Best moments in the jet

[Hacker]

Originally posted by Animal:

We take off out of "foreign airfield XXXX" with six GBU-12s and six Mk-82s....all live.

What jet are you flying that carries a load like that?

[BFM this]

You mean to tell me that I quoted Undercover Brother, and you come back with a quote from Back to the Future?

Time to take a break from the computer, Wannabe...

[ 17. March 2005, 04:53: Message edited by: flyinjunky ]

[TacAirCoug]

You'd think a tac airlifter's most memorable moment would be from a mission into a combat zone off in some far away country. Certainly I have many that fit that mold, however the one memory I have at the top of the list was one from a mission back here on the homefront.

It was early September, the mission was an AeroMed mission and just happened to be my first flight as a freshly minted Aircraft Commander. We left Little Rock for Travis AFB to pick up our patient, and the next morning we departed for Elmendorf AFB. While enroute we learned that the patient we were carrying was an AF Trans troop who had been a driver in a supply convoy in Iraq. He had suffered severe burns when an IED exploded near his vehicle, but was expected to recover. His buddy riding shotgun was not so lucky. Feeling pretty good that we were able to bring him home, we pressed on toward AK. The weather was beautiful, and the views were magnificent, but the real reward was ahead of us, and we had no idea it was coming. On our rollout, my engineer points to a large crowd with banners and flags. As we pick up the follow me, we realize we are headed for rock star parking and a hero's welcome for our patient. We roll into the chocks, kill the motors, and as the young Airman was brought down the ramp, the crowd cheered and every gov't vehicle in the inventory, from vans to busses to forklifts, all had horns and sirens blaring in salute. I can't speak for the rest of the crew, but it was awful tough to keep from choking up. We received lots of thanks from Colonels and Airmen alike for bringin' their boy home, but just being there to witness it was thanks enough.

As if it couldn't get any better, on our return swing through Travis, my Dad was parked near the end of the runway to watch me bring my mighty Hercules in. We had dinner, and the next morning my crew and I headed home on cloud 9.

[ 16. March 2005, 21:22: Message edited by: TacAirCoug ]

[Scooter14]

Originally posted by Clearedhot:

We are getting past a rough spot of flaming and since the board is getting back on track, I thought we might keep it moving in the right direction by sharing a few stories about your most memorable moments in your particular aircraft.

Originally posted by Animal:

I'll be damned if my story is gonna be about a lame ass Tweet!!

C'mon now, we all gotta start somewhere.

Bergman, remember those flights on my first Combat Sent trip a few years ago? Those ranked pretty high up there on the list

of interesting experiences in the jet.

[zrooster99]

quote:

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Originally posted by Animal:

I'll be damned if my story is gonna be about a lame ass Tweet!!

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C'mon now, we all gotta start somewhere.

Hmmmm...tweet...lame assed...compared to my story about C-150 at "FL who gives a shit cause we can't see you down there any way"...hmmm

[ 16. March 2005, 23:15: Message edited by: zrooster99 ]

[Rocker]

So there I was, sweating my ass off in the C-12 CPT sim, dealing with a left engine failure right at rotate. Oh wait, that was three hours ago and not cool at all and also I don't have any good stories yet. I can think of a few neat things from T-6s I guess, but nothing no one hasn't already heard.

[Guest HueyPilot]

I was flying a C-21 into KNQX (Key West NAS). I had two passengers on board...both C-12 pilots for the Marine Corps. One was an O-5 who previously flew Cobras and the other was an O-4 who had flown H-46s. The O-5 was sitting on the jump seat shooting the $hit with us as we descended to Key West when he mentioned that he thought the Learjet was probably fairly maneuverable.

We asked him if they did overhead patterns in the C-12 and he said not really. So I asked him if he wanted to see a couple patterns and he said sure, why not.

I requested a 5 mile initial to the active at NQX, and accelerated to about 280 knots (SHHH!) and made a rapid, crisp break turn to the left up to 70 degrees AOB. Picture perfect overhead...never had to touch the throttles as we rolled out on final and called a low approach.

I requested closed and accelerated to 250 knots, then again snapped the Learjet into another 70 deg. AOB turn and climbed rapidly to pattern altitude. Again everything lined up just right and we made a smooth landing.

The Marines got off the jet and I asked them what they thought of the Learjet and both turned around with pretty big grins. And we ate lunch on the beach with our Marine passengers. What a day. I'll never forget that day when two Marines were wishing they were in the Air Force!

No, it's not a fighter, but it's a long way from a heavy. I love flying the Herk now, but I gotta love those memories of that sporty little jet.

[Guest Animal]

Originally posted by Hacker:

What jet are you flying that carries a load like that?

[Guest pcampbell]

Originally posted by Animal:

I'll be damned if my story is gonna be about a lame ass Tweet!!

Hey man, it's all I've got right now. I'll have better stories after 23 Sep 05.

[zrooster99]

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Originally posted by Animal:

I'll be damned if my story is gonna be about a lame ass Tweet!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey man, it's all I've got right now. I'll have better stories after 23 Sep 05.

Obviously he was being a wee bit sarcastic in his post.

[Bergman]

Originally posted by Animal:

I'll be damned if my story is gonna be about a lame ass Tweet!!

