Once again I have been a bit delinquent in my writings to you all.
Things have been in a constant state of flux and TBD here aboard ship. This has really been the case ever sense we left Norfolk almost a month ago. I write the flight schedule around 10pm and the very next morning things are different and we have to adjust.
Incase you have not been watching the news, we are off the Mississippi delta, leaning a little more west at times toward Texas and some times a little closer towards Florida and our route home.
Two days ago, the day after RITA came ashore, (24 Sept) I was on of the lucky ones who flew inland to see what was going on and to offer our assistance if needed. We flew to New Orleans because we knew that they did have gas and were open for business. Our two ship formation flight boogied into NOLA at a lightning fast pace assisted b a strong 40knot tail wind giving us a speed over the ground of 170knots This was good for getting to the beach however not so good for getting home later in the day.
On the trip in I did see a house in the delta in a raging inferno however there was no one around to quench the flames and no one in peril so we continued onward to Nawlins
When we landed and as discussed before we took off from the ship, weather was a large concern. In New Orleans we were able to get some weather radar and to no surprise there was a large feeder band of stormy weather between us and where we wanted to go in Western Louisiana. So we fueled up and waited for a while for weather to break. While at Naval Station New Orleans we ran across another helicopter squadron the H-60B model and they were also there to help out and as an added bonus they would be coming out to the ship to stay a few nights with us.
Being that sitting around on our keesters is no fun, and the bubba in charge of us is a bit of a dweeb, I took it upon myself to go over to the hand dandy coast guard command center a few hundred yards away. A good plan. The coast guard had sort of been expecting us to come in. At the moment I was there, a whole lot was not going on. The coasties were able to get a few helicopters to the west of the feeder band earlier in the morning however they were now stuck out there to the west. Like the rest of us, they were waiting for the weather to break.
As we were clearing the coast guard complex back over to the navy side of the airfield, a coasty came running out with a mission for us. Supposedly there were 30 people stuck in the attic of a home depot over in the 9th ward of New Orleans. So with a new mission, we mounted up and 4 helicopters 2 sierras and 2 bravos went screaming north to the 9th ward to see if we could pick up some stranded residents.
The weather was a little skosh and the helicopter I was piloting did not have a hoist to lower a swimmer into the water so I just sort of hung out in the distance and observed while the 3 other helicopters jockied for position to lower a swimmer to the roof of the home depot to see if anybody was home. After a few minutes it became apparent that this had just become a very expensive goose chase.
We returned back to the New Orleans air station got some gas and by this time the weather had cleared enough for us to start heading west. We were originally going to the airfield at Houma for gas however there were some tasking that never materialized and also lead us a little further to the north and west then south and west were Houma was located.
As we flew west, the countryside for the most part was in good shape. There was some localized flooding, levees that had over flowed their banks. Most of this area was substantially inland from the gulf and there was little if any storm surge or wind damage.
We had to stop and get some fuel before we were to return back out a 100 or so miles back to the ship. A tremendous headwind made the going slow and ate viscously at our fuel. I always get a little uneasy flying over water, especially long ranges over water. Not for fear of my own navigational skills however for fear that our maintainers might not have done their best and if we have a mechanical issue, the only place to land is the water below. Additionally the headwind and the not so precise ship location information also increases the pucker factor. Thankfully there were numerous oil platforms that in a pinch could provide an emergency landing zone. Additionally there was an airborne radar airplane AWACS overhead that had us painted. Always a warm feeling.
We did eventually make it back to the ship after of course a last minute goose chase to another ship to pick up a chart. Come to find out the ship that we were directed to go to and were told was only 12 miles away was infact 120miles away and we were getting close to our fuel limit.
The Bravos that we ran into in New Orleans were about 50 miles behind us, they infact landed at the same airport we did to get gas. I was able act a relay platform to give them ships position info and let the ship know that the bravos were in fact on the way.
On this night the Mighty IWO was full of helicopters, a total of 17 aboard. It was a full house at or 730pm after action review. Standing room only. The craziness never ends.
Side Bar Comment
I am not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier message however while we were in New Orleans on the ship, tied to the pier, there was a sister helicopter squadron flying all the way from Pensacola each day to JRB, shutting down and waiting by a phone to be alerted for a mission. I thought our squadron was the only one in the area doing stand by search and rescue? Oh that is right, we were standby VIP transport!
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