Hook 'Em Up

On Tuesday, I was scheduled to fly my "UTIL" flight. It's a flight to practice flying with a load of cargo suspended underneath the aircraft. One of the things Navy helicopters do is "vertical replenishment" (VERTREP). When the ship needs to be re-supplied, and they don't want to pull into port, a Supply ship will pull up close and the helicopter(s) will go back and forth carrying pallets of whatever from ship to ship until everything is where it needs to be.

So when I came into work, I was ready to get in the air and move an 800lb barrel of concrete around the airfield. But I wasn't expecting to also do this...

 There were 3 of us flying the same event with the same instructor, but since only one of us could actually fly at once, the instructor had the other two take turns learning how to be the "hookup man."
This job consists of:

• waiting until the ~19,000lb comes into a 10' hover over the load
• running through the downwash from the rotor to stand directly underneath the helicopter
• hooking the load to the cargo hook on the belly of the bird
• checking that the cable is securely connected to load
• then running back out from under the helicopter
• don't forget to keep an eye on the helo in case it starts falling on you.

Definitely a little nerve-wracking the first time you're standing looking up at a hovering helicopter (being controlled by someone with no more flight experience than you). Not to mention everyone (2 pilots, one crewman, one LSE, and one hovering aircraft) are waiting on you to attach a rubber loop at the end of a 8' pole onto a 2" wide moving target. No pressure.

I definitely love my job. But getting to do something else for a day, with the added bonus of a little adrenaline rush, was pretty cool.

Go Fly a...Helicopter!

First, I want everybody to know how much fun Sarah's been having posting this stuff for you all. At first, she wasn't sure if she'd like it or be good at it. Now, just a few days later, she's already hooked. But, I didn't think it was fair for Sarah to have a total monopoly on the fun or on your attentions, so I thought I would pitch in today.

no, this isn't me (maybe it's Sam) but the bird and the beach are right

After almost two months of ground school classes, simulator flights, and flights cancelled due to maintenance, I finally got up in the air on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday and today. It's been a busy week of early morning briefs (where I have to answer a bunch of questions from the instructor about what we're doing that day, how the helicopter works, and what to do if stuff breaks) and flights every day on top of a class/test or two. I am a little tired, but I'm sure not sick of flying yet. I'm LOVIN' it. Finally, after almost two years of training in aircraft I'll probably never fly again, I finally get to strap on a real Navy helo and fly for real. Of course, I still have quite a bit more training to complete, but from here on out I'll be learning systems and equipment that I'll actually need to know how to use.

As for the flying itself, like any nugget, there is something of a learning curve. My first couple laps through the pattern, steep approaches, and practice auto-rotations were pretty ugly. But today I felt like I was really starting to catch on, I can make the aircraft do what I want it to do (most of the time).

Another great thing about the FRS (Fleet Replenishment Squadron) has been the relaxed atmosphere; a refreshing change from Advanced Training in Milton (although we had it pretty good at HT-18, I don't know how you HT-8 guys got through). Here, as long as you know your info, no one's gonna try and hammer you. The instructors are there to teach. They know you don't know everything (or sometimes anything) about flying these aircraft, and want to teach you how to do it. They're also a lot easier to talk to, no "sir, yes, sir" junk. Just learning the job.