16 Mar
As a helicopter pilot I know a thing or two about LZ's (landing zones), and as a Aviation Safety Officer I am qualified to evaluate and certify an LZ for helicopter operations. Even though I have operated a helicopter in both extremes, from densely forested areas in Asia to many hours of training in the deserts of Eastern California the Army chose not to listen to my advice and learned the hard way. Here is what happen. With the build of of personnel and supplies in our area, at the request of the senior man in-charge, an Air Force LtCol (the same LtCol we had dinner with last night), I took three hours out of my day to help map-out and certify an LZ adjacent to our new neighbors location. The Army chose a different area but it was also in the vicinity of our new neighbors. I disagreed with their choice because of the proximity to some recently built structures and the amount of dust that is created by vehicle traffic. Despite my recommendation they tried to use "their" LZ and sure enough when I spoke with the air crew after their attempted landing they said the LZ was no good for night operations - it is just too dusty. Well...how about that!!! News flash - dust in the desert at night...who would have thought that was possible. Oh well...maybe next time they will listen. Enough complaining for today - have a good weekend.
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2 comments:
It's a shame......half a word away, and the Army still can't not accept that the Naval Academy grads are smarter than the ones that are coming out of West Point. Perhaps they are still smarting over the fact that Navy has won the 7 of the last 8 football games....Oh well, they'll understand sooner or later.......maybe
Gary Sr here....
If the Army football strategy isn't too good what makes one think picking good LZ's will be any better. Next time you'll have to provide stadium lighting, but I guess that kills the idea of a night operation. You are doing such a good job building up the area that US visitors want to "drop in" anywhere and check out your work. To solve the sand problem your next project should be a 5-star Hotel with a heliport on the roof then you'll have many more visitors.
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