Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Rebekah Adler | An AH-1Z Cobra helicopter takes off from Wasp's flight deck Aug. 4 during testing of...... read more read more
Subscribe
USS WASP, At Sea - Just like any other organization, the U.S. military has to constantly upgrade and innovate with its technological capabilities. Onboard USS Wasp from July 26 to Aug. 6, a combination of military and civilian personnel worked to see if several new types of aircraft are up to required standards.
A group of MV-22 “Ospreys,” as well as UH-1Y “Venom and AH-1Z “Cobra” helicopters, were flown aboard Wasp July 26 to test certain aspects of their systems and to familiarize shipboard personnel with directing the take-off and landing of these aircraft. The aircraft belong to Air Test and Developmental Squadron 21 based in Patuxent River, Md., and Operational Test Squadron 22 based in New River, N.C.
“Our purpose was to do software regression and envelope expansion testing on these aircraft,” said Robert Bierly, a shift supervisor for DynCorp, which worked with Wasp and the air squadrons on testing the planes and helicopters. “Software regression involves the programming of an aircraft’s vehicle management system. Envelope expansion testing involves trying to find out a craft’s maximum ability to withstand different wind conditions, thus allowing us to know at what point it would be too dangerous to conduct flight operations. All of this testing was successful.”
During their operations on Wasp, the squadrons also received valuable training on the technical aspects of these new aircraft.
“It gave us an idea of how to operate the aircraft in difficult flight situations,” said Marine Corps Major Sam Clark, an MV-22 pilot from HX-21. “We also increased our gross weight landing and take off capabilities. The most challenging part was utilizing all of our onboard systems to their maximum abilities, but everything turned out well.”
For the Wasp Sailors who work on the ship’s flight deck, learning how to launch and recover the Ospreys, Venoms, and Cobras has been a very informative experience.
“The Venoms and Cobras both have four blades on their propellers instead of the usual two, so it was a challenge for our guys to get used to them,” said Petty Officer 1st Class (AW/SW) Ian Daley, aviation boatswain’s mate (handling). “Most of the junior flight deck sailors have never worked with these types of aircraft before, so it was a good learning experience for them.”
This challenge extended to dealing with the Ospreys, which are also somewhat unconventional in their design.
“When we tie the Ospreys down to the flight deck, we have to put the turn buckle on a pad eye instead of on the aircraft, which is the reverse of most other planes,” said Daley. “Also, the whole rotor head turns when an Osprey takes off as opposed to just the blades on the propellers, and we have had to get used to that, too.”
Despite these differences, Wasp’s flight deck personnel described the basic principles for launching and landing these aircraft as being the same as any other.
“We get the same ‘flow of motion’ with them as we do with all of the other aircraft that we deal with on Wasp,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class (AW/SW) Melvin Steward, aviation boatswain’s mate (handling). “Overall, I’d say these new aircraft are pretty stable when taking off and landing.”
Other flight deck sailors looked forward to dealing with these new aircraft in the future.
“The Ospreys are exciting because they are new and different,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class (AW) Justin Woodard, aviation boatswain’s mate (handling). “It’s good to be part of an advancement in Naval aviation.”
| Date Taken: | 08.04.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2010 16:25 |
| Story ID: | 55050 |
| Location: | USS WASP, AT SEA |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Wasp Hosts Aircraft Testing Teams, by PO2 Christopher Koons, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT