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GRAMPS HONORS "OUR" SAILORS
At the July 14th luncheon GPS was honored to recognize two Naval Weapon Station Seal
Beach sailors for the outstanding performance that resulted in their selection as Sailors of the
Quarter for 1st quarter 2005. The Senior Sailor of the Quarter, Master-At-Arms First Class
Christopher Crane, was present, while the Junior Sailor of the Quarter, Master-At-Arms Second
Class Eddie Estrella was on leave prior to reporting to Bahrain for force protection duty. Our
July guest speaker LtCol "Ajax" Neumann, USMC and GPS Skipper Jim Menees presented the
award to MA1 Crane, as ANA Trustee and former GPS CO Bob Olds narrated the event and
summarized their achievements. MACS Beffa accepted MA2 Estrella's award in his behalf.
Each received GPS's congratulations, a GPS plaque, and a monetary gift (for the senior SOQ a
$100 check from GPS, and for the junior SOQ a $50 GPS check and $50 gift certificate to the
Crab Cooker restaurant - donated by restaurant owner and GPS member Jim Wasco). By Bob
Olds, former GPS CO & ANA Trustee
BULK MAIL PROBLEMS
Gramps BULK mails more that 500 OP-Plans each month. Over all it cost Gramps about $110
per month for postage and permits. It saves Gramps about $85 a month. When Gramps first
started using BULK mail the savings were nearly a $150 monthly. Printing and office costs
remain at about $200. Gramps thanks the Great Guys and the Luncheon attendees that contribute
each month.
BUT some of you get your OP-Plan after the Luncheon. Mail that passes through the LA Bulk
Post Office is where the delays occur. A few members have told us of long delays and lost mail.
There is a solution. Members can find out most of the information by using Gramps web site at
www.gpsana.org.
Gramps is open to suggestion as this problem has periodically been with us for many years. The
Editor
Naval Aviation News July—August 2005 GRAMPAW PETTIBONE
Mountain Mentor
Due to an error in the schedule writing process and personal neglect, the squadron s most
experienced T-34C NATOPS evaluator launched solo on an out-and-in, although he was fresh
from leave and out of currency to fly by himself. The pilot, who six months earlier had weathered
a human factors board based on his declining level of professional effort, cancelled his IFR
clearance and proceeded VFR shortly after takeoff. After performing several practice landings at
two civilian airfields, the pilot continued northbound toward his intermediate stop, skirting
ridgelines along the way. As the pilot started a turn around the final peak he focused his attention
on the radio console. Just as he finished dialing in his intermediate stop s tower frequency, he felt
the aircraft shudder. He immediately noted that he had developed a huge rate of descent. He
pushed the throttle to its limit and tried to turn away from the oncoming mountain. Realizing
impact was imminent, the pilot intentionally stalled the airplane, electing to land uphill instead of
crashing downhill and potentially tumbling.
The T-34 hit the rocky slope with almost no forward speed. The pilot managed to crawl out of
the wreckage in spite of a broken hand and ankle. Perched above the crash site and away from a
sniall fire that had started in some nearby vegetation, he attempted to use his PRC-90 but was
unable to communicate over the ELT beacon. He managed to fire, one pencil flare. Hurt, cold,
and exhausted, the pilot waited for somebody to rescue him. A long time passed. The pilot
wondered if he d survive a night on the mountain.
Several hours later a nearby forest fire observer saw smoke. He activated a U.S. Forest Service
spotter plane that, in turn, found the crash site. Another plane dropped a line of fire retardant near
the wreckage, inadvertently coating the downed pilot in the process. A medevac helicopter
lowered a medic who administered first aid. As the rescue helo hovered above the pilot and
medic, embers from the fire were blown onto the crash site, torching the stricken T-34 that had
remained intact, for the most part. As the fire consumed the trainer, the pilot was hoisted off the
mountain.
Grampaw Pettibone says:
Nothing burns my biscuits like this kind of breakdown in the way things ought to go. This guy
had to be screaming "failing naval aviator" way before this little out-of-bounds adventure
happened. Now I m not trying to release this pilot from his own wing-wearing responsibility, but
I am saying that sometimes a squadronmate is in serious need of what city folks call an
"intervention." (I heard about it on the wireless once.)
