Air Force info?

[Weird Harold]

I definitely do not want a guy in the back. He'd only get in the way.

OK, From a ground crew perspective, here's what a typical air-show mission would entail.

While the Pilot checks the weather and deals with his flight-plan (dealing with air-show organizers and schedules and the like) the ground crew preps the airplane (Fuel, arranging for ground support equipment like a starter unit, etc.)

30-45 Minutes before scheduled take-off, the Pilot arrives at the aircraft, reviews the forms and performs a "walk-around inspection" making sure that all of the ground safety equipment is removed and the ground cew hasn't missed anything obvious.

10-15 minutes before "engine start" the pilot get into the cockpit and the ground crew assists him in securing his harness to the Ejection seat.

The ground crew applies ground power from the starting unit and the pilot runs through his pre-start checklist to make sure all of the switches are set properly and the computers and other electronics are all working properly.

When he's ready to start the engine(s) he uses the ground intercom or hand signals to ask for "Starter Air" -- on a two engine fighter like the F-15, it would be "Air on number two" to start the right or #2 engine first. (most jet Fighters don't have onboard starters and need compressed air from an outside source to drive small starter turbine to start the engines.) Engines are started from right to left because the boarding steps (and way out of the aircraft) are on the left side.

Once the external air source and starter turbine get the engine up to about thirty percent RPM, the pilot hits the ignition button and watches the RPM and EGT (Exhaust gas temperature) closely until the engine lights and he can call or signal for "Air Off." for a two engine aircraft, He waits for the external air source to be moved to the other engine and repeats the process.

Once all engines are running, he calls for ground power and external air to be removed an begins his post-start checklist. That includes checking hydraulic systems pressure, Oil pressure, Internal Electrical power, and rechecking the computer and electronics to make sure they're working properly on internal power.

Working with the ground crew, he'll check the flight control surfaces, speed brakes, and other (mostly hydraulically activated) systems.

When the ground checks are complete, he'll contact Ground Control and report he's ready to taxi. When he gets clearance to taxi, he'll inform the ground crew and the crew chief will disconnect his ground intercom cable and move out infront of the aircarft to marshal him out of the parking spot while the assistant crew chief buttons up the last few access panels and gets ready to pull the chocks.

When every thing is ready, the crew chief will signall "Chocks out" to the assistant crew chief and as soon as the chocks are pulled, he'll signal your pilot "power up" and then then "come forward." Wen the aircraft is clear of theparking spot, the Crew Cheif will signal a turn to the taxiway and give a salute to signal that the pilot is on his own (or to turn him over to the next marshaller in line, in some cases.)

The pilot willl stay in contact with Ground Control while taxiing to the end of the runway. If the airshow is at a military base or has a heavy militarypresence, there will be an "EOR Check" crew waiting for him there to do one final check of the aircraft and remove any last minute safety devices -- like arming pins for the jettison charges in exernal fuel tank pylons. (If there is no EOR crew, those last minute pins would be pulled at the parking spot.)

Once the EOR check is done, he'll taxi into postion and be handed over to the Tower by Ground Control. When the Tower gives him clearance, he'll taxi onto the runway, Stand on the brakes, push the engines to full power, do one last check of the engine indications at high power and release the brakes.

If the take-off is part of his airshow display, he'll hold the plane on the ground until he nears "show center" and then pull back on the stick for a max-power climb and go straight into his planned aerobatics display. Otherwise, he'll go somewhere away from the show site and orbit for a while until he's cleared into the show airspace for his display.

Often, military airshow participants will take off from their home base, fly to a holding area and check in with the airshow controllers from there, fly the demonstration or fly-by and return to home base without ever actually being "at" the airshow -- in the sense of being on the ground there where he can mingle with the crowds and sign autographs. This is especially true when the Airshow is at a small airport and there is a military base close by. (Is your fictional airshow even at n airport or airbase -- some of the bigger airshows are actually held over the beach or a lake with no ground displays available; there's a big annual airshow over Miami Beach and one over Lake Erie that are flown from several surrounding airports and military bases.)

Once he's through with the display, he'll land and taxi to a "de-arm" area (if there was an EOR check crew when he took off) and get the arming pins reinstalled. He'll check back in with Ground control for permission to taxi back to his parking spot where he'll follow the ground cew's marshalling signals back into his parkng spot.

The ground crew will chock the aircraft and signal him when it's safe to kill the engine(s).

He'll have a post-flight checklist to go through and a post-fight walk-around. Then he'll do a "maintenance debriefing" either at the aircraft with the crewchief if he's at a civilian airport or at a maintenace debriefing office if he's at a military base -- maintenance debrief includes documenting the aircraft forms on how long he flew, and any problems he might have had with the aircraft. It's not likely that for an airshow he would have to document any "expenditures" like weapons, flares or chaff but that would be part of a normal maintenance debrief.

