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The Naval helicopter, MH Romeo, is a submarine hunter whose primary mission is anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. To fly one of these, pilots are trained with an extremely accurate simulator.
Lt. Tyler Faris is a trainer at Naval Station Mayport. He works with the HSM 40 squadron, training pilots and crew for the MH 60 Romeo helicopter.
"The primary mission is anti-submarine warfare," Faris explained. "Similarly, we do anti-surface warfare."
The helicopter squadron acts like another set of eyes for the entire group of ships.
"We keep the strike group apprised of what's out there," he said. "We are never sailing around blind."
After getting commissioned, an officer then spends two years at flight school before ever getting sent there. Then, they have to spend many, many hours in the on-base simulators.
They even let the duo take the controls of the simulator for a flight around Jacksonville. Faris insists it's exceptionally accurate.
"They need to do 10 simulator events, roughly 20 hours before stepping foot in a real aircraft," Faris said.