Vertrep

[VetteMuscle427]

Looking through the Navy's webpage, I've found numerous photos of Pumas doing vertrep between US ships. Is this normal? Where do these helicopters come from?


http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=30934????

 

[TheBubba]

Maybe the MSC ships don't have enough room for a -46?.. and I don't recall ever seeing a 46 on a CVN... but I could be wrong...

I didn't even know we used the Pumas

 

[SteveG75]

Actually, the MSC ships do have room for a -46.

I had a DH who was -46 to Intruder to Prowler transition guy who did a tour flying out of Guam flying off MSC ships. He said they had great food and staterooms.

As for the Puma's a little Google search revealed:

U.S. Naval Ships (USNS) are under the command of a civilian master and are crewed by civilian mariners. The crews are civilian employees of the Department of the Navy. As a cost-savings measure, MSC contracts the the services of the Pumas.

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/images/imageair39.html

 

[ChunksJR]

Well, not all USNS vessels have Pumas on board yet...I was deployed aboard the USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) from Jan - Jul 2004 and one of my squadron's detachments are aboard USNS Mt. Baker for a few more months.

The Pumas are controlled by Evergreen Helicopters out of Oregon. Flown by civilian contractors.

As for the CH-46, the Navy doesn't fly them anymore. Last two units to fly the CH-46 were HC-11 (now HSC-21) on the west (last flight, 29 Jul 2004) and HC-8 (now HSC-28) on the east (last flight, 23 Sep 2004).

 

[BigIron]

The Pumas are controlled by Evergreen Helicopters out of Oregon. Flown by civilian contractors.

I hear they make a pretty good living doing this.....

 

[Pags]

I just did a quick glance at their webpage; they seem to have a pretty expansive operation and an nice helo fleet to back them up. Looks like in addition to the Pumas they also have S-64s (skycranes) and S-61s (H-3s), plus a whole assortment of smaller helos like B206s and Hueys.

Plus, for non-helo folks like A4s, they're working on a supertanker, which is a 747 equipped for firefighting (I think there was something on here about it awhile back).

http://www.evergreenaviation.com/index.html

 

[Ex Rigger]

They have some Job Ops for helo pilots in the PI!! :icon_smil

 

[Gatordev]

I saw that, too. You can either get shot down and killed by the local terrorist sympathizers OR you can get a cheap round while playing smiles.

 

[ChuckMK23]

The Super Puma pilots have had a rough history. Although it is far cheaper for the Navy to outsource this MSC function, there has been some serious safety issues. There has already been a mishap and some of the issues that came up -

Since these are military contracts, there is no FAR (135, 91, etc) on compliance issues

Pilots required to purchase their own flight equipment and maintain it. Helmets, Survival vests, etc. One pilot went in the water and his survival vest did not inflate because it had never been maintained.

Pilots are not issued survival radios or anti exposure suits.

Pilots are paid according to efficiency. They are pushed into 14-18 hour days. Pilots at GEO SEIS and Evergreen have been terminated/sent home for bringing up safety of flight issues.

On the other hand, the pay is good, ($120,000/year) the aircraft are modern, and it's a fun mission.

 

[Brett327]

and it's a fun mission.

VERTREP! Wheeee!

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Brett

 

[ChuckMK23]

Well, not all USNS vessels have Pumas on board yet...I was deployed aboard the USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) from Jan - Jul 2004 and one of my squadron's detachments are aboard USNS Mt. Baker for a few more months.

The Pumas are controlled by Evergreen Helicopters out of Oregon. Flown by civilian contractors.

As for the CH-46, the Navy doesn't fly them anymore. Last two units to fly the CH-46 were HC-11 (now HSC-21) on the west (last flight, 29 Jul 2004) and HC-8 (now HSC-28) on the east (last flight, 23 Sep 2004).

Gotta like that 1500 break for "coffee". No flight quarters, no nothin'

 

[ChunksJR]

Gotta like that 1500 break for "coffee". No flight quarters, no nothin'

Nah..they keep flight quarters, which means overtime for them, which cuts into the Master's bonus...so he just takes it out on you later...when he asks why the VERTREP took so long. And of course you can't say "Well, sir, your crew knew it was 3PM (1500??? What's that?) and they would get overtime."

D

 

[H20man]

Nah..they keep flight quarters, which means overtime for them, which cuts into the Master's bonus...so he just takes it out on you later...when he asks why the VERTREP took so long. And of course you can't say "Well, sir, your crew knew it was 3PM (1500??? What's that?) and they would get overtime."

overtime and coffee breaks, i love and hate it, ex while im doing all the work the chief mate is sitting there on his fat ass getting overtime, coffee breaks on the other hand... all work stops for 15 mins. the greatest reward was when the master made the chief mate write a letter saying he would never sail as CM with that company again.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Nah..they keep flight quarters, which means overtime for them, which cuts into the Master's bonus...so he just takes it out on you later...when he asks why the VERTREP took so long. And of course you can't say "Well, sir, your crew knew it was 3PM (1500??? What's that?) and they would get overtime."

D

Man, when we did a mini det on USNS Sirius, "coffee" was sacred - even if we were vertreping to a CV. The crew would literally walk off the flight deck and we would have to land on CV spot 3 for a hot pump and a leg stretch...

The other thing that was crazy was the Master and his gun collection - this guy had some sort of SMG that he would plink with off the bridge wing - hilarious and scary at the same time.

 

[Pags]

Man, when we did a mini det on USNS Sirius, "coffee" was sacred - even if we were vertreping to a CV. The crew would literally walk off the flight deck and we would have to land on CV spot 3 for a hot pump and a leg stretch...

The other thing that was crazy was the Master and his gun collection - this guy had some sort of SMG that he would plink with off the bridge wing - hilarious and scary at the same time.

What's the point of being in charge if you can't do what you want? Who doesn't have their list (some mental, some paper) of what you'd do if you were in charge? While in NROTC mine included a dream of working on my golf swing while the rest of the battalion drilled.