Rotary Wing Roundup (Helos at work in Maritime Environment)

[insanebikerboy]

I certainly can't speak for ASW, but in pretty much any other realm, helo will not be doing any sort of "attack" from a hover.

You haven't read the 60H/60S tac pubs lately have you? You are so wrong on that post that it's not even funny. And I'm not referring to anything but specifically Navy helos.

You guys really don't so a lot of ASW any more, go you? Especially coordinated ops ASW? It was common knowledge in my day. LAMPS = no hover drop. Dippers = hover drop.

That's the sad thing about getting rid of the 60F. I've flown quite a few coordinated ASW flights and when people are on their games, it's a thing of beauty tracking that sub. It appears that we are getting away from that nowadays though, unfortunately.

 

[Gatordev]

Pilots don't need to be ASW guru's. You have us for that!:icon_tong

In the H-60F the crazy A-dub in the back giving you crap can punch up an air plan, all you have to do is fly the FTP's. Magic! Ahhh how I loved spanking the shit out of submarines, H-60 or P-3 it was a blast!

Definitely an advancement they gave the F. When we get HS pilots and they start learning the tactics phase in the Bravo, they always complain about how they have to do everything and how much easier it was in the F. I'm pretty sure this was addressed with the Romeo and now it's more inline, or even better, with the F for ASW.

That's the sad thing about getting rid of the 60F. I've flown quite a few coordinated ASW flights and when people are on their games, it's a thing of beauty tracking that sub. It appears that we are getting away from that nowadays though, unfortunately.

I know I've said it before, but I really do think it's dependent on your locale. Like helolumpy said, the Japan guys do ASW a lot. We did it less than Japan, but more than the west coast when I was in Hawaii. The east coast seems to do it when they need a qual or another country wants to play and it's convenient for the Wing(s). I think constantly deploying/operating where the current threats are help with making it priority.

 

[helolumpy]

In the H-60F the crazy A-dub in the back giving you crap can punch up an air plan, all you have to do is fly the FTP's. Magic! Ahhh how I loved spanking the shit out of submarines, H-60 or P-3 it was a blast!

Which assumes of course that the "crazy A-dub" in the back understands the oceano for sonar placement, how to program the weapon and of course fill out "the purple" after the flight....

 

[IKE]

Did you guys fly in MOPP gear?

No. We were concerned with radioactive particles (contamination vice radiation) and in such low levels that things inside the aircraft didn't get "hot." It was a very painful lesson in just how sensitive our monitoring equipment is and how conservative the policies are concerning radioactive contamination. There was a specific day on which two of our aircraft got a little contaminated before the Nuke nerds were detached to us in full force. Most of our efforts after that were spent preventing our gloves, boots, etc. (and maintainers) from getting contact contamination from the hot birds. Depending on the aircraft, we may preflight in Tyvek suits, and the maintainers use respirators when working on hot parts. We mostly use latex gloves for preflight, to avoid losing our issued gloves to built-up contamination (it tends to stick to oil and grease).

Let me say for anyone reading this who may be looking at orders to Japan: IT IS SAFE. I have a young child here, and I know one of the Nuke Chiefs that was working for us is bringing his 2 kids out here on orders to Yokosuka. The ground contamination is localized to the Fukushima area (maybe 15-20 miles) - Tokyo is over 100 miles away (Atsugi and Yokosuka are farther).

 

[scoolbubba]

That explains it. For some reason I thought you were done with your initial tour and back in VT land as an IP.

It's all that salty wisdom I sprinkle on my posts.

For you helo bubbas, how do you guys do sims? Do you have a tactical sim and an OFT, or can you do tactical training in the OFTs?

 

[H60Gunner]

Which assumes of course that the "crazy A-dub" in the back understands the oceano for sonar placement, how to program the weapon and of course fill out "the purple" after the flight....

Oceanography is taught from the beginning, then studied for exams and PQS requirements in depth. If your AW's are not the squadron SME in that area there is a serious training problem.

How to program the weapon, not so much, there is no way to flip the switches from the back, you know that. What the modes are, yes they should know that inside and out.

The only AW's I know of who write purples are TSC folks, and even those folks usually only write the analysis part. Exceptions are, AW's working in OPCON, and of course Watch Officers (AWC and above). That being said, squadron AW's should at least know what a purple is. A purple is really not that hard to write, even a complex one with multiple contacts....

