HSM-35 (The Magicians) Commissioning

[Gatordev]

Maybe this belongs in the “stupid questions”, but has any seen the control station? Does it get controlled like a rotary wing? Does it have a collective, peddles?

It's a computer console with windows on the screen. And apparently no guarded destruct switch. True story.

Spoke to a couple of pilots at the commissioning ceremony. They said 35 would be deploying (at least initially) on the new, LCS class with two Fire Scouts (two can fit in one hangar) and a single Romeo. The pilots did say that the 2P's and aircrewman would be primary controllers for the FS. One of the HAC's mentioned there was concern about upgrading flight hour availability for the 2P's. Be interesting to see how it plays out . . . . . .

That was the primary means of employment (deployment) on the AC side in the past. Once the Reserve side started operating them, they were FS-only dets, augmented by these strange people that had extra anchors on their pieces of flair.

 

[robav8r]

. . . augmented by these strange people that had extra anchors on their pieces of flair.