Once he's done with the mainenance debrief, he'd head back to operations/life-support to turn in his helmet and other gear and do an oprations debrief -- for an airshow, things like recording his flight-time in his log book and dealing with any problems he may have had with control agencies would be the extent of an operational debrief.

Depending on where he's flying from, most of the pre-flight and post-flight stuf would be dealing with "Transient Maintenance," "Base Operations" and people he doesn't know -- if he's flying from his home base, he'd be dealing with "Squadron Maintenance" and "Squadron Ops" and people he knows and trusts. Eventually, he'll have to deal with his Squadron maintenance and operations people, too.

 

[Aurora Black]

I appreciate your input. I'm off to bed. Night, everyone.

 

[dreampilot79]

My comments are partly Macho Stuff and partly just to get my 100 posts for an Avatar (*sob*).

And I probably should not have responded with "B) I think one just did."

It was wrong of me to take a cheap shot at someone just because he did not understand I was telling a joke.

Smitty,

P.S. And I still think it's a good joke, whether Champagne burns or not.
Champagne just fits in more with the "Newlywed" motiff.

I think we can forgive him since he still needs posts to get the warm glow of an avitar... we can call him a sorta newbie.. and inform him nicely that a troll is the lowest form of existance around here.. and realize that he didn't understand what an insult he slung...lol

 

[dreampilot79]

I appreciate your input. I'm off to bed. Night, everyone.

Nighty night and sweet dreams

 

[Richard_Smith]

I think we can forgive him since he still needs posts to get the warm glow of an avitar... we can call him a sorta newbie.. and inform him nicely that a troll is the lowest form of existance around here.. and realize that he didn't understand what an insult he slung...lol

Yes. You are right about the Avatar

Yes. Yor are right abot the Newbie (ala literotica, at least)

But, no, I did realize the insult I slung i.e. "Troll".
I just should not have slung it against someone merely because he did not get my joke.

Smitty,

P.S. But he did serve me up the perfect opening, didn't he? *grins and giggles*

Sorry.

I'll behave.

 

[zeb1094]

My comments are partly Macho Stuff and partly just to get my 100 posts for an Avatar (*sob*).

And I probably should not have responded with "B) I think one just did."

It was wrong of me to take a cheap shot at someone just because he did not understand I was telling a joke.

Smitty,

P.S. And I still think it's a good joke, whether Champagne burns or not.
Champagne just fits in more with the "Newlywed" motiff.

Oh, I knew it was a joke and a fairly good one too. But the suspension of disbelief wasn't there!

 

[Richard_Smith]

Oh, I knew it was a joke and a fairly good one too. But the suspension of disbelief wasn't there!

Then I had better not even think of trying the one that starts off...

"A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Minister walk into a bar..."

 

[dreampilot79]

From a pilot's viewpoint (no not a military pilot)..... The whole routine is scripted. When the performance is at a civilian location the FAA (in the US) MUST approve it. There are certain requirements that must be met.

Minimum seperation from the crowd which is varied depending on aircraft speed and direction etc... etc.

In the US... accidents like what happened at Ramstein where two aircraft collided and then crashed into the crowd can not happen because the FAA would not allow close contact with either aircraft pointed in the direction of the crowd.

Since any operation of an airplane below 1000 feet (or in certain conditions 500) AGL (above ground level) except takeoffs and landings is a violation of the rules and regs... a waiver has to be issued and they will only do so with a script of the event. FAA reps from the GADO office then GO to the event and CHECK that the pilot follows teh script.

For a civilian pilot should the pilot violate the script, he is fined and he will have great difficulty obtaining another waiver.

The military must also get an FAA waiver to perform an air show at a civilian location.

The FAA can't fine military pilots... what they would do if a military pilot violated the script.. I have no idea.

Since the fAA has no authority over military flights at military bases, this doesn't apply although I believe they are supposed to follow basically the same rules but they are administered by the base commander.

 

[zeb1094]

Then I had better not even think of trying the one that starts off...

"A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Minister walk into a bar..."

Not if their going to set fire to the bar using champagne!

 

[zeb1094]

From a pilot's viewpoint (no not a military pilot)..... The whole routine is scripted. When the performance is at a civilian location the FAA (in the US) MUST approve it. There are certain requirements that must be met.

Minimum seperation from the crowd which is varied depending on aircraft speed and direction etc... etc.

