We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:29:33 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification The Iraqi helicopter pilots I’ve been training in the sim are a fairly mixed group, but they all have two things in common: they’re older (most of them are Iran-Iraq War vets) and they’ve had some training in instrument flight. But, “have had some training in instrument flight” doesn’t necessarily equate to “have had some training within the past ten years.” Some accumulated actual weather time in Britain, France or Russia during an overseas aircraft qual -- I’ve heard a couple of interesting stories about the dimensions of thunderstorms in Russia and the severity of clear-air turbulence over France. And... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html Sun, 08 Jun 2008 06:06:09 -0600 Ummmm, didn't the Polish aeromedical pioneer Dr. Bairanay (sp?) invent a fancy 3-dimensional swivel chair just so the mind-warping sensation of these unusual attitudes could be practiced safely, with no danger more severe than one's own puke on one's uniform? Maybe we should get back to that simple device. You could buy a personal chair for every pilot in the military for what we spend on one 3-D simulator. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-74121 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-74121 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:05:35 -0600 War Pilot" and was wondering if you were any relation to the 2LT Bill Tuttle mentioned therein. That Tuttle was Kirkland's co-pilot on a record-breaking cross-country flight in a Sikorsky H-19 in December 1955. I know you can't be that old, but hey, it could be your Dad or a favorite uncle whose footsteps you followed.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-74049 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-74049 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:05:45 -0600 So did the sparks show through? Only for the first hundred feet. The smoke got too thick. Leger -- I'm *behind* the sim. It's visual-only, but I can reproduce anything weather-related (they all want to "fly" in snow), including a pretty good Force Nine turbulence illusion. Give me ten seconds and I can have them at the middle marker on an ILS into Baghdad in a sandstorm with 30-knot winds, 500 meter visibility and a stuck tail rotor. Which I haven't done yet, because nobody's at that level of proficiency, and probably won't be until they get at least two more sim sessions under their belts. Hey! You just gave me an idea...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73947 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73947 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:15:54 -0600 Bill, it looks like you are earning your pay. Btw, I assume you are in a sim by the steady camera shot. If so how much can you throw at your “stoodents” at any given time. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73946 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73946 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:28:54 -0600 "347, negative, sir -- Ops wants to videotape it to see if the sparks show through the smoke cloud when we touch down. Evidently, it was pretty spectacular the last time..." So did the sparks show through? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73942 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73942 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:10:28 -0600 The Right Stuff, he noted that the test pilots at Edwards would all mimic Chuck Yeager's laconic summaries of the emergency and slow, southern drawl. No matter what the problem, even if they were from Haavahd, Mass or Noo Fu**in' Yawk, they still made an attempt to sound like--and fly like--the Great One.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73941 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73941 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:57:01 -0600 As for calm voices in a crisis, listen to the old Edwards AFB test pilot tapes. ATC started saving the tapes of my transmissions after my second #1 hydraulic system failure in a Cobra. "Trenton Tower, Guard 347, emergency. I've got a Number One hydraulics failure, negative directional control, requesting duty runway for a running landing." "Roger, 347, you've got 34, full length. CFR is rolling -- do you want foam on the runway?" "347, negative, sir -- Ops wants to videotape it to see if the sparks show through the smoke cloud when we touch down. Evidently, it was pretty spectacular the last time..." Heh.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73939 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73939 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:15:50 -0600 I've used that excuse myself, on occasion. "Somatogravic. I said 'somatogravic.' It only *sounded* like I said 'proprioceptive'..." *sigh* With equal lack of success... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73938 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73938 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:49:13 -0600 Cyclic. I said "Cyclic" but my fingers typed something else. Yeah, that's it... