Piloting an AC-130 Spectre

Les Matheson is frequently on rec.aviation.military. He was an EWO
(Electronic Warfare Officer) on AC-130s for awhile, I'm sure he could answer
your question about how the pilots fly the plane during the attack. Try
posting your question there.

Done. Great idea!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

MOAB. Mother Of All Bombs. Also known as the Massive Ordnance Air
Burst. It's a Big Bomb. I think it may even be the biggest non-nuclear
one we make.

Jay, you've never heard of it?

Is that the so-called "fuel-air" bomb, like they used in the movie
"Outbreak"?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article . com,
Jay Honeck wrote:
Of course the C-130 can carry the Daisy Cutter and MOAB to
really clear the area.

The what?

Daisy Cutter is a 15,000 lbs bomb:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLU-82

MOAB (Mother of all Bombs, 21,000lbs):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOAB

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

The what?

MOAB. Mother Of All Bombs. Also known as the Massive Ordnance Air
Burst. It's a Big Bomb. I think it may even be the biggest non-nuclear
one we make.

Jay, you've never heard of it?

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jay Honeck wrote:

The recent obliteration of the Somali chapter of Al Queda by an AC-130
gunship (See http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/ac-130.htm if you
don't know what one looks like) got me wondering how, exactly, one
would pilot such a craft during an attack.

Think about it. You've got a 155,000 pound, 4-engine transport
aircraft, making a continual left turn in order to keep your weapons on
the mark. It's pitch dark (darkness is your only defense, other than
ECM), and you've got 105 mm cannons firing right behind your ear.

I've watched C-130s turn, and they need a LOT of territory to turn
around. In order to keep their weapons on the target, I would think
the AC-130 would need to bank a lot more steeply than I've seen them do
in cargo-plane training. And, don't forget, you've got 14 guys and
gals seated behind you, working radar and weapons systems, most with no
view outside, so you can't yank and crank TOO hard or you'll have
barf-covered equipment from stem to stern.

In order to keep the weapons on target, I would think that you'd have
to hold altitude accurately, too, and your "track" would need to be
smooth enough so that the computers could figure deflection accurately.


In short, the pilot must have his hand's full during an attack run!
Even though you don't think of the C-130 as being a high-performance
aircraft, it's got to be a real trick keeping that pig over a
(relatively) small target.

Any former AC-130 pilots here? How'd you do it? Is there an autopilot
that holds you in a constant turn during an attack run, or is it all
hand-flown?

Actually, Jay, when you start your commercial certificate training you
will learn how to do this. It is called a "turn on a pylon" or "eights
on pylons" and is one of the performance maneuvers you learn for the
commercial. The objective is to keep the wing pointed at a reference
point on the ground, not to maintain a constant radius from the
reference point as with the private pilot maneuvers. This is tricky as
there is only one altitude for each ground speed that will allow this to
occur, the so-called pivotal altitude. Thus, rather than varying bank
as with turns around a point, you must constantly vary altitude to
adjust for the varying groundspeed as you go around the pylon. If you
had zero wind, then the pivotal altitude would remain constant.

I'm getting better flying this maneuver, but I still could not keep a
gun on a target!

I assume that the C-130 pilots have a little help with this maneuver,
but I don't know for sure how they do this.


Matt

Larry Dighera wrote:

On 11 Jan 2007 07:59:31 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote
in .com:


The recent obliteration of the Somali chapter of Al Queda by an AC-130
gunship (See http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/ac-130.htm


Sadly, your assertion about obliteration is not true. From what I've
heard so far, only _ONE_ confirmed Al Queda member has been killed
despite over 100 deaths there at the hands of the US military
presumably under orders of their commander, the eriadite Mr. Bush. :-(

Welcome to World War III.

Oh, it looked to me more like Liberal Whining I. :-)

Matt

On 11 Jan 2007 10:11:47 -0800, "gpsman"
wrote:

The capabilities of weapons systems boggle the mind. When I was an
army FO/FAC (70's) it was rumored an 8-inch tracked howitzer could put
2 rounds into the same hole. Probably exaggeration, but not beyond the
realm of possibility


Keep in mind that the Howitzer makes a sizable first hole.

Don



Virginia - the only State with a flag rated
"R" for partial nudity and graphic violence.

Is that the so-called "fuel-air" bomb, like they used in the movie
"Outbreak"?

I don't know. I thought it was conventional explosives.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:29:52 -0600, "Montblack"
wrote in
:

Who'll play. Who's next? How 'bout you fella?


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in609489.shtml

Army Recruits Video Gamers

America's Army has surpassed even the Pentagon's expectations. It's
now the number one online action game in the country. The Army hasn't
seen a recruiting tool this effective since "Be all that you can be."

But psychology professor Brad Bushman of the University of Michigan, a
critic of violent video games, complains "America's Army" isn't real
enough.

"War is not a game," he says.

"The video game does provide a sanitized view of violence," says
Bushman. "For example, when you shoot someone or when you are shot you
see a puff of blood; you don't see anyone suffering or writhing in
pain."

On 2007-01-11 09:22:49 -0800, Larry Dighera said:

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:47:55 -0800, Christopher Campbell
wrote in
2007011108475575249-christophercampbelldeletethis@hotmailcom:

Quit spouting the terrorist line, Larry, or tell us how to fight a war
without killing civilians.

I speak for myself alone.
I notice you didn't take issue with any of my assertions.

I guess you can't face the truth.

Well, that one terrorist sure managed to put up a heck of a fight, eh?
Even the combined armies of Somalia and Ethiopia were unable to enter
the area. But, come on, even bin Laden claims to be a "civilian." No
doubt, when he is killed, you will be bewailing yet another "civilian"
death. The other assertion was that Bush was "eriadite," which I
understood to be a sarcastic reference to your belief that he is
stupid. It would help if you would learn to spell before you start
calling other people stupid.

Your anti-Bush rhetoric is extremely cynical. It would be interesting
to know if your views differ from that of the terrorists in any
material whatsoever. So far, on this group anyway, you have agreed with
them 100%.

You might want to think about some of the idiocy you and the rest of
the extreme left are spouting. With any luck at all, you all would get
elected and you would be left with the problem of actually having to do
something instead of heckling from the back rows.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor