It happened again!
14 years ago
Saturday, June 28, 2003
I was dragging today. Flight quarters went down last night at 0130, and then again at 0430. I felt the pain at 0130 because I was stupid enough forget that when the POD say alert 30 it means to be determine. after that I didn't feel tired until after the 0430 flight quarters, mostly because my sleep was longer, but after we shut down the bird I went to the classroom to get some sleep. I normally sleep in the lounge in the berthing but one of our non watch standers was watching TV. It really wouldn't have mattered if he turned off the lights or turned down the TV. The only thing that pisses me off is that he has been off the bill since we left on pac so that he can get his ESWS done. He pissed and moaned about he doesn't get enough time to study for ESWS. So now he still doesn't have his ESWS, while other who have been standing watches while they studied have their. It pisses me all hell, unfortunately he doesn't realized how it makes others feel. If one points it out to him he whines about how he'll get his ESWS when he's damn ready to. Well thats nice, in the mean time everyone else that get deprived of sleep
Thursday, June 26, 2003
What a fuckin' day. I got a little sleep, the night before I worked the non-watch standers till 1930 getting the spar target ready for delivery to the Bridge, yaaah. I have no idea what we're going to do for Sunday now that we don't have the target tow to deploy so the pilots can bomb it.
I slept from 2130 till 0130 to launch the helo. Then after an hour and a half of screwing around on the computer I got another hour of sleep. Then it was off to flight quarters again. Took me a little while to get into my coveralls, but I proved to be 3 percents smarter than they were. I kept thinking that the legs were inside out, but they weren't. Then after I got the coveralls on I realized they were someone elses. So I had to climb out them and into mine.
They called Flight Quarters away at 0500. The bird came in, shut down, and Flight Quarters was secured at 0527. I thought I had 30 minutes till the next Flight Quarter, at least that is what the POD said. So down I went to get some breakfast in, because right after the next Flight Quarters would be Vertrep and right after that would be Conrep to get some fuel from the Bridge. I had just sat down not ten minutes later and Flight Quarters was called away again. I scarfed down my scrambled eggs and bacon, and left my Oatmeal to chill before heading up to the helo hanger again. I don't know why I threw away my coffee, good coffee is a rarity, I guess I really didn't expect to return to finish the meal.
When I got back up to the hanger the Det was still climbing over the helo and the 'hood' was up. that annoyed my, calling away a detail before everything was prep'd kind pisses me off. The fact that we have other things to do besides hanging out on the flight deck like some teenage girl waiting on some boy to call. So I waited for 10 more minutes until they closed the hood. After we launched the bird it was 0600, time scheduled to start the Vertrep. The FSO was HCO and promised to have beakfast standing by for after the Vertrep. I reminded him that right after the Vertrep we had to roll right into Fuelling at sea stations, but thanked him for the thought. He did try at least to unfuck a bad situation which is all I ask of leaders. While I said this the XO came into the hanger. I guess he overheard my tactful grumble because he delayed Vertrep till 0630.
I really wasn't into the vertrep, which isn't a good thing since I'm the primary safety observer. I guess what ever sleep I did get didn't help to clear my mind. BMC had to walk me through preparing retrograde for return. It was alot of stuff being sent back, I didn't even realize how many pallets we took on till we started stacking them in nets. I thought we would send everything back in 4 nets but it turned out we needed two retro runs, 6 nets, and the remaining slings. The first retro hit I thought we were going overload the helo. Not only were we going to send back the pallets and nets but the spar target, a four man lift, and 2000 ft of double braid nylon line, a 6 man lift. The helo came in and picked up the load and flew off so at first I thought all was good. I mean if the pilot was uncomfortable with the load all he/she had to do was drop it and tell us to lighten it. however once they were clear I had the distinct impression that the bird was being kept aloft by max power and god's will. But as I watched the 46 take away the retrograde I kept thinking to myself that after all the 46's were retired how was the 60's going to take it's place. H-46 was made for cargo next to the 53's nothing is better at lifting. 46's though have no wind evelope, they can come in sideways, backward, wheel over deck, it doesn't matter where the wind was coming from because of her tandem rotors. Sometimes though the pilots get so carry away with her abilities get forget her limitations. For instance it doesn't think for it's self. 60's are only good at cargo handling, they can't carry internal loads, and are limited to 3000 lbs external. Also 46's can carry 20 people at least, the 60's when hollowed out carry about 12. All and all the 60 is a great replacement for the UH-1 but that doesn't make it fit to replace everthing.