 

[Jim123]

For you helo bubbas, how do you guys do sims? Do you have a tactical sim and an OFT, or can you do tactical training in the OFTs?

All of the above- it depends on what training device(s) are required and/or desired for a syllabus event or practice hop. The 60 FRSs have had various incarnations of OFTs and tactics simulators since at least the 1990s and maybe longer. If the guy running the simulator is really good then he can do a decent job of "simulating" friendly assets (tactics, comms, toys) and not just the bad guys, but it's a handful for one instructor to do all that and do it well.

 

[helolumpy]

It's all that salty wisdom I sprinkle on my posts.

For you helo bubbas, how do you guys do sims? Do you have a tactical sim and an OFT, or can you do tactical training in the OFTs?

Much of that depends on the squadron. Some squadrons have looked to max out sim usage and are aggressive at scheduling. Others will only schedule sims when they absolutely have to, for example instrument checks and SWTP check rides where you need to "shoot" torps or Hellfires.

It also depends on sim usage. At NAS Jax, when HS-1 went away it was pretty easy with two sims (usually) available. With only 4 squadrons (1 deployed) in Jax, it was pretty easy to schedule a multiple sims per week per squadron.
Contrast that to San Diego where you have the same two sims but HS-10 was there to eat up a lot of sim time as well.
The fleet squadrons would be lucky to get a couple per week depending on where you were in your turn-around training plan.

That being said, almost all of your ASW training will be in the sim. Since it's nearly impossible to get on-top-time for training, most folks only get 'contact' time in the sim.
Most of your Hellfire training was also in the sim since missile shots are a precious commodity.
You can also expect to get a lot of the Aircraft Survival Gear (radar detctor and chaff/flare dispensor) training in the sim since emitter ranges are tough to come by as well.

Some squadron will do a NATOPS check sim, others will not. Most squadrons do instrument checks in the sim.

You really can't do mountain flying or TERF training in the sim. The fidelity is just not enough to consider sim time adequate replacement for the feel of the aircraft when doing landings in unprepared LZs.

As for the physical sims, the 60F/H had two full motion OFT's that could be linked for dual-ship ASW. One of the OFT's could be swapped between the F cockpit and H cockpit. So you could do dual-ship ASW, but only single ship Hellfire/ASE gear training.
We also had Team Tactics Trainers (Trippe T's) that had functioning tactical computers but nothing else. The CPT's in the VT's were more dynamic than these, but they really help when you just want to push buttons to work through various menus of the computers.

 

[BACONATOR]

It's all that salty wisdom I sprinkle on my posts.

For you helo bubbas, how do you guys do sims? Do you have a tactical sim and an OFT, or can you do tactical training in the OFTs?

What's a "sim"?

 

[MasterBates]

It's a thing Americans have acess to. Foreign legion, not so much.

 

[Recovering LSO]

I got to fly up front with HSM-71 bubbas a few weeks ago while underway. Romeo cockpit is pretty impressive - some amazing ES capabilities. This tacair guy was impressed - at least for the first 1.5, then I got a bad case of of the Ottos...

WebMD describes "ottos" as a psychological disorder where one complains about good deals.

 

[Pags]

I got to fly up front with HSM-71 bubbas a few weeks ago while underway. Romeo cockpit is pretty impressive - some amazing ES capabilities. This tacair guy was impressed - at least for the first 1.5, then I got a bad case of of the Ottos...

WebMD describes "ottos" as a psychological disorder where one complains about good deals.

Romeo and Sierra cockpit is pretty much the same: one common cockpit to rule them all. Romeo has plenty of beeps and squeaks stuff to play with if that's your cup of tea.

 

[KBayDog]

WebMD describes "ottos" as a psychological disorder where one complains about good deals.

Fortunately, I've been vaccinated.

I know a good deal when I see one...I've got one right now!

 

[BACONATOR]

I got to fly up front with HSM-71 bubbas a few weeks ago while underway. Romeo cockpit is pretty impressive - some amazing ES capabilities. This tacair guy was impressed - at least for the first 1.5, then I got a bad case of of the Ottos...

WebMD describes "ottos" as a psychological disorder where one complains about good deals.

Well I just made FCP and I'm headed to Iraq soon. Stand by for bitching about that...

 

[RobLyman]

Well I just made FCP and I'm headed to Iraq soon. Stand by for bitching about that...

Flying or IA? <sarcasm>Either way, you won't be there for long, because we all know that all troops will be gone by December 31, 2011!</sarcasm>