, 12 Beach, California (relocating to Naval February 2010. Downtown San Diegans Air Station North Island, San Diego, were treated to an impressive exhibition California on 23 December 1976). of sea power when they looked from During its rich history, HS-10 has their high-rise windows and saw all 12 Rotor Review 108over Winter 65formation provided the fleet#with 2,000‘10 pilots, squadron helicopters flying in

through San Diego Bay. CDR Patrick V. Foege, Commanding Officer, HS10, piloted the lead aircraft of the three diamond formation. “This flight was a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the sailors of HS-10”, said Skipper Foege following the flight, which also enabled the squadron to conduct training for several student pilots and aircrewmen.

LT Vic “Radio” Eberle can be contacted at victor.eberle@navy.mil or (619) 545-0041 for more information on the upcoming 50th Anniversary ceremony on June 28, 2010.

USMC Updates

Cherry Point Heavy Helicopter Squadron Departs For Djibouti Article and Photo by Pfc. Samantha H. Arrington, USMC

operations of Marine Air Group 29.

“I know most of the Marines a r e excited,” said Capt.

Derrick F. Breville, the safety More than 70 Marines from Heavy Helicopter Squadron 366 officer for stand in line to be issued their weapons for the squadron’s HMH-366. deployment to Djibouti, the Horn of Africa, Jan. 19. “Most of the Marines ore than 70 Marines haven’t deployed before this.” with Marine Heavy This is the first full-term Helicopter Squadron 366 departed deployment for the squadron since it for a 7-month deployment to the East was re-activated in September 2008.

African nation of Djibouti, Jan. 19.

“In September of 2008 the “The squadron’s mission is squadron was initial operations capable to provide combat troops and supplies and in September 2009 we became full at all times and during all weather operations capable,” said Breville. conditions during expeditionary, joint Breville added that the squadron or combined operations,” said Capt. will be conducting its daily routine in Peter L. Lisowski, operations officer for Djibouti just as if it were here.

HMH-366.

“The squadron conducts Lisowski added that the training activities daily including squadron will provide sustained combat capable heavy lift and long range assault confined area landings, aerial refuelings support capability for contingency and external lifts,” said Lisowski.

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“I’m excited to get over there and do what I was trained to do,” said Cpl. Stead S. Taft, an aircraft mechanic with HMH-366. “It’s about time and I’m ecstatic.”

The mobile United Service Organization of North Carolina was present at the squadron’s departure.

The USO provided entertainment and snacks for the departing Marines.

“This is the least we can do,” said John Falkenbury, USO of North Carolina president and a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “Our mission, as the USO of North Carolina, is to do what we can for our troops.”

This was the first occasion for the USO’s mobile unit to be present at a departure.

“We want to be more expeditionary,” said Falkenbury. “We need to be there when our troops are leaving or coming home, and that’s what we plan to do.”

The Marines received their final brief aboard the air station and then boarded two buses headed to Norfolk, VA, where they then departed for the Horn of Africa.

VMM-261 Inserts Troops Into Marjah Article by Lance Cpl. Samuel Nasso ,USMC

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hree MV-22 Ospreys from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 40, Marine Expeditionary BrigadeAfghanistan, transported a raid force into an area of Marjah in support of Operation Moshtarak, Feb. 19. This was the first time the Osprey was used for an insert since the operation began six days ago. “The mission was successful,” said Maj. Stephen Conley, the aircraft commander for one of the Ospreys that

participated in the mission. “It was a great use of our assets. We transported a good amount of Marines in a relatively short period of time.” The Osprey has provided increased flexibility to commanders due to its ability to fly further and faster than a traditional helicopter. Additionally, the Osprey can rotate its rotors to vertically take-off and land like a helicopter. “We shrink the battle space,” said Conley. “We can go deep into the area of operation because

