CLOSE THE GAP
In weather flying posts #1-#5, we talked about flying in rapidly deteriorating conditions that result in lost visual cues, forcing a transition to instruments. However, mission demands often require Coast Guard crews to launch...
The moments immediately following “lost visual cues” are critical. Here are some rules to live by to maintain helicopter control as you establish an instrument scan: 1. NEVER turn AND descend when you are...
Today, I will discuss jump starting the instrument scan when you lose visual cues. Other services use a more granular step by step process for establishing an instrument scan. The Unusual Attitude Recovery EP...
In the first post I presented the two most important sentences in our flight manual, “The most important single consideration is helicopter control. All procedures are subordinate to this requirement.” In the second post,...
What do you think the most important sentence is in the flight manual? A Bold face procedure? This is “considered critical.” It is not a bold face procedure. A warning? This is defined as...
There are three attributes of Coast Guard rotary wing aircrews that few other helicopter aircrews can match, the combination of which separates our community from most other rotary wing communities: As “Forging Airmanship” iterates,...
If you’ve read some of the OPI posts, you know I like metaphors. “Iron sharpens iron” is one of my favorites. Anyone who has achieved an exceptional level of performance knows it cannot be...
I am repeating myself intentionally. Our work provides us with plenty of challenges – government shutdowns, COVID, budget woes, asset sourcing difficulties, family moves, etc. Each member is also tested, individually, due to unique...
Most of the time, the aviators I was charged to lead actually showed me the way. They didn’t need to hear me preach, but as I have mentioned before, OPI was as much for...
Other pilots have heard me say, you can be a 1000-hour pilot, or you can fly the same hour 1000 times… I wrote to the team: My goal was to support them in becoming...