BY LT ADAM COHEE, HSM-73
Sand Blows A t 6 p.m. one evening I awoke to fly another night of Persian Gulf maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (MISR) coverage in support of the CARL VINSON (CVN-70) Strike Group.
My crew and I performed our operational risk management (ORM) NATOPS briefs and then headed down to the Combat Information Center to build our situational awareness about the operating area. This flight was a little different because our parent ship, USS GRIDLEY (DDG 101), was the escort for the carrier into port, but we all viewed it as just another MISR bag. The brief from the tactical action officer and anti-submarine/anti-surface tactical air controller revealed no contacts of interest or critical contacts of interest in the area. The weather report showed the typical Persian Gulf haze with no
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ceiling and seven to nine miles of visibility. The plan was to launch at 0330 and recover at 0630, a night time launch, and land after sunrise. It was nice to finally get some daylight flying since our typical coverage periods had all been at night. The first flight of the evening landed on time and we strapped in to take the aircraft for the second go. During our helicopter aircraft commander (HAC) to HAC turnover, I received the report: “Aircraft is flying great, no gripes. Not many contacts out there, and the weather is a bit hazy around the ship but it clears up down to the south.” We launched on time and began our transit 40
Approach-MECH
