/r/MilitaryAviation
Anything related to the aviation operations of the world's militaries, including discussion about flying, maintaining and procuring fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and unmanned airborne systems.
/r/MilitaryAviation
I have seen A-10 pilots referred to as “hog drivers.” Are other planes “driven” as well, or is it just the Warthogs?
I saw an instergram video which showed a smaller ish version on Google maps. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-M9iMroEKF/?igsh=aHA1d3ZzaXIyNHdp
So I'm currently on the island of Gran Canaria, near the Gando air base of the spanish airforce, and I swear on my mama, that I saw an F 16 that literally had its engine pointed down and hovering above a helipad or something. I looked into it, and found nothing (no kidding, I had never seen or heard about anything this goofy) So if anyone could provide some clearance or prove that I was tripping balls I'd appreciate it.
So I saw this video on tiktok and of course instead of providing background info the poster is just fear mongering. I wanted to do some independent research and found a vid about a US and South Korean aerial exercise about a year ago but wanted to see if anyone could identify this video and it's origins a bit better. Looks to me like US Chinooks and Apaches but I'm no expert.
From south africa and there is very little chance of flying a fighter jet here, do any countries recruit foreigners to fly fighters without them having to be a citizen or live in that country for a certain amount of time prior to applying to be part of the countries air force
Today I saw something strange. Two small passenger jets flew overhead in very close formation, low and fast. They were sort of in the "fighter-wingman" diagonal formation, and they couldn't have been more than 1000 feet off the ground. I looked them up, and they must have been very close because only one showed up on radar, a USAF T-1a Jayhawk, callsign "MAFIA11." They had flown out of Columbus and were flying small circles over Lake Michigan. Apparently, pilots that train with this aircraft go on to fly tankers and airlift craft. Could this have been practice for air-to-air refueling? If not, does anybody know what this was? Pardon my limited knowledge of aviation terminology.
My brother thought the Ki-44 (Pic below), was faster than an F-16 Fighting Falcon (Pic Below)
F-16 Fighting Falcon (Cold-war era multi-role fighter jet) Top speed ca. Mach 2.05.
Hello, i'm a civialian pilot who was reject from the air force and my dream is to learn the basics of combat training. I was searching for some privates companies who teaches the art of the aerial combat but i haven't found that much! Can you recommend me some flight schools or companies who can train me?
TLDR; Explaining the depth of why additional duties SUCK and are often cited as the number one shitty thing about being a pilot in the Army. Any Army pilot who reads this will feel this in their bones.
It's a long one. You'll be excused if you just don't read it all. This was a rant I wrote out many months ago when someone replied to me, asking simply: What are the miserable additional duties?
Well, it's a figurative laundry list.
The problem is they load you up with several. Some are low impact and some are high impact.
The low impact ones get nearly or completely ignored. Then, slowly, that program falls into disrepair. Eventually someone will need your help with that particular thing, that you're in charge of, and it's so fucked or you never took the time to learn it, it it's been so long that you struggle to be effectual in that duty, So you set aside time to re-learn the thing or just pass off a half assed product.
Examples of low-impact duties; -Information Management Officer (IMO) -Voting Assistance Officer -Publications Officer -Sexual Harassment Assault Response & Prevention -Equal Opportunity Officer -Motorcycle Mentorship Officer -Fridge Fund -Morale Recreation and Welfare -Historian -Unit Prevention Leader (urinalysis testing coordinator & custodian)
Just to name a few. There's at least 15 more that I can't even think of.
The high impact ones are "additional duties" that practically require your full-time attention or care, or you will start failing the unit or other people immediately. People notice right away when these duties are neglected because they require constant attention and management. When you fail at these the consequences can be catastrophic to the smooth operation and day to dat activities of your unit. Failure reflects extremely poorly on you as an officer and can cause punative actions depending on the severity of your negligence. People don't get assigned these duties unless they've already proven through lesser duties or other work performance that they are responsible and motivates enough to manage them.
High impact additional duties;
-Aviation Life Support Officer (ALSE) -Unit Supply -Unit Movement Officer (UMO) -Communications Security (comsec) -Armorer
These are the majors if I've remembered all of them. I'm sure others might be missing and someone can get on here and spout off a bunch more.
The problem is layered.
When you get to your unit you immediately begin studying to prepare for progression to get checked out to be a line pilot. Somewhere in there you get assigned your first duty or duties. As a new guy you absolutely must prove yourself and these are viewed as early opportunities prior to flying to do that. So people will throw themselves at their additional duty to do just that. Some people balance well. Some don't. Progression is smooth or rough due to a variety of factors.
