Athlete's and Pilots

[K-Mart]

Being a good athlete probably would make one a good pilot. But, not always. Top pilot from my UPT class, hands down, couldn’t dribble a basketball to save his life. Seriously, it was embarrassing and funny to watch it. He ended up in Eagles and has apparently kicked some but over in the community. It was bizzare because the dude could fly and lead a formation better than anybody else, inlcuding the instructors, but his ability in athletics was hilarious. Take it for what it is worth

 

[Deuce130]

If you're flying a fight-tank-fight in the summer time in any fighter, you'd better dang be in shape or in some type of athletic form because that is extremely tough on the body...especially if it's G intensive like ACM or BFM.

So, bottom line - does being in shape make you a better civilian pilot flying an RJ?...of course not - your job is to fly a straight line from point A to B. Does being in shape make me (or any other military guy) out there a better pilot?...you bet it does - it helps tremendously in high G sorties.

I dunno. I've seen some pretty out of shape fighter dudes. Especially at patch nights, when all of the old guard and reserve guys show up! How do the 50+ year olds handle the high g sorties?

 

[Gorilla]

Scrapdog, continuing to perpetuate the civilian vs. military pilot debate...

I'd argue that being in shape doesn't make you or anybody a better pilot (as in stick and rudder skills), it makes you less apt to feel the effects of high G forces.

Well, the two (G-resistance and stick/rudder) go hand in hand when doing ACM. High G maneuvering is an integral component of a BFM sortie. You need to be able to do both simultaneously.

I flew many missions with guys who I knew were weak with high-G. Inevitably they were lame at the merge. We'd look at the tapes and instead of 8 or 9G, they're doing 6 and barely functioning, usually getting spanked by a guy with more G-resistance. The greatest stick and rudder man in the world would suck in a fighter if he passed out at 5 G.

It's a package deal.

 

[ExAF]

Ha!

Anyone that's been to the fuge knows the best pilots for g tolerance are the short, fat, smokers with high blood pressure. They can pull 9 g's all day long and sing a song while doing it. :beer:

 

[Scrapdog]

I dunno. I've seen some pretty out of shape fighter dudes. Especially at patch nights, when all of the old guard and reserve guys show up! How do the 50+ year olds handle the high g sorties?

2 words there - jalapeno popcorn. Get enough of that fattening crap in your veins and when you hit 50 you can handle all the G's you want.

 

[Scrapdog]

Scrapdog, continuing to perpetuate the civilian vs. military pilot debate...

I'd argue that being in shape doesn't make you or anybody a better pilot (as in stick and rudder skills), it makes you less apt to feel the effects of high G forces.

It's not a civilian vrs. military thing in the least. The military has heavies as well, last time I checked. If your mission is to fly a straight and level line from point A to B, then I would argue that being in shape probably is not going to contribute to your mission objective being accomplished.

if your mission is to pull a lot of G's while being quick in reacting to what's presented to you (i.e. an ACM scenario, or a short-range commit type ride), then being in shape is going to effect your objectives being accomplished for that mission. Being in shape to handle the G loading helps you focus your brain more on reacting to the problem being presented to you by the bandits because the G loading has less effect on your body and requires less of you actively straining against blacking out. And if you can focus more on the problem, then you can react more effectively and quickly. Therefore, by logical flow, being in shape does indeed effect the quality of pilot you are for that specific type mission and/or aircraft (namely fighters).

 

[YeOldeProp]

Really impressed with the fact y'all have kept this thread strictly to athleticism and the FLYING part of being a pilot. Really surprised no one steered the thread into the bar after the flight and the athleticism or stamina required in that historically glorified and fabled part of the military flying world (sound of Animal House music in the background). And I know that a lot of the leadership these days prefer the club to be a "buy lots and lots of beer...but only drink one" mentality, but the antics over the many years by military pilots of all athletic and consumption ability probably deserves mention.

Debate the atheleticism (sp?) of:
--- bat-hanging
--- carrying a tray of shots through the dance floor at any hopping club
---"rodeo" (remember the series of article 15's handed out at RAF Upper Heyford after one of the F-111 guys bit onto the backside of a visiting female JAG and held on for 8 seconds? Talk about a women scorned...)
---the art of carrier landings (and the physical abuse received upon a bad trap)
--- chicken fights with the local lovelys perched onthe shoulders
---those who took the wrong girl home and paid for it "physically" (at least when shots could cure those things)

And for the world travellers of the forum:
---the abuse the body took from:
-Efes beer in Turkey (uncontrolled alcohol content)
-Tusker in Africa (same)
-Domestica in Greece (rotgut wine)
-Ouzo ('nuff said)
-Mekong whiskey in Thailand (if the Singha beer/formaldahyde didn't get ya)
-Long Island Ice Teas anywhere
-Veranda parties in Puerto Rico where the first blender always burned out and the second barely made it through the night
-Phillipine San Miguel beer
-Cinnamon schnapps in El Mundo's in Souda Bay (but inexplicably always ended up with some pretty girls dancing on the bar and losing clothes throughout the song)
-Any exchange week with the Brits, the Aussie's, the Germans or the Canadians...just way too much of a good time

Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...

And...the physical ability of all the pilots and their crews to wake up the next morning (sometimes afternoon) and go out and get the mission done...then do it all over again...

Sorry to creep the thread...but there has been more to the military flying lifestyle than just flying...at least there was. Just trying to pass along a little bit of undocumented military history. Hope the fun continues...

 

[HarryShadow]

And...the physical ability of all the pilots and their crews to wake up the next morning (sometimes afternoon)...

Are you suppose to actually sleep???

 

[Gorilla]

Prop, my friend, you forgot crud. The athleticism of a top crud player rivals any pro football or basketball player... AND you do it while totally 'faced.

Think Terrell Owens or Kobe Bryant puking drunk but still smacking the ball for a sweet 6.1", while simultaneously holding a mug of beer, not spilling a drop, and elbowing the enemy out of the way.

'Tis a thing of beauty for all time.

 

[Tweetdrvr]

In my six years of watching 15+ classes of Phase II T-37 and T-6 students come through the flight room it does seem that those who played team sports involving lots of motion and running plays (basketball, soccer, lacrosse, hockey to name a few) seem to pick up on the pattern a little faster than those without a team sport background. I know there are always exceptions, but knowing where the forward is and where he is going on the fast break seems to help guys spatially orient to all those UPT RSU pattern calls.

The fastest solo I have ever witnessed happened four years ago. We had a student go dollar ride to soloing a 37 in 15 calendar days. No prior flying time other than the AF issued IFT private license, and not the greatest hands, but a real quick learner and picked up on the pattern really quickly. She played intramural hoops at the zoo and may have played some lacrosse in high school.