losing your wings.....

We had an air show at Williams AFB with the Thunderbirds as the main event,
circa late 70's or so. Apparently back then they didn't want any acrobatic
flying by any other military aircraft at any airshow they were in. After
they arrive on Friday afternoon buzzing the control tower so close I could
see each finger of crewchief waving to us comm guys on the catwalk an ANG
F-106 arrived a couple of hours later. He asked the control tower local
control if the base wanted a little show. To which the local control (who
had a reputation as ****up) replied "do whatever you want to do" to which
the F-106 driver promptly did a high speed 360 at about 500 AGL over the
base. Certainly way over the 250KT speed limit. Said pilot (young LT as I
recall) was promptly met at his aircraft by our Wing King and immediately
grounded. Not sure what eventually happened to him although his unit had to
send a two seat F-106 to pick him and his F-106 up. As for the air traffic
controller he was immediately and permanently decertified and since he had
just re-enlisted with a huge re-enlistment bonus he was forced to pay that
back in addition to completing whatever term of service he had left in some
simple AFSC where he could do no harm.

Certainly think the FA-18 driver was treated properly

John Carrier wrote:
"~^ beancounter ~^" wrote in message
ups.com...
years and years to earn...seconds to lose...

---------------------------------------
SAN LUIS OBISPO - At a quarter past noon on Jan. 21, a U.S. Navy F-18
Super Hornet jet fighter flown by a combat-tested pilot named Richard
Webb appeared over the Edna Valley and streaked toward San Luis Obispo
County Regional Airport.

On its first pass, the Super Hornet screamed along at more than 650
miles an hour, just 96 feet above the main runway. Soon it circled
back, touched down on the tarmac for an instant, then went into a steep
climb, afterburner roaring, and disappeared in the skies.

SNIP

You're sure now. Not 95 feet, not 97, but precisely 96 feet?

I just wonder if something like that came via someone w/ access to the
info which I would assume came from the pilot in the aftermath of his
stunt? As how else could it be that specific -- unless we just chalk
it up to the LA Times staff writer's creative license?

John Carrier wrote:
On its first pass, the Super Hornet screamed along at more than 650
miles an hour, just 96 feet above the main runway. Soon it circled
back, touched down on the tarmac for an instant, then went into a
steep climb, afterburner roaring, and disappeared in the skies.

SNIP

You're sure now. Not 95 feet, not 97, but precisely 96 feet?

I'd bet it's a radar altimeter value from the aircraft's flight data
recorder (yes, newer military aircraft do have FDRs). Probably written up
in the incident report.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872

WaltBJ wrote:
That F18 pilot knew exactly what he was doing. My guess is that he was
fed up with the Navy and decided to hang it up. Note - he was on an
authorized sortie or else there'd been a lot more severe action taken.
Walt BJ

He had four years left to run on his committment; did he think they would
let him skate on that?

Besides, from the rest of the article -- the part where he wrote a nasty
email to one of the people who reported the flyby -- he sounds like he
really loved flying and was pretty angry about getting busted. But that
same incident demonstrates his continuing poor judgementand lack of
maturity. He broke the rules and knew it; blaming others for turning him in
was just plain childish. Sounds like he thought it would have been OK to
violate flight safety rules if no one had caught him at it.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872

Mike Weeks wrote:

From those with such experiences while in the RAG; wouldn't there
have
been at least a flight plan for example? Might that be what was meant
by "assumed"? Any thoughts on that para from the article?

I took this to mean that his superiors assumed that he would follow the
flight plan he'd filed and execute the training sortie scheduled for him,
which would have taken place in the designated training range.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872

"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
ink.net...
John Carrier wrote:
On its first pass, the Super Hornet screamed along at more than 650
miles an hour, just 96 feet above the main runway. Soon it circled
back, touched down on the tarmac for an instant, then went into a
steep climb, afterburner roaring, and disappeared in the skies.

SNIP

You're sure now. Not 95 feet, not 97, but precisely 96 feet?

I'd bet it's a radar altimeter value from the aircraft's flight data
recorder (yes, newer military aircraft do have FDRs). Probably written up
in the incident report.

Never seen a radalt that read to single digits. T-45 airborne data recorder
(probably similar to F-18) get radalt in tens of feet, pressure alt in 20's.

R / John

What if there had been some poor student in a 150 shooting touch and goes.
Even Mr. super aviator might have missed seeing him in his excitement. That
could have meant the loss of a lot more than a set of wings.


Come to think of it, I lost my grandfather's wings, but I guess that's not
the same thing.

Bob McKellar

With the caveat that this is through the prism of the mainstream
media, I'll work on the basis that the details are accurate.

A flyby at your old stomping ground is one thing, but high speed pass
followed by an afterburner climb (shudder!)? There's a time and
place for that kind of flying, but this wasn't it. Methinks a more
garden variety touch and go would have resulted in getting smacked
hard but keeping his wings.

As an aside, I believe airports should be good neighbors, but I
couldn't help but smile at the thought of the people who built their
houses next to that evil airport.

John Carrier wrote:

"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
ink.net...

John Carrier wrote:

On its first pass, the Super Hornet screamed along at more than 650
miles an hour, just 96 feet above the main runway. Soon it circled
back, touched down on the tarmac for an instant, then went into a
steep climb, afterburner roaring, and disappeared in the skies.

SNIP

You're sure now. Not 95 feet, not 97, but precisely 96 feet?

I'd bet it's a radar altimeter value from the aircraft's flight data
recorder (yes, newer military aircraft do have FDRs). Probably written up
in the incident report.


Never seen a radalt that read to single digits. T-45 airborne data recorder
(probably similar to F-18) get radalt in tens of feet, pressure alt in 20's.

Maybe it remembers radalt in multiples of 8 or 16 feet?

The article could have been better written. We have an approximate
"more than 650mph" [true or indicated?] followed by an exact "96
feet" in the same sentence. What are they teeching the schooles in
these days?

Almost unbelieveable display of immaturity and selfishness on the part of
this guy. I thought all the Mavericks and Icemen had been flushed from the
system by now.

Did my generation do these stupid stunts? Hell, yes. (Even in A-6s.) Were
our actions any "better" than this young man's? Hell, no.

Good to know that this hot-dog will no longer grace our skies.

--
Mike Kanze

"A rattlesnake loose in the living room tends to end all discussion of
animal rights."

- Time magazine's Lance Morrow, written after the September 11 attacks.


"~^ beancounter ~^" wrote in message
ups.com...
years and years to earn...seconds to lose...

[rest snipped]