leading petty officer. “Finding any crack or defect means you are saving a life.” Whether it is a 100-hour inspection or a 400-hour inspection, the NDI technicians must be ready at all times. Occasionally, a hard landing will cause great stress on certain aircraft parts, leading to random inspections of the aircraft. “When an inspection comes, my guys are always ready,” said Okpara. “They are hard workers and they always do everything by the book.” As collateral duty inspectors, it is necessary to utilize references and publications to know and understand the specifics required for each job. “I enjoy what I do and I think I contribute a lot to maintaining the safety of the pilots and the crew on the flight deck,” said Cpl. Kenneth W. Bowden, NDI’s shop technition. “There is no time for complacency during my work day. If I say a part is good, then the part is good.” These three Sailors and Marine continue to run Big E’s NDI Lab around the clock, and are always ready on arrival.

May 1, 2012 Issue“We are Legend”Newsletter Edition

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

Behind the Double Blue DoorsBy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW/AW) Jared King

The Shuttle

“Man all recovery stations, man all recovery stations,” sounds over the 5MC, an announcing system aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Sailors and Marines scramble to their assigned duty stations on the flight deck in order to carry out their daily responsibilities, ensuring the safe and expeditious recovery of aircraft. The vociferous growl and gust of the turbine engines is heard from the flight deck as jets fly overhead and parallel to the island until the time the aircraft bump and thump on the flight deck as the arresting gear wire snags the tail hook of the aircraft. It appears a routine day, business as usual, until SNAP! Sailors dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge as if playing a game, but this is no game - their lives are at stake. Situations such as this are in the forefront of the minds of three Sailors and one Marine, assigned to Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department’s (AIMD) Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) Lab. This small, yet meticulous group works to ensure that equipment failures do not occur aboard the Big E. Located on the fantail behind the double blue doors, far from the sight of the flight deck, is a highly-committed group of personell dedicated to the detailed inspections of all aircraft parts and topside arresting gear. The NDI Lab is exclusively responsible for inspecting parts for corrosion, cracks and defects that could possibly cost someone their life or the Navy a 30-million dollar aircraft. The NDI technicians are professionals, all of whom were recommended after completing their first term of enlistment and having proven themselves through sustained superior performance. They have five extremely effective methods of inspection: eddy current, ultra-sonic, magnetic, x-ray and liquid penetrant. The particular inspection method chosen is dependent upon either the piece of metal or an engineer recommendation. “We prevent mishaps from happening,” said Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Ikechukwu E. Okpara, IM-2’s

Cpl. Kenneth W. Bowden, assigned to the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251, holds up film to an illuminator to locate defects on circuit cards in the Non- Destructive Inspection Lab aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65).

Tuesday, May 1, 2012Page 2

The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Department, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1 (SW) Steve Smith at smithsw@cvn65.navy.mil.

Public Affairs OfficerLt. Cmdr. Sarah T. Self-Kyler

Executive OfficerCapt. G. C. Huffman

Commanding OfficerCapt. William C. Hamilton, Jr.

EditorsMC2 (SW) Kristin L. Grover

MCSN Harry GordonMCSN Brian G. Reynolds

The Shuttle

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

Command Master ChiefABCM (AW/SW) Eric M. Young

Big E HappeningsThe Shuttle

It’s Graduation Season for the Class of 2012! Do you have a loved one who will be graduating while we are deployed?Media Department would like to help you produce a personalized video “shout-out” for use at the graduation event or simply for family members to watch at home. If interested, please contact MC2(SW) Robert Guerra via e-mail or visit SITE TV to schedule a production meeting and time. Please allow no less than 14 days before the event to allow for production and transmission time.

The votes are in for the 2012 Tiger Cruise Logo… THANK YOU to all who took the time to vote!

Congratulations to MC3(SW) Jeffry Willadsen, Media Department, who received 579 votes for the following design.

Photos by MC3 Scott Pittman

Sailors test a M61A1 gun system of an F/A-18F Super Hornet.

Cpl. Victor Castellanos, with the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251, re-wires the lighting system of an F/A-18C Hornet.

Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class Michael Lewis checks the freon levels of a C-21 air conditioning unit.

Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman David Peterson, with the Checkmates of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 211, wipes down the forward landing gear of an F/A-18F Super Hornet.

