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TH-73
- Thread starter KWpilot58
- Start date
Another nice update - very informative and great photography:
verticalmag.com
Leonardo TH-73A ‘Thrasher’ comes of age
Vertical Valor recently visited Naval Air Station Whiting Field for an exclusive update on the introduction of the new TH-73A Thrasher undergraduate training helicopter — one of the most important current U.S. military procurement programs.
verticalmag.com
US Navy TH-73A “Thrasher”, Pensacola, 15Aug23 - PHOTO 01 AVIATION
Tuesday August 15, 2023 Two US Navy TH-73A “Thrasher” (BuNo 170183, 170200) helicopters assigned to Training Air Wing Five (TAW-5) and flown by instructors from Helicopter Training Squadron Eight (HT-8) fly over Pensacola, Florida, on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.
Went with Fleet-style tail numbers that “pay homage” to the respective services. All TH-73 Navy tails are either 6XX (HSC) or 7XX (HSM). Coast guard tails all start with ‘2xx’ and Marine tails start with ‘1x’ or ‘2x’
Edit: correction to Marine tails
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US Navy TH-57C TH-73A, Pensacola, 12Sept23 - PHOTO 01 AVIATION
Tuesday September 12th, 2023 A US Navy TH-57C “Sea Ranger” (BuNo 162666) and a US Navy TH-73A “Thrasher” (BuNo 170198) assigned to Training Air Wing Five (TAW-5) and flown by instructors from Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT (HT-8), Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHTEEN (HT-18), and...
Maybe @kejo could elaborate, but saw this announced this week. So is this meant to (potentially) be the off-set that replaces the VT primary flight time for those skipping the VTs?
Given this is in Ft. Worth, and assuming this scales to a full-on program beyond the study, I wonder how much money is being saved after the per diem and whatever bid was 206 flight time.
Given this is in Ft. Worth, and assuming this scales to a full-on program beyond the study, I wonder how much money is being saved after the per diem and whatever bid was 206 flight time.
Well, at least now we know where all those old Army trainers went.
You are entirely correct @Gatordev - the idea is that SNAs will volunteer for helos direct from NIFE, proceed to Texas for the civilian syllabus in the B206, then to South Field for the advanced helo syllabus. I’ve got lots of thoughts on the program although I know in the end the students will adapt, overcome, and become the great fleet aviators that we so desperately need - how much flail and how little money and time is truly saved in the process to actually get there remains to be seen lol.
Parallel effort in AF land. I don't have any knowledge on how AF UPT students are diverted from T-6 land. In 2020 AETC experimented with sending a class of students directly to the AF Helo Detachment at Rucker and did single track syllabus to wings in the TH-1H. This was quite successful but spendy! Fast forward to 2023 and CAE was awarded the "IFT-R" contract and do initial flight training in the Bell 505 - which in my humble opinion is an ideal primary trainer. Follow on "Advanced" will be in the TH-1H "Huey II".
Wouldn't it be something to consolidate initial rotary wing training of all DoD + USCG and flow students to their respective service specific advanced helo syllabus?
With the major investment the Navy has just made in the TH-73, my guess is that all rotary wing Navy/ Marine Corps/ Coast Guard aviators will be trained at South Field for the foreseeable future. And frankly that’s a good thing: financially, professionally, and otherwise. It will be interesting to see where the helos-only experiment goes and I am truly hopeful that we won’t come to regret it as a service.
There was once a time when the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force had something of a joint undergraduate pilot training enterprise. I mean, everyone here who went through T-6s for Primary remembers the MCG is titled JOINT Primary Pilot Training. Those who went through in VT-3 remember the Air Force instructors who put even the hammer-est of Navy or Marine hammer IPs to shame.
You'll still find VT-35 patches out there with silver Air Force wings on them, too. Not a mistake or an inside joke; if you were slated for C-130s (particularly the more high-speed sort like AC/HC/MC), you'd go through TC-12s down in Corpus instead of T-1s.
It was never a single universal track for everyone in the same aircraft, but it truly was a shared effort. That is, until (as I understand it), the Navy and Air Force got into a spat over funding and the Air Force decided to take their ball and go home.
All that to say, there's nothing practically speaking that's stopping the branches from consolidating initial flight training. But there is certainly a non-zero amount of cultural differences and bad blood from not that long ago.
From what I understand the Texas contract is basically to get SNAs from first contact to solo. Once done, they’ll enter the South Whiting system to get “navalized” via the TH-73. Nearly all of the Army training is done by contract pilots and they seem to do a good job, but yes, I recognize the differences between the two services flying duties. Cost wise I don’t see a big difference between sending a kid to Corpus for primary only to send him back to Milton for advanced and sending one to Dallas and then on to Milton.
No, it would be terrible. We did that already with Vance and the guys who showed up at NDZ would take some time to adapt to the Navy way of training. Also, we really don't want the Army indoctrinating our SNAs at the beginning. Trust me when I say that as someone who is surrounded by a Big Army training mindset. It's very frustrating.
The Army also treats its aviation and aviators unlike any other service, and not in a good way. Their aircraft are just another vehicle to them and are treated as such doctrinally and operationally, and that mindset carries over to their aviators as well. Their aviators are just as skilled as any other but they are usually much more limited in how they use them.
That, and its the Army.