Posted on 11/10/2010 7:17:02 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Can nothing kill the P-3C Orion?
By Stephen Trimble on November 10, 2010
I am reporting in next week's magazine that a subset of the P-3C Orion fleet will outlive its planned retirement by the Boeing 737-based P-8A Poseidon. I'll post the link to the article here when it's available.
I consider the story a testament to the P-3C's record of freakish survival skills.
Adapted from the doomed, 1950s-era Lockheed L-188 Electra airliner, the Orion first survived its predecessor's untimely demise in the regional airliner market. It should have been replaced by the Lockheed P-7 in the early 1990s, but the P-7's setbacks and budget cuts kept the P-3C alive for at least another 30 years. Then, a series of inspections starting about 10 years ago nearly forced the navy to ground the entire fleet due to surprise revelations of fatigue damage. A rushed repair job called the special structural inspection kit (SSIK) kept about half the P-3C fleet in the air. But even that proved insufficient. During the last five years, wing inspections revealed shocking damage caused by corrosion and fatigue. By September 2009, all but 49 of the 120 combat-coded P-3C fleet was grounded. Only a furious effort by Naval Air Systems Command, led by P-3 sustainment lead Bob Holmes, allowed the navy to restore 33 Orions to flying status as of late October. Meanwhile, the navy is quietly investing to rewing at least 29 P-3Cs, allowing a subset of the Orion fleet to remain airworthy long after it is scheduled to be replaced by the P-8A.
Reports of the P-3C fleets demise, despite averaging 16,500 flying hours on an airframe designed to survive 7,500, are truly exaggerated.
The old sub chaser.
My Stepfather was a flight engineer on both. He had, if I remember right, over 12k hours on the P-3.
Where did they go from Moffett?
I flew on both the ‘willy-vickers’ and tne ‘charlies’.
I found on long missions it was much easier to find a good spot to curl up and sleep on the P-3.
There are priorities after all.
EC-121 Great aircraft but limited to pilots under 35.
................because it takes a man that young to handle three pieces of tail at the same time?
“................because it takes a man that young to handle three pieces of tail at the same time?”
You got it - that was actually the second official airline joke.
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>>Don’t forget the Hoover (S-3 Viking)!
Speaking of which, I just realized the other day that the S-3 fleet had been retired a decade ago. WTH has replaced it for the ASW mission? Nothing?
Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadrons
Helicopter Anti-Submarine squadrons are composite squadrons usually made up of four to six SH-60F Seahawks and two to four HH-60H Seahawks. Both Aircraft are Carrier-Based. The SH-60Fs primary mission is Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) defense of the inner zone, which includes detection, classification and destruction of hostile submarines. HH-60Hs primary mission is combat search and rescue (CSAR), Naval Special Warfare support (NSW) and anti-surface warfare (ASUW).
Helicopter Anti-Submarine (Light) Squadrons
Anti-Submarine Light squadrons each operate between six and fifteen SH-60B LAMPS III helicopters. The SH-60Bs primary mission is to provide fully mission capable detachments aboard cruisers, destroyers, and frigates assigned to the Fleet. These detachments are an integral part of the ships weapon system, extending the ships under-sea and anti-ship warfare capabilities beyond the horizon. As of 2003 all Helicopter Anti-Submarine (Light) Squadrons are schedule to be redesignated Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadrons. This change will reflect the switch to the MH-60R Seahawk and the squadrons new multi-mission capability.
Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadrons
Helicopter Maritime Strike squadrons operate the MH-60R Seahawk. The first operational fleet squadron to receive the Romeo is HSM-71 in fiscal year 2008. The new squadron designation was created to reflect the MH-60Rs multi-mission capabilities. Eventually all Anti-submarine (Light) squadrons will transition to the MH-60R and be redesignated HSM.
ref: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=1200&tid=500&ct=1
Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.
There are plenty of times where fixed wing >> rotary wing.
Pilots have always had a great sense of humor.
Build boat-bottoms on 'em and Bob's your uncle.
The Sov's loved flying boats for ASW, operated them for years. Not sure why they retired them, maybe the "May" had such long legs the Red Fleet decided they didn't need the older flying boats anymore.
The thing is, they can land ...... and just sit there for hours with their dipping sonars deployed.
With the C-130, you'd get a proven, widely-supported type with big payload, long range, and decent airspeed that you could operate off carriers. It'd be a formidable ASW platform.
Reading this thread reminded me that, around 1966, there was either a P-3 or an Electra completely submerged just off the end of one of the runways at SFO. Anyone know the story on that one?
Out over the Pacific hunting enemy subs. I used to tour them at the Moffett Field airshow with my kids. As I recall, they were out for very long missions.
Maybe you’re thinking of the crash of a P3 April 12, 1973 onto the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course next to CA-101. The P3 was doing touch-and-goes after a mission off Big Sur. They collided with a NASA Convair 990. 16 of 17 people on the two aircraft died.
The safety record of the P-3 operations at Moffett was excellent. This collision was the first and only crash of a P-3 near the airfield between the early 1960s and 1994 when the Navy decommissioned Moffett.
No, the aircraft I saw was for sure an Electra-type airframe. I saw it when I was crossing directly over the SFO airport in a Mooney. Thought at the time it might be a scrapped airliner that was used for crew ditching drills. Then about the same time, a Japan Airlines DC-8 landed “a little short”, that is, in the bay right on the final approach path. It sat out there with the rudder sticking up out of the water for quite a while.
Pilots under 35??
Why?? [have I been setup?] :-)
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