Another ho-hum day at sea

Had a good flight this afternoon. Very gentlemanly 1130 brief for 2.5 hr flight. Did some training to teach my copilot and junior crewman how to fly around ships to take pictures of them. After the flight, I had just enough time to clean out the inbox and grab some dinner before I taught a lecture on Crew Resource Management. Like most things, if the Navy thinks a concept is a good idea, they write an "Instruction" to govern how that thing should be managed and accomplished. In this case, CRM is the concept of teaching and incorporating crtical skills in the aircraft to help the crew work together as a team. The concept started with the airlines over 30 years ago, and the military embraced it a few years later. Many folks use an acronym to remember the seven "critical skills" we review during the training: Decision Making, Assertiveness, Mission Analysis, Communication, Leadership, Adaptability/Flexibility, and Situational Awareness. The acronym? DAMCLAS, of course. You could also use SADCLAM, but that's not as much fun. So, I taught the DAMCLAS for three pilots who missed the big lecture we did for everyone a few weeks ago. Effective use of these skills really is cruicial to flight safety and mission accomplishment. The lessons we learn here are also applicable in other areas of life, as you might imagine. CRM is just leadership and teamwork applied in the cockpit.
After teaching, I was able to head down to the Lido deck for a long-ish ride on the spin bike. Every time I've ridden those bikes, they cause some post ride numbness due to a very poorly designed saddle. After my 35 min ride tonight, though, my tailbone hurts! I think I need to keep spin bike time under 30 min. That's just something I don't need to accomodate to. I also jumped on the erg for 2000m. Had a good row, keeping my pace higher than I've been able to so far. Progress, finally. Tomorrow I need to get back on the treadmill.
After my run, I was cooling off in the ready room, and one of our pilots went missing. Sort of. She is going through a voluntary ground trial of some meds that may help us get through long days and short nights. She had been on an "upper" during the day and was bouncing off the walls, feeling very good. when it was almost time for bed, she took the "downer" and shortly thereafter wasn't feeling too good. She told her roommates she was going to the head and didn't come back after several minutes. A search ensued for half an hour! With her high metabolism, we were concerned that the pill had affected her more than expected and that she might be passed out in a hole somewhere. Turned out, she was talking with a friend in their stateroom a couple doors away. This definitely got everyone's attention on the potential effects of these drugs. Another guy, after taking the downer, was sitting at 'rats with us later at night. One minute he was holding a normal conversation, the next he was sitting there, staring right through the wall. Someone asked "Are you all right?" A slow, slurred, "not particularly" was all he got out. I looked him in the face and told him he needed to get to bed. After a long sip of his soda, he replied "OK" and continued to just sit there. Finally, two of his buddies got him up, and somehow down the ladder to his room (a six-man room!). He'll sleep well tonight. I guess that's the point. Today has been entertaining. I'll get my turn on Wednesday. Don't worry. The program is very regulated and designed to provide a "tool in the toolbox" when absolutely necessary for safe mission completion.
I was flipping through channels this evening and just happended to catch the Medal of Honor Ceremony for Major Bruce Crandall, a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. It was a pretty amazing story. You can read about it here and here. Very inspirational considering where I'm sitting and what I'm doing. Very humbling. Well, I think I've typed enough for one night. Make that morning. Yup. It's 3 am again. Man, I've got to stop doing this.