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73937 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73937 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:37:24 -0600 ...while pushing forward on the stick (collective to you, Bill) Nope, that's "cyclic" to me. If I push forward on the collective, all I'll do is overspeed the governor, slew the searchlight, activate the wirecutter for the TOW or turn the landing light on. Depends on what I'm strapped into at the time. Shooting an ILS in a helicopter is the *legal* way to bust minimums (by about fifty feet, depending on your descent rate. A little aerodynamic phenomenon known as "dishout" -- which got me on the ground at BWI when the *birds* were walking...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73936 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73936 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:27:45 -0600 Recognize. Confirm. Recover. Rinse. Repeat. Works for me in all types of aircraft, as I'm sure you've told them about 1.2 million times. As for calm voices in a crisis, listen to the old Edwards AFB test pilot tapes. "OK. Starting the departure procedure..." (At about 35,000 feet) "OK. I'm now in a flat spin." "Fairly violent." "Would be disorienting to most." (helmet camera doesn't quite capture the pilot's head bouncing off the canopy but it is, heh) "Beginning the recovery procedure." (Pause) "Well, that didn't work." (Passing thru 25,000) "I'll try this." (Pause) "Well, that didn't work." (passing thru 20,000) "Lemme try this." (Pause) "Well, that didn't work." (passing thru 15,000, sink rate exceeds instrumentation capabilities; only telemetry and ground video capable of following the stalled jet's downward trajectory) Passing thru 10,000, Mission Controller starts yelling "Bail out. Bail out! Bail out!" "OK, guess I'll have to step over the side on this one." (Pause) Mission Control: "Good 'chute, roll the trucks." Jock touches down 1.5 seconds after full canopy deploys (that's what a good sink rate will do and is why the minimum ejection altitude for uncontrolled egress is 10K AGL). It's faster than an autorotation scenario but they both have their own kinds of pucker factors. I'll tell you what's challenging (for me anyway, and I have thousands of hours of jet time)--transitioning to VMC in the last few seconds of a no-shite CAT I ILS. As the F/O, I fly it down to mins then transition to a visual flare/land. The MD-11 is so big that you enter ground effect at about 200' AGL. This is the same altitude that you pop out of the clag on a CAT I. So, you re-cage your brain and eyeballs to visual conditions, outside the cockpit, while consciously having to prevent the descent rate from slowing due to ground effect while the ILS tolerances go to just a few feet up/down/left/right. The scan is inside-outside-inside-outside until you are truly clear of clouds (~100') while pushing forward on the stick (collective to you, Bill) over the overrun to fight the ballooning in ground effect (counterintuitive). But fun! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73934 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73934 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:02:48 -0600 I remember discussing the finer points of the M-21D sniper system (a long time ago, I know...!) to some troops in a jungle environment who answered me in French instead of their native language. Turns out their last "go-to-guy" had a French passport and legion experience, but had been born in an eastern European country. I wonder where the French Foreign Legion hasn't been...? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73933 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73933 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:12:53 -0600 calmer in the situation. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73932 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73932 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:09:09 -0600 ...in that same, quiet voice Bill uses. Venting in the cockpit may feel good, but it's counterproductive -- the guy's already jittery and hollering just compounds the problem. Throw in the fact that English may be his *third* language and you might as well be talking to the instrument panel. I use the same phrases and cadences that the Iraqis use -- and *you* wouldn't understand me saying, "Khe-fek, sh'weh-sh'weh-sh'weh." Makes it interesting when the Gazelle guys start answering me in French...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73931 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73931 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:34:14 -0600 When Mike Monaghan taught me to land the bird in my Aerial Observer days ("I'm not dying of a heart attack just because you can't land this bird!" was his justification) that looked at lot like one of my *better* days. Except that Monaghan kept saying, "Bend the bird and I'm going to hit you, El-tee." in that same, quiet voice Bill uses... with the overlay of violence promised. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73930 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73930 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:00:29 -0600 Well, you still sounded pretty calm to me - which I'm sure is why he was able to follow your guidance and regain control. Good instructin', Bill :-) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73929 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/06/the_first_forty.html#comment-73929 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:28:25 -0600