Zipper Suited Sun Gods.....

[Galt]

... would be nothing but highly payed metal detector testers without us maintainers.

I've only met a few who actually acknowledge that though. And occaisionaly you'll even get one who'll come out and "get his hands dirty" helping launch or recover a jet.

And even then they're only personal transportation without a weapons load crew.

I've worked F-16s for 8 1/2 years now and F-111s for four years prior to that. I much prefer the weapons system on the F-111s (hard wired and not so many damn boxes for those college boys to break-We have a saying "It takes a college degree to break em', but we fix em' with just a high school diploma.") but I'd rather load on an F-16 (not so many stations to fill up). That Vark' could kill a load crew. Hats off to the bomber guys.

Every career field of course thinks the Air Force and the military in general cannot function if they weren't there so it's all just a bunch of Hoo-Rah anyway.

I'm available for any questions that may come up concerning the aircraft world in general (I'm also an instrument rated pilot nearly done with commercial) or anything Fighter/Bomber related.

[Katz]

welcome to the forum Galt and i cant think of any questions but am interested in hearing of your experiences :mrgreen:

[Dice]

Hehe Lawndarts.....

http://www.warthogpen.com/humor1_files/a-10smart.gif

[Haole]

... would be nothing but highly payed metal detector testers without us maintainers.

I've only met a few who actually acknowledge that though. And occaisionaly you'll even get one who'll come out and "get his hands dirty" helping launch or recover a jet.

And even then they're only personal transportation without a weapons load crew.

I've worked F-16s for 8 1/2 years now and F-111s for four years prior to that. I much prefer the weapons system on the F-111s (hard wired and not so many damn boxes for those college boys to break-We have a saying "It takes a college degree to break em', but we fix em' with just a high school diploma.") but I'd rather load on an F-16 (not so many stations to fill up). That Vark' could kill a load crew. Hats off to the bomber guys.

Every career field of course thinks the Air Force and the military in general cannot function if they weren't there so it's all just a bunch of Hoo-Rah anyway.

I'm available for any questions that may come up concerning the aircraft world in general (I'm also an instrument rated pilot nearly done with commercial) or anything Fighter/Bomber related.

A little disgruntled are we? :mrgreen:

I know what you mean. A majority of the pilots out there (military and civilian) think they are God's gifts to the world. I was prior enlisted and my father is in the same unit as I am and he is an enlisted maintenace troop. Some of us do realize the importance of the maintenance guys/gals. Granted, as a pilot we have been through more than most people out ther realize. Looks like a big fun game from the outside when in reality its a beast! That still doesnt give us the right to think we are any better than the rest of the base.

When we are back home I hear the same thing from the maintenace guys (I actually go the THEIR bar instead of the O Club and buy them drinks). They just want to be appreciated, also. However, I havent had many yet that wanted to trade places with me when the missiles and AAA were flying. The ones who did have never been there and just dont know, otherwise they WOULDNT want to trade.

Good post though and my hat is off to the maintainers and everyone else that is part of getting bombs on target on time (which is every military troop regardless of their job). :thumbsup:

CHEERS!

[Eluzion]

... would be nothing but highly payed metal detector testers without us maintainers.

I've only met a few who actually acknowledge that though. And occaisionaly you'll even get one who'll come out and "get his hands dirty" helping launch or recover a jet.

And even then they're only personal transportation without a weapons load crew.

I've worked F-16s for 8 1/2 years now and F-111s for four years prior to that. I much prefer the weapons system on the F-111s (hard wired and not so many damn boxes for those college boys to break-We have a saying "It takes a college degree to break em', but we fix em' with just a high school diploma.") but I'd rather load on an F-16 (not so many stations to fill up). That Vark' could kill a load crew. Hats off to the bomber guys.

Every career field of course thinks the Air Force and the military in general cannot function if they weren't there so it's all just a bunch of Hoo-Rah anyway.

I'm available for any questions that may come up concerning the aircraft world in general (I'm also an instrument rated pilot nearly done with commercial) or anything Fighter/Bomber related.

Welcome to the forums and glad to have you aboard!

[Galt]

A little disgruntled are we? :mrgreen:

I know what you mean. A majority of the pilots out there (military and civilian) think they are God's gifts to the world. I was prior enlisted and my father is in the same unit as I am and he is an enlisted maintenace troop. Some of us do realize the importance of the maintenance guys/gals. Granted, as a pilot we have been through more than most people out ther realize. Looks like a big fun game from the outside when in reality its a beast! That still doesnt give us the right to think we are any better than the rest of the base.