Aviation Support Equipment Technician 3rd Class Morgan Butkus builds a tire for an aircraft toe-tractor.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Page 3The Shuttle

Experts Believe Iran Conflict is Less LikelyBy James Risen, NEW YORK TIMESWASHINGTON — After a winter of alarm over the possibility that a military conflict over the Iranian nuclear program might be imminent, American officials and outside analysts now believe that the chances of war in the near future have significantly decreased. They cite a series of factors that, for now, argue against a conflict. The threat of tighter economic sanctions has prompted the Iranians to try more flexible tactics in their dealings with the United States and other powers, while the revival of direct negotiations has tempered the most inflammatory talk on all sides. A growing divide in Israel between political leaders and military and intelligence officials over the wisdom of attacking Iran has begun to surface. And the White House appears determined to prevent any confrontation that could disrupt world oil markets in an election year.“I do think the temperature has cooled,” an Obama administration official said this week. At the same time, no one is discounting the possibility that the current optimism could fade. “While there isn’t an agreement between the U.S. and Israel on how much time, there is an agreement that there is some time to give diplomacy a chance,” said Dennis B. Ross, who previously handled Iran policy for the Obama administration. “So I think right now you have a focus on the negotiations,” he added. “It doesn’t mean the threat of using force goes away, but it lies behind the diplomacy.” The talks two weeks ago in Istanbul between Iran and the United States and other world powers were something of a turning point in the current American thinking about Iran. In the days leading up to the talks, there had been little optimism in Washington, but Iranian negotiators appeared more flexible and open to resolving the

In the NewsSomali Pirates Change Tactics to Evade Navy By Jonathan Saul, REUTERSLONDON - Somali pirates are switching back to using smaller cargo and fishing boats as motherships, hoping to evade detection as maritime security is stepped up to foil their attacks on merchant vessels, industry and navy sources say. With the prospect of ransoms worth tens of millions of dollars, Somali pirates continue to threaten vital shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. Over 20 years of war and famine have worsened prospects for Somalis, adding to the appeal for many young men of crime on the high seas.Armed gangs had started using large merchant vessels - including tankers - that they had seized as motherships, forcing crews by gunpoint to do their bidding. The tactic, employed agressively in 2011, enabled them to operate further out at sea. But vigorous action by navies, including pre-emptive strikes, have cut attacks, forcing pirates to adapt their model. “We are seeing a change in tactics,” said Joe Angelo, managing director with INTERTANKO, an association whose members own the majority of the world’s oil tanker fleet. “They are now hijacking smaller dhows and they are using them as motherships which is making them less suspicious.” Traditional dhows, used by fishermen and general merchants in the region, were first deployed by Somali pirates before they started using larger captured vessels. The larger vessels enabled gangs to operate for longer periods at sea with more supplies and in harsher weather conditions, as well giving them more flexibility when launching their high speed attack craft known as skiffs.

crisis than expected, even though no agreement was reached other than to talk again, in Baghdad next month. American officials believe the looming threat of tighter economic sanctions to take effect on July 1 convinced the Iranians to take the negotiations more seriously, and that in turn has reduced the threat of war. “There is a combination of factors coming on line, including the talks and the sanctions, and so now I think people realize it has to be given time to play out,” one administration official said, who, like the other official, spoke without attribution in order to discuss sensitive matters. “We are in a period now where the combination of diplomacy and pressure is giving us a window.”In a television appearance on Wednesday, Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “I have confidence that there is a way forward.” Senior Iranian leaders have sought to portray the Istanbul round of negotiations as successful, which might be a sign, American officials and outside analysts said, that the Iranian government is preparing the public for a deal with the West that could be portrayed as a win for Iran. “I see that we are at the beginning of the end of what I call the ‘manufactured Iran file,’ ” the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said after the talks. “At the Baghdad meeting, I see more progress,” he predicted. IRNA, the Iranian state-controlled news service, reported last week that a leading Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Kazem Seddiqi, had made positive statements about the negotiations. The news service said that the cleric, in his Friday sermon to thousands of worshipers in Tehran, said that if the United States and other nations negotiating with Iran show “the outcome will be good for all.”

Tuesday, May 1, 2012The ShuttlePage 4

Big E Entertainment

ACROSS 1. Displays6. Conspiracy10. Superhero accessory14. Basic belief15. Employ16. Garments of goat hair17. Cowboy movie18. Portent

19. Lease20. The creation of goods22. Curse23. Gait faster than a walk24. Chemical cousin26. Information30. Card with one symbol31. Male offspring32. Applications

33. Gestures of assent35. Burdened39. Error41. Variant of an element43. Terrace44. Scream46. Arab chieftain47. Japanese apricot49. Former boxing champ50. A style of design51. Extreme cruelty54. Drop down56. Throw57. Analgesic63. Bright thought64. Away from the wind65. Depart66. Decree67. Young girl68. Female demon69. Ripped70. The products of human creativity71. A stone fragment DOWN 1. Cease2. Listen3. Savvy about4. Noxious plant5. Swagger6. A copy of a paper

7. Not excessive8. Chocolate cookie9. Wimbledon sport10. Fizzy11. Perpendicular to the keel12. A fabric resembling velvet 13. Banana oil, e.g.21. Large long-necked bird25. Alone26. Throw away as refuse27. Largest continent28. Exam29. Acculturate34. Foolishness36. A hemispherical roof37. Sweeping story38. Roman emperor40. Foot digits 42. Move furtively45. Least difficult48. African antelope51. Change gears52. Sound53. Gloomy, in poetry55. Slays58. Winglike59. Jump60. Tibetan monk61. Wicked62. Genuine