Sierra Hotel!

aloft

New Member
Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take my camera in with me to capture proof, but I got a little over an hour in an F-16 sim at Luke AFB today. My CFI for my private ticket is going through initial F-16 training there and was my IP for the afternoon.

It wasn't a full-motion sim (no such thing in the F-16 community), but it had a field of view of about 160 degrees, and the cockpit was all actual F-16 hardware, meaning they could take it out of the sim and plug it in a real jet and go fly.

After takeoff, I flew a surface attack profile, attacking the simulated Luke AFB: made 2 level Mk 82 drops, two pop-up drops, and two strafing runs (one on the tower
cool.gif
). Then off to join up on a tanker for gas (much harder than it looks), and some air-to-air intercepts against a MiG-29, learning how to "play the piccolo" (all the controls on the stick and throttle), working the radar, and shwacking one MiG. Then some low-level nap-of-the-earth through some mountains and finally an ILS back into Luke. (Funniest thing of the experience: the F-16's flight director--such as it is, and used only for approaches--is called "Herm the Sperm"
grin.gif
)

It was a total blast, definitely an E ticket ride.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Then off to join up on a tanker for gas (much harder than it looks),

[/ QUOTE ]

Tanker is a little bit of a pain, but a tad easier for them since all they have to do is pull into position with the cockpit forward of the boom and follow the director lights. In the Hog, the darn boom sits in front of the cockpit, so you have to look left/look right to see each director light side; at night, in weather, and with a limited boom window of movement, it can easily become a spatial-d maker. Other problem is remembering what set of director lights means what, if you haven't tanked for a while. Underneath the tanker, the two directors appear as a series of lights in two parallel rows running along the longitudinal axis of the jet. Sometimes, they're bright, sometimes they're dim; the object is to keep the white light in the center of each row. The left side gives down/up trend info, the right side gives forward/aft trending: center=on, yellow trends forward or aft on each set, with a flashing light illuminating when you reach either down/up/fore/aft limit. Good way to remember what either set of lights means is a simple acronym: Looking at the lights from the receiver position under the boom, you see the lights reading left to right and from closest to furthest as D-F-U-A, or Don't F#%k Up Again.

Sent Doug a neat pic of us crossing the Atlantic at sunrise next to the KC-10.

Too bad I'm not in TUS aloft, or you would've had been able to "comparison shop" the sims! (that goes for anyone)
 
Outstanding Photo ... Keep up the good work MikeD. Get home soon.
 
MikeD

Does the A-10 have A/P or did you and your flight squad have to "hand fly" your entire trip across the pond?

Hope so cause that would sound like a nightmare.


Corrie
 
I'd be on the other side, either on the boom, or in the opposite observation position, since I don't know exactly when the pic was taken.
 
Wow...that's the biggest drop tank I think I've ever seen on a 'hog!
shocked.gif


And yeah, the stick takes some getting used to; it moves VERY little, and basically has strain gauge sensors to determine how much force you're applying to it. Difficult at first to roll a specific bank angle without over/undershooting, which tends to throw off the desired flight path geometry in a put-your-lift-vector-on-him-and-pull (aka "bank and yank")sort of aircraft. But actually, I'd say the bigger thing that sets in is HUD/radar fixation; this can really bite you in IMC as the jet self-trims itself to 1 G in whatever attitude it's in. One guy calmly flew into the dirt due to this; he'd throttled back and forgot about it as he apparently busied himself with approach plates, etc and when the aircraft no longer had the airspeed to maintain level flight, it slowly descended, maintaining that 1 G trim, til he splattered.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Wow...that's the biggest drop tank I think I've ever seen on a 'hog!
shocked.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

They're old F-111 tanks. Carry a good amount of fuel, but are draggy as heck. At altitude, with the weak engines we already have, they're somewhat of a pain. We used to ferry with two of these (can carry three), but the drag far outweighed the value of the extra fuel, so all you see these days is one on the centerline.
 
AWESOME PIC!!!!!!!

How long does it take to fly across the pond in the A-10 and how many refuelings do you need on average?
 
[ QUOTE ]
5 refuelings, 9.5 hours to the Azores.

[/ QUOTE ]

My uncle used to be based there, he was in ATC. Did you get to do much around the island or just pass through. He really got into golf there becaue there was nothing else to do.
 
Spend about 48 hrs there, so I bummed a car and checked the island out. Neat place.
 
I hear they have ropes tied between the houses for when it gets so windy. Or maybe it was the fog. Either way, I knew a guy who got orders there, so the big joke was to give him a rope so he could tie it to his house and then use it to find his way home.

BTW, very cool aloft!
 
Back
Top