AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 59

“The instrument skill required…it doesn’t get any harder.”
— Cmdr. Rich Hancock, HITRON operations officer

THE CREW CONDUCTS a

briefing in a room a few steps from the tarmac (above). A gunner lays down a warning stitch of machine gun bullets (above right). Pilots use checklists for every step of the mission (right), including the intercept (left).

batter the helicopter and spray blocks the gunner’s view of the engines. A gunner recalled his worst flight ever. His name also is withheld. “It was December 2011, and the fast-boat was 90 miles away. There was a cutter between us and the boat, so we stopped to refuel and went on to interdict. Coming back we were only 65 miles from our ship and decided to bypass the cutter [where they had refueled]. “We were 15 miles out when a thunderstorm popped up with strong downdrafts, and we could either go around it or pass through it. We were low on fuel and went through the edge of it. The downdrafts were rocking the helicopter. That’s the first time I got off the helicopter and kissed the deck,” the gunner said. Flying across a horizonless sea at night, even with night vision goggles, requires strong instrument skills. “The instrument skill required…it doesn’t get any harder,” Hancock said. “We fly the helicopter completely out of trim. We do flat turns around the boat. We don’t want to get the rotor arc into the line of fire.”

“It’s the most challenging mission I’ve ever flown,” said HITRON Commanding Officer Capt. Donna L. Cottrell. When pilots rotate out of HITRON, they often get their first choice of assignments, a pilot said. In August and September of 2012 there were six fast-boat chases involving post-mission landings on cutters that were in six-foot swells and at their maximum pitch and roll limits. In one case, a Coast Guard helicopter flew backwards 35 to 75 feet above the sea at night to keep contact with an evasive boat, yawing and sliding around turns to keep the weapons on the target.
READY TO SIGN UP?

DURING A LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE called “FireEx,” Coast Guard precision marksmen proved their legendary skills. In one example, the gunner made three interlocking circles on the surface of the sea, then hit the center circle several times. The target was a wooden ammo crate with a green dye marker. After two shots from a .50-caliber rifle, the largest piece was six inches across. Outboard motor housings are sometimes collected after a mission to show the marksman’s skill.

TOP SHOTS

Here’s the quick summary of how to make it to HITRON. “Go
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 59



http://www.aopa.org/pilot

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012
Contents
President’s Position
Visual Approach
Letters
Waypoints
Proficient Pilot
Foundation Focus
License to Learn
Pilot Counsel
Fly Well
An aerial perspective
AOPA Sweepstakes
Youth
Milestones
AOPA Action
Test Pilot
micro.
Jet In a Box
Force From Above
Safety Pilot Landmark Accident: Not So Easy
Desert Delight
Gone West
Ownership
Proficiency
Technique
Avionics
Never Again
Membership
Member Products
State and Local Action
AOPA Foundation
AOPA Insurance Services
Fly by Wire
Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - President’s Position
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Visual Approach
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Letters
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Waypoints
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Proficient Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Foundation Focus
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - License to Learn
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Pilot Counsel
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Fly Well
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - An aerial perspective
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Sweepstakes
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Youth
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Milestones
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Test Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - micro.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Jet In a Box
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Force From Above
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Safety Pilot Landmark Accident: Not So Easy
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Desert Delight
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Gone West
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Ownership
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Proficiency
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Technique
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 87
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Avionics
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 89
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 91
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 93
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Never Again
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 95
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - I1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - I2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Membership
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 99
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Member Products
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - State and Local Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 103
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Foundation
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 105
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Insurance Services
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 107
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Fly by Wire
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 109
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Cover4
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