I've thought about this since Art posted it, and guys have been popping him for
not correcting Griego's behavior. Flying is full of superstitious people and
we had our share - some folks always wore the same gross/filthy/threadbare
flightdeck jerseys when they flew, others tied their boots a particular way or
refused to ever wear new equipment on a flight, etc. My inflight indescretion
was to unstrap 90% of the time - our radar station seat was positioned in a way
that even a mild impact would cleave off my legs because even at full retract,
I was too tall to get out from under the rack. Periodically, pilots would see
me digging around in back and ask or demand that I put on at least the
hurricane strap - while still "illegal", it would at least keep a large portion
of my body within the confines of a wreck, were it to happen. I would sullenly
strap in and wait for the GUF to turn back around and then :::clunk::: I'd drop
it back onto the floor. Most pilots I flew with would "order" me to strap in,
but understood I had my own reasons for not doing so; we got into one short
argument (that I won, btw) and other than that, they felt they were doing their
jobs by telling me to do it, whether I did or not. I never had a problem with
the pilots in this regard, primarily because I obeyed the other 99.99% of their
orders/suggestions - and I did a great job.

I didn't come up with that 'unstrap' idea on my own - we had a crusty old AW1
NATOPS Evaluator in my shop when I first arrived in H-2s and he wore a nasty
scar across his forehead - from not wearing his straps and impacting the radar
with a fair amount of force. As he was one of my initial instructors, I
listened to every point he wanted to make about my new ride - the H-2 had such
a horrible reputation among crews (and the Navy in general), that any extra bit
of help was something I thought could bale me out when the little red
"Extremis" light came on. I saw photos of his accident and if he had been
strapped in upon impact, that dude would be dead, no question. So, I got to
thinking about how much I liked running and swimming on my only pair of legs
and I decided I would follow every other order, but not -that- one.

When the drivers occasionally got stupid (115 knots at 20' above the sea), I
made it a point to climb up and gingerly sit on the radio panel between the
pilots - that got LCDR F____ into a tizzyfit, but I stood my ground and said
something to the effect, "If you're going to kill me doing something this
dangerous, I at least want to see it coming." After a few zingers back and
forth, he slowly brought us up out of the ocean spray and slowed down to a more
sane speed - at which point I went back and turned the radar back on: its not
like I could see anything on the scope when the nose was 45-degrees down and we
were screaming along within the wave troughs. Radar horizon was about as far
as the blade tips in that flight attitude anyway!

I think when your job is inherently dangerous, beyond the 'normal danger' of
flight, some decisions are more personal and the pilots/Ohs were human enough
to understand, if not agree. I think that is the situation for the officers
and the tailgunner on "Willie The Wolf".

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Donate your memories - write a note on the back and send your old photos to a
reputable museum, don't take them with you when you're gone.