In the US... accidents like what happened at Ramstein where two aircraft collided and then crashed into the crowd can not happen because the FAA would not allow close contact with either aircraft pointed in the direction of the crowd.

Since any operation of an airplane below 1000 feet (or in certain conditions 500) AGL (above ground level) except takeoffs and landings is a violation of the rules and regs... a waiver has to be issued and they will only do so with a script of the event. FAA reps from the GADO office then GO to the event and CHECK that the pilot follows teh script.

For a civilian pilot should the pilot violate the script, he is fined and he will have great difficulty obtaining another waiver.

The military must also get an FAA waiver to perform an air show at a civilian location.

The FAA can't fine military pilots... what they would do if a military pilot violated the script.. I have no idea.

Since the fAA has no authority over military flights at military bases, this doesn't apply although I believe they are supposed to follow basically the same rules but they are administered by the base commander.

Probably, once he's a civilian he wouldn't be allow a licenses!

 

[Weird Harold]

The military must also get an FAA waiver to perform an air show at a civilian location.

The FAA can't fine military pilots... what they would do if a military pilot violated the script.. I have no idea.

The FAA files a complaint with the regional commander and it filters down to the pilot's comander for disciplinary action.

AFAIK, the USAF rules for Airshows are essentially a reference to current FAA regulations with a mandate to coordinate with the local air traffic authority outside of the US.

I mentioned aircraft marshalling in an earlier post: this wikipedia entry has a graphic that shows the international standard signals and what they mean:

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

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I think your confusing the F22 with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The F-35 is the second attempt at a single aircraft for all services -- the F-111 was the first.

An Airshow is easy to work into a story -- except for the Thuderbirds and Blue Angels, any military aircraft at an airshow is provided and flown by the nearest unit with that type of aircraft and the pilot is just a member of the unit tasked with the mission -- there are no special qualifications required for Air Show missions except profiency in the aircraft.

Even Air National Guard and Reserve units are tasked with "showing the flag" at airshows -- For transport aircraft, they pretty much have to be because most of the Air Mobility Command beongs to the USAF Reserve.

Any pilot (active duty, National Guard or Reserve) might be "called-up" to fly an airshow mission -- even on short notice if the pilot originally assigned fell ill or had an accident.

I stannd corrected

thanks Wh for the info. I never realized the ardvark was meant to be an across the boards fomber. For some reason I have a mental block and get the 11 and the thud mixed up constantly.

 

[rgraham666]

As information, I was visiting an air museum near Rochester with my brother a few years ago.

A lot of interesting planes there, most in flying condition or being worked on in order to be made so.

There was a B-17, a Catalina, the usual Mustang. They also had a Mig-15 (in flying condition) a Mig-17 (almost ready) and they had just received a Mig-21 they had bought from the Czech Air Force. This was in pieces.

It might be flying by now.

As an aside, I couldn't be more surprised at how small the cockpit was. I'm a very thin person and my shoulders would have brushed the edges of the cockpit. And my knees would have been up near my chest. I would hate to fly the thing.

 

[Weird Harold]

I stannd corrected

thanks Wh for the info. I never realized the aardvark was meant to be an across the boards bomber. For some reason I have a mental block and get the 111 and the thud mixed up constantly.

After living through Robert McNamara's bean-counting "One-Size-Fits-All" tenure as Secretary of Defense, his boondoggles are hard to forget.

A lot of people think the F-4 Phantom was designed as a multi-service, multi-role airraft, but it wasn't; it was designed and intitially purchased as a Fleet Defense Fighter for the Navy and turned into a fighter/bomber by the USAF and Marines. It's sort of the same process that is being applied to the F-14 and F-15 in turning two of the best air superiority fighters ever built into bombers with the "Strike Eagle" and "Bombcat" modification programs.

For that matter, the F/A18 is an air-superiority design (originally the loser in the YF-16 vs YF-17 fly-off) adapted for multi-mission use.

 

[lucky-E-leven]

My brother-in-law is an F-16 pilot in the Air Force.
Let me know if I can be of assistance.

 

[Aurora Black]

Update

I'm still debating on whether I'll stick with the AF or go with the Navy. This is very difficult, as both sides have made great arguments.

I've got my heart set on the F-22 Raptor for the airshow scene, though. Perhaps somehow I can reach a compromise in my writing, mold my pilot to be as down-to-earth as the Navy guys are, yet keep the plane. That's the beauty of fiction, I guess.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for your help.

 

[dreampilot79]

A couple notes for yer story.... the F-22 is rare at the moment and pilots assigned to fly it are NOT being assigned to combat.... they are expected to become instructor pilots for future combat squadrins.

The F-22 is not a secret project like the F-117 or the B-2 were. It is likely that in the near future it will be used in air shows just so the air force can show off their new hardware.

