Forum: F-16 Procedures

He or she wakes up and then what?

Does he or she eat or does he or she drink a lot of fluids?

What steps does the pilot take to get ready for the days flight?

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Shower... sh*t shave.

Then, you go to the squadron. Get a cup of coffee from the bar (damn snackos). Then (unless you're top 3 or sof), you find you're wingman/flightlead/etc and find out where we are breifing. After he/she spouts a bunch of excited bullshit, you sit down and listen about re-inventing the wheel. At that point, you ask nicely to take a piss. Walk to the bar, tell a joke or two with the boys, then step to fly. FLY. Come back, yap with the crew chief, go through maintenance debrief. Explain to the pro-super that "*I* didn't break the jet... I don't know WHY it was code 1 last go...." Get ready for the debrief (sh*t/piss... beer). Take notes from the lineup card and make them legible. Decide what you liked and didn't like from the brief/sortie. Debrief = SHUT UP AND LISTEN. Tell Wingy/FLUG/IPUG why it was bad/good/average. Re-fill beer. (don't forget to get beer before debrief). Walk out of debrief and mission plan for the next day (stop by scheduling / flt cc if sortie was bad). Harass next dude for something... anything. Get another beer. Make fun of snacko.... (X2). Do some non-flying / moral depleting occupational job for 2-3 hours (We call it email). Get another beer and make fun of someone (generally the new guy in the squadron). Go back to the vault and harass the intell folks.... Tell them to "show me something new.." Mission plan for tomorrow some more. Meet in bar with squadron 'regulars' (supervisors). GO HOME....

Repeat.

Cylon

Too funny..but you must be talking about active duty pilots..my guys don't follow those procedures.........hehehehe

What about crud?????don't you guys throw down a good game of crud every now and then??? God I miss that game. Twisted Evil

Cheers!

Active Member Joined: Jan 06, 2004 - 03:22 PM Posts: 209

As usual Cylon sums it up in a nutshell. That would be a peanut 'nutshell' that he dropped on the floor of the bar. Or do you guys have one of those fancy popcorn machines.

on the money dude

I'm starting to get to old (shutter) for crud. Everytime I play, a new muscle hurts....

Ya, we have Jalipeno popcorn... If the "baby class" is makeing it, I don't recommmend eating it... We also have a healthy addiction to pistachios...

Cylon

Right on Cylon.

I think you left out a step after BSing in the bar and before actually stepping to the jets: Wait at the desk geared up while listening to the pro-super try to explain to the top 3 why he can't fill a 10-front schedule on the first go with 24 PAA. Always my favorite part of the day.

Burn

AHA!, never be in the first 4 lines and you don't have to suit up(till they step)!!!

Cylon

I concur with Cylon! Contrary to such movies as Top Gun and Iron Eagle (my favorite), fighter pilots are normal people despite our egos. I don't think I'm any different than the standard citizen until I put the flight suit on. As far as eating or drinking...we tell the punks to hydrate like mad because inevitably they are going to G-LOC during BFM. Can't say I have a special diet other than pizza, chili dogs, and peanut butter/jelly sandwiches.

As far as the daily grind in the squadron; 10, 12, 14 hour days are the norm. It's the "other job" we get bogged down with. I would much rather fly 3 times a day than sit Top-3 or trying to figure out our flying hour program. Sometimes I miss the exercise days at the Kun.

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Sometimes I miss the exercise days at the Kun.

DITTO!

madsabre16 wrote:

It's the "other job" we get bogged down with. I would much rather fly 3 times a day than sit Top-3 or trying to figure out our flying hour program.

Can you tell us civilians what it means to "sit Top-3" ?

The top 3 supervisory positions in the squadron include the the commander, ops officer, and assistant ops officers. The commander and ops o are always busy with meetings, paperwork, personnel issues, etc. That leaves the assistant ops o's to essentially make sure the flying side of the house runs smoothly.

This daily flying supervisor is called Top-3. It is also called the Ops Supervisor. It's an all-day affair starting before the first brief running until the last land. Depending on the flying window, it can be up to a 12 hour day.

In the RTU environment, the job is somewhat challenging due to the scheduling of the kids. We will make schedule a week in advance something akin to a house of cards. If a kid busts a ride the house crumbles and we're in there reflowing the rest of the week. When you are on a time line, it can get crazy. Beyond those little fires we put out on a daily basis, there is always something going on that requires our attention. Of course, there are a few hours of sheer boredom where someone can find a great site like this.

Hope that answered your question.

Damn Burn, souds like you and I have had the same Pro-super at one time or another.

O.T.

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Hope that answered your question.

It did - thanks!

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I'm starting to get to old (shutter) for crud. Everytime I play, a new muscle hurts....

Crud is good for the body and the mind..hell I was so into my first game I forgot about the beer, was drenched in sweat..and had a bloody toe (wearing flip flops not a good idea for this game) and two busted shins.....thanks to the pool table that was used as a replacement crud table.

I'm addicted but I think I hurt the guy I was playing against..he was kinda old to begin with..I shoulda taken it a bit easier on him! Razz

NOw I have no one to play with STS.

Cheers!

I moved the CRUD discussion to a separate topic at http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-1266.html

Forum: F-16 Procedures

What does a pilot do on a typical flight day?