Nearby range to help new Cannon AFB wing

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M.—The 66,000-acre Melrose Air Force Range just 25 miles from Cannon Air Force Base will become the key air-to-ground combat training area for the Air Force Special Operations Command.
"It's not just a bombing range," said Lt. Col. Paul Caltagirone, deputy group commander for the 27th Special Operations Group at Cannon. "Melrose is the crown jewel of the western home of the air commandos."

The range was cited by state and local leaders who argued against closing Cannon during a round of nationwide base closures in 2005. Eventually, the base near Clovis was saved with a new Special Operations Command mission.
Several additions are planned for the range, Caltagirone said. Those include two impact zones for certain types of weapons firings; drop zones for troops and cargo for the CV-22s and C-130s that will be flying at Cannon; and at least one landing zone for C-130s, CV-22s and small aircraft. The zones would recreate true blacked-out conditions and possibly unpaved surface landings.

Cannon is to get eight AC-130Hs this summer and 15 to 20 Attack Cargo aircraft over the next five years. CV-22 tilt-rotor Ospreys also will come to Cannon later this year.
Caltagirone said the Air Force's only gunships—AC-130Hs and AC-130Us—are valuable to ground troops because of their "persistent overhead accurate lethal firepower."
"We're trying to grow our capability here at Cannon ... so we provide more assets to not only special operations, but conventional forces on the ground," he said.

The range also will be used for ground training. A military operations and urban terrain site is being built.
"It's basically a city you build out in the middle of nowhere," Caltagirone said. "You bring in teams and they're allowed to train

in a close-quarters urban environment with overhead gunship support. ... They can go block-by-block in this city that's built out there. We're going to attract a lot of small tactical teams out in that regard."
Other ground training planned includes a sniper range and small arms range, he said.
Having so much training at the Melrose range saves fuel costs. But Caltagirone said the biggest benefit is operational tempo—crews won't lose training time in travel.
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Smithsonian's Dove on Bird Strike

Smithsonian's Dove on Bird Strike: "

When I heard this report on NPR recently, it struck me that Carla Dove, a scientist and erstwhile snarge expert with the feather-identification lab at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, has the perfect name for her job.

After a bird strike occurs, the feathers and other organic materials -- known as 'snarge' -- are sent to the lab, where DNA testing and feather matching techniques are used to identify the bird species.'

Click here to listen to the report and read the story. (NPR, All Things Considered, Jan. 16, 2009)

Identifying the bird helps operators take action to remove the environmental factors that caused the bird and the aircraft to collide in the first place. Once the species is known, Dove explains that operators can take steps to remove the specific vegetation, habitats, etc. that attract the species to the airport, to lessen the risk of future bird strikes.'

"

(Via MRO Blog.)

Underneath -- looking up.

Photographed from "The Spot " on the approach to Runway 4 at Rick Husband (Amarillo) International Airport.

Full Tilt Boogie!

What do you do when you are piloting a brand spanking new multi-million dollar MV-22 Osprey and the winds begin to gust in excess of 40 mph?



You try and ride it out ... going nowhere fast...



...and when the gusts are beyond limits you put it down quickly - somewhere -- anywhere!



Once safely down you then check your instruments - and your shorts ... wait for the gusts to subside ...

... take back off ...




... and land it on the runway alongside the F-18 jockeys who you hope didn't see what you almost just did.




-Steve

Aggressors In Amarillo

Out at the airport (Rick Husband/Amarillo Int.) today there was a free air show - of sorts. The pattern was filled with military aircraft, including two F-18s on their way to Red Flag - two V-22 Ospreys doing test work ( with one of them almost loosing it in the high winds) several assorted KC-135 tankers from Altus AFB, OK and even a Navy E-6 (TACAMO) doomsday aircraft.

Here are a couple shots of a Navy Aggressor FA/18 from VFC-12 NAS Oceana all decked out in a Russian paint scheme. These guys play the bad guys at Red Flag, and true to form he flipped me the bird when he saw me taking pictures of him!

I had a great day none-the-less. I'll post more later.

-Steve