tag:www.thedonovan.com,2012://1/tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376- 2012-03-24T15:22:33Z 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 Movable Type 4.12 tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376 2009-02-06T17:22:38Z 2009-02-06T17:49:15Z

My thoughts on the first two comments to my previous post...

Attila of Argghhh!)]]> http://www.thedonovan.com
You can be fairly confident that the vast majority of pilots flying jets like the A320 are extremely good aviators, regardless of background. The airline pilot world is based on the Iron Law of Seniority and jets like the 'Bus usually go to those who've been doing this for awhile. The military guys have the advantage of a high degree of turbine (jet) experience when they sign on with the airlines. The guys who grew up in the commercial world have the advantage of, well, lots of commercial flying--they claw their way from the bottom and by the time they hit the jet world, their air sense is as good as anyone's.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule and just because you're a combat aviator doesn't mean flying the behemoths is a piece of cake. I'm challenged every time I get into a 600,000lb.+ plus airplane, fly 14+ hours and land in a country where the native tongue isn't English...or when I strap on a 450,000lb. one for a 2+00 hop to El Paso. Are they easy to fly? Yeah, at altitude when the autopilot's engaged, but shell a motor (or two) on takeoff and it can be a helluva challenge to anybody. Commercial jets takeoff fairly heavy, making a thrust loss even more serious a situation. In Cactus 1549's case, he was fortunate enough to have enough altitude to ride it is in a controlled way to a surface more forgiving than most...the rest of the credit goes to Capt S's experience and skill. Had he been raised in the commercial world, given what I've seen, the outcome would have probably been the same.

As far as the radio chatter is concerned, crisis flying is, um, busy flying. For me personally, it takes too many brain bytes that are already preoccupied with the emergency to get on the radio and start screaming I'm gonna die. First, it completely confuses the listener (ATC, et al.). Second, it usually imparts irrelevant info. I'm trying to do three things in the following order: Maintain aircraft control, Analyze the situation, and Take the proper action. All the while, I'm--also in this order--Aviating, Navigating and Communicating. When I finally have time to talk, and it often isn't a lot of time, I only want to tell the controller what I need and what I'm doing in the shortest possible time--so he can decide what to say in return, that is of value to me, in the shortest possible time. If it leads to non-standard terminology, fine, just make it to the point. Hence, "We can't do it." and "We're gonna be in the Hudson." (In extreme armchair retrospective analysis, mebbe adding the word "River" after Hudson would have helped but who cares at this point.)

Not very much time to drop the F-bomb or say anything extraneous, you're just too busy to be unprofessional... ]]> tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:84019 Attila of Argghhh! http://www.thedonovan.com
I was talking about personal callsigns. Operational callsigns, IN THE CONUS and IN PEACETIME are assigned to individual Wings by the FAA and deconflicted appropriately to avoid duplication. These lists, organized by squadron, are individually doled out to individual pilots once they become qualified flight leads. In wartime, callsigns are assigned to individual flights IAW the Air Tasking Order and are unit-specific...which is why Robin Olds was able to catch so many NVA pilots with their pants down.

Rivrdog,

The only way you can get a bomb to go straight down is to drop it from a 90-degree dive. Can be done but isn't because it doesn't have to be. That said, high-angle deliveries DO decrease bomb range (the horizontal distance traveled over the flight time of the bomb) which increases accuracy unless the release altitudes are very high. Now, there ARE munitions that approximate a vertical trajectory, but it takes some special mods of the munition and has as much to do with impact angles that contribute to better target penetration, as it has with how fast the thing is traveling when it hits.

Then there's elementary physics...horizontal distance traveled is fairly independent of vertical speed. Two bullets, one fired from a rifle, the other dropped from the same height at the same instant, will hit the ground at the same time...one just goes farther down range before it hits. You can propel a bomb in a vertical direction and get it to the ground faster but then it's not really a bomb. For all intents and purposes it's a missile. Then there's all the drops I've witnessed from "B" design series airplanes...they do it from level flight, making "straight down" an impossibility.

And THIS response tells you how much time I have on my hands today...]]> 2009-02-08T01:25:04Z 2009-02-08T01:25:04Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:84002 Josh That would be, "Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, Over," Correct?

