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Boresight troops keep Moody's F-16s on target
September 28, 1999 (by
Lieven Dewitte) -
Anyone who has ever fired a weapon, either recreationally or as part of their job, knows where you look through the sights is where you hit a target.
It's exactly the same for combat aircraft.
Senior Airman Paul Richardson and Staff Sgt. Dennis Brandt, both from the 347th Operations Support Squadron, carry out boresighting on the F-16 aircraft.
"Boresighting is a type of calibration," said Richardson.
Everyday flying operations cause the aim of the aircraft to move out of tolerance.
"Over time, the jet tends to stretch and bend and things start to get out of alignment," he said.
"Aircraft are scheduled to come into us every week," Richardson added. "When they come in, we take the hard points, the Head Up Display, the gun and the Inertial Navigation Unit and we align them to where the jet is looking."
Richardson and Brandt are responsible for more than 40 F-16 aircraft assigned to the 347th Wing.
"We're the only team that does boresighting on base," he said.
"The gun boresighting was originally done by weapons section, but in order to get continuity across all the jets, we do it here," he continued. "If you have two people do a jet one day then two people do another jet the next day, you're not going to get the same thing every time.
Richardson is confident of the work he and Brandt carry out.
"When a jet comes out of here," he said, "it's going to hit the target perfectly, every time."
It's exactly the same for combat aircraft.
"Boresighting is a type of calibration," said Richardson.
Everyday flying operations cause the aim of the aircraft to move out of tolerance.
"Over time, the jet tends to stretch and bend and things start to get out of alignment," he said.
"Aircraft are scheduled to come into us every week," Richardson added. "When they come in, we take the hard points, the Head Up Display, the gun and the Inertial Navigation Unit and we align them to where the jet is looking."
Richardson and Brandt are responsible for more than 40 F-16 aircraft assigned to the 347th Wing.
"We're the only team that does boresighting on base," he said.
"The gun boresighting was originally done by weapons section, but in order to get continuity across all the jets, we do it here," he continued. "If you have two people do a jet one day then two people do another jet the next day, you're not going to get the same thing every time.
Richardson is confident of the work he and Brandt carry out.
"When a jet comes out of here," he said, "it's going to hit the target perfectly, every time."
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