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of our speed.” When Regimental Combat Team 7, MEB-A, needed to provide relief to an infantry battalion that was engaged in a fierce firefight, a request was sent to MAG-40 to begin planning the insert of Marines from 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, MEB-Afghanistan, into Marjah. This was an immediate request requiring many various aviation assets, according to Lt. Col. Thomas Gore, the future Continue on page 67

USMC UPDATE: VMM-261

Continued from page 66

operations officer for MAG-40. As of Feb. 13, MEB-Afghanistan has been using ground forces in conjunction with available aviation assets to clear enemy forces from the city of Marjah and maintain control of those areas. In addition to the Osprey, the insert was supported by other MAG-40 assets, to include KC-130 Hercules from Marine Aerial Refuler Transport Squadron 352, providing battlefield illumination and Marine Attack Squadron 231 used AV8B Harriers for overwatch and close air support once the Marines were on the ground. The Ospreys were escorted

by AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters

from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367. This was not the first time the Osprey participated in an insert of ground forces. During Operation Cobra’s Anger in December 2009, the Osprey was one of the primary aircraft used to insert troops. Since then, the Osprey has provided assault support throughout the area of operations. As many aviation Marines see it, their mission is simply to support the Marines on the ground in any facet they are tasked with. “Every day, I have the honor of keeping Marines on the ground safe by providing support from overhead,” said Staff Sgt. Nicholas McCulloch, a

weapons and tactics instructor for VMM261. “We work long hours and work real hard toward mission accomplishment and get as many Marines home as we can.” By the end of the mission, Feb. 19, the three Ospreys had inserted two waves of Marines into Marjah. As RCT7 continues to confront enemy forces, the speed of this aircraft will give commanders more flexibility to resupply the Marines on the ground and reinforce units, providing critical support to the fight.

Press Released by USCGAS Humbolt Bay Public Affairs Office

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he U.S. Coast Guard hoisted two fishermen from the water after they were forced to abandon ship when it started taking on water 22 miles west of Crescent City, CA, this afternoon.

The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-65C Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Humboldt Bay, a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Chetco River, and a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Humboldt Bay to the fishing vessel Flamingo to assist the mariners.

Coast Guard Group North Bend, OR, received a distress call from the fishing vessel Flamingo at 1:52 p.m.

The vessel’s crew had reported taking on water due to damage from 30-foot waves that had broken through the windows of the pilothouse and reported a fire aboard the vessel. Coast Guard units were quickly dispatched, and the helicopter

arrived overhead the Flamingo at 2:35 p.m.

The Flamingo had a crew of two men on board. The master and the deck hand had both donned survival suits and were working to dewater the vessel when the helicopter arrived. The master of the vessel then elected to abandon ship so that the Coast Guard helicopter could hoist them into the aircraft. The master of the vessel put the boat on autopilot and both men jumped off of the stern of the boat. The helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer into the water where he swam through the 30-foot waves and took both men in tow.

The master of the vessel became immediately unresponsive after he jumped into the water and the rescue swimmer placed him in the rescue basket to be hoisted into the helicopter first. After the master of the vessel was

USCG Updates

Coast Guard Recovers Two Men From The Sea Off Of Crescent City, CA

brought into the helicopter cabin, the flight mechanic recovered the rescue swimmer and deck hand from the water.

The crew of the helicopter initiated CPR on the master of the vessel while the aircraft proceeded to Crescent City Airport.

The master remained unresponsive as the crew performed CPR until he was transferred to a waiting ambulance at Crescent City Airport.

After refueling, the aircraft returned to Air Station Humboldt Bay at Arcata Airport.

The Coast Guard recommends that all mariners keep a vigilant watch on the weather conditions as they can rapidly deteriorate in the unpredictable waters of the Northern California and Oregon coastlines.

Missing Jet Skier Rescued

Press Released by USCGAS New Orleans Public Affairs Office

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he Coast Guard rescued a man who went missing on a rented jet ski in Panama City Beach, FL, Monday.

