Take off Procedures

[Xfactor]

Hi Haole a few questions on real life take off procedures

Do you always user afterburner when taking off? Or is this dependant on the weight of the aircraft on if you decide to use it and what stage if you do?
Also when you decided to rotate and go airborn, do you pretty much know in your head what speed to begin rotation based on what your carrying? Or is there some official air force card that you have memorized :)

Once Airborn what AOA do you usually climb at? Does your gear go up soon as you have positive climb or is there a minimum alt? Also if you did engage the afterburners what altitude do you cut them back.

And finally, do you immediatly push for steerpoint 2 and form up with the rest of your flight along the way, or do ya'll form up at a specific waypoint?

I know its a ton of questions..thanks for answering them.

[Haole]

Hi Haole a few questions on real life take off procedures

Do you always user afterburner when taking off? Or is this dependant on the weight of the aircraft on if you decide to use it and what stage if you do?
Also when you decided to rotate and go airborn, do you pretty much know in your head what speed to begin rotation based on what your carrying? Or is there some official air force card that you have memorized :)

Once Airborn what AOA do you usually climb at? Does your gear go up soon as you have positive climb or is there a minimum alt? Also if you did engage the afterburners what altitude do you cut them back.

And finally, do you immediatly push for steerpoint 2 and form up with the rest of your flight along the way, or do ya'll form up at a specific waypoint?

I know its a ton of questions..thanks for answering them.
Wow..lots of questions...but good ones....
No we dont always use afterburner to take off. That is based on the TOLD data which is affected by the configuration, weight, weather, etc as you described. When we do use AB for takeoffs, we use full AB (except for a flight lead on a formation take-off, he'll pull it back just a little bit).
The TOLD (take off and landing data) is calculated before we take off either on the mission planning computer or by whipping out the checklist and calculating it "old school". This will give us rotation speeds, refusal speeds, etc.
Once we take off we raise the gear once we get a positive rate of climb indication. As far as coming out of AB it just depends on what you are doing, how much fuel you have for the mission, etc. If you think that fuel is going to be tight you'll come out of AB as sooner, take your time rejoining, etc. So in short...it depends.
Same with the climb angle...if it is a clear day and you are filed for a high altitude then you'll just adjust your climb to fly a good climb "schedule" to get the best fuel burn for altitude. Lots of guys will climb at 400kts until they capture about .85 mach then climb at .85 until they reach their altitude. MANY different techniques but that is one of them. So needless to say...you have to adjust your climb angle to maintain your airspeed. Clear as mud??
After takeoff we normally push to our first point along the flight plan and everyone joins up once we are in the clear. If we are being vectored around we just join on lead while he flies the vectors. If the weather is too bad to join up we just stay in 1-2 mile trail until the weather is clear enough for the rejoin.
Hope I got all your questions and answered them clear enough. If not, just let me know and I'll clear it up for you!
See ya!

[Sehm]

Great answears :wink2: Thank you:thumb:

[Xfactor]

Thanks Haole!

[Viper39]

So needless to say...you have to adjust your climb angle to maintain your airspeed. Clear as mud??


Gee, THAT sounds familiar! I learned that on my SECOND lesson during private pilot training. Of course, a Cessna 152 has considerably different performance characteristics, but the idea's the same. I just don't expect a 152 to ever hit .85 mach unless it's in the cargo compartment of a C17 or C5.

It's funny how two planes can be so radically different in their performance abilities and flight characteristics, yet within certain limits you fly them the same way.

Viper39

[Spyder-F16]

You can get a Cessna to mach .8 if you stick a General Electric engine in it, but that's if you had enough fuel though to get you through the flight. :bigeyes:

[Viper39]

Nah. The wings snap right off at 245 KTAS.

Don't ask me how I know.

Viper39

[Spyder-F16]

Nah. The wings snap right off at 245 KTAS.

Don't ask me how I know.

Viper39
I'm guessing you've had to ditch from a cessna before? ;)

[16th_Rogue]

Haole,

Is the TOLD info onboard? If so where, if not is/can that be simulated in FO?