Forum: F-16 Procedures

As a pilot I didn't mind if you said "Kick" or further down, I knew what you meant as I'm sure there were some things I said that may not have been by the book but you knew what I meant also....It's team work..!!

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We did com out launches quite often at Kunsan, but not on purpose. The summer humidity kills the comm, especially on 2 seaters. It's actually not very safe, at least, there's not many pilots I trust to voluntarily Wink

do a comm out launch with. Most pilots I've run into know little if any hand signals, and "comm out" to them tends to mean "do-whatever-you-like Doh

! I can't count how many fingers were nearly crushed under wheels and heads knocked with flight surfaces Mad

(this is, btw, how I was accepted into the head banger's club, complete with concussion!), etc. It gets REALLY Sad

scary with newby pilots!

C'mon I've seen it happen on both sides of the cockpit..!! I've been in the cockpit wondering what in the world the guys on the ground was trying to tell me with hand signals that I've never seen before even after 20 years of flying, and I know some pilots that didn't know all of the hand signals.

I'm part of that club too then I guess tinedanzer.... 16th AF commander decides to play hanger pilot during launch when i specifically told him "NO THE FLIGHT CONTROLS ARE NOT CLEAR" next thing I know the left flaperon smacks me in the back of the head. I tell the pilot I have to go and walk out the front of my has waving the bloody rag to the Pro Super for his help....wasn't a pretty day

Quote:

A Hahn we had a two ship just leave while we were exercising. Yes, just left. No comm, no nothing. That's all I'll say about that.

did they have a hot date or something? Very Happy

MaddogF16 wrote:

C'mon I've seen it happen on both sides of the cockpit..!! I've been in the cockpit wondering what in the world the guys on the ground was trying to tell me with hand signals that I've never seen before even after 20 years of flying, and I know some pilots that didn't know all of the hand signals.

Standard hand signals? I thought we just made them up as we went along! Com out launches were especially fun down at MacDill in the Training Wing with students with only a few flights under their belts 9and me with not all that many more launches...) I susally kept a Sharpie and some paper so we could flash notes at each other.

I posted this over at the "Launching with hand signals only" thread, but it fits here too - from the "If you can't laugh at yourself, how should everyone else know to laugh at you too" file:

Quote:

As was said, the AF TO covers the 'official' hand signals, although there are quite a few more that are used from aircraft to aircraft, some of which are pretty much agreed upon, and some that are made up at the moment...

...over Columbus Day weekend 1987 we Hurri'vaced out of MacDill to Dobbins. I was only a couple of weeks out of FTD and was just getting normal launches down, so I was a little shocked when we were launching the birds for home and they told me that there were no comm cords...

"Just use your hand signals"

It was going pretty well during my first launch (we had a dozen Crew Chiefs for eighty-four aircraft and I'd already told the IP that I'd probably be making at least parts of it up as I went) when I got up to the brake check. I drew a complete blank... So, doing my best improvisation I stood on one foot, pointed the other at the jet and pushed the toe of my boot in and out, I thought the pilot was going to fall out of his ejection seat laughing. When we stepped off the C-141, back on the MacDill ramp, a couple of hours later the rest of the AMU was standing there waving their toes at me...

Oh well...

Mike

ghettobird,
Okay I hear some words that you say you said, but let me tell you there are some other ways to "hear" some of them....."NO THE FLIGHT CONTROLS ARE NOT CLEAR" could be heard as "GO the flight controls are clear"..!!! you tell me when the engine is whinning can you hear everything..?? That's why the term "Negative" is so positive......if you stay with "Negative" and "Affirmative" you and others won't confuse the "No" and "Go" terms...
How about "One" and "none" sound the same on the radio when you're doing a battle damage check "BD check" after a release of your bombs...missles, trust me you and I can get confused by many terms we take for granted....so we in the fighter community say "Zero" or "One".. not none or one.
There are many othe radar/Missle/RWR terms that apply here but we cannot say

maddog2840 wrote:

Weasel_Keeper wrote:

At my ANG base we're not allowed to go "no-comm".

"Comm Out", comes in handy when you're in combat.

Wow! We spent a whole day doing "comm out" at George (1979). Really comm out. No radios, no comm cords, nothing. Practicing to keep those sneaky types from listening in. COMSEC you know.

*snip*

Well, at George I also took part in those comm out days in the mid to late 80s. Cool

Spent 4 years there and loved it! (that's why I go by "Weasel Keeper")

My ANG base however would rather we get another comm cord or headset if we can't talk with the driver. There have been times when we cheat and go comm out for recovery, but not very often.

MKopack,
What a great story about the toe pointing....you know we always brief that if you can't think of the correct book terminology in 3-3 while flying then just speak plain english..!! And that's exactly what you did and I know you got the "point" accross (sts).
I know that there are a lot more of these kinds of stories out there..!

MKopack,
I got one like that. I am 5 feet tall exactly. We had to put wing tanks on a bird that was going cann-up, and I was on the ground pulling wing panels. I couldn't reach well and the screws were stuck, so I shoved the speed handle up against the screws as hard as I could while holding only the bottom part of the speed handle (my arms fully extended) to get better purchase. Then, since I couldn't turn the speed handle the way I was holding it and maintain the pressure against the screws, I turned my whole body. Wink

Flight cheif didn't thinkit was funny, but the guys on top nearly fell off the wing. But it worked! Thumb

(get it? tine danzer?)

Forgot to mention there was no fuel on the jet, among other things, and that's why I couldn't reach the wings.

why wouldnt the flight chief think thats funny? all my flight chiefs woulda busted a gut watching someone do that

Cause I'm a chic and he had a thing about chics on the line. Twisted Evil

'nough said.

BTW, MaddogF16, I'm sorry if I'm a little rough on pilots.

Forum: F-16 Procedures

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