Oh, well, all was not lost. At least this training mission resulted in some great training. . . for the
U.S. Forest Service.
THE NAVY'S NEW CVN 21
AIRCRAFT CARRIER
A few minute read but well worth your time to learn about the future Navy
New Carrier Island is at Heart of Higher Sortie Rates for CVN 21
The following article appeared in "Sea Power" magazine June, 2003 by Hunter Keeter
The island, or superstructure, of the Navy's new CVN 21 aircraft carrier is at the heart of
numerous improvements planned for the ship. The new carrier, scheduled for launch in 2014, is
to have an improved aircraft sortie rate, a crew that is far smaller than that of the Nimitz-class
vessels, and lower life-cycle costs.
The means to achieve those goals began with a smaller, re-designed island that is made partly of
composites and moved aft, or further back, on the deck relative to islands of the 10 Nimitz-class
carriers. Rear Adm. Dennis M. Dwyer, program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said the
redesign of CVN 21's island is "the real transformational part of the 'airport'" operations on board
the carrier.
Slimming down the island and moving it about 100 feet aft created space on deck for the
creation of a centralized re-arming and re-fueling location the Navy has dubbed the "pit stop,"
after the similar process in auto racing. It enables the crew to service the aircraft and get them
quickly back into the air for another tactical mission. "That is the concept," said Dwyer. At
present, "we do a lot of...pushing planes around the deck and that takes a lot of time. They don't
push cars in a NASCAR race. They drive them into the pit and they get out in 14 seconds. We
(could be) doing that."
CVN 21, to be built by Northrop Grumman's Newport News Operations, Newport News, VA.,
is the Navy's first new carrier design since 1965. The ship is expected to last 50 years, and the
CVN 21 carrier class of ships will be the centerpiece of the Navy's expeditionary strike force for
more than 100 years. Therefore, the Navy wants quantum improvements in capability in a hull
design that is about the same size as the Nimitz class: approximately 1,092 feet in length; a beam
of 134 feet; and a flight deck width of 252 feet. A larger hull would have brought penalties in
size and cost. Anything larger than a Nimitz CVN would have required new, larger drydocks, for
example.
However, CVN 21 will have a new nuclear reactor that produces 25 percent more power.
Steam produced by the reactor will generate three times the electrical power of the Nimitz, which
suffers from chronic overloading of its electrical generators.
The new reactor and other changes permit substantial reductions in crew size. Overall, the
CVN 21 will have a crew of 2,100 to 2,500 men and women. The Nimitz crew totals
approximately 3,000 personnel. That reduction should bring substantial cuts in life-cycle costs of
the CVN 21, relative to the Nimitz class, but Dwyer is reluctant to estimate the savings at this
early point in the ship's development.
But the Navy's excitement about the new carrier stems in large part from the improvement in
operations to be derived from the redesigned island and the airplane 'pit stops' (located to the rear
of the island on either side of the deck) that will generate aircraft sorties of 140 to 160 per day,
with a surge capability to 220 sorties per day. The Nimitz's normal sortie rate is about 120 per
day. Ordnance, fuel, and electronic support systems all will be located at or near the pit stop,
eliminating the need to drag fuel hoses across deck to the planes and push ammo dollies through
long distances on the flight and hangar decks.
On the Nimitz class, "we go through a two-hour cycle and quarter of a mile hauling bombs
throughout the hangar bay and the mess deck" to get them to an upper stage elevator and onto a
deck staging area, said Dwyer. That make re-arming planes "the long Leg" in sortie rates on the
Nimitz.
On the CVN 21, ordnance will be moved by robotic devices from the magazines to re-located
weapons elevators and then to "little bomb farms" near the pit stops, said Dwyer. Thus,
re-arming a plane will probably be measured in "minutes instead of hours."
"We can pull (the aircraft) in once...and do everything (we need) to them, and they can cycle
right out, get to the catapult and go again," Dwyer said.
