thedrifter
06-20-08, 06:39 AM
TJ grad pilots controversial aircraft
By yoursouthhills
Created Jun 19 2008 - 12:07pm
A Thomas Jefferson High School graduate is one of the Marines at the helm of a next-generation military machine.
Capt. Eric Keith, a 1995 TJ grad, pilots a V-22 Osprey in Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 266, the "Fighting Griffins," stationed in Jacksonville, N.C.
The Griffins are slated to leave for Iraq in the fall with their V-22s. They will be the third squadron in Marine history to take the helicopter-airplane hybrid abroad.
The Osprey utilizes adjustable rotor engines that allow the aircraft to take off and land like a helicopter, but fly with the speed of a twin-propeller plane.
"The coolest thing you could ever do is sit in the back during takeoff," Keith, 31, said. "It's almost like taking a catapult shot off an aircraft carrier."
Keith began training to use the V-22 in March 2006 at the Weapons and Tactics Instructors course in Yuma, Ariz. He described the course as the Marines' "Top Gun" program.
Training took less than a year because Keith had spent the previous four years as a CH-46 helicopter pilot.
Typical training for aircraft commanders lasts 18 months, he said.
Keith was commissioned as a Marine in 1999 after spending four years at Virginia Tech on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship.
He attended flight school in Pensacola, Fla., for two years, where he piloted his first helicopter, a TH-57.
"It's pretty wild," Keith said of his first helicopter experience.
"It's one thing to go up in a Cessna and take the sticks..." but trying to keep a helicopter still in swirling winds is not an easy task, he continued.
"They equate learning how to hover to trying to stand on a basketball."
Since becoming an aircraft commander, Keith has flown CH-46 helicopters, the Marines' standard-issue chopper, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Keith said he loved the CH-46, a 40-year-old model, it was time for him to get with the future -- the V-22 Osprey.
"I saw it was the smart thing to do," Keith said. "The sooner you can make that change, the sooner you can reap the benefits."
The Marines are in the process of phasing out the CH-46 and making the V-22 Osprey their primary aircraft. The primary appeal of the V-22 is its ability to fly from beyond the horizon to inland points without getting in range of enemy ground fire, except during landing.
However, controversy surrounded the V-22 from the time of its first flight in 1989 to its first deployment abroad in October 2007.
Vice President Dick Cheney, while serving as Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1992, tried to eliminate the Osprey program because of the vehicle's approximately $100 million price.
To make matters worse, four Ospreys crashed in non-combat situations during development. The latter three crashes, occurring once in 1992 and twice in 2000, claimed the lives of 30 Marines.
Critics of the V-22 also cite the Osprey's lack of weaponry and it's 9.1 mph descent rate as potential problems if the vehicle attempts to land in hostile enemy territory.
Keith, however, is not concerned with the V-22's kinks. He looks forward to helping the Marines work them out and bringing the Osprey up to its full potential.
"Any one of us could go out and develop a new tactic, and it might end up in our tactics manual," he said.
Keith's father, Jim, was equally comfortable with his son's involvement in the V-22 program.
"They have it all fixed; it's ready to go," Jim said. "I'd rather have him flying new ones than old ones."
Ellie
By yoursouthhills
Created Jun 19 2008 - 12:07pm
A Thomas Jefferson High School graduate is one of the Marines at the helm of a next-generation military machine.
Capt. Eric Keith, a 1995 TJ grad, pilots a V-22 Osprey in Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 266, the "Fighting Griffins," stationed in Jacksonville, N.C.
The Griffins are slated to leave for Iraq in the fall with their V-22s. They will be the third squadron in Marine history to take the helicopter-airplane hybrid abroad.
The Osprey utilizes adjustable rotor engines that allow the aircraft to take off and land like a helicopter, but fly with the speed of a twin-propeller plane.
"The coolest thing you could ever do is sit in the back during takeoff," Keith, 31, said. "It's almost like taking a catapult shot off an aircraft carrier."
Keith began training to use the V-22 in March 2006 at the Weapons and Tactics Instructors course in Yuma, Ariz. He described the course as the Marines' "Top Gun" program.
Training took less than a year because Keith had spent the previous four years as a CH-46 helicopter pilot.
Typical training for aircraft commanders lasts 18 months, he said.
Keith was commissioned as a Marine in 1999 after spending four years at Virginia Tech on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship.
He attended flight school in Pensacola, Fla., for two years, where he piloted his first helicopter, a TH-57.
"It's pretty wild," Keith said of his first helicopter experience.
"It's one thing to go up in a Cessna and take the sticks..." but trying to keep a helicopter still in swirling winds is not an easy task, he continued.
"They equate learning how to hover to trying to stand on a basketball."
Since becoming an aircraft commander, Keith has flown CH-46 helicopters, the Marines' standard-issue chopper, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Keith said he loved the CH-46, a 40-year-old model, it was time for him to get with the future -- the V-22 Osprey.
"I saw it was the smart thing to do," Keith said. "The sooner you can make that change, the sooner you can reap the benefits."
The Marines are in the process of phasing out the CH-46 and making the V-22 Osprey their primary aircraft. The primary appeal of the V-22 is its ability to fly from beyond the horizon to inland points without getting in range of enemy ground fire, except during landing.
However, controversy surrounded the V-22 from the time of its first flight in 1989 to its first deployment abroad in October 2007.
Vice President Dick Cheney, while serving as Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1992, tried to eliminate the Osprey program because of the vehicle's approximately $100 million price.
To make matters worse, four Ospreys crashed in non-combat situations during development. The latter three crashes, occurring once in 1992 and twice in 2000, claimed the lives of 30 Marines.
Critics of the V-22 also cite the Osprey's lack of weaponry and it's 9.1 mph descent rate as potential problems if the vehicle attempts to land in hostile enemy territory.
Keith, however, is not concerned with the V-22's kinks. He looks forward to helping the Marines work them out and bringing the Osprey up to its full potential.
"Any one of us could go out and develop a new tactic, and it might end up in our tactics manual," he said.
Keith's father, Jim, was equally comfortable with his son's involvement in the V-22 program.
"They have it all fixed; it's ready to go," Jim said. "I'd rather have him flying new ones than old ones."
Ellie