There's another typhoon out there, but this one is passing a good 200 miles to the south and west of us. Which is close enough to get 50+ knot winds and strong rains. Last  night was the closest approach, and all the squadrons on the flightline stuffed all their aircraft back into the hangars for protection from the strong winds.

All the squadrons except ours, of course. We flew anyway last night. One of our aircraft suffered about $10,000 damage from the winds, from trying to fold the tail. The relevant aircraft manual specifically forbids folding in high winds, but oh well. This is a problem that's getting quite frustrating- we're getting pushed to hard, and mistakes get made, and stuff gets broken, and people get hurt. We need to pass off the MEU and stand down to a lower ops tempo for a few months.

Plus, we're way short on personnel. Priority goes to Iraq-bound units, so we're substantially below our manning goals, and that hurts us too, because the people we have work hours that are too long.

Posted by: Boviate at 07:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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