When we are back home I hear the same thing from the maintenace guys (I actually go the THEIR bar instead of the O Club and buy them drinks). They just want to be appreciated, also. However, I havent had many yet that wanted to trade places with me when the missiles and AAA were flying. The ones who did have never been there and just dont know, otherwise they WOULDNT want to trade.

Good post though and my hat is off to the maintainers and everyone else that is part of getting bombs on target on time (which is every military troop regardless of their job). :thumbsup:

CHEERS!

Not so much disgruntled as....well...I'm not quite sure WHAT the word is.. :?

Having played Falcon for nearly five years now I certainly understand what it is you guys have to face. I've also gotten an F-16 ride and two -111 rides (F and EF) so I also understand how much FUN you guys get to have everyday. :-p

Seriously though, the maintainers appreciate a little attention alot more than people realize. Not much chaps our...um...behind...more than seeing some MPF or supply or med puke get a ride when we bust our butts all night to get it ready for them. I know... I know... "We're all part of the mission." but what I always love is when this discussion is taking place and a jet flies over ... "THAT" is the mission. Getting towels handed out did NOT make that jet take off.

I've talked to a few of our pilots ( I play hockey with three and we have hours of driving to and from games to talk shop ) so I know alot of what you guys went through/and go through every day as part of your job. (Flight planning, the physical abuse, those huge paychecks, and putting up with whiney maintainers :D )


And I'll be perfectly honest and I'm sure any real world pilots who are also rabid Falcon 4 fans will confess to it as well, I have moments where I'm flying along and I'll check my six....juuuuuuuuust in case....

:drink: If you're ever out to Cannon, look me up. I'll buy the first round.

[Vlerkies]

I take my hat off to you guys and your fellow maintenance guys/gals. Without you guys we pilots would be lost in my opinion and i think you do a very thankless job. I try and make it a point every time to go and chat to the maintenance guys, while the other pilots think i'm nuts :lol:

Anyway i Salute you ~S~

[Galt]

We may not let you guys know it, but we really do dig it when you come out and slum it with the little folk. Just remember that the crew dogs aren't the ONLY ones out there. Us weapons guys get probably the least job satisfaction of any of the flightline jobs ... well.... in peace time anyway. :evil: And when ya'll drop lives...but I'm sure YOU guys get a kick out of that TOO.

[Vlerkies]

Ya can count on that bud!!


:military:
~S~

[merchant]

I am a home built flight sim builder so the "crew dogs " are often our role models. The job they perform every day we play at, trying to create a fuselage and cockpit, wiring controls and interfacing computers and instruments. They work at keeping the aircraft in the air and returning safely to base be it following a combat mission or training exercise. The weapons loaders are responsible for any piece of the aircraft that touches upon the weapons even if at first glance it should be the responsibility of the crew dogs. The fuelers are seldom thought about but they have a dangerous job with responsibilities including the handling of LOX and jet fuel safely. Not a job for the squeamish me thinks.

Our hat is off to all of the people who put the aircraft in the air, who maintain and fly. See http://www.f15sim.com to learnmore about the project I am involved in and see http://www.simpits.org to learn more about homebuilt sim builders.

[Galt]

Weapons takes care of everything weapons related. The panels in the cockpit, the pylons/rails, the gun and all the wiring and boxes in between. Also load the chaff and flare. When I was on the EF-111 I had gotten cross trained into all the crew chief stuff just to have something to do.

Avionics (Specialists...pointy heads) - Flight controls, instruments, radios, NAV, Radar, CMDS, RWR, engine malfunctions, the lights and hard broke electrical stuff assists.

Crew chiefs....preeety much everything else. They do the Lox/ Hydraulic/Oil servicing, engine removal/install, landing gear..like I'd said pretty much everything else.

Then theres Duhhhhhh AGE guys that keep all our ground equipment up and running (jammers, power units and lights, air compressors and Nitrogen Carts and LOX carts)

AMMO....ugh...don't EVEN get me started on them... build and deliver bombs.

There's lots of backshops that don't get a whole lot of press either:

Fab Shop (Sheet metal and metals tech)
PMEL (Keep our torque wrenches and test equipment up tight)
NDI (Non-Destructive Inspections) which do tests on tngine oil samples, and check cracks on equipment, stuff like that.
Armament Shop handles repairs and inspections on pylons, rails and guns.
Egress and Survival equipment - Chutes and Seats
Hyrdaulic shop takes care of all the acuators and struts and such.
Fuels - tanks and aircraft fuel problems (distribution, leaks)
AIS ( I can't remember what the acronym stands for) but basically avionics backshop - ECM, targeting and NAV pods, instrument and LRU repair
Supply .... well.. just dern supply
Phase Docks do major overhaul type inspections on the aircraft. Every ### hours aircraft get pulled out of service and stripped to a certain degree, gone over and refurbished as much as possible and then sent back to service.
Paint and Wash Rack - well... paint and wash stuff (equipment, aircraft, parts)
E&E (Electro/Environmental) - LOX systems, hard electrical repair

Then there's the hospital, Personnel, OSI, legal, SERVICES ("Yes sir, I think I WILL have another towel..."), Transportation, Tower/Rapcon, COMM, CE who are all involved in some small way shape or form...

