Friday, October 07, 2011

How bad a case of 'not paying attention' does it take


to not see THAT coming in? Damn

4 comments:

Irish said...

WHOA... someone got a talkin to I bet

Firehand said...

Found it here
http://www.neptunuslex.com/
He says "did not result in disciplinary action, but a video of the incident is being used for safety training throughout the Navy, officials said Friday."
Which probably means those two didn't have an ass to sit on after somebody got done chewing, and the training in part consists of "If I catch YOU doing this, I will use you for bait because it'll prove that's all you have the brains to be!"

Anonymous said...

Been on the flight deck for 20 hours straight. Seen similar things happen (and I've seen that video, as well as others, many times in training sessions). Have had more "close calls" than I can count myself.

It's been described as the most dangerous four and a half acres on the planet for just such a reason.

The thing is, with all that's going on up there, it only takes a second of inattentiveness to get yourself killed. Most of the time when something like that happens, it's someone relatively new to the flight deck who hasn't quite gotten the "keep your head on a swivel" message pounded home enough times. In that event, it's as much the fault of his trainer and supervisor as it is his fault.

But things like that do happen to experienced people too. Being up there is exhausting; you're constantly on the run, carrying heavy equipment, dodging props, and rotor blades and tow tractors and tie down chains, your adrenaline level is constantly running high, and 16 to 18 hour days are commonplace.

I personally witnessed a guy who had over 20 years of experience on the flight deck and was going to be retiring after the cruise, walk into the tail rotor blades of a Marine Cobra helicopter on the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2).

It wasn't pretty.

It happens, it's a dangerous world on the flight deck. That's why they pay them the big bucks.

Or something.

Firehand said...

I've been up for about that long at work in the past; even without the level of hazard on a bird farm deck, it was no fun at all. Hard to imagine the actual nastiness all around you.

And by the way: for what it's worth, thanks.