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Scariest Day/Night Flying
- Thread starter phrogpilot73
- Start date
That's awesome. That's the first I've really heard of the Air Force helicopter effort. Obviously doing some great work. Thanks.
Busdriver,
Are you guys flying dustoff missions over there or just doing them as add-on missions? I was told that you guys are in the fold like the Navy bubbas in Kuwait.
Are you guys flying dustoff missions over there or just doing them as add-on missions? I was told that you guys are in the fold like the Navy bubbas in Kuwait.
In Afghanistan we're flying Medevac like the Navy is in Kuwait, at least similar. Although I heard the Navy didn't get to keep their guns, we do.
EDIT: I hate to admit it, but the above story isn't entirely accurate. I had a few at the bar before coming home that night and my brain decided to tell a different story when I got to the landing part. The zero vis moving map PAR part of the story was a different flight than the landing part, although I did that several times over there. The landing was at 8500', the zero vis night in the story was a bit lower at 6500'. All in all those two nights were pretty crappy. The actual landing on the night I started out talking about involved a couple go-arounds due to right drift at the bottom, nearly missing a building on one of them. The night we landed in some guy's back yard the vis was actually pretty good.
Sorry if that sounds dis-honest but I wanted to set the record straight.
EDIT: I hate to admit it, but the above story isn't entirely accurate. I had a few at the bar before coming home that night and my brain decided to tell a different story when I got to the landing part. The zero vis moving map PAR part of the story was a different flight than the landing part, although I did that several times over there. The landing was at 8500', the zero vis night in the story was a bit lower at 6500'. All in all those two nights were pretty crappy. The actual landing on the night I started out talking about involved a couple go-arounds due to right drift at the bottom, nearly missing a building on one of them. The night we landed in some guy's back yard the vis was actually pretty good.
Sorry if that sounds dis-honest but I wanted to set the record straight.
Busdriver,
I'm sure you guys fall under some Army type command if you are doing med missions. Welcome to the suck. I'm flying for a med unit in the guard after enduring the big Army suck for some years.
No guns for the Army ( or Navy) med bubbas. Since we fly with the protective red cross nobody will shoot at us. No need for guns. Not really working out to well. Haji isn't a big fan of the Geneva Covention.
I'm sure you guys fall under some Army type command if you are doing med missions. Welcome to the suck. I'm flying for a med unit in the guard after enduring the big Army suck for some years.
No guns for the Army ( or Navy) med bubbas. Since we fly with the protective red cross nobody will shoot at us. No need for guns. Not really working out to well. Haji isn't a big fan of the Geneva Covention.
Some of the guys I flew with in the Reserves were 'Nam vets and they told me that the red cross was just a targeting aid for anybody shooting at them.
They also told me some less than nice stories about certain dustoff pilots.
OK, so has anybody thought about using the Red Crescent to avoid confusion?
The chain of command we flew with was a bit screwy. Basically, our squadron commander had final say regardless, but usually let the Army commander run with it. The irony of it all is that there is usually less BS with the Army than what we normally see when dealing with the JPRC and big blue Air Force. The problem is that the CAOC doesn't understand helo ops, and doesn't want us to do anything that doesn't involve picking up a CAOC pilot. Our normal deployment involves a lot of sitting alert and playing "mother may I?" with the CAOC. When we flew Medevac there were missions every day, we were usually AMC, and even when we weren't the Apache guys always let us call the shots and job satisfaction was high. Our normal gig is a constant political fight to get the decision making authority down the the squadron commander level.
Busdriver,
Just curious are you big Air Force or Guard/Reserve. My guard unit is slated for OEF in the diastance future. We will be with a big Army unit. I've done the OIF gig and the change of scenery might be nice. Not sure if our op tempo will be as high. Flew just about 700 hours in OIF and don't really want to fly anything close to that again. I don't want to get into any Op Sec topic so I won't ask about the op tempo but from your e-mail it seems pretty tame compared to OIF.
Just curious are you big Air Force or Guard/Reserve. My guard unit is slated for OEF in the diastance future. We will be with a big Army unit. I've done the OIF gig and the change of scenery might be nice. Not sure if our op tempo will be as high. Flew just about 700 hours in OIF and don't really want to fly anything close to that again. I don't want to get into any Op Sec topic so I won't ask about the op tempo but from your e-mail it seems pretty tame compared to OIF.
My favorite was when the shoe skipper tried to convince me to fly as target for their cwis-- after it had uploaded rounds. Even the FCs told me they wouldn't do it!
Bus,
Prolly don't want you to fly because they are afraid some Eagle driver will put a fork in you!
Nose
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
I think Hacker will be calling "in from the east" very shortly...
Well, he's a Mud Hen guy, not an Albino driver: maybe that's sort of like being a distant relative, and he might not engage on this. Hacker??
......that was a pair of Charlie guys (including a CO who needed remedial RECCE training) who schwacked the Blackhawks. It's now a book:
