K Ship NATOPS

[wink]

For you aspiring single anchor single wing types.

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/airship_pilot_manual.pdf

Your limitations exam is scheduled for the Monday AOM.

 

[Renegade One]

Ah, the good old days...when "blow main ballast" was a pilot thingie that didn't involve ejecting the WSO...

 

[Flash]

 

[ea6bflyr]

You are all thinking it...and before anyone asks, ZERO PERCENT get dirigibles (MZ-3A is a GOCO platform).

 

[picklesuit]

You are all thinking it...and before anyone asks, ZERO PERCENT get dirigibles (MZ-3A is a GOCO platform).

42% of Zero is still zero...

 

[Renegade One]

IIRC, dirigible pilots wore standard NA wings. The single-wing version was for free-balloon qual...which may have been a stepping-stone to dirigibles in the LTA community.

 

[Uncle Fester]

You are all thinking it...and before anyone asks, ZERO PERCENT get dirigibles (MZ-3A is a GOCO platform).

I miss seeing that thing flying around Pax. Gave SoMD an occasional bit of a cool, steampunk vibe.

 

[Pags]

I miss seeing that thing flying around Pax. Gave SoMD an occasional bit of a cool, steampunk vibe.

There used to be a aviator reservist in my office who had been qualled to fly the MZ-3A. He had a name tag with half wings on it from his time flying it.

 

[Renegade One]

Second CO in my first Phantom squadron was a RIO (one of the earliest to get a fleet command) who had done a JO tour of duty in an Atlantic Fleet Barrier Patrol ASW blimp squadron that flew ZPG-3Ws. He had one month in his logbook that had 96 hours...on only two sorties. Amazing enough, until he also revealed that the NAOs (so called at the time) only got to log time when they were actually sitting "on the system". In other words, sleep cycles, eating, etc, didn't count. Sheesh.

 

[Renegade One]

A brief correction to my post above: The four ZPG-3W (Z = lighter-than-air; P = patrol; G=Goodyear (manufacturer)) non-rigid airships delivered to the U.S. Navy were assigned to Airship Airborne Early Warning Squadron 1 (ZW-1), which was split-based at NAS Lakehurst, NJ and NAS Glynco, GA. As the squadron name implies, these were AEW assets, not ASW assets. It was used to fill radar gaps in the North American early-warning network during the Cold War between the Contiguous Barrier and the Inshore Barrier. The popular name for the ZPG-3W was Vigilance. The ZPG-3W was unique in that the huge antenna for the early warning radar was enclosed inside the helium-filled envelope. The airships were equipped with a complete CIC, including radar operators and air intercept controllers. The specially designed and built AN/APS-70 Radar with its massive 42 ft (12.8 m) internal antenna was the best airborne radar system built for detecting other aircraft because its low frequency penetrated weather and showed only the more electronically visible returns.

And now you know...the REST of the story!

 

[fc2spyguy]

So, we're FOs referred to as self loading ballast back then?

 

[Renegade One]

So, we're FOs referred to as self loading ballast back then?

Ah, the jocular but good-natured humor of manly men in the company or other manly men doing manly things. I just can't get enough of it...

Actually, do you thing the old gasbag pilots were so full of themselves that they rode roughshod over the NAOs? Probably not...