The Coast Guard received the initial report at approximately 6 p.m.,

March 1, 2010 from Florida Fish and Wildlife, that a man hadn’t returned his rented jet ski at the pre-arranged time.

A Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter and crew spotted the man and the jet ski at approximately 4 a.m.,

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Tuesday. The man had run out of gas and run aground due to the strong winds.

The crew hoisted the man into the rescue helicopter and transported him safely to Panama City Airport where emergency medical technicians were standing by.

USCG UPDATES:

Kodiak-Based Aircrews Win National Award For Alaska Rescues

Press Released by USCGAS Kodiak Public Affairs Office

Mar-Gun grounded.

E

ight Alaska-based Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Kodiak will be awarded the American Helicopter Society’s prestigious William J. Kossler Award at the American Helicopter Society Forum in Phoenix May 12 for saving the lives of seven commercial fishermen in 2009.

“It’s great to see this national-level attention for the great work done by Air Station Kodiak crews,” said Capt. William Deal, commanding officer Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak. “I’m extremely proud, not just of the flight crews honored by this award, but also the many other folks here who put their hearts and souls into

their work, so that we’re always ready to do this kind of thing - any time, any day.”

CDR Shawn Tripp, aircraft commander, Lt. David McCown, pilot, Aviation Maintenance Technician 1st Class Dennis Dewinter, flight mechanic and Aviation Survival Technician 2rd Class Eric Stoecker, rescue swimmer, are being recognized for their rescue of two men from the fishing vessel American Way, grounded on Aghiyuk Island Jan. 4, 2009.

The crew battled 500-foot ceilings, three mile visibility, and driving snow for the 230 mile transit to the stranded crewmembers. On scene the crew’s rescue swimmer was lowered and fought crashing waves, zero degree Fahrenheit temperatures, and a rocky shoreline to reach the survivors. They were safely hoisted from a narrow strip of beach next to a 300-foot vertical cliff in steady 58 mph winds.

Lt. John Bartel, aircraft commander, Lt. Cmdr.

Craig Neubecker, pilot, Aviation Maintenance Technician 3rd Class Chad Redmond,

flight mechanic and Aviation Survival Technician 3rd Class Alexis Torres, rescue swimmer, rescued five crewmembers from the fishing vessel Mar-Gun grounded on St. George Island March 5, 2009.

Despite darkness, visibility of a half mile, a 200 foot ceiling, blowing snow, icing conditions, and up to 58 mph winds and crosswinds, while also avoiding the swaying masts and antennas, as waves rocked the vessel and crashed over the decks, the aircrew safely hoisted the Mar-Gun crew.

The AHS’s Capt. William J. Kossler Award is given for the greatest achievement in practical application or operation of rotary wing aircraft, the value of which has been demonstrated by actual service during the preceding year. This program was initiated in 1944 and over the years has paid tribute to the leaders of the vertical flight industry.

AHS International – The Vertical Flight Society is a professional, technical society of more than 6,000 members founded in 1943 that represents the interests of the worldwide vertical flight industry and is dedicated to the advancement of vertical flight technology and its applications.

Coast Guard rescues two Marine Corps F-18 pilots off South Carolina Coast Article by PO1 Christopher Evanson, USCG

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he Coast G u a r d rescued two Marine Corps pilots March 10, 2010 at 6:15 p.m., approximately 35-miles off the coast of St. Helena Sound, S.C. Marine Corps Air Station

Beaufort, S.C., notified the Coast Guard at about 5:17 p.m., Wednesday, reporting that two pilots aboard a Marine F/A-18D Hornet attached to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 went down off the coast of South Carolina.

In addition, it was reported that two

parachutes were seen indicating that the pilots had ejected.

A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescue crew from Air Facility Charleston located the missing pilots at 6:15 p.m. and safely rescued them.

Surf Rescue at Ocean Beach SF

Press Released by USCGAS San Francisco

S

an Francisco firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard were called to a spot near the Cliff House restaurant in San Francisco the morning of January 4, 2010 to rescue a surfer who was stranded on the rocks.