The next hurdle is that when you start flying for real, the workload jumps up. You have to mission plan and provide the minimum products to a extremely high standard. So you get put up for a flight and you take on many roles because you're the one who's developing and being mentored. So you're doing nearly everything to prep for the flight in the day or days leading up to the flight depending on what kind it is. You're new to the mission planning software so you're slow at everything you do while you learn those ropes. What will eventually take you 3 hours to do everything literally takes all day or longer in the beginning. Meanwhile, some Joe is asking you why the computers are running slow because youre the IMO. So now you're getting sidetracked to go through the beuarcratic nightmare that is putting in a help desk ticket on a computer that actually works to bring it in for a re-image, which requires you to leave the hangar, all of which, because of slow computers even with the ones that work well, takes like 2 hours out of your day. So then if you're good you have a tracker that you keep updated but the computer you're on won't connect to the share drive so you log on to another computer just to find THAT one isn't either. Eventually you just ask someone who's actively working on a computer if you can just pop on to make an update. Meanwhile you're Pilot in Command wants to see what you've accomplished for the flight so you drop what you're doing and show him. He's not impressed because you still suck so now the pressure is on. You seek help from someone who has been doing it a little longer than you and before you know it your tracker was never updated.
A bunch of little bullshit things will just degrade your ability to focus on getting good at your primary role which is being a mission pilot.
Eventually, despite subpar performance in your additional duties you start to be seen as a team player. BAM. You're the new supply Officer. Good luck. We need to inventory every piece of sensitive equipment and you don't even know what G-Army is. So now you're jumping through your ass to learn what is someone's primary MOS in another branch so you don't fail your commander but hey, you got two flights this week killer. Need those routes planned and loaded, time/distance/heading cards, a route over view with all the applicable margin data, and an inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions plan so I can brief the commander before close of business tomorrow. It's Monday. Also call the fuel stops to make sure they know when we'll be there and put in a dash one weather briefing request. And that's just for Wednesdays flight. You have a flight on Friday night, too, and you haven't even seen that Pilot in Command for that flight yet! Oh, by the way the sensitive item inventory - that's due on Friday also
So because you're motivated and you're not a slouch you just tell your wife it's going to be a long week and you're staying late every night to get it all done. You're the new guy and don't want to make excuses or look bad. Miraculously you get everything done for both flights, you've managed to get G-Army access and have gotten help from another company supply rep to even know what the fuck you're looking at. You assign some other person to do the inventory itself by Friday. Unfortunately you stayed late every day, worked through all the little bullshit computer issues that took up about an hour and a half of your time total every day, all the distractions that popped off like BN aircrew academics which was mandatory attendance or the FOD walk across the flight line, any people who asked for your help around the office for some reason or another. Oh, and everyone and their mother keeps asking how your pilotnin Command checklist is coming along so you've set aside time to study that when you're home, which is late. So you're bringing your work home with you.
This.
This ad nauseum.
Shit just stacks up. You never get really good at anything if you're trying to do it all. It's extremely frustrating, you have high expectations placed upon you every step of the way and you're completely under-supported and overwhelmed by all the competing interests. In some cases, it can be argued that this climate can cause reduced performance while flying because people can't dedicate themselves to the true study of the craft. Being a mission pilot.
I've just vented.
You asked.
Hope that painted a clear picture.
But the flying. When you finally manage to take off.
Is great...
Ah, almost forgot;
Your sensitive item inventory has to be turned in late on Monday, because it was due on Friday but you had a night flight. So Monday morning you figure out you need to write a memorandum for record stating why it was late. Your commander signs it, completely understanding. You take it to the property book office halfway across base where the the old ass civilian contractor GS-14 whatever the fuck property book officer berates you for sucking. Then, before you even get back to the office, he's shot off a nasty gram email to everyone on the batallion supply distribution email list bitching about late paperwork and citing you specifically. Great, the BN executive officer gets these emails. Cool.
Thanks for reading.
People sum it up by saying additional duties suck but that's just scratching the surface of an iceberg.
It would be immune to flares, and only slightly vulnerable to Chaff. Worst case scenario, it could have a backup Infrared mode if it is nighttime.
It could be named the AIM-9T.
French naval aviation NH-90 performing at an airshow (we can see a Commando Marine special force in it)
I am not an aviator, so please forgive in advance if this is a silly question.
My grandfather was a ret. Lt Cmdr in the USN. Mid 50s into the 80s, I believe. He was in VFP-62 and I think VFP-63. He flew the Corsair and the Crusader, but my father says he knew how to fly many more. (I believe he was an instructor later in his career.)
I’m watching videos on YouTube of Crusaders taking off and landing , and I notice most are VFP-62. I’m wondering: would there be a way to identify the pilots? Numbers on the tail? Markings? Would be so cool if I could verify that one of those pilots is my grandfather.
Thank you!
Currently serving as an officer in the military, I’ve always been fascinated by aviation. I’m seriously considering applying to become a pilot for any military branch, specifically for fixed-wing aircraft. However, I’m concerned about the possibility of being medically disqualified. I currently take medication for my blood pressure and have some spine issues that can be corrected with surgery, but I’m not ready for surgery anytime soon. I’m wondering if it’s even possible for me to become a pilot despite these medical conditions.
Thoughts?
Btw, I don’t really care what platform I fly, just want fixed wing.