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Dolphin!

Walker

Walker

Ax-Wielding Nerd
Mar 14, 2007
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The Free Old Line State
Dolphin!

Yay! I'm a huge nerd! I was at school (University of Maryland, right outside DC). When I heard a helicopter flying over. I like helicopters, and I specifically keep an eye out for Coast Guard choppers.

And yes, it was a CG Dolphin (variant of the Eurocopter Dauphin). I got really excessively excited, it flew over my head, looped around in a big circle, and flew over my head again heading north.

I had an enormous aero/Coastie nerdgasm and ended up grinning like a weirdo for the next ten minutes.

This is what I love about living where I do. Nowhere near any CG Air Stations, not really near any large body of water that would need their SAR services, but they use the Dolphins to patrol over DC, so I get to see them... somewhat frequently. They're based at Elizabeth City (I think), so they have to fly through Maryland to get where they're going.

No idea why this one felt the need to do a loop over UMD. Bored, I guess, or just awed by how awesome it is.

Semper paratus. :ninja::pirate:
 
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That reminds me of the time back when I was a helicopter.
 
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Yeah, I finally managed to stop doing it with EVERYTHING that flew overhead.

I was down in DC, too, and when I was heading home I saw four helos in the presidential paint job all flying in formation. That was pretty cool, too. These guys.
 
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I was in DC for a huge field trip after finishing middle school. As our bus drove into DC from where ever we were before that (can't remember :lol:), Bush flew over our heads in a helicopter. Even though it was Bush, it was kind of cool to be that close to the president. Still, why couldn't it have happened with Obama?
 
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What year was it that this happened? Because the Marines who fly the president provide VIP transport for a bunch of people as well as the president, and since 9-11 they fly regular patrols over the city, too (at least I don't think they did that before).

So, hey, it could've been Cheney. Or Rumsfield.
 
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Walker;367818 said:
What year was it that this happened? Because the Marines who fly the president provide VIP transport for a bunch of people as well as the president, and since 9-11 they fly regular patrols over the city, too (at least I don't think they did that before).

So, hey, it could've been Cheney. Or Rumsfield.
Click to expand...

Let's see...this was back in...err...2007 I believe. And it was a lone helicopter, so maybe it wasn't actually him.
 
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Couldn't really tell you. No idea how they fly him in or out. But yeah, it coulda been someone else or it coulda been a patrol or it could have been the prez.

You know what's really odd? I called it the MH-65, rather than the HH-65... and I was right. Without realizing it. I did a bit of reading, and apparently the 65's that patrol DC are the airborne use of force helos, which are all MH-65C's. Which means their crew includes an aviation gunner's mate with a M240 machine gun, M107 antimateriel sniper rifle, and a scoped M14.

So, yeah, the Coasties could ruin your whole day if you did something stupid in DC. Especially if you were in a car. Bye-bye engine.
 
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To my knowledge (which comes from one episode of NCIS), when they're transporting the prez (and probably other important dudes), there are three identicle choppers, and they swap positions every now and then like that card thing.
 
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Which is probably also some portion of the reason that HMX-1 transports so many other VIPs, plus randomly flying over the city. Completely aside from the fact that having a unit solely to transport the president would be, well, a waste.
 
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Walker;368328 said:
To derail my own thread (hey, that makes it okay) is it just me or is NCIS awesome?
Click to expand...

NCIS is pretty awesome. I'm not even a navy nerd or anything!
 
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I know, but wouldn't CGIS be a much more interesting show? Really am surprised that the CG doesn't crop up more in that show, though. All these murders dealing with the Navy, and they haven't had to search for one floating corpse or overturned boat? Only mention I remember is that at one point they were investigating on a carrier and the CG called the carrier to divert for a SAR mission.

Oh, and John? Want to see me be a pompus, pedantic asshole? Marine 1 is the callsign for any Marine aircraft carrying the president, not for a specific type of aircraft. Allow me to provide your response, in my own pompus and pedantic tone: "but Walker, when one thing is referred to using a closely related but distinct word, it's called synecdoche, unless it's metonymy, like referring to the executive branch as "The White House," and "Marine 1" is a widely accepted bit of synechdoche (possibly) for the HMX-1 helos that carry the prez."
 
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I'm actually more suprised that they get one naval based murder a week. That seems to be a very consistent number. I smell a conspiracy.
 
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It's a way cooler name than Airforce One. Helicopters are way cooler than planes, also.
 
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JohnDoe;368540 said:
My turn to be pedantic. It's pompous. And no, I agree with you entirely, I just like calling it Marine One.
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You're absolutely right. No idea why I left that out twice in a row. I want it to be Coast Guard 1, though. It's very sad. We've had a Coast Guard 2, but only briefly. I think there's been a Navy 1 and 2 at different times. Army repeatedly, when they and the Marines shared presidential transport duties. But never a Coast Guard 1.

Arseface;368543 said:
It's a way cooler name than Airforce One. Helicopters are way cooler than planes, also.
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I agree. With one exception:
a-10warthog.jpg


That is the coolest warfighting aircraft in existence. After that, the H-60 series is probably my favorite modern aircraft. Blackhawk, Sea King, Jayhawk, all of those. The Dolphin is pretty cool, too, but it's a Eurocopter product. Jayhawk's a good, American product. Sikorsky rocks.
 
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Hate to resurrect, but I had a related question for any of you who are aircraft buffs. Yesterday I saw a helo. Initially I assumed it was a MH-65C Dolphin, same as I saw all the time. But as I looked at it, I swear to got it wasn't painted orange. But I'm still convinced that it was a Eurocopter Dauphin design-- it has a very distinctive silhouette.

I don't really think any of you would know, but is there anyone who might be flying a Dauphin over the suburbs of DC besides the Coast Guard? I'm going to google it myself, but I wanted to check with you guys.

Is it something different, or do I just have ****ty vision and couldn't tell it was orange with the overcast weather and all?

Also, I swear to god that I saw one of the CG 65's land at College Park Airport. It came in low over UMD, heading in the airport's direction, then I saw it coming back even lower from the same direction. It would have been an extremely short stopover, on the order of fifteen minutes or so, and I'm not entirely sure why they WOULD land there, but it's possible. In addition to a bunch of little civilian prop planes, the PG County (or possibly Maryland State, not sure) Police operate some helos out of there. So it would make sense that the CG might land there for... refueling? A break? A... I don't even know.

Arseface;368520 said:
I'm actually more suprised that they get one naval based murder a week. That seems to be a very consistent number. I smell a conspiracy.
Click to expand...

I have another reply to that: That's not news, you always smell a conspiracy. I mean, damn, man.

I also took two pictures... with my cell phone. So the helo is tiny. Does this look orange to you?

0325001059.jpg


0325001058.jpg
 
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Own-thread derailment:

Hey, did you know the Japanese national American Football team is actually pretty good? I know, surprised me, too. They won the World Cup of American Football something like 2/3. Seriously.

Also, that was the dumbest video I've ever seen. South Park is just... stupid. Sorry. So is American Dad and Family Guy. (Sorry, TJ). The Simpsons are great, though, really great.
 
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