Spatial D Spinning

摘要

Finally, I was an SH-60B helicopter-aircraft commander-at-sea. After spending eight months at homeguard in various ground jobs, I had been given the opportunity to excel on the ship. A light haze of snow was on the flight deck as we cruised in the Yellow Sea off the Korean coast. We were participating in yet another exercise. The day's flight schedule had a few minor changes, and our flight was expected to be routine. The other HAC on the detachment had gone med-down for sinus problems, so I was double-bagging tonight. "Sweet," I thought, "I can use all the nighttime flying at sea I can get." I would be the HAC, and my OinC would get his NVG currency. Both of us had to requal on night dopplers, which we agreed would be easy. We had a thorough NATOPS brief and a good ORM discussion. We talked about how the zero illumination had caused problems the night before. I felt cocky and confident the inky blackness couldn't scare me. After the brief, I walked onto the flight deck and immediately started tumbling into the darkness of the black hole. It was an overcast night, and the only light was from a few lingering fishing boats. The conditions didn't matter, though, because we would be landing on the boat with NVGs. Vertigo, schmertigo!