Posted on 12/22/2010 9:37:01 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Two Navy instructor pilots from San Diego have been forever stripped of flying status and two student pilots will have to repeat training because of a September incident in which they dipped two $33 million helicopters into Lake Tahoe while trying to take photos for the squadron’s Facebook page, a Navy official said Wednesday.
The Sept. 13 incident became public because a bystander caught the event on video and posted it on YouTube.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
Yep, that's what my girlfriend told me after we started dating... and what my wife still says to this day.
which is the type of personality needed for military flight missions.
Absolutely... but, within reason. ;-)
Oh yeah! Got a sweet pic of an F4S Phantom kicking up a Rooster Tail on Cold Lake, Ca.
Ah... the old days, before the wussification era began.
Since the dawn of time? Remember these are Naval Lieutenants, O-3s, the equivalent of Marine, Army, or Air Force Captain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUEhNKBi4DY&feature=related
B-52 Crash in 1991 by hotdogging sqardron commander.
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
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Great story. The stuff of legends. Wonder whatever happened to that guy?:-)
I feel for you.... an R-22 or R-44 are the LAST birds I would go up in :/
Bikk
Constant speed prop I know - learned on a ‘49 Ryan Navion in late 50’s! Then Commanche 180, then Twin Commanche, then Cessna 337.
Only makes sense.
Actually my Ford tractor is the same using the hand throttle: set RPM, regardless of work load, engine RPM is maintained by constant speed throttle. Foot throttle on the other hand operates like a car.
I’ve known several chopper pilots, and understand how the collective works and the stick, but missed the throttle part......my bro has flown a chopper too......
THANKS!
Well played, sir.
Reminds me of a “war story” a colleague told me. He was an ASW tech on board a helicopter during a training hop. They dropped some kind of sonically guided torpedo, and I guess they got a little too close to the water. The torpedo evidently picked up the rotor sound and tried to jump out of the water to attack the copter. Close shave, I guess.
Ah, thanks. I keep forgetting the Navy is part of the US armed forces.
;)
This is the one. Very sad. If you want to be a jacka*s - don’t kill the other guys on the plane.
Several on the thread have made comments about the "culture" that contributed to this close-call..and referencing it to the much discussed C-17 and B-52 crashes. Does anyone recallt e accident in Italy, when a Marine jet, flying waaaay to low, clipped a cable on a cablecar, and cause many deaths. Is that a more relevant comparison?
An excerpt from a page of accounts chronicling Special Forces’ Project Delta in Vietnam. The following describes a Huey pilot doing some AMAZING flying to get his recon team out of a bad spot.
“While Torrini had hovered high over Jerry’s position trying to get down low enough to extract him, he had noticed that the trees, though thick along the river bank, only hung over the river and there was space enough under the tree branches and along the surface of the river for his helicopter to narrowly fit. Torrini flew up and down the river looking for a hole in the tree canopy over the river large enough for his helicopter to drop into until he finally found one about 500 meters down river from Jerry, and he dropped into it. Torrini put his skids in the water and flew his ship up river and under the overhanging tree branches, with his rotor blades, at times, only clearing the branches above by a few feet. “ (Italics are mine)
Holy smokes. Read the rest of it. He had to fly back out of that- under the trees and with his skids in the water with the door gunners engaging people right outside the side of the helicopter- backwards. This pilot must’ve clanked when he walked.
http://www.projectdelta.net/remembering_the_281st.htm
I haven’t read the entire thread, but I don’t believe it’s a “culture” thing. My comment is a reference on my experience in that community, which is that there are a whole lot of Type As...and they would have to be Type As to survive that long through the training command, and be successful as combat pilots at that time.
However, there are a few who slip through the cracks and almost have a death wish. Some who think they are invincible, but prove to be the most fallible people out there.
Those pilots usually don’t survive...either physically, or mentally.
I just searched for the Italy incident you referenced. I wasn’t around many Marines...though there was one who was in training with my husband, and who was in my wedding...we had Army and Navy...we had to have a Marine. It was a military wedding. We were not only not discriminating, but we were all inclusive. ;o)
As I said, I’ve searched, and read, about the incident in Italy. I’m not sure what to think about it from the quote news sources unquote that I’ve read.
If you have more information than that, I would certainly love for you to post it.
It’s so good to “see” you!
Merry Christmas!
I don’t believe you were a pilot of any kind, and I don’t appreciate your snarkiness about them.
We’ve been through this before in FRmail.
The fact is, you are so bitter that I think you were turned down.....
“What these two did is nothing compared to the culture of 40 years ago.
“Hey skipper, watch this!”
If you’re gonna pull a stunt, ya gotta be good enough to get away with it, and you certainly do not cause damage.”
You’re full of crap.
You seem to believe that pilots did’t give a dang about their birds.
Frankly, and I’ve told you this privately before, the bird is the reason they live.
Not only that, but they realize what it costs the taxpayers to lose a plane.
To sum things up, if the bird goes down, so do they...so their aircraft is their lifeline.
Not only do they respect the American taxpayer, but you better believe that losing a plane is cause for major ridicule from their squadron mates.
“...ya gotta be good enough to get away with it...”
That is a bunch of sh$t.
“A couple of my squadron mates...”
And what would that squadron be?
If you found a good woman to put up with you..............then more power to you. You must be a real keeper. ;o)
The VTs at Pensacola.
VS-41,30,28.
Catapult and Arresting Gear Officer aboard the good ship USS Saratoga.
Your foul mouth reflects a dull mind.
I tend to agree with JacQ. When I was a nugget, squadrons were full of Vietnam era vets who’s motto was, “It’s only illegal if you get caught.” I lost several squadron mates flat hatting - one guy in front of his family.
Even the Blues would do silly things like thumping training aircraft over Gulf Breeze when the opportunity presented itself.
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