The fire department was

notified at 11:39 a.m. that the surfer was stranded in the general area of Point Lobos Avenue and Merrie Way. “One of the surfers was pulled out a bit and the surfer made it to the rocks and was awaiting assistance,” fire spokeswoman Lt. Mindy Talmadge

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said.

A Coast Guard helicopter and a small boat had been sent to the area, Talmadge said.

A Coast Guard spokesman said at about 12:15 p.m. that the surfer had just been rescued via helicopter and transferred to the shore.

Senior Officer’s Bookshelf

“Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship” Review by CAPT Pete Brennan, USN

Bill White and Robert Gandt, Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship, (New York: Broadway Books, 2008).

W

h i l e on deployment during a Western Pacific/ Fifth Fleet deployment in 2009, when I needed a few moments away from the responsibilities of being the PHIBRON Commodore, I picked up the book Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship. It was given to me by a friend who is a member of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and a great supporter of the military. The book offered a fascinating history of the United States Navy, and our country, told through the life of this great ship.

Intrepid’s keel was laid December 1, 1941, just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was finally decommissioned March 15, 1974, though it did not end its service to our country. The contrast in the battles in which this ship fought, or was prepared to fight, is remarkable and a great reminder of our Navy’s adaptability and flexibility. After fighting throughout World War II, in 1944 and 1945 the ship was struck by four kamikazes; whereas in 1972, after she had been decommissioned, reworked and recommissioned, the ship was deployed to the Mediterranean with multi-mission capability of anti-submarine warfare, air defense, and both conventional and nuclear strike. Between the two she had served as a recovery ship for Mercury and Gemini space missions, and on Yankee Station during the Vietnam War. Even after Intrepid left the naval service she has continued to adapt and contribute to our nation. Today the ship serves as a museum in New York City, and immediately following the attacks on 9/11 she served as a secure command center for the FBI-NYPD terrorism task force.

During the Flag Passing in many retirement ceremonies, you will hear “Old Glory” and the passage that reads, “I have been a silent witness to all

of America’s finest hours. But my finest hour comes when I am torn into strips to be used for bandages for my wounded comrades on the field of battle, when I fly at half mast to honor my soldiers, and when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving mother at the graveside of her fallen son.” Metaphorically INTREPID is doing the same by continuing to support members of the Armed Forces and their families. She serves as the centerpiece of a family of foundations which provide for military families of lost military personnel, severely wounded veterans and military personnel, Fisher House and the needs of the military community.

Intrepid was written by two experts on the subject. Bill White is the president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and leads the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Robert Gandt is a former Naval Aviator and an airline pilot who has written numerous previous books on naval aviation. The book is easy to read and marks a significant change in the U.S. Navy’s capabilities, as well as the vast support of the military available in the civilian community.

The changes illustrated by Intrepid’s history was brought home to me in a passage on pages 261-2 that read: The war in Vietnam was over.

Negotiators from North Vietnam and the United States had signed a peace accord in Paris. It meant that attack carriers would no longer be deploying to Yankee Station. No more American airmen would be killed or imprisoned.

POWs who had languished for years in North Vietnamese were c o m i n g home. The Navy was no longer short of carriers.

This marked a monumental change in the Navy, and the U.S. military as a whole. First, as described in the quote, suddenly there was an excess number of carriers and military equipment as a whole. Second, and

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more importantly, the draft soon ended and the military became an all volunteer force as it remains today.

Reading the history of our navy, whether legendary ships like Intrepid or other subjects, helps us to appreciate the changes that our Navy has experienced over 235 years. The stories in Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship are not just about the hardware, or the battles, but also about the Sailors and the lessons learned over seven decades of service to our country. The book is a great tribute to the ship, her Sailors, and the Navy that continues to serve today.

CAPT Pete Brennan is the Commander of Amphibious Squadron Five.

