Desert Pilot Podcast

It's was that time again last weekend for the 2012 MCAS Miramar Airshow . This year it was just my son and I going to the show. The US Navy Blue Angels , USN F/A-18 Super Hornet demo, USAF F-22 Raptor demo, USMC AV-8B Harrier demo, U.S. Army Golden Knights , U.S. Navy Leap Frogs , and Sean Tucker "Oracle Challenger" were some of my favorites. It since it was only the 2 of us I just snapped a few photos with my cell phone. We love helicopters he thought it was so cool to go inside. watching the show with a B-25 in the back ground. Blue Angels Blue Angels Us with the "Blue Airplanes" as my son puts it. Saw this in the parking lot and thought it was fitting.

We are through our 2nd or phase of training and our 2nd test. All is well. This phase or week as they still call them, although the couse is not split up in to weeks any more the Navy can be set in their ways, dealt with the control function of the computer systems that work with the ship and the helicopter. The focus was understanding how to get the computer to do what you want. And talk to both helicopter and ship. I think this is going to be a common theme for the rest if the course. The next phase is the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) which I hear is the hardest part of the course.

This cockpit audio was recorded at least 2 1/2 years ago I don't really know. I just found it going through my computer and decided to share. I'm flying 3 touch-n-gos and have 2 other pilots in the plane with me. Dave an instructor and another buddy of mine who is a private pilot in the back seat. 3 pilots in an airplane is always fun. Download the podcast here

I'm in school right now. Not back to college but at school for the Navy. I got selected to go to (are you ready for this) Anti-Submarine Warfare/Anti-Surface Warfare Tactical Air Controller or ASTAC school. What that is the air traffic controllers on smaller ships. Like mine USS Princeton (CG-59) where all we have is a helicopter pad on the back of our ship. When we get underway we have a squadron of 2 helicopters on our ship with the pilots and crew to man them. But the controlling of the aircraft and any other aircraft coming to our ship is the responsibility of the ship. That is where my job comes in once I'm done with school I'll be one of the two ASTACs on board to control all helicopters (or helos as we call them) around our the ship. It's a tough school one of the hardest for my rate (job) as an Operational Specialist or OS. I haven't been in that long so I was really luckily to get this school. Being a commercial pilot definitely helped too. Since I've...

I just came back from the largest naval exercise in the world and unlike the movie Battleship there was no aliens that attacked. The whole exercise is around the Hawaiian Islands and is a month long building up to the final week of the event where we have a big "battle". Although we did fire some 5in. rounds off and Harpoon and SM2 missiles it wasn't at another ship or at least one that had people in it. We also spent 2 port visits, about 10 days total, in Pearl Harbor on Ohau. Which was really heaven on earth I really wouldn't mind living there. I was gone from home for about 2 1/2 months and was good to come back. Here are some pics from the trip. At the driving Range In port Pearl Harbor Replenishment At Sea with the Nimitz Pulling into Port in Hawaii Battleship Missouri  Aviation Museum on Ford Island on Ford Island firing the Harpoon  hiking in Hawaii

Yes it's true at almost 1 year since my last audio podcast and 6 months from my last post the DesertPilot  podcast is back. I recorded this episode off the deck of the USS Princeton CG-59. Enjoy. Download the Podcast here SH-60B going around

My 2 year old son Shad, brother in-law Jayce and I went to the Miramar air show a few weeks ago. It was way cool and Shad loved it. I really wanted to go and se the Blue Angels for the first time. And that was awesome as well. I don't know if it is because I'm partial to the Navy they performed much better then the Air Force Thunderbirds that I saw back in March. Their tolerances seemed much tighter, and precision just a little bit higher. I was a great time had by all.