Navy A-6 pilot desert storm/shield

[Remington]

You know what's even funnier? Hopping in the cockpit with a civilian buffoon who feels as if he has to explain to you how tough his career progression has been as he describes his Embry Ridiculous college flying and then how rough it was learning to fly an RJ from point A to B for 9 hours a day. Then the clown can't even talk on the radio much less do anything but punch numbers in the FMS. Then he/she asks you what your background is and you say "all military fighter time" and their mouth gapes open as they say "oh my god man, how cool...I could have done that, but I decided to fly an RJ instead." And then you just roll your eyes and chuckle.



Does CAL's insurance even cover guys with 2000 hrs? You must impress the sh*t outta your captains.

Now get back on yer motorscooter & ride to the o club.

 

[Scrapdog]

Does CAL's insurance even cover guys with 2000 hrs? You must impress the sh*t outta your captains.

Now get back on yer motorscooter & ride to the o club.

1. Unfortunately had to wait 6 months like everyone else here (but hopefully that'll change soon with a new contract).

2. More like 1300 hours mil jet time - and that's 1.0 at a time dude. The rest is civilian GA hodge podge (172, Bonanza, etc).

3. Nah, never open my mouth about my background. For some reason, they're the ones that HAVE to tell me how tough their background was from their RJ days, yada, yada. And most of them certainly don't impress the sh*t out of me.

4. Had to sell the motorscooter (wife made me), and next week we can hit the o'club. You're more than welcome to join me, first round is on me.

Have a good day.

 

[Booster]

Thank you for your replies, it at least helps me prepare a few questions. Did the A-6's that flew during desert shield/storm fly from a carrier?

I was on USS Ranger for DS1. Carrier Air Wing 2 had A-6's.

 

[Occam's Razor]

Ok, that just reminded me of a funny exchange made during the briefing for the raid on Libya in April, '86. An A-6E pilot asks if they're gonna switch the Green anti-collision light (lower lens was green on tanker-tasked aircraft to facilitate identifying them around the ship) to a Red one for the raid.

Briefer: "No...do you plan on crossing the beach with your beacon on?"

 

[AlbieF15]

A-6 guys did some pretty hellacious low level stuff (as did the Britts and F-111s) on nights 1-3.

Made a pretty glow to the north as I sat in watched in an M113.

18 years of playing with toy airplanes...getting ratings...going to UPT...and even getting FAR'd. But I still got to watch the greatest air campaign in history from the ground...

 

[dtfl]

Thank you. Most of us do. I'm always up front about it. I'm proud ( well, sorta ) about what I've done and honestly don't give a ph**k who I do or don't impress. The ones that don't . . . . well, every career field has a tool or three who's slipped through the cracks!!

Oh..man...NAV/WSOs are the culprits...all along I thought it was the light grey pilots! Albie excluded, probably.

 

[dtfl]

A-6 guys did some pretty hellacious low level stuff (as did the Britts and F-111s) on nights 1-3.

Made a pretty glow to the north as I sat in watched in an M113.

18 years of playing with toy airplanes...getting ratings...going to UPT...and even getting FAR'd. But I still got to watch the greatest air campaign in history from the ground...

Yeah but take pride in the fact that many younger pilots that came under your tutelage made sure our enemies got to experience the USAF first hand

 

[AdlerDriver]

A-6 guys did some pretty hellacious low level stuff (as did the Britts and F-111s) on nights 1-3.

Made a pretty glow to the north as I sat in watched in an M113.

18 years of playing with toy airplanes...getting ratings...going to UPT...and even getting FAR'd. But I still got to watch the greatest air campaign in history from the ground...

Albie,
I remember seeing some of those guys on the TV as POWs on day one or two. It definitely gave me a little more to think about that day on the flight out to the northern Iraq border. Pretty sobering.

I also decided to re-think wearing my smiley face "have a nice day" lucky boxer shorts. Getting paraded down mainstreet Bagdad in those wasn't real high on my list of things to do in the war.

 

[SIG600]

...And how am I wrong? I said they flew during the war and we're decom'd around 96. Do the math? Read the english.

Oops, I read that as "didn't" for some reason. Gotta lay off the crack pipe.

 

[VaB]

That first night was reason all the "low-level" attack tactics changed. With all the Intruders downed and damaged, not to mention the other types of aircraft that went in down low, it was quickly figured that going in low wouldn't work anymore.

Luckily we got to keep flying low levels to continue training for it though.