Posted on 05/12/2008 8:56:59 PM PDT by brityank
A Reason to Always Do Your FOD Check
From the US Navy aboard the USS Harry S Truman:
When the words foreign object debris (FOD) come to mind the last thing someone thinks about is an owl. On the morning of March 17 on board USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), an owl is exactly what was found. What might have been a mishap, ended on a happier note thanks to a few Sailors' attention to detail.
"I was the safety behind the 300 jet. That's why I probably ended up there first," said Aviation Structural Mechanic (Equipment) 3rd class Jeremy Smith, a Sailor attached to the "Ragin' Bulls" of Strike Squadron (VFA) 37.
He was called over by Aviation Electronics Technician Airman Apprentice Tony McJohnston, also part of VFA 37. What they found was a screech owl.
Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd class Zachary Gorman who is attached to Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) 7, the "Dusty Dogs," is a licensed falconer in the U.S. He was called to the scene to check the status of the bird.
"When I got there, I checked him over to make sure he didn't have any broken wings and if he was dehydrated or malnourished," said Gorman.
Gorman and the flight deck medical team nursed the owl, or "Fod" as Flight Deck Control liked to call him, back to health by giving him a shot of sugar water to help rehydrate him.
Gorman said after treating the bird they found no life-threatening problems.
"For the most part the bird was healthy, just a little tired," said Gorman. He also made sure "Fod" was okay in a box the crew dubbed his makeshift "stateroom." Gorman has been working with birds of prey since the age of 12 and said he was more than happy to help the animal.
"I've worked with a lot of owls throughout the years, but I never thought I'd have to deal with one on a carrier in the middle of the Gulf" said Gorman.
The owl could not reside on board indefinitely so they came up with another plan.
(Gouge NC and Aero-News)
My pleasure. Cute lil’ booger, innit he?
All flight deck personnel muster on the flight deck for FOD walkdown!
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
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Bump for FOD on a COD.
A small black bird joined the ships company briefly when I was on the Midway. We were out of visual range of land at the time, so he was kept in Flight Deck Control until we returned to easy bingo range when he was launched.
Cute little guy, and he seems surprisingly calm and tame. Glad to hear this little feathered story had a happy ending.
}:-)4
“Too bad he wasn’t allowed to stay onboard long enough to warrant an honorary sailor’s or Airman’s rank :-)”
CPO Fod.
I tried to watch one episode and it had so little to do with carriers that I turned it off.
I thought Carrier hit the spot on the “lifestyle” of military families. Relationships fall apart, “nothing” to say because it’s the SSDD, kids growing up, etc. They got whiney at the end, but hey...missing home is a GOOD thing.
LOL. Cute story, brit.
yah...they’ve had Hooters on the flight deck since the 1980’s...
Ping!
At first glance I thought it was McCain’s wife............
During WWII, a cruiser operating off the CA coast recovered an exhausted pigeon. It had a tag identifying it as “Property of U.S. Navy”, and that it had come from NAS Moffett Field. Turns out it was a messenger pigeon from a blimp. The bird had gotten lost in bad weather. When the ship got to Alameda, they contacted Moffett Field asking what they should do with it. Moffett replied simply “release it”. It found it’s way back to Moffett.
LOL!
Actually, ravens are a helluva lot smarter than owls. In fact, some ornithologists consider them to be the smartest of all birds (or at least competitive with parrots). But unlike parrots, ravens are very difficult to domesticate. They seem to have an unbreakable "wild streak" that you have to appreciate. Just don't stand under one.
I was on an LST when we took a Seabee group from Okinawa to Guadalcanal after the Solomons had been hit by a big cyclone. A pair of little sparrow-like birds had been hanging around the ship while we were inport Okinawa and when we left they came along. The deck guys would put out pans of water and food for them. It was about a two week transit and they ended up riding all the way to Guadalcanal, where they took off and we never saw them again.
This just reminds me: I work with a lot of libs, so I usually don’t join in political conversations of any sort, but one day at a staff lunch, and though I forget the context, I mentioned to one young man that I was a conservative Republican. His mother happens to be the director of our local SPCA where I volunteer sometimes, so he knew me from there as well as our mutual workplace. He was very surprised about me being a republican and I asked him why? He said that he never thought a republican would volunteer at an SPCA because they hate animals. Amazing, yes?
Oh boy, I could tell you some stories! I’m a hardcore birder (but NOT a member of Audubon). Anytime I’m out birding with these people, the conversation often gets political (they all hate Bush, blah, blah, blah). I don’t put up with it though, and I’ll battle them on every issue. Once, just to goad them, I wore one of those Che Guevara T-shirts out birding — but it was one of those fake Che shirts. It showed the iconic image of the thug but wearing a Mickey Mouse hat. The reaction was priceless. I had one lady so mad at me she even tried to blame the Kent State Massacre on “reactionaries” like me.
It was worth every penny I spent on that shirt!
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