As a pilot one of my pet peeves about non pilot writers of flying stories is the altimiter. You all seem to think it reads 0 when you hit the ground. This simply is not so!!! Ground levels change from place to place. If we set our altimiters to read 0 and I took off from here (field elevation 880 feet over sea level) and flew to the east at the appropriate altitude I would fly at an odd thousand feet plus 500 (VFR) (3,500, 5,500, 7,500 etc). As I flew east toward the lower elevations I would actually be flying higher and higher over the ground, enough so that I could hit someone flying the other way at even thousand feet.

So that we are all on the same page, we all fly using the elevation over SEA LEVEL. That means that when I land here, my altimiter reads 880 feet. I compute traffic pattern altitude at my airport (or any other) as field elevation (clearly marked on aviation charts) plus 1000 feet. To land here the pattern altitude is 1880 and my landing is at 880 feet. I have to make the same calculations for any other airport.

If I were doing a loop in front of a crowd... and needed to pull up at 50 feet over the groound... my altimiter would read 50 feet over ground level... here 930 feet.... In Buffalo NY (field elevation 670) it would read 720.

It would never read 50 feet.

 

[Aurora Black]

A couple notes for yer story.... the F-22 is rare at the moment and pilots assigned to fly it are NOT being assigned to combat.... they are expected to become instructor pilots for future combat squadrins.

The F-22 is not a secret project like the F-117 or the B-2 were. It is likely that in the near future it will be used in air shows just so the air force can show off their new hardware.

As a pilot one of my pet peeves about non pilot writers of flying stories is the altimiter. You all seem to think it reads 0 when you hit the ground. This simply is not so!!! Ground levels change from place to place. If we set our altimiters to read 0 and I took off from here (field elevation 880 feet over sea level) and flew to the east at the appropriate altitude I would fly at an odd thousand feet plus 500 (VFR) (3,500, 5,500, 7,500 etc). As I flew east toward the lower elevations I would actually be flying higher and higher over the ground, enough so that I could hit someone flying the other way at even thousand feet.

So that we are all on the same page, we all fly using the elevation over SEA LEVEL. That means that when I land here, my altimiter reads 880 feet. I compute traffic pattern altitude at my airport (or any other) as field elevation (clearly marked on aviation charts) plus 1000 feet. To land here the pattern altitude is 1880 and my landing is at 880 feet. I have to make the same calculations for any other airport.

If I were doing a loop in front of a crowd... and needed to pull up at 50 feet over the groound... my altimiter would read 50 feet over ground level... here 930 feet.... In Buffalo NY (field elevation 670) it would read 720.

It would never read 50 feet.

I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Weird Harold]

The F-22 is not a secret project like the F-117 or the B-2 were. It is likely that in the near future it will be used in air shows just so the air force can show off their new hardware.

The Raptor is already making air show appearances -- both flying and static displays.

I got a chance to watch it fly at the Aviation Nation Airshow at Nellis AFB a couple of months ago and have seen it on a couple of televised Airshows in the last year.

If I were doing a loop in front of a crowd... and needed to pull up at 50 feet over the groound... my altimiter would read 50 feet over ground level... here 930 feet.... In Buffalo NY (field elevation 670) it would read 720.

It would never read 50 feet.

Military aircraft usually have a radar altimieter that does give AGL (Above Ground Level) altitudes rather than the MSL (Mean Sea Level) figures you're referring to.

There is one important point about most altimeters that should be remembered: they're sensitive to barometric pressure and have to be set to the local barometric conditions to be accurate. Standard Sea level pressure is 29.92 inches of mercury, but the Control Tower/AirTraffic Control will give every aircraft coming into their control area the current setting when they check in.

I'm still debating on whether I'll stick with the AF or go with the Navy. This is very difficult, as both sides have made great arguments.

There is a simple solution -- make your pilot a former naval aviator that transferred to the USAF for the chance to fly the Raptor.

Cross service transfers are rare, but they're not unheard of -- in my 21 year career, I met maybe five pilots I know were former Naval Aviators.

There is also a long-standing exchange pilot program between the services and between the US and our allies. Many of the Exchange pilots I met during my career were during a tour with the maintenance section of an OT&E Squadron (Operation Test and Evaluation) so it wouldn't be completely implausible to find a Navy Pilot assigned to an OT&E squadron "working up" the Raptor. A Naval Aviator in that kind of assignment might well be a former Blue Angel pilot with airshow experience.

 

[dreampilot79]

High to low... watch out below.... meaning when the barrometric pressure is lower where you're going your alitimiter reads higher than you actually are....

