Flying 767's would be sweet I think...I might even want to try it one day, if someone will hire me
Cav can give you some flight training too!
Long live the Viper...
- Thread starter HumbleSiPilot77
- Start date
Cav can give you some flight training too!
dasleben
That's just, like, your opinion, man
You and I both know that your landings are going to take a lot of work if you go that route
It's alright, normal 767 landings aren't much to write home about anyway.
scooter2525
Very well Member
I think I need to check outta this thread.
I love what I do now, it's a great job and rewarding. But their is a part of me that would love to go back in time and make some majorly different choices earlier in life. But hey, living in the past just brings misery so making the most of the present is what I can do! I'm glad some of you on the board have been able to enjoy some amazing aircraft and also have been able to protect our country at the same time. The closest I've been to flying a military jet was in a L-29 which was a blast. Need to save for some Pitts time....
I love what I do now, it's a great job and rewarding. But their is a part of me that would love to go back in time and make some majorly different choices earlier in life. But hey, living in the past just brings misery so making the most of the present is what I can do! I'm glad some of you on the board have been able to enjoy some amazing aircraft and also have been able to protect our country at the same time. The closest I've been to flying a military jet was in a L-29 which was a blast. Need to save for some Pitts time....
scooter2525
Very well Member
I'm sure there is the suck like any other job. But the awesome is AWESOME!
Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
I certainly understand that, and to be fair, I strongly agree with that sentiment. Fortunately, I don't need a particular job to fuel my sense of self worth, my individual identity, etc. At some point -- and probably sooner than later -- the mundane and safe will be a great way to make a living, and I look forward to hopefully doing that in the front office of an airliner.
I think the difference for me -- and the hang-up for most military pilots who have flown tactical aircraft -- is that I've had a good number of hair-raising, adrenaline-charged flying experiences, and I know what a rush I got from that and the immense job satisfaction it gave me. Although I absolutely love all things aviation, and certainly wish to continue flying in the 121 world after I leave the AF, the memory of those experiences will always be in the back of my mind. It is tough to know I will never do that, see that, or feel that again; it aches just a little bit, like a long-lost love or something.
I have interest in lots of facets of aviation, and while I know I probably won't get those same kinds of 'kicks' flying for a 121 operation, there are plenty of other avenues to keep flying fun, different, and exciting....to try and grasp at some of that excitement again. I absolutely do plan on pursuing those avenues as well.
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
I know exactly what you're talking about, and I'll admit, in other facets of my life I'm right there with you. But with an airplane, when the adrenaline gets pumping, it likely means something has gone drastically wrong. Now with your job, maybe that means things are going as expected (getting shot at, as not fun as I'm sure it is, it's certainly something ya'll prepare for). In a 121 cockpit, it means things have gone pear shaped with a bunch of people in tow.
So with that being said, I get my adrenaline fix outside of the cockpit where I feel I have a larger measure of control over what's going on. Mountain biking, skiing and rock climbing are the things that I do. And personally, I feel like I have a much larger amount of control over how good or bad things will go while I'm rocketing down a mountain on a pair of skis or pumping out while rock climbing.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
I think flying jets that make fire out the front and back is an addiction. I'd put up with a lot of suckiness to keep doing it as long as possible. Im starting to realize how fleeting it all is now however. Every wx/mx cancel I have, I always think "well there's another flight I'll never get back". I also realize its a young mans game, and when you see things like Lex dying in his kfir, you realize that the smart man gives this pursuit up before the the statistics of time are against him, and the bucket of luck has run dry. Just some observations
Springer
Well-Known Member
How frustrating is that?. I flew during the Carter years when money was tight. Our ops grease board would consistantly bleed red with maintenance cnx's. I would spend the whole previous day flight planning a 4-ship to the tanker followed by some tactical event only to be cancelled. Happened over and over.
ryan1234
Desensitized Member
Well, that particular genre of flying needs guys like you, Bunk, and Hacker to keep to torch going. None of my classmates, or instructors for that matter, really have any idea or care about general aviation... warbirds in particular... few know or care about tradition and history. They will pay it lip service from time to time in a speech, but in the end few actually care. It's surprising, frustrating, and somewhat depressing to see this as the future of military aviators. Our group HQ can't even correctly label the aircraft in their "Air Force History pictures" that line the wall.
The warbird group is a small, but a great group. It will definitely need competent, younger guys with experience in pointy nose jets to keep it alive. The jet warbird world... and warbird / air show world in general is not very forgiving at all. Each year the group shrinks and aircraft are lost... it is very humbling.
Springer
Well-Known Member
bunk22
Well-Known Member
You and I both know that your landings are going to take a lot of work if you go that route
A lot of work!!
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Also take note of the Street Sweeper Social Club shirt.
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
HumbleSiPilot77
Well-Known Member
I didn't know your taste was that bad.......
What do you like about it, it's large payload? Or it's amazing on-station time?
When I was a FAC, I could count on F-16s to give me little in station time or accuracy. But to be fair, that was back with dumb munitions mostly. Now, they have LGBs and GPS guided munitions to take care of that issue. At least they can claim they carry more than a Harrier.
"We came, we saw, we bingo'd out".
I like the fact that the thread gained momentum, that was my intention.
Never flew the Viper, always wanted to, and maybe that is why I am way biased that it is the true multi-role fighter ever built. I don't think it is bad taste, do you think F-16 was a bad decision to procure from get go? And I am sure you have a worthy comparison in mind to Viper other than AV-8B. I am not too keen into what it has become with the Block 60 series or the CFT hogs that was sold to allied air forces recently but this aircraft is the brainchild of John Boyd that really turned heads when it came into service and was produced as many as the Phantom in quantity. Station time? Don't they have a tanker nearby?
I like the fact that the thread gained momentum, that was my intention.
I just like making fun of the F-16. But seriously, the original Blocks of A model F-16s were some air-air machines, as Hacker and I described earlier. The F-4 Phantom is truly the first multirole fighter. F-16, I would consider the second. F-4 did more and varied missions than the F-16 did, even though the F-16 is indeed a multirole fighter in its own right.
Problem is, the USAF didn't want it for the air-air role, as it didn't want it doing the role that the F-15A/C was already covering, so the AF always considered the F-16 an air-ground bird first, air-air bird second. They even wanted the A-16 version to replace the A-10. Which is too bad, as even though its shorter range in both legs as well as radar than the F-15, and at that time it didn't have an medium-range air-air missile capability until the advent of the F-16A/ADF with the AIM-7 (used for NORAD only), it still had a great short range air-air capability which the AF never took advantage of.
HumbleSiPilot77
Well-Known Member
Didn't North Dakota fly those until recently? I do like the 1984 C/D upgrades with a better user interface, HUD symbology etc
Didn't North Dakota fly those until recently? I do like the 1984 C/D upgrades with a better user interface, HUD symbology etc
Fargo was the last with them, trading them in for UAVs and C-21s.
The F-16 just isn't the best CAS platform, short legs and high speed. I think it's far better at the interdiction role or BAI role, hitting fixed or mobile targets beyond the FLOT in a medium-deep strike role, short of what F-111/F-15Es would be doing.
HumbleSiPilot77
Well-Known Member
But we have them on SEAD at Shaw, Spang and Misawa... Short of what F-4 was capable of doing I think...
Had this image on a high school notebook cover back in the early 90s... A-16 was something I really wanted to see, with LANTIRN ....
Had this image on a high school notebook cover back in the early 90s... A-16 was something I really wanted to see, with LANTIRN ....
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