He has commanded HC-8, HSC-28, HSC-3, and is a former President of NHA.

Perspective of the Now

I

n closing of this issue of Rotor Review, several years ago, the Department of Defense challenged the leadership of the Armed Forces with a vision of the future of military operations, power projection and national defense. During that time, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Vernon E. Clark and Commandant of Marine Corps (CMC) Michael W. Hagee provided a focus for the NavyMarine Corps Naval Operating Concept for Joint Operations. The Navy-Marine Corps Naval Operating Concept for Joint Operations described “how the Navy and Marine Corps Team will prepare and operate a more capable and ready Naval Force.” The two leaders continued to state that “[W]e are committed to achieving this unprecedented level of integration to strengthen our nation’s joint warfighting capabilities. This transformation will challenge us, and is ultimately dependent upon the creativity, initiative and commitment of every sailor and Marine.”

The foresight of this challenge caused the CNO and CMC to spearhead a unique opportunity of approach for the call of naval leadership and direction, and to become directly involved in the implementation. From this idea, ADM Clark explain the “process of translating theory into practice for a wide range of advanced concepts and technologies that will increase warfighting effectiveness and strengthen the joint team as we operate across a unified battle space of sea, air, land.”

In the 2004 Winter edition of Rotor Review, LCDR Dom Strada wrote an article on how this vision would impact the naval helicopter community into what is happening

today. The article was entitled “Preparing for the Future” The following excerpt is LCDR Strada’s perspective on the transitional changes that were taking place during the time: The Status Report on Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Guidance for 2002 speaks directly to our initial accomplishments as a helicopter community in leading the implementation of DOD vision for the future. “Began the transition of aging H-46 to MH-60S helicopters. HC-5, in Guam, was the first squadron to convert. On track to retire the aging H-46 in September 2004. Provided all H-60 aircraft with night vision goggle-compatible cockpit lighting and crews issued with weapons for force protection. Approved Helicopter Concept of Operation (Helo CONOPS), realigning the entire rotary wing community with an operational at-sea focus.”

The helicopter community must continue to forge ahead, with similar success, based on the latest guidance. Success in this endeavor will require innovation, initiative and risk management as we work outside the “status quo box” in preparation for this rapid and large doctrinal paradigm shift.

Naval Helicopter and the Expeditionary Strike Force.

CNO Naval Operation Concept (NOC) and Sea Power 21 statements guide future naval doctrine. Both center on the Sea Strike, Sea Shield and Sea Basing concepts, as well as on the employment of an

Expeditionary Strike Force (ESF). “The ESF will consist of Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs), Expeditionary and Martime Prepositioning Groups.” The CSG and ESG, “new organizational constructs,” are “key components of the global integrated Naval Force necessary to meet the forwarddeterrent and rapid-response requirements of the defense strategy. A CSG “will generally consist of an aircraft carrier, a cruiser (CG), two guided-missile destroyer (DDGs), an attack submarine (SSN), and a fast combat support ship (T-AOE); the ESG “will generally consist of a standard threeship Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), CG, two DDGs, an SSN, and, in the future, a new generation of destroyer.”

By design, these new battle elements ensure greater flexibility for more rapid and effective power projection. Implied is a doctrinal change that applies at all levels in the Navy, and NOC guidance relies heavily on the increased role of helicopters as flexible, offensive and defensive ESF assets.

The CNO vision for Sea Shield, for example, provides us with directional guidance on employment of the MH-60R/S in countering the mine and small boat threat. “The ESF will conduct operations (e.g. precision attack, missile defense, anti-submarine and mine countermeasure operations, anti-ship operations (including raids), special operations, escort, ship defense actions, and Maritime Interdiction Operation (MIO)…The ESF, employing submarines, surface ships, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and unmanned vehicles, will provide an undersea defensive shield.” Additionally, “fast Continue on page 71

NAVAL HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION, INC The Navy Helicopter Association, Inc was founded on 2 November 1971 by the twelve rotary wing pioneers listed below.

