Any fliers?

Vaughn wrote:

Me. (Just today, in fact)

Sure, rub it in. Last sortie: 17 JUN 03, but hoping to return to flying by 17
JUN 05....


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

"BUFDRVR" wrote in message
...
Vaughn wrote:

Me. (Just today, in fact)

Sure, rub it in. Last sortie: 17 JUN 03, but hoping to return to flying by 17
JUN 05....

Yes, but my usual mount has 8 fewer engines than your BUF. I have one of
the most wonderful, yet most humble, gigs in commercial aviation. I am a
commercial sailplane rides pilot & CFI. http://www.barryaviation.com/

Vaughn

Vaughn wrote:
Yes, but my usual mount has 8 fewer engines than your BUF. I have one
of the most wonderful, yet most humble, gigs in commercial aviation. I am a
commercial sailplane rides pilot & CFI. http://www.barryaviation.com/


The closest I've ever come to tossing my cookies in the air (as an adult) came
during a glider ride. Round and round.... the sun beating down on me. Bleh....

If you were a real man, you'd be going deaf like the rest of us.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN


http://www.mortimerschnerd.com

Vaughn wrote:

Sure, rub it in. Last sortie: 17 JUN 03, but hoping to return to flying by
17
JUN 05....

Yes, but my usual mount has 8 fewer engines than your BUF. I have one
of
the most wonderful, yet most humble, gigs in commercial aviation. I am a
commercial sailplane rides pilot & CFI. http://www.barryaviation.com/


Flying is flying. I'd strap my self to a kite right now if I could find a kit
big enough to get me airborne.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

(BUFDRVR) wrote:

Flying is flying. I'd strap my self to a kite right now if I could find a kit
big enough to get me airborne.

A kite is more akin to "flying" than is flogging a BUFF at FL 250.

On Tue, 18 May 2004 16:37:21 GMT, Mike Marron
wrote:

(BUFDRVR) wrote:

Flying is flying. I'd strap my self to a kite right now if I could find a kit
big enough to get me airborne.

A kite is more akin to "flying" than is flogging a BUFF at FL 250.


Interesting that a WW I slang term for the string-bags of the period
was "kite".

But, lest we drift to far from the name of the group, let me note that
flying military airplanes is simply a means to another end. Sure,
there are a lot of military airplanes that move stuff around the world
ala airlines, but the real purpose of the airplanes is as tools to
perform more violent functions.

Flying the airplane is a challenge, but once mastered, it becomes
secondary to employing the tool well. The whole dance of combat air
ops, the challenge of pitting your team against the opposition,
whether in a 1-v-1 basic fighter maneuver sortie, or for quarters on
the air-to-ground range, or in a technological tour-de-force battle
against the arrayed forces of Red Flag, or in a no-****,
this-is-for-real shooting war, that's the real deal.

Flying with the boids is great, but doing the job in the BUFF at FL
250, 12,000 miles from home plate, against a bunch of folks who really
don't like you all that much....there's the rub.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Ed Rasimus wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:
(BUFDRVR) wrote:

Flying is flying. I'd strap my self to a kite right now if I could find a kit
big enough to get me airborne.

A kite is more akin to "flying" than is flogging a BUFF at FL 250.

Interesting that a WW I slang term for the string-bags of the period
was "kite".

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

But, lest we drift to far from the name of the group, let me note that
flying military airplanes is simply a means to another end. Sure,
there are a lot of military airplanes that move stuff around the world
ala airlines, but the real purpose of the airplanes is as tools to
perform more violent functions.

No argument here.

Flying the airplane is a challenge, but once mastered, it becomes
secondary to employing the tool well.

Understood, but the challenge of "kites" is that no matter how good
one is, one never quite masters them per se. They're so lightweight
and some (like mine) have such a high power-to-weight ratio and
are so susceptible to the unpredictable whims of mother nature that
they simply defy being "mastered" in the sense one "masters" any
other A/C type. . As you may recall, Bob Wall (former F-100 jock) and
Dave Witchey (former F-15 jock) both perished in "kites" not too long
ago and neither came anywhere near mastering their respective
lightweight machines.

The whole dance of combat air ops, the challenge of pitting your team
against the opposition, whether in a 1-v-1 basic fighter maneuver sortie,
or for quarters on the air-to-ground range, or in a technological tour-de-force
battle against the arrayed forces of Red Flag, or in a no-****, this-is-for-real
shooting war, that's the real deal.

Let's not forget that due to modern technology, some "kites" are being
considered more and more these days for use in combat (in unique,
specialized ops ala Bond-style as in "The World is Not Enough").

Flying with the boids is great, but doing the job in the BUFF at FL
250, 12,000 miles from home plate, against a bunch of folks who really
don't like you all that much....there's the rub.

See above. Don't get me wrong, I respect BUFDRVR and all military
personnel (well, almost "all") for serving our country but when it
comes to aviation, I'd rather hang out with the "boids" (though I
haven't seen any boids while flying my "kite" at night) than hang out
for hours and hours on end (and that's if you're lucky...as BUFDRVR
admits that he hasn't flown in a coon's age) in the rarefied air up at
FL 250 in a BUFF.

Interesting that a WW I slang term for the string-bags of the period
was "kite".

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

Official term on secret documents was Akorn, Me-609 (on a few rare transport
documents), or "Silber". Secret flying projects such as the 8-262, 8-163, and
8-335 all had precious metals nicknames. The pilots usually called them
"Turbos" - I saw in Galland's book that he called them 'kites' but none of the
pilots I've interviewed called them anything other than a "Me" or "Turbo". He
and Steinhof (the only other pilot I've seen call his 262 a kite) are both
members of the 'old guard' and may have used the term as an endearing pat on
the rump with a nod toward their earlier roots. Lots of pilots in the pre-war
era called their glorified stringbags by the affectionate appellation of
'kite'.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

An LZ is a place you want to land, not stay.

"Mike Marron" wrote

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

And we seemingly menial modern groundcrew refer to the jet du jour
(-16, -15, -117, BUFF, whatever) as 'kites'.

As in, "Let's get these kites in the air"

Pete

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Flying with the boids is great, but doing the job in the BUFF at FL
250, 12,000 miles from home plate, against a bunch of folks who really
don't like you all that much....there's the rub.

You mean there are actually people who don't like the BUFF?


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"