Military AI Works

A great blog/story to read:

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/pedros.htm

Good story. For the past 6 motht I have had the honor of supporting the 33 EQRS at Bagram. They also fly with the Padro callsign. Great group of guys and gals!!

I've seen this before and it's really good read. Sadly pic#5 be me again next year!

These guys are the REAL HERO's!!! Nothing but respect for the SAR guys!!!

Rotorhead wrote:These guys are the REAL HERO's!!! Nothing but respect for the SAR guys!!!

I'm prior Navy SAR, and after our first rescue on cruise, every fastmover in the air wing loved us!

Victory what is that face mask thing the crew chief is wearing in the third picture? Some sort of ballistic protection or something similar??

Victory103 wrote:

Rotorhead wrote:These guys are the REAL HERO's!!! Nothing but respect for the SAR guys!!!

I'm prior Navy SAR, and after our first rescue on cruise, every fastmover in the air wing loved us!

I'm was an AW for 7 years before I went to flight training, was a Rescue Swimmer in SH-60B's, then after flight training I flew 60's for another 7 years before going to Hornets...hence Rotorhead. I always told the younger pilots in the Airwing to respect the helo bubbas, because you never know when you'll see one of those guys hovering above you!!! I just got this months issue of the Rotor Review and the cover is "So Others May Live - Not just a catch phrase"....love it!

MIKE JG wrote:Victory what is that face mask thing the crew chief is wearing in the third picture? Some sort of ballistic protection or something similar??

It's designed for the crew chief/gunner to be able to hang outside the aircraft inflight and still be heard on the ICS as the air rushes by his boom mic. Previously, we used old O2 masks for the same issue while hanging out the windows/doors calling dust landings. I've seen OH-58D guys use it as well when flying doors off.

@Rotorhead, very cool, that was my original plan as well as an East coast HS AW, then life catches up with you and I didn't want to risk getting an NFO slot, so I went Army!

Victory103 wrote:

MIKE JG wrote:Victory what is that face mask thing the crew chief is wearing in the third picture? Some sort of ballistic protection or something similar??

It's designed for the crew chief/gunner to be able to hang outside the aircraft inflight and still be heard on the ICS as the air rushes by his boom mic. Previously, we used old O2 masks for the same issue while hanging out the windows/doors calling dust landings. I've seen OH-58D guys use it as well when flying doors off.

@Rotorhead, very cool, that was my original plan as well as an East coast HS AW, then life catches up with you and I didn't want to risk getting an NFO slot, so I went Army!

Plus they just look damn cool!!!! We used to use a big foam mike cover for that, what a pain!

I wish the Navy CWO pilot program was around when I was younger.

Les

Soon to be..

24 Years, 0 Months, 26 Days

maddog, I know, after my switch to the dark side, they came up with the program. I did 10+ yrs Navy, so switching to a completely different service was/is a pain. I even looked to switch back to the Navy after this Flying CWO program got started, but nothing yet. Looks like I might just pursue an Air Guard A-10 slot instead.