CSG 9 soars with VAQ-131 Lancers

Page 8
www.NORTHWESTNAVIGATOR.com
Northwest Navigator> WHIDBEY EDITION • Friday, MARCH 4, 2011
CSG 9 soars with VAQ-131 Lancers
By Lt. j.g. Paul Lwin
VAQ-131 Public Affairs
Rear
Adm.
Mark
Guadagnini, Carrier Strike
Group 9 (CSG 9) commander, recently joined
the VAQ-131 Lancers for a
flight in an EA-6B Prowler.
Guadagnini joined Lt.
Cmdr. Kelly Richards, Lt.
Cmdr. Brett Stevenson and
Lt. Zach Simms for a unit
level training flight simulating the defense of the
Carrier Strike Group from
external threats.
“It is amazing how powerful the Prowler is in the
electronic warfare world
— but only when used in
the hands of well-trained
pilots and electronic countermeasures officers.” said
Guadagnini.
During the flight, the
crew demonstrated the
role the Prowler played
in Operations Enduring
Freedom (OEF) and New
Dawn (OND) in addition
to the traditional electronic
attack mission of countering and defeating enemy
CSG 9 photo
Carrier Strike Group 9 Commander Rear Adm. Mark Guadagnini with VAQ-131 Lancer aircrew and
Plane Captain on the USS Abraham Lincoln. From left are Lt. Cmdr. Brett Stevenson, Lt. Cmdr. Kelly
Richards, Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman Nickolos James, Guadagnini, and Lt. Zachary Simms.
radar and communication
systems.
“It was a great opportu-
nity to showcase all of the
capabilities that the Prowler
brings to the fight, within
the context of our current
conflict in Afghanistan as
well as in more traditional
strike warfare roles,” said these jets flying.”
Stevenson.
Guadagnini is a Naval
The flight was made Aviator with 4,600 hours of
possible by the continued flight time in 52 different
hard work of the squadron’s types of aircraft. This flight
Maintenance Department. marks the first time he has
From the aviation electron- flown with the Lancers. He
ics techniopted to fly
cians to the
in the aft
“It is amazing how
aviation
cockpit durpowerful the Prowler ing this flight
structural
me chan ic s ,
in order to
is in the Electronic
every Sailor
see
Warfare world — but better
involved in
the
“nuts
only when used in the and bolts”
maintenance
routinely put
hands of well-trained of executing
in long hours
lectronic
pilots and Electronic EAttack.
to ensure the
Countermeasures
aircraft were
A f t e r
ready
for
the flight,
Officers.”
flight to fulGuadagnini
Adm. Mark Guadagnini
fill any mispraised the
sion.
Lancers.
The Plane Captain for this
“I have been impressed
sortie, Aviation Electrician’s with the professionalism of
Mate Airman Nickolos the entire Lancer team: the
James commented on the maintainers, administraflight.
tive personnel, Intelligence
“It was a great honor to specialists, and the aviators,
have the carrier strike group throughout this deploycommander fly in one of ment,” said Guadagnini.
our planes,” said James. “We “This is truly a warfighting
work extremely hard to keep outfit of the highest order.”
Sailors regain sea legs
WN
By Lt.j.g.
James Reardon
VAQ-139
TP
RO
OF
Designated Drivers Save Lives
This ad is placed in this newspaper as a courtesy for M.A.D.D.
The Gray Wolves of
Electronic Attack Squadron
142 (VAQ-142) have
flown EA-6B Prowlers as
a land-based expeditionary squadron around the
world, including numerous combat deployments to
Iraq and Afghanistan. Last
November, the Gray Wolves
returned to NAS Whidbey
Island from Iraq as the
last expeditionary prowler
squadron in the Navy.
This year will mark VAQ142’s return to carrier operations as the newest member
of Carrier Air Wing 11. In
preparation for this transition, 10 Sailors, led by Chief
Petty Officer Christopher
Day, spent 23 days under
way with the San Diego
based aircraft carrier USS
John C. Stennis (CVN 74).
These Gray Wolves
worked diligently with
the Wizards of VAQ-133,
who are currently attached
to Carrier Air Wing Nine
to earn numerous flight
deck qualifications. Over
the course of the past few
weeks, these Gray Sailors
worked diligently to earn
seven trouble shooter and
two plane captain qualifications, demonstrating
the skills required to safely launch and recover the
AE3 Corey McKeown
After 17 years as a land-based expeditionary Prowler squadron,
VAQ-142 sends Sailors to train aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN
74). VAQ-142
EA-6B Prowler at sea.
Additionally, Aviation
Structural Mechanic First
Class Michael Hentz earned
the Jack Supervisor qualification, allowing him to
lead crews of 18 Sailors to
safely supervise challenging aircraft jacking operations at sea. Within 10 days,
all Sailors were flight deck
qualified and by day 13 all
necessary qualifications
were earned well ahead of
time.
“Our Sailors were all wellprepared for the training,
which reflected professional
pride and good leadership,”
said Day. “By earning the
qualifications expeditiously,
we were able to get more
repetitions operating as
qualified flight deck personnel.”
The return to carrierbased aviation is a challenging transition. The flight
deck of an aircraft carrier
is often referred to as the
most dangerous workplace
in the world, and is notoriously unforgiving of even
the slightest errors or miscommunication. This group
proved ready and able to
tackle what lies ahead.
Lt. Jonathan Fujiwara, a
VAQ-142 naval flight officer, said, “I’m just really
impressed with our Sailors.
Some of us have never been
to the ‘boat,’ including me.
It’s comforting to know that
the Sailors on the flight deck
are squared away.”