As is the case for ordnance, the movement of JP5 aviation fuel around today's flight decks is a
cumbersome process, accomplished by dragging long hoses from hatches and catwalk stations on
deck. The CVN 21 design would place shorter fuel hoses directly in the aircraft pit. Diagnostic
stations also will be positioned at the pit for maintenance troubleshooting.
In addition, Navy tactics have changed, reducing the number of sorties flown against most
targets. The "whole philosophy of what a sortie is has changed...because of technology," said
Dwyer. When Nimitz was designed, carrier air wings included A-4s, A-6s, A-7s, F-4s and F-8s.
Multiple sorties were then launched to release large numbers of usually unguided munitions
against single targets. Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the strike platforms in the typical carrier
air wing have evolved and now are based on the F/A-18 Hornet series of tactical aircraft. The
ordnance delivered by the airplanes also has changed, and now includes larger numbers of
precision-guided munitions, such as the GPS-assisted Joint Direct-Attack Munitions series and
various laser-guided bombs. Therefore, aircraft involved in Operation Enduring Freedom, over
Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom often engaged multiple targets.
As CVN 21 gets underway, new aircraft will enter the fleet equipped with advanced
maintenance diagnostics capabilities. Maintenance systems aboard ship will be more
sophisticated, mirroring some of the computer and datalink capabilities in warfare systems
centers. For example, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which enters naval service
after 2010, will send data messages to the vessel, giving maintenance specialists an indication of
what repairs are needed before the aircraft lands on deck.
"This will really help sortie generation rates," Dwyer said.
More advanced systems also are expected to enter fleet service after the end of the decade, such
as the joint Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) program. The command-and-control and
support requirements for a mixed air wing of manned and unmanned aircraft aboard would also
demand greater flexibility in the CVN 21 design.
The first of the CVN 21 class of aircraft carriers will be in service in the fleet until 2064, Dwyer
said. In 1965, when the Nimitz was designed, "could I have ever imagined 2064? The rest of the
class goes on after that, into the 22nd century. So...we need to be flexible. We have learned that
now."
Hunter Keeter is a reporter for Defense Daily, a newsletter based in Washington, D.C.
FRIENDS MEET AT GRAMPS" LUNCHEONS
ANA MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION (RATES EFFECTIVE 1 April 2003)
- Individual
- $40 - 1 Year
- $110 - 3 Years
- Family
- $45 - 1 Year
- $115 - 3 Years
- Active Duty
- $25 - 1 Year
- $57.50 - 3 Years
- SNA/SNFO (Flight Training Student)
- $10 (1st year only)
- Life Membership
- 50-59 - $1,000
- 60-64 - $425
- 65-69 - $325
- 70+ - $200
For an Online Membership Application, Please Click HERE
FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIP OFFICER
Fran Pieri
I noticed that everyone was very impressed with our July speaker and his slide/video
presentation. For those of you who brought a guest, I'm sure they were also. Let them know that
all of our speakers, at our luncheons, are equally as good. It's summertime now; and some of you
will either be going on vacation or having guest, visiting from out of town. Please bring them to
our next luncheon. It's on Thursday, August 11th. Also, tell them about the camaraderie we all
have in our Gramps Squadron and that none of these luncheons are "dull". Again, as a reminder,
no one has to have had previous military service to belong to ANA. The Ray Pett "let me buy you
a drink" contest still has $200.00 in the pot up for grabs to whoever signs up the most new
members this year. Our "Super Ace", Mel Locke has signed six 6) new members this year.See if
you can equal him or beat him. The contest ends in November of this year. Keep the blue side up.
Fran
THE PLANES of FAME MUSEUM
by Fran Pieri
Air War over Korea will be the subject of the monthly event at The Air Museum "Planes of
Fame" on the Chino Airport on Saturday, August 6. The event will begin at 10:00 am with a
seminar and, weather permitting, concluded with a warbird demonstration flight of a F-86F
Sabre. The speakers at the seminar will be men who flew the F-86 during the Korean War. The
museum has a special membership program available to the public. It's opportunity to experience
a "FREE RIDE" in a genuine warbird. At each monthly event, members in attendance can have
their names entered into a free drawing for a warbird orientation flight, For more info, call (909)
597 3722 or www. planesoffame.org. Fran.
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