And then of course there's my Quality Assurance guys who watch over ALL of them and make sure they're following technical data, OSHA/AFOSH, and local regulations and bring about great pain and suffering if they don't. Though more often then not, we smack them on the side of the head and tell them to straighten up (too much paperwork involved in writing people up most of the time). My wife equates us to the little winged monkeys from the Wizard of Oz because my office works directly for the Maintenance Group Commander... "FLY my pretties FLY!"

SO you can see there's lots of people involved in getting airplanes in the air and I'm sure I left some out (SPs left out on purpose-most of them are just too stinkin arrogant) but if I'd missed them I'm sure I'll remember them as soon as I hit [SUBMIT].

Jeffery A. Thomas, TSgt, USAF
Quality Assurance Chief Inspector
379 AEW EMXG/QA
Al Udeid AB, Qatar

[Vlerkies]

Yep i takes alot of people to prep everything :thumbsup:


:military:
~S~

[Haole]

Ya know....I was at a FOD check point at Al Udeid and got out and did my check (yes rollover and all) and drove over to my destination and a QA guy walked up to me and told me I didnt do a FOD check. I told him I did and he pointed at a small rock in my tire. You know how there are little rocks EVERYWHERE over there so i am sure I picked it up on the drive from the FOD point to where I was going. He told me to get out and do another one! HA! I am NOT a power hungry officer like most officers are but with his tone of voice and "not so nice" attitude I said "Sgt YOU do the FOD check" The QA guys that were around while I was there was almost a pain in the butt. I hope you (and it sounds like you have a good attitude) pass that good attitude to the troops. Dont go offensive on an officer unless you know for a fact he has made a mistake. Even then be smart about how ya do it.
Trust me! I fly the SINGLE engine jet in combat, dont ya think I am concerned about FOD as much as anyone :mrgreen:
The chow hall guys....I wont even go there. Have they gotten any better over there? I sure hope so! I walked in with the Base Commander prior to one of our 6 hour missions and he asked the guy if we could grab a couple pieces of bread and a pack of the Pnut butter and Jelly to take with us. The guy said "the chow hall opens in 10 minutes come back then" :shock:
I felt sorry for the poor guy. I guess some people just cant help being dumb. :D
I hope they have 24 hr ops over there to help you guys out a little. You deserve better than what we had.
Stay safe and by the way....is there still a little windmill by the volley ball courts over near the wagon wheel? My dad made it when we were there for OEF and it was still there when we went for OIF but it was looking pretty weak! Just curious! Thanks! See ya! :thumbsup:

[Charlie_VFP]

Haole,

When you were at AU, did you run into any of the VMFA-251 fellows on the 18 side?

[Galt]

THE FRIGGIN ROCKS.... GRRRRRR. My ankles have never BEEN so sore as my time here. Yeah, most QA guys let their position go to their heads...it does our heart good to see them burn all sortsa bridges in their time here and then wind up going back to their shops and face the consequences.

And ah...as far as going off on officers...you know how some of the LT's coming in these days look like they're 13 years old? Well there was an LT down helping depanel a -16 for phase...only he was all dirty and in a set of coveralls so I thought he was just some punk not using eye protection while using an airgun...SO I lit into him and didn't find out until I was getting his name and employee number that he was from MX supervision...ummm...yeahhh....uhh... He smiled and said he understood. That story made it back up to my shop before I even did... :)

The chow still pretty much sucks. Same crap every day...baked chicken becomes BBQ chicken becomes jerked chicken becomes stirfry... then the meatloaf, meatball's and spaghetti, meatsauce and spaghetti and finally into the burgers.

I went by there this afternoon and didn't see your windmill. The Wagon Wheel's coming down though.... the "dorms" are opening up in a couple weeks and they're trying to get everything set up over there before the people start moving in.

This place is completely different from when I got here back in November.