There's a pretty cranky guy in the tower at KOPF that I sometimes want to say that to...

Unlike the fighter jocks, we believe the best trajectory for the weapon to the target is straight down. The weapon gets there sooner...

Then why don't you fly dive bombers anymore, huh?
]]> 2009-02-07T04:51:03Z 2009-02-07T04:51:03Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:84001 virgil xenophon In the old Air Force I was in (Vietnam era) we didn't have personal call signs--nor individual aircraft assigned. We flew whatever tail # was avail. Very few had individual nicknames--and of those who did, most were self-assigned. And individual call signs (other than Sq./msn assigned ones) were forbidden. Different times, different culture, different operational realities. Today, the USAF seems to be tending more toward the Navy model, but it seems sporadic and localized-- command-wise--as far as I can tell... 2009-02-07T03:32:24Z 2009-02-07T03:32:24Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:84000 Rivrdog http://rivrdog.typepad.com Re: the callsign rule: maybe that's the reason the bomber guys don't use them. Unlike the fighter jocks, we believe the best trajectory for the weapon to the target is straight down. The weapon gets there sooner... 2009-02-07T01:52:53Z 2009-02-07T01:52:53Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83992 Oldloadr 2009-02-06T20:10:20Z 2009-02-06T20:10:20Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83989 Attila of Argghhh! http://www.thedonovan.com 2009-02-06T19:21:00Z 2009-02-06T19:21:00Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83987 Oldloadr 2009-02-06T18:49:20Z 2009-02-06T18:49:20Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83986 Justthisguy http://enemiesofthelibrary.blogspot.com Hey, it's the old Quaker aphorism: "Let your words be few." 2009-02-06T18:43:02Z 2009-02-06T18:43:02Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83985 Oldloadr 2009-02-06T18:39:08Z 2009-02-06T18:39:08Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83982 Oldloadr 2009-02-06T18:19:18Z 2009-02-06T18:19:18Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83981 11B40
Back in helicopter school, we were taught that if and when one communicates a "What the F**k" to be sure to include "over". ]]> 2009-02-06T18:16:18Z 2009-02-06T18:16:18Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83980 Attila of Argghhh! http://www.thedonovan.com
Thanks! A good example of that kinda guy is Gen John Corley, smart a a whip and a bad@$$ reputation as a lethal F-15 jock. He looks like Harvey Milquetoast but in a jet he's King Kong. Hence his callsign:

Conan the Librarian. ]]> 2009-02-06T18:15:18Z 2009-02-06T18:15:18Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83979 Oldloadr 2009-02-06T18:09:16Z 2009-02-06T18:09:16Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83978 Attila of Argghhh! http://www.thedonovan.com
True enough...but I've found while I'm operating a piece of equipment that takes concentration to keep from killing myself I just don't have the ability to go postal. Weird. Maybe it's just me, but using a jet, for example, as a weapon, involves both immediate control workload (to keep from crashing, losing control, having a midair with a wingman, dodging hostile fire, etc.) and application of the machine as a tool of warfare. Plus, when I mash the mike, I'm doing it for a specific reason (impart information/direction) and all my concentration is getting out the RIGHT thing. Calling out bandits, for example, requires specific data--position, altitude, aspect, angle-off, predicted move, etc.

Of course, I did hear one story about a guy in Korea screaming on the radio that he couldn't shake off the MiG on his tail. A deep, disgusted voice came on saying, "Shut up and die like a man." So I guess you're right about the culture, we'd literally rather die than look/sound bad. ]]> 2009-02-06T18:07:01Z 2009-02-06T18:07:01Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83976 Oldloadr John - me, too... 2009-02-06T17:58:16Z 2009-02-06T17:58:16Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83975 John of Argghhh! http://www.thedonovan.com
I've been on radio nets in times of trouble when people (who shouldn't be) are losing it - and there is extraneous chatter.

Don't slight yourself.]]> 2009-02-06T17:54:22Z 2009-02-06T17:54:22Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10376-comment:83973 Oldloadr 2009-02-06T17:50:04Z 2009-02-06T17:50:04Z