What's the coolest thing you've done in an airplane?
- Thread starter atracnitrix
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Waffles Brah.
I think they are...but I'm not sure....but I'm not sure the school you were thinking of was mine.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
I know he isn't on the team, but I would love to hear the story of how you ended up bagging so much cool time with those guys ryan? Maybe you told me before but I forget. Either way, jealous......that is some cool stuff you have gotten to do. The MIG-17 burner pass during the twilight show at NTU last year was awesome. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure CAPT Snodgrass was within an RCH of having his wingtip touching the ground. That is some serious aviating!
As an aside, I hope that you aren't like the kid who jumped right into porn at an early age, and thus had normal sex ruined for life. I know for a fact you won't get to do that kind of crazy stuff very often if at all in the service, even if you do end up in Mudhens. Should have gone Navy
(j/k)
SeanD
Well-Known Member
Probably this
Nice! Are the butterflies always chewing away at your stomach? That has got to be one of the most challenging things to do in aviation, aside from commuting
. There was a documentary on Smithsonian Channel about carrier ops, that had pilots landing while the carrier was tilting due to rough seas, AT NIGHT. That was nuts.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
Nice! Are the butterflies always chewing away at your stomach? That has got to be one of the most challenging things to do in aviation, aside from commuting
Daytime isn't so bad. Basically you hit certain wickets going around the pattern......600' at the 180/abeam, 500' at the 90 (base) at 3-400 fpm, 380 crossing the wake at the 45 with 6-700 fpm, and roll out in the groove not over or undershooting with about 760 fpm descent rate referencing your position on the ball. Day is nice because you have a lot of visual references, and you can sort of develop a sight picture for what a good approach turn looks like. Big corrections early (the name of the game) are easier for the same reason. When you turn the lights out we fly straight ins, and the corrections can be trickier due to the lack of cues aside from a blob of lights and the IFLOLS. I always feel pretty high at night, even on glideslope due to the position of the fresnel lens and the pit of darkness below it which is the ramp and also the water, which are indistinguishable from one another when there isn't a real bright moon. You have other things like ICLS, ACLS (if either are working) and LRLS to help you out as you approach the boat, but at 3/4 mile, the only things you are looking at are meatball, lineup, and AoA. Night traps suck, but they are at least satisfying when you are hanging in your straps in full blower in the LA when the deck dude gives you the throttle back signal.......
SeanD
Well-Known Member
At UPS?
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
Landed a broken down, screwed up, should-have-been-in-the-boneyard-in-1980 BE99 in a hurricane at KPNS. Total coincidence that the identifier was KPNS, btw. DHL van couldn't drive out on the ramp because of the wind. In retrospect, dumber than owl poop and I wouldn't do it again, but as a memory? First tier. There are others, but they, if I had done them, which of course I wouldn't have, were all illegal.
ryan1234
Desensitized Member
I was on the team in the 2011 Air Show season as a support pilot and operations/logistics guy, just flew around a Citation 650, occasionally got some L-39 time, and had a chance to do some media rides in other aircraft (CJ-6A, etc) once in a while. While the flying was very awesome to a know-nothing like myself... it was more of the people that I flew with. That team is truly made up of the best pilots I've flown with. They're great guys in the aircraft and out. Can't say enough good things about those dudes.
AMG, I was just a lucky and in the right spot. As far as ruining it goes... the training command flying sucks, but every once in a while I'll get down there and visit the guys.
bunk22
Well-Known Member
Agreed with the above, daytime in good weather is fun, daytime in bad weather not so much and night is never fun.
Max1594
Well-Known Member
Mines pretty similar to yours, after I got my ppl I joined a flying club with a cheap 152, took out my sectional and started looking for airports i havent flown to. Spent many lazy summer afternoons following train tracks and rivers to small fields, the highlight was going to a gravel strip for the first time and also flying at sunset to a field walking distance from a golf course for dinner. Hopefully one of these summers i'll find good enough of a reason to go out and get my tailwheel endorsement, I have a long ways to 1500 hours so I may as well learn something new while i'm at it!
dasleben
That's just, like, your opinion, man
When I was new to the 767, I remember getting to turn off everything and fly a pure visual into Crete (Greece) on a beautiful clear morning. Turning final over the Mediterranean, with hills on both sides of the field. Up until that point, I wasn't sure if I liked the heavy long-haul gig. After that, I was hooked.
Apophis
Resident Iconoclast
This past fall flying coverage for nationally televised college football games was pretty cool for me, especially since it's one of my favorite sports. Even though the travel has started to wear on me with my job, I'll never regret having participated in the events that I covered on TV. It's pretty awesome to tune into SportsCenter, and see them using aerial shots that I helped provide in their recap/coverage of the games.
And techincally, this stuff didn't happen in an airplane, but nevertheless still pretty cool.
And techincally, this stuff didn't happen in an airplane, but nevertheless still pretty cool.
hook_dupin
Well-Known Member
Somehow, we've convinced the world that doing aerobatics off of Cape Canaveral is a required test point for a test program I often fly.
Some of the other cool stuff:
-Going to Sweden to fly a Gripen
-Flying with MiG-29s in Bulgaria
-Flying a F-16.....as it departed controlled flight.
-Flying the first flight of a kick-ass new radar in the F-15E
-Dropping the first JASSM off an F-15E
And....saving lives
(Hacker15e did not look good his nylon short-shorts and an unruly mustache)
It's weird to think that the coolest stuff is probably already behind me....
bunk22
Well-Known Member
Nice! Are the butterflies always chewing away at your stomach? That has got to be one of the most challenging things to do in aviation, aside from commuting
Every time. My last landings were back in April, in the T-45C so my carrier landings are done.
bunk22
Well-Known Member
How is the Gripen and Mig-29 compared to say the Hornet?
hook_dupin
Well-Known Member
The MiG-29 doesn't compare to anything. I was shocked at how little play-time they had.
A Gripen is this cheap, simple, half-a-Hornet contraption. I wouldn't want to defend Taiwan with it, but at $30M a pop for an AMRAAM-capable fighter, I think it's a smart buy for former 2nd world countries looking to have Westernish air forces. The operating costs on the Gripen seem insanely low. Call the airplane "BVR on a Budget."
A Gripen is this cheap, simple, half-a-Hornet contraption. I wouldn't want to defend Taiwan with it, but at $30M a pop for an AMRAAM-capable fighter, I think it's a smart buy for former 2nd world countries looking to have Westernish air forces. The operating costs on the Gripen seem insanely low. Call the airplane "BVR on a Budget."
CFI A&P
Exploring the world one toilet at a time.
Hurricane Ivan? If so I was living in PNS at the time.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
Well played. Did you do Empire for your fam tour? Sounds like a blast. Reminds me of some stories told to me by a former skipper from the 83rd WEG. Guy was a JO shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, and flying out of Bitburg at the time. Said they got to do DACT with basically any and all comers from the FSU blocs. MIG-23/21/29/25 all at the merge for him as a 1lt in light grey -15's. Sounds like an incredible time to be alive. He said they shared their tactics pubs from the motherland, and it was pretty embarrassing reading. He also said they were better pilots than the Soviets gave them credit for (poor aircraft notwithstanding).