[jhook]

Galt!!! , Helooo!, I have fixed them and launched them myself, and my snap salute is par none! :wink: Have a six pack on me :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: Ya, bud! We should stick together. These pilots wine about everything! My canopy is dirty, vacume my cocpit, clean that greese from the landing gear. Oooh boy, no respect!!! :x Hey, we can get this show on the road! tell'em what you want and mayby they will listen. As for me, how bowt a few more drinks this way, Smags, Blade, Vlerkies, Buck, Pacman, Hail!!! lets chime in and say "we give it All foe the little guys that make the jet go booom!!! :thumbsup:

[Vlerkies]

:thumbsup:
:drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: on me jhook


:military:

~S~

[IxianMace]

Lol, that's a lot of drinks! :mrgreen: Be careful you don't have one too many now. :wink:

[Vlerkies]

:drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink:

A few more for the flight home and for those who drive :thumbsup:


:military:

~S~

[IxianMace]

ROTFL, can you drive with double vision? :lol: :thumbsup:

[Vlerkies]

Bro in South Africa anything is possible :thumbsup:

:drink:

:military:

~S~

[jhook]

Thanks pilots "gulp", you know that blur effect can be dangerous if you stare at it too long "gulp" And er see'en tow off dem "gulp" wo ry cows! "gulp" allf thisk bluries!, gotta "gulp" causes aximdentses and "gulp" me've gets'um nooo perspects forf kleens'en thof campa....crampa....clampa....campapies!!! "gulp" arrrgggg (head falls to the bar for a moment) "OH NOOOOO" I gots my "CRAP LOCKS" on again!
(ralf!!!) :-p

[jhook]

Pilots, This is a bar, right, so drink up and tell me some of your stories!!! How about a round for one and all :drink: . I'll start the question; "what got you interested in fighter/bomber aircraft, flight sims and the like?' 8)

[IxianMace]

Honestly speaking? One of my uncles. He was running a flight-sim called Microsoft Flight Simulator 4.x, by Bruce Artwick. The graphics were extremely poor compared to todays standards, and I was nervous handling a Cessna in that flight-sim.

Once I got my first landing, and started getting the hang of riding thermals in my sailplane, I was hooked. After that, I tried more challenging things, like flying under bridges and through holes in skyscrapers! :shock: :lol:

After flying for awhile in civilian aircraft, I decided to move onto something more... spicy. :evil: From there on, I moved on to flight-sims featuring military aircraft.

The first aircraft that I flew in a military flight-sim was the F/A-18 Hornet. The game was naturally titled 'F/A-18 Hornet'. ;)

*Calls over bartender*

"Err, you got any soft drink? I don't do alcohol".

LOL! :drink:

[Vlerkies]

:lol: :thumbsup:

:drink: a root beer for you then

:military:

~S~

[jhook]

Well, my first flight took place when I was 10. The airliner pulled me in my seat as I watched through the window at take off. The feeling was magnificent! :shock: I began building models soon after that. I began reading as much as I could find about aviation, aerodynamics and the physics behind it. And then, it happened! :shock: I went to my first air show when I was 13. A new fighter was being introduced as it was rolled out of a hanger. Another was flying low and fast over the crowd is it hit mach when it passed. I saw the envelope forming around the jet as it went Booooom!!! That was the first time I realy got hooked. That jet was the F-15! :thumbsup: Iv'e dove into the world of aviation ever since. Even enlisting in the Navy, where I worked on flight decks of 2 carriers. I have purchased more flight sims that I care to remeber. And like all of you, I will go on buying flight sims as they come, with the promise of that big BOOM! I know, my life is not that interesting, but I'll bet some of you must have similar experiences. You can ring the bell and pour another round :drink: Anybody else with some experiences that lead you to this community of vurtual pilots?

[Vlerkies]

The things that got me to the virtual pilot world:

1. The ability to goof around in a multi million dollar A/C and not needing to explain why you did it afterwards.

2. The ability to get shot down and get your A/C blown to pieces and not die.

Other than that the other reason why i joined the virtual world is because i just love flying. If i don't have the time to fly in R/L or in peacetime. O get into the virtual world and take all my frustrations out on poor unsespecting tank colums and infantry with my very good little friends the Mk82's or CBU's

:drink:

:military:

~S~

[Recio]

Nobody respects and appreciates more the job of the maintenance people than pilots :wink:
I am a civy rescue helo pilot and I can tell you that without the hard, dedicated and profesional job of maintenance there would be no flying.

Flying an aircraft perfectly mantained and with all stuff working it is just a pleasure and recognition must be given to mechanics and technics that take care of our machines.

I always buy a few rounds to my technics after a hard or long mision where we relied on the helicopter and the machine worked perfectly.
helicopters are complex artifacts that require a very special touch to keep them flying, so after a rescue or hard mission it is good to share with maintenance people the feeling of a "well done job" :thumbsup:

[Vlerkies]

Well said Recio.
Have a cold one on me :drink:
:drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: and a few for the maintenace guys :thumbsup:

:military:

~S~