CLOSE THE GAP
As long as there is a departure alternate, Coast Guard policy permits pilots to depart from both a field with an out of service instrument approach and a field without an instrument approach. There...
In a non-runway environment where outside visual references cannot be maintained in a hover or are expected to be lost during the transition to forward flight, the instrument takeoff (ITO), with or without flight...
Early in the “weather flying” series of posts, I discussed IIMC, or transitioning to the instruments when visual cues are lost, however, I did not address slow flight to avoid going IIMC. Although the...
The MH60-T community often harnesses terrain banding in low visibility conditions, as it provides some excellent situational awareness and is a critical safety tool. However, because terrain banding is not a precision navigation tool,...
In the spirit of always leaving an out, a technique I appreciate is “leaving breadcrumbs.“ In other words, marking an egress route over the same path flown, or air taxied into, when entering an...
Auto depart – in addition to the coupled hover, the auto depart is also a tool that pilots could potentially harness more frequently in the MH-60T community. The auto depart is available any time...
Approaches to the water can occur amid high workload periods. Ideally, pilots are well ahead of the aircraft, having accomplished the approach to the water checklist prior to, or as they arrive, on scene....
The instrument approach to a hover is something few rotary wing operators train to do. Although instrument training can be tedious, monotonous, and tiresome (at least for swimmers and flight mechanics), crew proficiency effecting...
Every operational scenario is different, however, I generally have two objectives in my PATCH/MATCH set up, both of which aim to simplify what can be a complex, demanding, high consequence flight profile on instruments,...
All CG MH60T pilots know that the flight manual definition of the gate is “the point where the crew selects Auto Approach. If at 300-ft AWL and 70 KIAS, the gate is defined as...