Scarry note on altimiters ... when they are certified for IFR flight.... they are allowed to be 100 feet off!!!!!

Radar Altimiters are a rarity in small planes.... but they do read exact height over ground level and are wayyyyyy more acurate than barro altimiters.

Air shows will never be flown unless the conditions are better than VFR minimums. (Cloud bottoms 1000 feet AGL and 3 miles Visibility). You probably could safely do an air show routine in a Pits Special (or some such small plane) at VFR minimums... but I doubt that an F-22 could do any vertical maneuver and stay less than 1000 feet from the ground.

Dunno about you... but I would hate to try and transition to instruments 1000 feet off the ground and inverted at the top of a loop.

 

[Weird Harold]

Air shows will never be flown unless the conditions are better than VFR minimums. (Cloud bottoms 1000 feet AGL and 3 miles Visibility). You probably could safely do an air show routine in a Pits Special (or some such small plane) at VFR minimums... but I doubt that an F-22 could do any vertical maneuver and stay less than 1000 feet from the ground.

30+ years ago, I worked in the same hanger as the Thunderbirds -- one of the things I picked up was that the Thuderbirds have two show routines; a "High Show" and "Low Show." The "Low Show" leaves out the big loops and signature "bomb-burst" when there is cloud cover and adds in a few horizontal patterns to replace them.

The Raptor I saw at "Aviation Nation" didn't do very much above a thousand feet or so even in unlimited VFR conditions -- no couds at all that day -- because a big part of it's presentation is how much the vectored thrust adds to maneuverablity. I can't swear to it, but I think a Raptor could do a full vertical loop in less than a thousand feet of altitude!

 

[Weird Harold]

Radar Altimiters are a rarity in small planes.... but they do read exact height over ground level and are wayyyyyy more acurate than barro altimiters.

Kind of an off-topic PS: Why don't more small private planes have radar altimeters?

I just saw a commercial for a "laser tape measure" -- I wondered why that technology, which can laser range a golf flag at nearly 600 yards +/- an inch or so, hasn't been adapted to provide small planes with a "Lidar altimeter" or the techology that can put a doppler radar in a package the size of a hair dryer hasn't been applied to samll plane radar altimeters.

Even the 1960's technology of the F-4's radar altimeter was miniaturized enough to put the entire radar altimeter into a child's shoebox (the RT unit)and a couple of beer cans (for the two analog indicators.)

 

[Richard_Smith]

After living through Robert McNamara's bean-counting "One-Size-Fits-All" tenure as Secretary of Defense, his boondoggles are hard to forget.

A lot of people think the F-4 Phantom was designed as a multi-service, multi-role airraft, but it wasn't; it was designed and intitially purchased as a Fleet Defense Fighter for the Navy and turned into a fighter/bomber by the USAF and Marines. It's sort of the same process that is being applied to the F-14 and F-15 in turning two of the best air superiority fighters ever built into bombers with the "Strike Eagle" and "Bombcat" modification programs.

For that matter, the F/A18 is an air-superiority design (originally the loser in the YF-16 vs YF-17 fly-off) adapted for multi-mission use.

Good ole Bob McNamara.
The man was an absolute genius.
Or idiot.
Or both.

He was a whiz-kid at Ford and the one responsible for successfully converting the Thunderbird in to a four door.

At the Department of Defense he replaced the "all-or-nothing" policy (retreat or use massive nuclear retaliation) with the concept of "flexible response" and, I think he was the first (maybe even the last) Secretary of Defense to actually *BE* a Secretary of Defense.

However, this is the same man who at Ford tried to develop a "car with something for everybody".
Also known as the Edsel.

At the Pentagon he tried the same thing (with same results).
Only this time the Edsel was called an F-111.

Just remember, the Edsel was not a *bad* car.
The F-111 was not a *bad* plane. The Air Force was able to use 'em quite nicely.

But it did not fulfill it's promise of one fighter/bomber for all branches.

 

[rgraham666]

Don't get me started on 'Flexible Response'.

It's one of the reasons we're in the nuclear mess we're in now. 'Flexible Response' demanded we build tens of thousands of nukes. And forced everyone to try even harder to get their own.

Robert MacNamara bought 'business attitudes' into the military. 9-5, career building, an obsessive love of structure and rules, hugely complex battle plans that allow no room for genius or even competency.

As you can tell, my opinion of Mr. MacNamara is not high.

 

[Weird Harold]

Good ole Bob McNamara.
The man was an absolute genius.
Or idiot.
Or both.

I'd have to say "Both" comes closest to the truth. The military needed a lot of the reforms he instituted, but he didn't really understand that the Military isn't a "business" and can't function as a "business."