Navy or Air Farce?

On 3/8/04 3:55 PM, in article ,
"Ed Rasimus" wrote:

On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 12:11:29 -0800, "Mike Kanze"
wrote:
SNIP
I realize the importance, but it was probably more a case of envy of
the "simple life." I, at the time, was an F-4 squadron Ops Officer. My
life revolved around getting all those front and back seaters to fill
all of those squares every six months. Contrasting the complexities of
home squadron life with a board that measured nothing but landing
grades was a confusing picture.


I have a hunch that the Navy OPSO's of the time tracked that stuff (if at
all) only on some spreadsheet (if at all) that they shared with the Skipper.
The tendency on cruise (especially then) was to gaff off readiness on cruise
because of the lack of training assets (ranges/bombs/training fuel on max
conserve cyclic ops).

These days, valid shot boards, valid release boards, SFWT syllabi, and
readiness tracking via SHARPS are the rule of the day. The Navy is
desperately trying to emulate the USAF's ops/admin.

Of course that was also confused by the fact that I flew the very same
airplane (except for model number) as the host squadron on the boat,
not one single piece of my flight gear was compatible. My torso
harness was different. My G-suit zipped from top to bottom while yours
zipped from bottom to top. My Koch fittings were female to match with
male fittings on the seat, while the Navy harness held male fittings
and female on the M-B seat pack. Helmet was totally incompatible as
well.

Gotta say that it wasn't because one method was inherently superior to
the other.....


Amen... Except that I prefer not to have to drag a 'chute around with me.
I've grown accustomed to the torso harness.

--Woody

Better airplane? When I was flying 86s out of Naha on Oki-knock-knock
the Navy was flying Panthers - and the Gutless. Even when we switched
to F86Ds we could eat both of those beasts alive. During my career the
only Navy fighter we respected was the Crusader - everything else was
toast to our 104s. Then when we got the Dash 19 engine and a 25%
thrust increase there weren't any more Crusaders around! Damn, that
F8 was one fine machine. I had four friends flew it on exchange - 2
Marine and 2 Navy. I also had 2 friends fly the Demon on exchange -
the less said about that the better. One of them (Larry Davis) had a
ramp strike but his part of the Drut slid up the flight deck and he
was okay. I always wondered if he got a medal for reducing the
inventory of Demons by one.
Walt BJ

WaltBJ avait énoncé :

I always wondered if he got a medal for reducing the
inventory of Demons by one.

Why was this plane so awful ?

--
Sergio
Marchand à la petite semaine

On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 11:40:23 +0100, Sergio
disturbed the phosphur particles on my screen with the following:

WaltBJ avait énoncé :

I always wondered if he got a medal for reducing the
inventory of Demons by one.

Why was this plane so awful ?

Under powered would be my guess.

roncachamp- Oh, they have it, it's just more sophisticated. BRBR

Righto sport, why don't ya take the pack off?


P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer

Ed Rasimus wrote:

I realize the importance, but it was probably more a case of envy of
the "simple life." I, at the time, was an F-4 squadron Ops Officer. My
life revolved around getting all those front and back seaters to fill
all of those squares every six months. Contrasting the complexities of
home squadron life with a board that measured nothing but landing
grades was a confusing picture.

You would have loved the board we created at VMA-231 - all of
those night/instrument hours, approach, etc."currency" items, the
entire AV-8A syllabus with *that* currency for each flight in the
syllabus. Damn thing was 18+ feet long, and updated each morning
with the previous day's flight info. Once each month, all the
syllabus flights whose currency had expired, changed their
"month" designation from black to red. Pilots short of
night/instrument hours/approaches, etc., were the same, in red
until they met the six-month minimum. Dates for physiology
requirements, NATOPS checks, etc. - dates in black until
expiration two months away, then yellow until actual
expiration/renewal, red if expired.

Flight officer and OpsOs loved it, my clerks hated it. Went
through a gallon of plexi-cleaner and a bale of rags every
quarter.
--
OJ III
[Email sent to Yahoo addy is burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast]

Only in the Air Force do you get to take on 120,000 pounds of JP-8 in one
shot
at night, in the weather over the middle of the Pacific.....wait a
minute....that wasn't that fun....disregard everything after "only in the
Air
Force"


BUF,

Having watched the heavy v. heavy refueling evolution during the day, my
hat's off to you guys. That's NOT easy.

--Woody

And while it may not technically be fun, there is a sense of accomplishment
once your done.


BUFDRVR

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

Greasy Rider wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 11:40:23 +0100, Sergio
disturbed the phosphur particles on my screen with the following:

WaltBJ avait énoncé :

I always wondered if he got a medal for reducing the
inventory of Demons by one.

Why was this plane so awful ?

Under powered would be my guess.

Correct - and also short-legged. The only fighter I know of that had a
mod that incorporated an emergency afterburner switch that when
activated would light the AB in idle. Larry told us it was for use in
just such cases as he had - going low close-in when it was desperately
needed to avert a ramp strike. He dropped in to visit us at RG AFB
(south side of Kansas City MO) and the only place he could get to on
an IFR flight plan (alternate required) was NAS Memphis. ISTR that's
about 300 miles . . . .
Walt BJ

And while it may not technically be fun, there is a sense of accomplishment
once your done.


Buf,
Reminds me of the old joke about a Fat girl and a scooter. A lot of fun but you
don't want your friends to know you are doing either one.
Sparky

The only fighter I know of that had a
mod that incorporated an emergency afterburner switch that when
activated would light the AB in idle. Larry told us it was for use in
just such cases as he had - going low close-in when it was desperately
needed to avert a ramp strike.

All the airplanes I flew in the marines had propellers on the front
end. Sudden application of power at slow speeds could produce
surprising, and possibly fatal, results.So the above paragraph raises
two questions in my mind:

1. Aren't all jet engines slow in responding when the throttle is
pushed forward? (Isn't that why full power is applied when hitting
the deck?)

2. Is the engine idling when a jet approaches the ramp? I thought
it was a powered approach. Would a prudent pilot cut the power to
idle, if a little high, if the engines respond slowly? Seems to me if
he were that high, it would be smart to start a go-round.

vince norris