THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030413
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronald Nesbitt loves flying, even though he never gets more than six feet off the ground. He's the boss in a cockpit whose controls are similar to an airplane's.
Nesbitt is the craftmaster, the ``pilot,'' of a $20 million air cushion landing craft - a hovercraft that flies over land and water, taxis on concrete runways and keeps Marines dry when they disembark on beach assaults.
There are fewer than 100 ``L-CAC'' craftmasters in the Navy. They are all chiefs, senior chiefs or master chiefs.
``It's the only place where an enlisted person has the responsibility of a commanding officer,'' said Nesbitt, who has been a craftmaster for three years. He was originally trained as an operations specialist.
``The craft is a thrill to drive. I feel like I'm plotting my own destiny with this job,'' he said.
The only negative aspect of being a craftmaster, he said, is the ratio of hours of maintenance to flight time: 8 to 1. Nesbitt and his crew of four are responsible for maintenance on the craft, which has six gas turbine engines and flies at 40 knots (50 mph).
To become a craftmaster, Nesbitt had to pass the same stringent psycho-motor skills test given to prospective Navy pilots. Then he went through seven months of training to learn to drive and repair the boat.
The primary mission of L-CACs is to load and off-load troops and cargo; the hovercrafts are also used in evacuation operations. ILLUSTRATION: B\W photo
Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronald Nesbitt
by CNB