A Week Full of Flying

It was a busy week of flying one aircraft and fixing the other one. We only have 2 helicopters with our detachment, and we arrived in Japan with both of them nearing major maintenance inspections. Essentially, it involves taking the whole thing apart, checking the condition of the parts, and the of course, putting it all back together. The last part is what takes most of the time to accomplish. We had to wait for a few parts, and a lot of us are still learning the process. Once we make it to our next stop, the other helo goes in for the same process, but hopefully now that we've got practice, it'll go a little quicker.

Most of the flying this week was pretty standard stuff: Flying around the area, renewing qualifications, getting used to working with the group we've got out here. I was lucky enough to fly a couple of times in more "scenic" settings. On Wednesday, we took a 2 hour jaunt to Sasebo to help with LSE training. The first crew helped them practice signals to direct us around the "ship deck" and after we switched pilots and crew, they trained for external load operations. Flying the same pattern 20 times in a row gets a bit monotonous, but it was cool to be a part of that training, and we'll see some of those guys again once we get on the ship.

Yep, that's me at the controls.

Our expert crew guiding me to the spot.
"On the go"
Hector and Ben showing off their vertrep skills

The flight back was a bit hazy, but I was still able to get some pictures from the air. Unfortunately, the most interesting event we saw was a ship in less-than-ideal condition. We noticed it and decided to take a lap around it to get a better look. Apparently they needed a better 3rd mate. Matt? need another job?

Oops.

Cool building in Fukuoka with a helo pad on top - No, we didn't try and land there.
Just a passenger on the return flight
South of Iwakuni around Sunset.
Awesome Japanese gardens.

Thursday's flight took us into the mountains to the north of the base. I knew the terrain was green, but up in the high altitude and away from the cities, we hit a whole new level of beauty. While it certainly made me miss the mountains in the states, they looked nothing like my familiar Utah hills. There were houses and bridges littered through the valleys and along the rivers, but only a few wide open valleys allowed for actual towns. We completed the productive part of the flight, but there was plenty of time to look around and appreciate nature's treasure. There are pictures of the flight, just not on my camera. I'll post them soon.

The weekend was somewhat relaxing, but during the days, we had plenty to work on. Friday night was another "flight suit Friday" at the bar on base, and the experienced members of the Det introduced the new guys to a game of "crud." Most simply explained as a version of contact pool, basically, two teams are competing to accomplish a combination of knocking one ball into a corner pocket while simultaneously knocking the opposing players off their feet. No major injuries resulted (this week) but by Saturday morning, we all had a variety of bruises and sore joints to discuss. Saturday night, we headed out for dinner, but decided sleep was more valuable than beer this time. Tonight, I was relaxing, listening to some music, and reading until now. For now, it's about time to hit the rack, but another exciting week awaits. I hope to have some more "reader friendly" stories once we move on to our next adventure.