E-2 Hawkeye/C-2 Greyhound

[bunk22]

What's a reasonable top speed for E2/C2?

Brett

Without going down hill, about 320 KIAS for a C-2. However, the higher we go, the slower we go. Going 250 at the Angels 7 wouldn't be a problem........as the COD sits now. Who knows with external tanks.

 

[bunk22]

1. Do you want high priority parts and pax from shore, or do you want a tanker? You cannot do both in the same flight (tanking is too dangerous for pax to be onboard).

Agreed, can't have both. Just like when I started flying C-2's, we flew night missions at the boat. Couldn't fly pax, just cargo and there was never enough to fly both day and night. Crew rest came into play with only a few pilots as well. With a tanker, the COD stays with the boat.

2. The airwing/ship should never ever be dependent on a tanker coming from shore, you just get screwed too much. That means they will have to buy even more C-2B's and keep some of them on the ship. There goes the plan for cutting down the # types of aircraft on the ship & the good deal COD Det.

Again, agreed. The COD will have to stay with the boat. In 99, we stayed aboard the Connie the entire cruise and for the deck, not easy with 4 E-2's and 2 C-2's. What's more important, gas or high pri cargo. Remember, the C-2B is also supposed to be a more sophisticated Spec Ops platform. In the past, like 99, all crews were paradrop qualified (not hard to do) and we had many requests for drops. Only once, when the ship was in port, did we drop guys (Kuwait). Logistics always came first. In this case, logistics and gas will always come first.

3. The C-2B would also have to get some seriously stronger engines (more than the -427). The Viking did all it's tanking at 250 and the Hornets didn't like being that slow, they want 275-300 KIAS. Most of the tanking was done below 7K at the ship, but if you are going to do mission tanking, it will be in the mid 20's. The C-2 just isn't able to get the IAS to be a good tanker up that high.

The 275-300 is possible as of now but it wouldn't be smooth, at least not for us. Mid 20's would be almost impossible as the COD sits now. Unless the engines change or the new 8 blade prop which we are getting in the next 2-3 years that increase performance, tanking at higher altitude isn't going to happen. If it does, it will happen much slower than 250KIAS. Again, with external tanks, probably not going to help performance.

So at this point, from what I know, I too agree that the COD is not a good tanker platform.

 

[Screamtruth]

For the Hawks and CODS

What is the means of egress from these two aircraft? Do they have ejection systems, and if they do, what about the crew in the rear compartment?

I have always wondered what you would do in the event of a bad CAT, or broken wire...........................


Nathan

 

[WishICouldFly]

You get out.

 

[Red2]

For the E-2 we bailout or ditch, depending upon altitude and the nature of the emergency. Min safe bailout alt is 500' AGL (old parachute) 1000' AGL (new parachute). The entire crew bails out of the main entrance hatch NFOs first, then pilots. For ditch, there are three ditching hatches one above each pilot and one above the ACO (aftmost NFO).

The COD pilots only wear parachutes when performing FCFs, so they primarily ditch.

 

[scoober78]

Min safe bailout alt is 500' AGL (old parachute) 1000' AGL (new parachute).

What happened there???

 

[HAL Pilot]

For the E-2 we bailout or ditch, depending upon altitude and the nature of the emergency. Min safe bailout alt is 500' AGL (old parachute) 1000' AGL (new parachute). The entire crew bails out of the main entrance hatch NFOs first, then pilots. For ditch, there are three ditching hatches one above each pilot and one above the ACO (aftmost NFO).

The COD pilots only wear parachutes when performing FCFs, so they primarily ditch.

Back in the mid 1990s, they were getting ready to pull the parachutes out of the P-3 saying no one had bailed out of a Navy aircraft for years. Then an E-2 crew bailed out over the Med.

And they had to send a fighter to shoot down the pilot-less E-2....

 

[Swanee]

Back in the mid 1990s, they were getting ready to pull the parachutes out of the P-3 saying no one had bailed out of a Navy aircraft for years. Then an E-2 crew bailed out over the Med.

And they had to send a fighter to shoot down the pilot-less E-2....

Did they bail out of a perfectly good airplane?

 

[HAL Pilot]

Did they bail out of a perfectly good airplane?

If I remember right, it was an engine fire that would not go out - until after they bailed out......

 

[MasterBates]

I believe the E2 did not go down without a fight either..

Grumman Ironworks at work.

 

[bunk22]

Did they bail out of a perfectly good airplane?

This was a CRM case study for our community. At the time, there was a rash of false engine fire idications with the E-2. Pilots were honoring it with the pulling of the T-handle, pushing the fire extinguisher button. Of course the plane is down until the used fire ext bottle is replaced. We popped on back in 01 and it took 3 days to get one. So, as the story goes, the CO was hot and heavy on ensuring there was a fire. The E-2 launches off the cat, they get a fire warning indication. The crew decides not to pull the T-handle. I think they only climbed to 3-5000 feet or so. The fire was confirmed via bubbling paint on the nacelle. They pulled the T-handle, pressed the button, didn't go out so they opted to bailout. Of course the E-2 flew on and had to be brought down by a Hornet. Talk about unlucky, one of the NFO's on this flight was on an E-2 flight that caught fire the very next year. It crashed and all onboard were killed. I've seen (mostly heard) the tape from that mishap. Very tough to hear the A-6 crew at the end screaming for the E-2 to pull his nose up.

 

[BigIron]

...Of course the E-2 flew on and had to be brought down by a Hornet.

We were just discussing this mishap in light of recent events. There seems to be some debate whether the thing ended up crashing on its own or if the hornet took it down.

I've seen (mostly heard) the tape from that mishap. Very tough to hear the A-6 crew at the end screaming for the E-2 to pull his nose up.

What was recording the mishap?

 

[phrogpilot73]

The COD pilots only wear parachutes when performing FCFs, so they primarily ditch.

My question is why do they only wear parachutes when doing FCF?

 

[Lawman]

We were just discussing this mishap in light of recent events. There seems to be some debate whether the thing ended up crashing on its own or if the hornet took it down.

I guess the other question to go along with that is if the Hornet did bring it dogn did the Squadron paint an E-2 on the side of the aircraft or not in fear of angering the CAG.

 

[Lyse01]

My question is why do they only wear parachutes when doing FCF?

What are they going to do, jump out of the plane and leave passengers in the back?