A group of UH-60 Blackhawk pilots from the Army’s 4th Battalion, 123rd Aviation Regiment flew aboard four Navy ships in the Gulf of Alaska June 4-5 to practice their shipboard landing skills. After coming aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57), battalion commander Army Lt. Col. Randy Rotte said landing on ships is “high adventure” for the Army helicopters pilots.

“We land in some pretty hairy places, but one of the constants is they’re all standing still,” he said. “It might be really dusty, it might be really snowy, but they’re all standing still. Now, it’s not standing still.”

The Fort Wainright, Alaska,-based battalion is training for a possible deployment to Kuwait later this year. If they are selected to deploy, there’s a good chance the pilots will have to land on ships in the Persian Gulf to move cargo or people.

Blackhawk pilot Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis D. Thomas said he and his fellow Soldiers were grateful to have the chance to practice their skills on Lake Champlain; destroyers USS Howard (DDG 83) and USS Milius (DDG 69); and frigate USS Ford (FFG 54). He said everything about the mission was new to him, right down to the special suit and emergency oxygen source he had to wear in case he ended up in the water.

“This is the only time we ever come over the ocean. Normally, we always fly over land," Thomas said. "In fact, this is my first time out at sea. The ship is all new to me,” he said, while touring Lake Champlain June 5.

A day earlier, Lt. Cmdr. Lou Rutledge, Lake Champlain air boss and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 46, Det. 4 officer in charge, trained instructor pilots from the regiment on shipboard landing procedures.

“Today, those same instructor pilots are coming out to instruct others,” Rutledge said. He was in Lake Champlain’s air traffic control tower the second day, watching Army pilots land and giving them pertinent information as the landing signals officer. Rutledge said his primary concern was that the wheelbase of a Blackhawk is wider than the base of a Seahawk. The Blackhawk also lacks the probe device found on the underside of a Seahawk that mechanical jaws operated by the flight deck crew grab to hold the aircraft on deck.

“I told the air crew, ‘I need to know if the tail wheel is on (the deck). I need to know.’ It’s all I was worried about,” Rutledge said.

According to Thomas, the Army pilots were also a little worried about landing Blackhawks on Navy ships.

“It’s very challenging, but it’s a great opportunity. (Landing on a ship) is probably one of the most difficult maneuvers we’ve ever done because our landing field is moving, and we’re used to landing on the ground,” he said.

Thomas said he hopes his regiment is selected for the year-long tour in Kuwait, and he’s glad to get ahead in inter-service training in case the Army does select them.

“It was a good learning experience for us, too, seeing how the Army flies,” said Ford Air Boss Lt. Cmdr. James A. Gordon of Helicopter Support Squadron Light (HSL) 49, who also trained instructor pilots June 4.

“They were obviously experienced pilots,” he said. “They did a good job (landing on the ships). They had a lot of Navy questions, but they took to it very quickly.”

“We’re really grateful for (the Navy) providing us with this opportunity,” Thomas added. “I know we make a lot of inter-service jokes, but we’re all on the same team.”

The San Diego-based Lake Champlain, Milius and Howard, as well as the Everett, Wash.,-based Ford, are in the Gulf of Alaska to participate in the annual Northern Edge air exercise as part of the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) strike group. [ANN Thanks Journalist 1st Class (SW) Andrea J. Leahy, Navy Public Affairs Center San Diego]

FMI: www.news.navy.mil/local/pacensandiego