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MH-60 crash in San Diego

Brett327 said:
That's one of those phrases that I'm pretty sure has never been uttered in the entire history of mankind making fun of Marines. :)
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Marines don't understand a lot of haute cuisine terms for appetizers.

I'm guessing Fat Leonard ensnared a lot of Navy dudes with promises of 'amuse bouche'. 😄
 
Brett327 said:
There's an entire organization that performs all the little tasks that most tenants aren't even aware of... Base Operational Support Contract. I think it's still Chugach in Whidbey. These guys are kind of a jack of all trades (literally). They cut the grass, fix the water main when it breaks, do repairs to facilities, drive the fuel trucks, etc. Here at PMRF, they're also the gate guards, fire & emergency services, ATC, arresting gear techs. Between the Base and Range contracts, they comprise 85% of my workforce.
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Yeah, I found it to be a little like watching an episode of some sort of "Mega Airport: Inside the city" type show. So much happens behind the scenes that your average flight suit, at least at the squadron level, is unaware of (I know I was at least).
 
robav8r said:
pickup ~40’
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For the record, that's a -40-ism that carried over to the fleet squadrons and eventually to -41. The Bravo's actual hoist altitude was 80', the Romeos is 70' (as was the F/H, I believe). There's specific reasons why 40' isn't a great place to be, though it's used to save time when doing a hoist rodeo.

JTS11 said:
(Being a former shitter dude, I'm guessing the -60's AFCS had more computing power than the two hamsters we had running around in the 53E). Was there anything more than RadAlt hold and Attirude hold? I guess I'm asking if there were precision hover hold capabilities on the -60 that you flew.
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Mind you my last flight was a little over a year ago, so IKE and the others will probably know the details better than I, but...

The current crop of Navy -60s has a 4-axis autopilot that can do both airspeed and attitude hold, as well as both RADALT and BARALT hold. They also have a coupler function that's based off of GPS position, so they can hold them self in a hover over the water (while allowing for any needed drift due to wind/current). The coupler also can execute a pre-programed approach profile from any altitude down to whatever altitude you set, which is used at night over water when doing SAR or dipping. The Romeo also has an additional coupler function that, when engaged, tends the cable for the dipping sonar so that it remains "perfectly" vertical (which is actually kind of impressive when you think about it). When not dipping, there's an additional function in the back that allows the crewman to adjust the helo from his station +/- 10 knots around the coupled position. This is called "CREW HOVER."

CREW HOVER can also be used to both screw with and/or terrorize Midshipmen when giving FAM flights.
 
Gatordev said:
For the record, that's a -40-ism that carried over to the fleet squadrons and eventually to -41. The Bravo's actual hoist altitude was 80', the Romeos is 70' (as was the F/H, I believe). There's specific reasons why 40' isn't a great place to be, though it's used to save time when doing a hoist rodeo.
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My time in HSL-35, HSL-40, and HSL-48 were all 40 foot hovers for pickup IIRC. Of course, real world situations dictated higher hovers for certain reasons. Never recalled hovering @ 80' but i'm old, and far removed from the community so anything is possible . . . . :D
 
I can't speak to the performance numbers of the H-2, but it's not a great place to be in the -60. It may have been institutional inertia at the time.

I can say in more modern times that the reason I would hear -40 pilots say they want to do 40' feet was for speed and efficiency.
 
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There's a reason the F & R hover at 70 ft, but I can say:
  • 30 ft is a known risk for salt encrustation on the S-70/H-60.
  • 40 ft should be fine, but probably depends on winds, and there's anecdotal evidence of engine degradation at this altitude.
  • HOGE is ~45 ft on the RADALT (1 rotor diameter from rotor to ground), IIRC, so there's a negligible difference in power required from say 50 ft up to 100 ft+
  • 80 ft is just fine, except why have a different altitude for SAR than for other things that drive the 70-ft alt?
  • I think our particular mission sets in HS is why we did everything at 70 ft, even in the H.
 
IKE said:
I think our particular mission sets in HS is why we did everything at 70 ft, even in the H.
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No doubt. Why have two numbers?

ChuckMK23 said:
Does HSM/HSC ever use the USCG protocol of deploying/lowering swimmer on hoist at high hover ?
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I'm not sure when HS started doing it, but HSL started Direct Deployment ~2002-2003 -ish. It took a bit for everyone to get the harnesses issued.
 
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