Cool Military Free Rides!

BobDDuck said:
I snagged a ride in a Tweet and and a 38 while I was instructing. I had a standing invitation for the back seat of a F16 but apparently the unit the guy who promised me the ride in never gets the two seaters so that never happened. The Tweet was really fun and the T38... hehe... I don't remember too much if it, but what I do remember was awesome.
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I see tweets every once in a while, boy those things are loud :crazy:
 
Hacker15e said:
The term you're looking for is "incentive flights", and yes they do occasionally happen.

Most of the time, open fighter cockpits in B or D models are simply just open during flight. The reason? The training required just for a ride for anyone not currently qualified to fly in that jet. You need a current FC1 medical, plus current egress and ejection seat training. You also need an altitude chamber card if you're going above 18K.

So, because of all the extra training required, it doesn't happen all that often.

However, the AF goes through the effort when they want to reward/recognize higher achievers, like Airman or NCO of the Quarter or Year.

Unfortunately, that means that the vast majority of the guys who bust their a$$ to keep the jets flying don't ever get to know what it's like to fly in it.

Pretty lousy, but that's how it is.
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AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Hacker, when you were at Barksdale a few months back, didn't you give some incentive flights to some "deserving" people? Of course I wouldn't know because I was just a little ol' wrench turner out at the test cell. You couldn't have shot me a PM could ya ;)

But seriously, riding in back of the plane you work on simply depends on what aircraft you're assigned. In my case, I'm now stationed at March Field in socal where we work on the C-17 and 135's. For reservists like myself who live in Las Vegas, and Pheonix, a C-17 will pick us up and take us to the base for the weekend and return us after the weekend is over. Not a bad deal considering its free. I haven't done it yet, but next month I do plan on using it.
 
SRA_kbad said:
Hey Hacker, when you were at Barksdale a few months back, didn't you give some incentive flights to some "deserving" people? Of course I wouldn't know because I was just a little ol' wrench turner out at the test cell.
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Yup, we had an entire day that was ALL incentives.

I actually gave an incentive ride to an E+E troop, who was VERY deserving. That makes my day to be able to fly guys like that.
 
GatorFC said:
Civilians can do it. You just have to get famous enough! ;)

Rock stars (ref. fish314 above), TV reporters, Radio show hosts, actors, sports stars, etc. still get to do publicity rides. Guess what? Authors do as well. Here's children's book author Jan Brett getting a ride in a Blue Angel, and she does a better job than most in handling the Gs!

Jan Brett rides with the Blue Angels

So, get cracking on some more hit novels. :D
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Now THAT'S motivation!!!!
 
Hacker15e said:
The term you're looking for is "incentive flights", and yes they do occasionally happen.

However, the AF goes through the effort when they want to reward/recognize higher achievers, like Airman or NCO of the Quarter or Year.

Unfortunately, that means that the vast majority of the guys who bust their a$$ to keep the jets flying don't ever get to know what it's like to fly in it.

Pretty lousy, but that's how it is.
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:yeahthat: ... usually, the ones that get those awards get them because of mostly political reasons. For instance, in my squadron, we have K-flight, which does works on the jamming computers. They are the "smartest" and they also do the least amount of work. However, with all that vocabulary, and all that time to write 1206s, they always got 80% of the monthly/yearly awards.

Not saying deserving people don't get awards, but its a political business sometimes.
 
We gave some rides in the P-3 to a bunch of JROTC cadets once. It only required a parental waiver, 15 minute visit with a flight doc and the approval from an Admirals legal staff, and the thankless desk work of one lowly staff LT. Of course it didn't hurt that guy in charge of the JROTC training was a O-6 retired EA-6B driver.
 
as a cadet i have gotten t38, c-17, rc-135, c-130 in the desert rides...T6 here i come!!!
 
Hacker15e said:
The term you're looking for is "incentive flights", and yes they do occasionally happen.

Most of the time, open fighter cockpits in B or D models are simply just open during flight. The reason? The training required just for a ride for anyone not currently qualified to fly in that jet. You need a current FC1 medical, plus current egress and ejection seat training. You also need an altitude chamber card if you're going above 18K.

So, because of all the extra training required, it doesn't happen all that often.

However, the AF goes through the effort when they want to reward/recognize higher achievers, like Airman or NCO of the Quarter or Year.

Unfortunately, that means that the vast majority of the guys who bust their a$$ to keep the jets flying don't ever get to know what it's like to fly in it.

Pretty lousy, but that's how it is.
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Had those opportunities when participating in a medical protocol program out of Walter Reed AMC many years ago. It was the bomb. Allowed me to gain a healthy respect/appreciation for fighter pilots and the stresses induced on the body when flying. Here I was thinking they're overpaid video flying jocks. . .wrong answer.
 
88MPH said:
:yeahthat: ... usually, the ones that get those awards get them because of mostly political reasons. For instance, in my squadron, we have K-flight, which does works on the jamming computers. They are the "smartest" and they also do the least amount of work. However, with all that vocabulary, and all that time to write 1206s, they always got 80% of the monthly/yearly awards.

Not saying deserving people don't get awards, but its a political business sometimes.
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Naw. . .I truly aint believing that about the Air Force. . .but I can't contradict your perception, so I'll simply frown and say . . . .okaaaaay.
 
I fly Hawks now, but in my previous life I was fortunate enought to get a incentive ride in a Block 25 F-16. It was nice after working on them for so long to finally see what it was like to fly one.
Pete
 
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