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STBY ~ you say it happens here or there, which is why I said if you did it, a crew chief would be standing in the parking spot with a pump handle at his side ready to recallibrate your wings for autonomous decision making. Not saying I would, but as you stated, it happens.

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Sure, it happens here and there. I don't personally know anyone who has oversped the gear in the Viper, but I know of at least two people who did it in the '38, and I did it myself in the Tweet.

I guess the whole thing that bothers me is when crew chiefs get seriously bent out of shape when pilots dick things up. Here's a list, certainly not complete, of things I have done wrong in this jet... I've started in BATT more than once. I've redballed for FLCS twice because either the LEFs were locked or the trim was in cutout. I've redballed MFDs coming off a night go, when the brightness was turned full down. I've redballed an ECM pod for not working when I didn't have one. I've over-G'd twice on strafe (the ground is scary at 75' and 800 feet-per-second). I've tried to refuel with the door closed. I've shut down with the AVTR still on, at least three times, requiring a -60 to turn it off. Early on, I accidentaly ran the power up high enough to scare a lot of ground folks. I've blown down the gear without needing to. I've coldsoaked an ECM pod. I've dropped a pencil that couldn't be retreived. I've flown a whole sortie without my lapbelt fastened.

There's more, but none that comes to mind. My point is that over hundreds of sorties, I have managed to do a lot of things wrong. I accept it as learning experiences and never repeat the same mistake (except the AVTR thing, I'm still learning.) Maintenance troops mess things up too. I can honestly say I've had fewer clean launches than I have redballs. I've even found an oil cap dangling on its chain during preflight (certain engine seizure). I just make sure it gets fixed and I go. I don't complain about fingerprints on the HUD on at least 2 out of 3 sorties. We're all people striving for the same ultimate goal, and we'll both periodically get the details wrong.

My favorite maintainers are the ones who are at parade rest when the crew van pulls up, forms in hand, and give you a sharp salute as you walk up. The amount of pride they take in their job seriously brings tears to my eyes. What I hate is when the intake cover is still on, the seat is still pinned, the HAS doors are still closed, and there is no B-man.

I guess the short version of this post is this: If a crew chief for one second decided that he could judge how I did my job at 600 knots during a 4v4, I'd be standing in super's office with him having a chat. What F-16 pilots do is what the other 750,000 people in the Air Force support. Mistakes will be made, and lessons will be learned. If I cause work for the crew chief, he will be compensated. If I cause damage to the jet, I assure you that I will be hearing about it from people much higher ranking than the crew chief.

I've never heard of a maintainer buying a pilot beer because the maintainer caused the pilot extra work. Think on that.

Stby-

Great points. I now in my old age work side by side with two drivers and have found them to very humble (contrary to perceptions) and some of the smartest folks I have ever worked with. I was one of those CCs that stood at the jet forms in hand and popped a sharp salute to the youngest LT and the oldest 4 Star. I bought beer for a Capt Danno Cotton when he brought back my very broken bird at Luke. Check the records you find that my jet (88-0157) was one of the first to blow the burner can off in flight and survive. He had a CC in the back seat who was on an Iride. The -220 can did like many and went poof right off the back of the jet. He got it home running in pri and by punching a CL tank. Great airmanship during an emergency that had at the time no words on a kneeboard. That jet flies today because of him. Many other guys would have gotten out. He brought my baby home. I hate Prats as you can well imagine.

Sheesh, just saying it's agervating. I don't think I have ever heard of a crew chief actually rearanging a pilots attention knobs. I have great respect for the amount of things a pilot has to keep in the forward part of his attention area. What is frustrating to a crew chief is when a pilot does over G the jet, and comes back says sorry chief, and then walks off not bringing back beer or comming back to help remove the numerous panels that have need to come off for the resulting inspection. I was one of the crew chiefs that stood at the jet forms in hand ready for the pilot. I never once had to hurry and break down my jet. I have had to call for a B man as the specs and weapons like the warm and snuggy truck a little too much some times. I did get my Iride and enjoyed them very much, which helped drive home to me I don't want to be a pilot of anything. Cause as you said the ground looks scary when it comes at you fast. I have had pilots that would say that something (gauge bulb or whatever) didn't seem to work right but they just put their glove over it so they didn't notice, debriefed code 1 and told me as he walked away that it would be nice if I could figure out why it did that.

I to get frustrated when I see lazy or incompetent crew chiefs not having their crap together so that when the pilot shows up the jet is "crew ready" as it should have been when the expiditer called it in. A crew chief sees the jet as an extension of him/herself and takes great pride in it's performance. They view any mistake by the aircrew or specialist/weapons/egress/EMS/ or any other support agency who touched the jet a direct attack towards their baby their pride their personal blood and sweat. Crew chiefs see the jet as something they grow to know better than they know most people. They develop a relationship with "thier" jet on the same level you would develop a relationship with most people you know, except maybe your spouse. If you think a crew chief is a good crew chief, ask him about anything on the jet, I mean just point at it, not looking or knowing what it is. He will explain what it is, how it works, how its attached, how it affects how his jest performs. That is a crew chief who has a relationship with his jet on the level I am refering to. No other jet in the military is as good as his, no jet that is on the ramp performs better than his, even if the FMC rate is in the toilet. A crew chief builds this realtionship with his jet for one purpose. The pilot. So if the pilot seems to show disrespect towards this effort, the crew chief can get a little POd.

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