Aircraft Operations soaring high
2015-07-08
Each year, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Interagency Committee for Aviation Policy (ICAP) present five awards to agencies that have demonstrated extraordinary achievements in aircraft administration, operations, maintenance, training and safety.
On June 25, Johnson Space Center’s Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) received the Large Program Award at the 15th Annual Federal Aviation Award ceremony. JSC has won the award two times prior, once in 2001 and again in 2010.
“A hearty congratulations to our own Aircraft Operations Division for receiving this prestigious award,” said Brian Kelly, Flight Operations director. “AOD has set—and maintains—the highest standards of excellence in aircraft operations and safety, and certainly deserves this recognition for their outstanding success.”
In 2014, AOD flew more than 4,800 accident-free hours in five different types of aircraft with a wide variety of different missions.
Their primary objective is to train the NASA astronaut corps, which is comprised of 13 pilots and 43 rear-seat crew members. Each astronaut receives annual training in a T-38 aircraft and simulator to ensure they are certified in aircraft systems, instrument procedures and emergency procedures. AOD has 20 T-38 aircraft, which flew an average of 60 sorties per week to train the 56 astronauts.
AOD also operates a Gulfstream III aircraft modified to return International Space Station astronauts directly from Kazakhstan to Houston. Before the direct-return flights, astronauts would spend up to a week of rehabilitation in Russia and then travel on a commercial airline flight to return to JSC for medical and physiological evaluations. On June 11, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti flew to JSC on the Gulfstream III, traveling almost 7,000 nautical miles in less than 24 hours, vastly expediting access to valuable medical data.
Last year, the same Gulfstream III was reconfigured with an instrumented radar pod for scientific research and conducted almost 400 hours of flight to research the carbon cycle of the environment. A Boeing C-9 and WB-57 are dedicated research aircraft. The C-9 “Weightless Wonder” hosted 259 high school and university students during seven reduced-gravity flight campaigns, including the first payload to measure human intracranial pressure during micro- and hypergravity. The WB-57 supported high-altitude flights to demonstrate the capability to drop weather sondes, or probes, from 60,000 feet for hurricane research and spent more than 700 hours overseas supporting Department of Defense missions.
Beloved by many, the behemoth engineering marvel also in the AOD fleet is the “Super Guppy.” The Aerospatiale B-377 is a one-of-a-kind aircraft with a cavernous cargo area created to transport oversized cargo throughout the world. It recently shuttled a massive cryogenic tank for the Space Launch System and transported a multi-bay pressure box for a blended wing-body project.
At the June award ceremony, GSA and ICAP also recognized AOD’s Dan Swint with the Aviation Professional in an Operational/Support Position award. Swint is the program manager for the NASA Microgravity Flight Services Program and the NASA Aircraft Management Information System—a Web-based system for viewing flight schedules, weather, safety metrics and training requirements.
Cat Pate
NASA Johnson Space Center
On June 25, Johnson Space Center’s Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) received the Large Program Award at the 15th Annual Federal Aviation Award ceremony. JSC has won the award two times prior, once in 2001 and again in 2010.
“A hearty congratulations to our own Aircraft Operations Division for receiving this prestigious award,” said Brian Kelly, Flight Operations director. “AOD has set—and maintains—the highest standards of excellence in aircraft operations and safety, and certainly deserves this recognition for their outstanding success.”
In 2014, AOD flew more than 4,800 accident-free hours in five different types of aircraft with a wide variety of different missions.
Their primary objective is to train the NASA astronaut corps, which is comprised of 13 pilots and 43 rear-seat crew members. Each astronaut receives annual training in a T-38 aircraft and simulator to ensure they are certified in aircraft systems, instrument procedures and emergency procedures. AOD has 20 T-38 aircraft, which flew an average of 60 sorties per week to train the 56 astronauts.
AOD also operates a Gulfstream III aircraft modified to return International Space Station astronauts directly from Kazakhstan to Houston. Before the direct-return flights, astronauts would spend up to a week of rehabilitation in Russia and then travel on a commercial airline flight to return to JSC for medical and physiological evaluations. On June 11, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti flew to JSC on the Gulfstream III, traveling almost 7,000 nautical miles in less than 24 hours, vastly expediting access to valuable medical data.
Last year, the same Gulfstream III was reconfigured with an instrumented radar pod for scientific research and conducted almost 400 hours of flight to research the carbon cycle of the environment. A Boeing C-9 and WB-57 are dedicated research aircraft. The C-9 “Weightless Wonder” hosted 259 high school and university students during seven reduced-gravity flight campaigns, including the first payload to measure human intracranial pressure during micro- and hypergravity. The WB-57 supported high-altitude flights to demonstrate the capability to drop weather sondes, or probes, from 60,000 feet for hurricane research and spent more than 700 hours overseas supporting Department of Defense missions.
Beloved by many, the behemoth engineering marvel also in the AOD fleet is the “Super Guppy.” The Aerospatiale B-377 is a one-of-a-kind aircraft with a cavernous cargo area created to transport oversized cargo throughout the world. It recently shuttled a massive cryogenic tank for the Space Launch System and transported a multi-bay pressure box for a blended wing-body project.
At the June award ceremony, GSA and ICAP also recognized AOD’s Dan Swint with the Aviation Professional in an Operational/Support Position award. Swint is the program manager for the NASA Microgravity Flight Services Program and the NASA Aircraft Management Information System—a Web-based system for viewing flight schedules, weather, safety metrics and training requirements.
Cat Pate
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aircraft Operations Division personnel in front of T-38 aircraft. Image Credit: NASA
Flight crew in front of the Gulfstream III before preparing for a direct-return mission. Image Credit: NASA
Flight crew in front of the Super Guppy. Image Credit: NASA
WB-57 flight crew overseas in support of a Department of Defense mission. Image Credit: NASA
Gregory “Ray J” Johnson accepts the Large Program Award on behalf of the Aircraft Operations Division at the GSA/ICAP 15th Annual Aviation Award Ceremony on June 25. Image Credit: GSA
Inside the C-9, students experience microgravity during a reduced-gravity flight. Image Credit: NASA