Any fliers?

Gord Beaman wrote:

I can attest to the fact that it's quite a unique experience to
spend that (and many many slightly less lengthily sorties) over
the North Atlantic below 500 feet in the dead of winter

Oh the hell with that! At least on cruise legs between refuelings at FL350,
both pilots can kind of "zone out". At or below 500' ASL would require
vigilence by both pilots and I have no idea how the hell you could do that for
anything longer than 5 or 6 hours.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

Steve wrote:

Ouch. Mind you don't get DVT!

Our seats aren't comfortable enough so the suggestion to move around in your
seat to avoid DVT is forced upon you in the BUFF.....although thanks to Mary
and the guys and gals at Drydan, we were able to get much more comfortable seat
cushions just in time for OEF, so maybe we'll need classes on DVT avoidance?

Hell, don't think I could look at instumentation for that long.

You don't. Set the altitude hold autopilot, adjust the throttles every now and
again and look out the windows. Not much to see up there, but a sunrise over
the middle of the Pacific seen from FL330 is very neat looking.


Oh well, I'll settle for a VIP guided tour of your bird next time your at
Fairford. ;-)

Deal...now all I have to do is get back to a flying unit!


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

Subject: Any fliers?
From: (BUFDRVR)
Date: 5/30/04 7:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

Gord Beaman wrote:

I can attest to the fact that it's quite a unique experience to
spend that (and many many slightly less lengthily sorties) over
the North Atlantic below 500 feet in the dead of winter

Oh the hell with that! At least on cruise legs between refuelings at FL350,
both pilots can kind of "zone out". At or below 500' ASL would require
vigilence by both pilots and I have no idea how the hell you could do that
for
anything longer than 5 or 6 hours.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it
harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"


It's not so much the time that makes the minutes seem like hours. It's the flak
that maked the seconds seem like hours. In clear skies, it's all a piece of
cake.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

The only real place to stretch your legs is between decks on the ladder. You
can do it sitting down too if you adjust the rudder pedals full forward, but
stretching your legs with a numb rear end isn't as useful.

12+ hours in a fighter has to be major agony compared to flying in something
you can stand up in. The only advantage we had was that we could sit on our
G-suits on a trans-ocean crossing. A few repetitive manual inflations did
wonders for the tired butt. Constant air refuelings kept the boredoom town but
only a little

stevem8597 wrote:

12+ hours in a fighter has to be major agony compared to flying in something
you can stand up in.

Absolutely. When I heard the sortie durations for the F-15E guys/gals for OEF I
instantly felt better about my 17+ hour sorties. You would have to pry me out
of the seat with a crow bar after 12 hours in a fighter.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

BUFDRVR wrote:

Absolutely. When I heard the sortie durations for the F-15E guys/gals for OEF
I instantly felt better about my 17+ hour sorties. You would have to pry me
out of the seat with a crow bar after 12 hours in a fighter.


The properly selected seconds in a PA-32R left me with a lip lock on the seat
that it took the Jaws of Life to defeat.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN


http://www.mortimerschnerd.com

..although thanks to Mary
and the guys and gals at Drydan, we were able to get much more comfortable
seat

I have trouble understanding what Dryden had to do with B-52 seats--care to
elaborate?

Jan Howell
Once an Edwards Human Factors Engineer

jhowell wrote:

I have trouble understanding what Dryden had to do with B-52 seats--care to
elaborate?

I was lamenting to Mary about our uncomfortable, 30+ year old seat cushions.
She informed me, that Dryden had purchased some very comfortable seat cushions
that they used on several aircraft, including the B-52B model. I got some of
the specifics from Mary, gave them to the reserves (who I knew could better
afford them) and presto....


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

(BUFDRVR) wrote:

Ron wrote:

I can just imagine what my grandfathers 40+ hour flights in the RB-36 must
have
been like..

Painful. They probably had a little more room, but I'm sure it was just as
noisy, which takes its toll after about a day.


BUFDRVR

Quite right, noise and vibration are very tiring. That's why the
concept of two complete crews didn't work on the Argus, while the
a/c is quite capable of 30 hour flights and there's lots of crew
rest positions, full sized bunks and lazyboy type easy-chairs,
good galley equipment and toilet facilities the crews get
exhausted after about 18 - 20 hours whether they're on duty or
not. The last few years that they were in use they had cut us
down to mostly 18 hour patrols. Deadly enough believe me.
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

(BUFDRVR) wrote:

Gord Beaman wrote:

I can attest to the fact that it's quite a unique experience to
spend that (and many many slightly less lengthily sorties) over
the North Atlantic below 500 feet in the dead of winter

Oh the hell with that! At least on cruise legs between refuelings at FL350,
both pilots can kind of "zone out". At or below 500' ASL would require
vigilence by both pilots and I have no idea how the hell you could do that for
anything longer than 5 or 6 hours.

BUFDRVR


Well a normal crew did have 3 pilots but that likely only helped
a little. The a/c did have a very good autopilot with an
'altitude hold' feature plus the engineer, usually a crotchety
old soul who wasn't above pushing the 'master fire warning bell
test switch' when he saw a pilot nodding off. It's one of the
most attention getting sounds in the world.
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)