The fact that two tanker guys are still telling Tweet stories tells you how exciting flying the tanker is! I think my best "tanker moment" is whenever the convection oven bell rings, signaling my frozen pizza is done. :D

Now, PAB and I could get into some RC-135 stories but this is probably not the right place ("Hey guys...check out that F-15 on the left wing!!!"..."that's not an F-15!!"...as PAB sets his bowl of chili down and picks up the camera...)

Loved your story, BTW.

[Bergman]

Originally posted by Animal:

...I'm still over 10% though.

Good call!

[Scooter14]

Originally posted by Bergman:

I have no idea what you are talking about ;)

[Guest comanche]

Mighty brave, chili in a plane. Feel bad for the guy in the other seat

[Scooter14]

Nah, the other nav was from Louisiana, and he would do Crock Pot cookin' on the jet. He'd put all the ingredients together on the groud, then plug it in on level off. 2-3 hours into the flight it would be done. 8 hours into the flight the chili would kick in. 12 hours into the flight you'd be back in the terminal area, hoping to land in time.

[zrooster99]

8 hours into the flight the chili would kick in. 12 hours into the flight you'd be back in the terminal area, hoping to land in time.

"So there I was at FL250 when suddenly I hear 'howdy' come over the intercom..."

[Guest turtle]

So there I was, on my initial solo in the -38. Weather was Pattern Solo, so I had to do the standard d1ck dance in the high pattern to burn down gas below 2500# before I could descend to the normal pattern to practice no-flap, single-engine, no-HUD landing… at night. Standard, right. After one spin at 3000' (in full burner, boards and pulling to the double rate beeper at each turn, of course) when my WCI lights and tones go off resembling something of an evil Christmas tree on the 4th of July. I immediately come out of blower, retracted the boards, and begin to "analyze the situation". After a few minutes I realized if have a multiple EP scenario. To start with I had a fire in my #2 engine, like a good student I apply the bold face resulting in shutting down my engine… which subsequently results in a Right Gen No Cross. So now I’m flying on one engine with no right AC power (THE P FARM). To make matters worse I simultaneously notice I’m losing utility hydraulic pressure. With my right motor shutdown, and left hydraulics reading zero I’m basically up a creek, right. The book says my only option is ejection with only wind milling hydraulics. But I’m not going out like that, besides walking back to base isn’t very cool… and -38 guys always have to be cool! About this time I’m approaching high initial and decide to break over the runway from the high pattern and perform something similar to an SFL (ELP), thank God I flew the Texan II, right. Over the runway I break hard to the left for a full stop on CBM’s 13C. As I’m passing through the normal perch location and slowing below 240 KCAS I pull the alternate gear extension handle (remember no utility hydraulics) and I don’t even bother with the flaps, no AC. Just as I’m finishing the turn, about two overruns out I finally get a safe gear indication. Passing the threshold I round out and begin my flare, careful not to balloon because I know the RSU’s watching and I wouldn’t want any negative 355 comments. Finally just prior to touch down my stick goes soft(sts), and I lose all flight controls. The jet settles to the runway and I bring her to a stop just prior to the barrier. At the departure end I shut down my remaining engine and crack the lid, where I was greeted with accolades and cheers from the whole base… to include the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders!

[Gravedigger]

Wow, sounds like a pretty standard day of flying. That's in the syllabus isn't it?

[BFM this]

Hey, turtle,

Since when do the criminals have internet privileges?

[Hacker]

Originally posted by Animal:

Six GBU-12s utilizing Sta2,Right CFT, and Sta8. Six dumb bombs on the left CFT.

Iiiiiinteresting. I can't say I've ever seen that loadout, especially using 2 and 8 for 500-pounders.

I've carried six '82s on one conformal, four 12s on the other, and a GBU-10 on station 5.

My favorite is still the wall-to-wall 9 x GBU-12 load.

[ClearedHot]

Originally posted by Hacker:

Iiiiiinteresting. I can't say I've ever seen that loadout, especially using 2 and 8 for 500-pounders.

I've carried six '82s on one conformal, four 12s on the other, and a GBU-10 on station 5.

My favorite is still the wall-to-wall 9 x GBU-12 load.

Man that is a lot of iron....is the jet a pig?

Try a combat load of 180 105MM and 512 40MM.

[Hacker]

Originally posted by Clearedhot:

Man that is a lot of iron....is the jet a pig?

Oh BIGTIME. With 9 GBUs, 2 600-gallon tanks, pods, and 2 AMRAAMs, we had to have one motor in 'burner just to take on gas at 310 knots!

Of course, with 33,000 pounds of gas on board the jet is freakin' heavy even without the weight of the ordnance.

PIIIIIIIGS IIIIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAAACE!

Here's a shot of my favorite loadout, BTW...

[ 17. March 2005, 19:39: Message edited by: Hacker ]

[Guest Dirt Beater]

Out of curiosity, why is it your favorite? Other than the fact that you can kill even more of Zarqawi's buddies, of course.

[backseatdriver]

Originally posted by Clearedhot:

Try a combat load of 180 105MM and 512 40MM.

Now you're talkin'. Got any good OEF stories for us Clearedhot?

[Guest turtle]

Originally posted by flyinjunky:

Hey, turtle,

Since when do the criminals have internet privileges?

We just sneak into the GAP office, you guys are never in there anyways.