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Article: Power, power, power!(SH-608 helicopter use in counter-drug operations)
- Article from:
- Approach
- Article date:
- November 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 U.S. Naval Safety Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I was a new H2P on my first SH-60B cruise. I had been in the squadron for three months and had completed the six-week work-ups. We were deployed in the Caribbean, conducting counter-drug ops (CDOPS).
Anyone who has been on CDOPS knows the general routine is fairly benign, but it often is interrupted by high-priority, quickly changing intel and tasking. This night was no different. The detachment OinC and I had been scheduled for a standard SSC mission, only to be called to combat 30 minutes before the flight for new tasking.
We launched on our new mission at 2200. A thick overcast layer at about 700 feet obscured most of what little moon existed. We were ...