The bylaws were later formally written and the organization was established as a nonprofit association in the State of California 11 May 1978. In 1987 the bylaws were rewritten, changing the name from Navy to Naval to reflect the close relationship of the rotary wing community in the Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy, from initial training to operating many similar aircraft. NHA is a 501 ( C ) (7) nonprofit association.

NHA Founding Members CAPT A.E. Monahan CAPT M.R. Starr CAPT A.F. Emig Mr. H. Nachlin

CDR H.F. McLinden CDR W. Staight Mr. R. Walloch CDR P.W. Nicholas

CDR D.J. Hayes CAPT C.B. Smiley CAPT J.M. Purtell CDR H.V. Pepper

Objectives of NHA Provide recognition and enhance the prestige of the United States Naval vertical flight community.

Promote the use of vertical lift aircraft in the U. S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

Rotor Review # 108Keep Winter ‘10 70accomplishments in rotary wing aviation. members informed of new developments and

Perspective from the Now Continued from page 70

enemy surface combatants and other waterborne threats will be defeated by a dispersed force of networked platforms conducting ship defense actions; this force will include organic weapons systems, littoral combatants, and helicopters.”

Furthermore, “Small, fast enemy surface combatants represent another threat to operations in geographically confined areas… A dispersed force of the smaller platforms such as the Littoral Combat Ship and the MH-60…offer promising response capabilities.”

Helicopter Concept of Operations.

The continued and effective implementation of the CNO-approved Helo CONOPS Plan is critical to the solidification of the helicopter community’s role in the

Navy of the future. It is a plan that is well underway and one that outlines a road map designed to effectively employ our newest assets, the MH60R and MH-60S, in the reshaping of naval forces and doctrine.

The finer details of the plan are somewhat fluid but the overarching goal of the plan, the effective and increased utilization of the modern helicopter weapon system as a major contributor to the future naval battle force, the ESF, remain solid.

Operationally, Helo CONOPS began with the transition of HC-5 from the H-46 to the MH-60S, and it continues with the transition of remaining H-46 HC squadrons (HC-

6, HC-11, and HC-8). One of the next major steps will be the establishment of the new MH-60S and MH-60R Tactical Wings…

MH60S and MH60R squadrons will be organized in direct support of DOD and DON plans for the future operating concepts of our armed forces. Most will be used to support CSG and ESG operations. MH-60S pilots will be employed in the Combat Search and Rescue, Search and Rescue, Maritime Interdiction, Anti-Surface Warfare and Airborne Mine Countermeasures, Special Operations and Logistics missions. MH60R pilots will be employed in the AntiSubmarine Warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare, Maritime Interdiction and Special Operation missions.

You can read more of “Preparng for the Future” by LCDR Dom Strada in Rotor Review, Issue 84 (Winter 2004) on page 15.

One from Our Readers From CAPT Tom R. Ford, USN (Ret)

CAPT Tom Ford, USN (Ret) emailed in these photos of his State of Texas license plate H464VR (on the left) to announce that he and his son Cliff have five decades of H-46 flying between them as of January of this year....

Then

Now

Following in his father’s footsteps, Cliff [as Maj (select) James C. Ford ] has been flying them since 2000 for HMM-268 Red Dragons, HMM-364 Purple Foxes and currently flying for 3rd MAW as MATSS Ops Officer and as USMC H-46 Model Manager.

When Cliff was young, Tom started flying H-46s in the 1970s, until 1990s for HC-3, HC-5 (CO), HC-6, and HC-11....

The Next Issue of the

focuses on SYCUT: The Symposium Review

All photo and article submissions need to be no later than June 9, 2010 to your Rotor Review community editor or NHA Design Editor. Any further questions, please contact the NHA National Office at 619.435.7139 or editors@navalhelicopterassn.org

Rotor Review # 108 Winter ‘10

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(version 2010)