After the Vertrep I had barely enough time to change out of my yellow cranial and life jacket for white hard hat and life vest. The fueling went smoothly, but I did notice that slop is starting to find it's way into the many thing that we do. Slop in most things is annoying but on a rig it can be dangerous.
After refueling nothing much got done, light sweepers on deck, and berthing cleaners. I don't know how I got through the day, at lunch I fell asleep watching a movie in the office. I don't know how I'll plan to survive if we go from 2 flight deck teams to one. It use to be I could stay awake all night long take a two hour nap and be good to go till 1900. Those were the days, I'll miss them as I get older.
I slept from 2130 till 0130 to launch the helo. Then after an hour and a half of screwing around on the computer I got another hour of sleep. Then it was off to flight quarters again. Took me a little while to get into my coveralls, but I proved to be 3 percents smarter than they were. I kept thinking that the legs were inside out, but they weren't. Then after I got the coveralls on I realized they were someone elses. So I had to climb out them and into mine.
They called Flight Quarters away at 0500. The bird came in, shut down, and Flight Quarters was secured at 0527. I thought I had 30 minutes till the next Flight Quarter, at least that is what the POD said. So down I went to get some breakfast in, because right after the next Flight Quarters would be Vertrep and right after that would be Conrep to get some fuel from the Bridge. I had just sat down not ten minutes later and Flight Quarters was called away again. I scarfed down my scrambled eggs and bacon, and left my Oatmeal to chill before heading up to the helo hanger again. I don't know why I threw away my coffee, good coffee is a rarity, I guess I really didn't expect to return to finish the meal.
When I got back up to the hanger the Det was still climbing over the helo and the 'hood' was up. that annoyed my, calling away a detail before everything was prep'd kind pisses me off. The fact that we have other things to do besides hanging out on the flight deck like some teenage girl waiting on some boy to call. So I waited for 10 more minutes until they closed the hood. After we launched the bird it was 0600, time scheduled to start the Vertrep. The FSO was HCO and promised to have beakfast standing by for after the Vertrep. I reminded him that right after the Vertrep we had to roll right into Fuelling at sea stations, but thanked him for the thought. He did try at least to unfuck a bad situation which is all I ask of leaders. While I said this the XO came into the hanger. I guess he overheard my tactful grumble because he delayed Vertrep till 0630.
I really wasn't into the vertrep, which isn't a good thing since I'm the primary safety observer. I guess what ever sleep I did get didn't help to clear my mind. BMC had to walk me through preparing retrograde for return. It was alot of stuff being sent back, I didn't even realize how many pallets we took on till we started stacking them in nets. I thought we would send everything back in 4 nets but it turned out we needed two retro runs, 6 nets, and the remaining slings. The first retro hit I thought we were going overload the helo. Not only were we going to send back the pallets and nets but the spar target, a four man lift, and 2000 ft of double braid nylon line, a 6 man lift. The helo came in and picked up the load and flew off so at first I thought all was good. I mean if the pilot was uncomfortable with the load all he/she had to do was drop it and tell us to lighten it. however once they were clear I had the distinct impression that the bird was being kept aloft by max power and god's will. But as I watched the 46 take away the retrograde I kept thinking to myself that after all the 46's were retired how was the 60's going to take it's place. H-46 was made for cargo next to the 53's nothing is better at lifting. 46's though have no wind evelope, they can come in sideways, backward, wheel over deck, it doesn't matter where the wind was coming from because of her tandem rotors. Sometimes though the pilots get so carry away with her abilities get forget her limitations. For instance it doesn't think for it's self. 60's are only good at cargo handling, they can't carry internal loads, and are limited to 3000 lbs external. Also 46's can carry 20 people at least, the 60's when hollowed out carry about 12. All and all the 60 is a great replacement for the UH-1 but that doesn't make it fit to replace everthing.
After the Vertrep I had barely enough time to change out of my yellow cranial and life jacket for white hard hat and life vest. The fueling went smoothly, but I did notice that slop is starting to find it's way into the many thing that we do. Slop in most things is annoying but on a rig it can be dangerous.
After refueling nothing much got done, light sweepers on deck, and berthing cleaners. I don't know how I got through the day, at lunch I fell asleep watching a movie in the office. I don't know how I'll plan to survive if we go from 2 flight deck teams to one. It use to be I could stay awake all night long take a two hour nap and be good to go till 1900. Those were the days, I'll miss them as I get older.
