Dolphin

What is the curved tube along the bottom? Looks like some kind of exhaust or vent

SOP. But lots of technique creeps in...

Are you talking about the one between the nose gear and the right main? I think that one is the TALON claw. It's a tripod with a latch on the tip used during shipboard operations.

I mean the curved thing that ends just past the left main

Fuel jettison tube...

Nice. You learn somethin' new everyday.

Flying the Dolphin is fun:

b8 Sunset Flight with EO-3 SAR-0 rescues 20 May (2)





b8 Sunset Flight with EO-3 SAR-0 rescues 20 May (5)





Squeezing in with goggles and a dry suite is not (for me):

b8 Sunset Flight with EO-3 SAR-0 rescues 20 May (6)

Thanks... Canon 7D. Just got it this year.

Coming out for a check up
Master Sgt. Phil Johnson supervises the off load of a U.S Coast Guard Dolphin helicopter from a C-17 Globemaster III May 28, 2010, at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla. The crew flew the helicopter to the U.S. Navy for maintenance. Sergeant Johnson is a loadmaster with the 315th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/2nd Lt. Joe Simms)

Great pictures

Interesting... why would the crew fly it to get maintenance but then load it up on a C-17 afterward?

Crew of the C-17....

Thanks, Swanee, but not quite the point of my question. Why would they (or anyone for that matter) fly the helo to get it worked on and then load it up to get it home? If it needs work, it seems the opposite would make more sense.

Or perhaps I can answer my own question -- I read it wrong: "...supervises the off load..."

Somehow I missed that part and just assumed they were loading it up for the trip home.

Yeah, C-17 bubbas loaded in on their airplane, and flew it to the depot (or wherever...) it gets fixed, then they load it back up and fly it home. Probably cheaper and faster to load it on the C-17 than to fly it xcountry back home.

Following major depot level maintenance aircraft have to have a functional check flight. It might be easier to fly the post-depot aircraft to the unit as opposed to flying the pilots, maintainers, dets, etc to the depot site.

The Navy depot for the 60 is in Norfolk. We usually truck our birds from MD to VA and then truck them back.

the comment under the picture with the C17 doesn't make sense at all. We don't get maintenance completed by the Navy. We do our own maintenance in Elizabeth City, NC. And unless the H-65 is stationed in Hawaii the aircraft self deploy there and back. If it can't fly it is put on a flatbed. They do fly a lot of H-65s in C17s and C130s etc from Cecil field but not for maintenance. I'm guessing the writer screwed up the facts.