4 minute read
Focus: Build Your Foundation
The End of the TH-57 Era, and the Dawn of the TH-73 at HT-18
By LT Rick “Pickle” Garcia, USN, Instructor Pilot with HT-18
With the shift from summer to fall, the temperatures slowly begin to drop, and a fresh breeze returns to the Florida air—it’s a sign that the year is winding down. This seasonal change also brings an earlier sunset, which happens to align with an instructor pilot’s favorite time: Night Vision Goggle (NVG) Operations. As the sun sets earlier, so too does the mighty TH-57 Sea Ranger set on its final days at HT-18.
Introduced to NAS Whiting Field in January 1968, the TH57A Sea Ranger was purchased as the Bell 206 Jet Ranger’s replacement for the aging TH-1L Iroquois. HT-8, our sister squadron, initially operated the TH-57A for basic helicopter training. When HT-18 was established on March 1, 1972, its mission was to conduct advanced training and tactics for rotary-wing pilots. However, it wasn’t until January 1982 that the TH-1Ls were replaced with a fully instrumented version of the Bell 206, now designated the TH-57C Sea Ranger.
In October 1985, HT-8 and HT-18 became “mirror” squadrons, conducting both basic and advanced training and awarding wings of gold to students. Both squadrons used the TH-57A for basic phases and the TH-57C for advanced phases. In 1989, the Navy purchased forty-five additional Bell 206B-3 helicopters as replacements for the TH-57A to continue primary training under VFR (visual flight rules). This newer variant also carried the TH-57B designation.
Since then, HT-18 has trained and winged Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and international military pilots. The TH-57B taught the basics of helicopter flying—hovering, takeoffs, landings, autorotations, and more—while the TH57C handled more advanced parts of the syllabus, such as basic and radio instrument navigation, formation flying, and NVG operations.
Over its 55-year career as a workhorse trainer aircraft, the TH-57 helped shape the Navy’s next generation of helicopter pilots. It allowed HT-18 to fly more than 600,000 sorties, logging over one million flight hours and awarding wings of gold to over 8,000 Naval Aviators.
While the TH-57 has been a reliable platform throughout its service, 40 years is more than enough time for a replacement to usher in a new era of helicopter training. HT-18’s transition to the TH-73A “Thrasher” began during the 2024 fiscal year. The first TH-73A students started in November, and in April of this year, the first TH-73A Naval Aviator earned their wings. It was around this point that HT-18 reached an inflection: an equal number of students were now training on both the TH-57 and TH-73. As the final TH-57 students began their syllabus, the transition was well underway.
The number of TH-57 students steadily declined until September 27th, when I had the distinct honor and privilege of flying HT-18’s very last student syllabus event.
The student and I walked to the hangar to screen the Aircraft Discrepancy Book (ADB). Afterward, we adjusted our NVGs at the paraloft before heading to the flight line. As we conducted our preflight inspection, I noticed the irony: the sun was setting below the horizon, much like the TH-57’s time with us. We were about to complete the student’s capstone event—the final syllabus flight of his helicopter training. While flying along the Florida coastline near Pensacola, I couldn’t help but imagine the thousands of pilots who had flown the same route in the TH-57 over the past five decades.
As the sun sets on the TH-57 and rises on the TH73, we must not forget the mighty Sea Ranger and its 40-plus years of excellence and reliability. There may never be another aircraft that serves as faithfully for as long.
