Piloting an AC-130 Spectre

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:22:18 -0800, Christopher Campbell
wrote in
2007011116221843658-christophercampbelldeletethis@hotmailcom:

You might want to think about some of the idiocy you and the rest of
the extreme left are spouting.

I'm not spouting any idiocy; I'm reporting the facts as I understand
them to be.

It is you who should consider the words of a wise man who's quoted
throughout the world: "Turn the other cheek"

Oh I forgot; Mormons don't follow his teachings. They are polygamists
who believe their special underwear is fundamental to their faith. :-)

"Christopher Campbell @hotmail.com" christophercampbelldeletethis wrote
in message news:2007011108475575249-
Welcome to World War III.

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

The idea of the Ethiopians pushing AQ to the sea, telling them to fight or
die and then sitting back as the gunships annihilated them must cause guys
like Patton and Alexander to rattle in their coffins, but in light of the
fact that the AQ targets weren't even apparently in the region...

It kinda makes me wonder who Ethiopa and the Somali government conned us
into killing for them.

-c

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

The Ethiopians can conduct weeks of warfare with the perfect ability to
discern friend from foe, but let the US engage in *one* airstrike and the
widows and orphans are coming out of the woodwork. Are you really that
gullible, or do you just hate this country?



" 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.

Wow Larry, it only took the very next post for you to take the thread
off-topic commenting on none of Jay's aviation-related questions. I
hope you're not angling to become a moderator of THIS group...



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.

On 11 Jan 2007 19:59:21 -0800, "Marco Leon" wrote
in . com:

Wow Larry, it only took the very next post for you to take the thread
off-topic commenting on none of Jay's aviation-related questions.

It was Mr. Honeck who expressed an erroneous statement, and I sought
to correct it. Would you prefer to read inaccurate statements or
truth?

Larry Dighera wrote:

On 11 Jan 2007 19:59:21 -0800, "Marco Leon" wrote
in . com:


Wow Larry, it only took the very next post for you to take the thread
off-topic commenting on none of Jay's aviation-related questions.


It was Mr. Honeck who expressed an erroneous statement, and I sought
to correct it. Would you prefer to read inaccurate statements or
truth?

We prefer the truth, so please stop posting. :-)

Matt

On 2007-01-11 07:59:31 -0800, "Jay Honeck" said:



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?

I don't know about now, but in my day it was hand-flown even in a
regular C-130. It was just a turn around a point. The AC-130 guys used
the wingtip as a gunsight. You just held it on the target and turned
around it.



--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

It's going to get bloody in here.... Jay, there's a lot of descriptive
stuff written about this setup and lot's of action stories. I"m sure
people will hook you up. But I always had to turn away from those
stories - even though it's not the most effective, high tech weapon out
there, it is the epitome of high explosive terrorism from the air. Naw,
cluster bombs sound worse.

Objectively, it's not always clear who the biggest terrorists are. So
let's pick up that bloody flag and wave it some more.

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?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Bill Watson wrote:
It's going to get bloody in here.... Jay, there's a lot of descriptive
stuff written about this setup and lot's of action stories. I"m sure
people will hook you up. But I always had to turn away from those
stories - even though it's not the most effective, high tech weapon
out there, it is the epitome of high explosive terrorism from the
air. Naw, cluster bombs sound worse.

Objectively, it's not always clear who the biggest terrorists are. So
let's pick up that bloody flag and wave it some more.


When the enemy surrounds itself with civilians and is made up of civilians
it is kind of hard not to kill civilians when you attack them. We killed
LOTS and LOTS of civilians in WWII and pretty much everybody at the time
called that a just war.

We are fighting an enemy who has no problem and in fact has it as their
primary tactic to kill civilians. They also have no problem sheilding
themselves with non-combatants, including children. If we don't have the
stomach to attack them whereever they may be we need to call it quits and
pull every soldier, sailor and airman we have around the world back home.
Because we can't win or for that matter defend ourselves.