|
|
Airport Parking at LAX Just Got Easier
Whether your flying out of LAX for business or leisure, we all know how parking at Los Angeles International Airport can frustrate any human being. The lack of space, the price, the thought of your car being at an unsafe, insecure lot. As a...
Come and See the Bats in Texas and While You're At It, Check Out the Alamo
Q: What is Texas best known for? A: The Alamo Q: And what else? A: Having the largest bat colony in the world, and the largest urban bat colony in North America WHO KNEW? Interested in partaking of this opportunity? It could even bring you luck....
Cruises
People love to hop on a large boat and cruise to an exotic
location (often times more than one exotic location) as their
vacation or getaway. This is probably because cruises offer many
different opportunities that resorts or hotels do not.
...
Tourist Season Again!
It is tourist season here in Guanajuato. The streets are once again crawling with pasty-white-legged gringos looking for a good time and wanting to blow a tremendous amount of money. Here is where I come in as your humble, sincere, and most...
Which Luxury Tour? 5 Critical Factors For Choosing A Luxury Tour
You've paid top dollar for your "luxury tour" but find yourself continually eating in shabby restaurants, puzzled that tourist sites shut early each afternoon while souvenir stores seem permanently open. You are angered not only by your guide's...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Afghan Air Angst
Afghan Air Angst
Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Read this entire feature FREE with photos at http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/asia02/angst/usnav.html
Editor's Note: This feature was forward to us anonymously from the frontlines of Afghanistan. We can not verify authorship or authenticity, but it sound's damn real — some of the fun experienced by one U.S. Navy Hornet pilot....
Here is his after-burner tale:
Thought y'all might get a kick out of a recent experience of mine. I'll chop this for an 'Approach' article. Thinking the bits about the hot Air Force chicks is probably gonna have to come out. I'll leave in all the trash talkin' though. In case anyone asks, flying around in an F18 without a canopy is bad for the skin. Twenty thousand feet over Afghanistan in an open-air McDonnell Douglas Cabriolet is just a bad, bad place. Air's real dry up there; causes the skin to dry out. That and the wind chill of course.
0130 launch: Fifth and final planned tanker rendezvous. (25K MSL guessing 280-285 knots). Had 13.0 onboard but wanted to run my wingman back through because he only had 10.0 or so with an hour and a half to recovery. Sun was not up (0600) but it was bright enough. My goggles and goggle bracket were both stowed. Tanker had finished consolidating a half hour before and had four recievers (including myself) immediately afterwards. I was the fifth guy to tank. The boom operator recycled the hose between me and number four (dash two of the oncoming Marine section). The boom operator called "clear" before I tanked. Tanking appeared normal to me. Air was smooth. Hose cut loose and I pulled the power back and picked up the nose in order to try and "ride the wave."
Refueling probe did not feel too much stress based on vibrations I felt in the cockpit. Hose seperated about seven feet up from the basket. KC10 take-up reel on the refueling hose didn't do it's job. Didn't take up. After some wailing and flailing the KC10 and I disconnected but I still had part of it with me. The basket and seven feet of hose. The hose had a ten pound fitting on it that was quickly revealed when the wind stripped off the rubber sheath from the hose. Once revealed it proceeded to beating the living shit out of my airplane. "This is gonna be bad, this is gonna be real bad," I thought. I was right. After twenty sufficiently violent whacks the canopy gave up the ghost. I never thought about what a shattering canopy would sound like. Up until then, of course. I figured since it's made of plastic it shouldn't sound like glass. Wrong. Sounded just like when you go flying through a
plate glass window. Of course, all the glass went out vice in. Cockpit went from eight grand to ambient in about a heart beat, which was a pretty small unit of time right then.
Don't know exactly where the KC10 went. Last I saw him he was turning for the sout west, spewing gas in the air and spewing words over the radio. "Bossman" had no time for little 'ole me. One of his Air Force brethren was experienced in discomfort. Had to yell at him to get his attention.
At first (before I put the top down) I thought I could make it home. "Okay, it's 650 away, I got 13.5....probably have to go pretty slow and kinda low. And that hunk o' shit on my nose can't be doing much for my gas mileage. This should warrant a ready deck. Yeah, one or two passes before they have to barricade me. And I ain't boltered yet so..."
Descended about three thousand feet and decelerated to about 260 by the time the canopy blew. Then the glass shattered.
"Okay, Jacobabad it is. My boarding rate at a 10,000 foot airstrip is even better."
Went down to about nineteen K and put out the speedbrake. Fitting was still beating up the jet while passing through 240 knots. At about 230 the beatings stopped and I started down, maintaining airspeed. Flight controls and engines appeared fine. Ball was a little out of center but that was it. Didn't have to turn to put JBAD on the nose. It was straight ahead.
Nav system told me it was 260 NM away. My body told me it was pretty damn cold up there. The KC10 remains were still trying to get at my head so I started descending and decelerating (opposing states so I'm not sure I did either one that efficiently). Leveled off at twelve thousand. I stopped getting beat up, the fitting just hung in the slipstream by my canopy bow, at 230 knots. So there I was...Eight thousand feet above Afghanistan at 230 knots. "You know, If a guy really wanted to get shot by a MANPAD he'd fly a profile alot like what I'm doing right now." Oh well. It's at times like this when you just make a decision and go with it. If you pull it off then it was, "...outstanding airmanship, and in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service..." If you don't pull it off, if you get bagged, well...maybe they'll name a safety award or the new Base Gym after you.
Read this entire feature FREE with photos at http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/asia02/angst/usnav.html
By Navy Captain - Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent - at www.jetsettersmagazine.com
About the Author
The Navy Captain Jetsetters Magazine. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com
|
|
|
|
|
Federal Aviation Administration - Home |
The FAA is primarily responsible for the advancement, safety and regulation of civil aviation, as well as overseeing the development of the air traffic ... |
www.faa.gov |
  |
LANDINGS Welcomes All Pilots & Aviation Enthusiasts to Aviation's ... |
LANDINGS - aviation meeting place featuring: aviation news, up to date aviation databases (FAA Regulations, AIM, SDRs, NTSB Briefs, N Numbers and more), ... |
www.landings.com |
  |
LANDINGS Welcomes All Pilots & Aviation Enthusiasts to Aviation's ... |
LANDINGS - aviation meeting place featuring: aviation news, up to date aviation ... Welcome To The Busiest Aviation Hub in Cyberspace: Please Check-in... ... |
www.landings.com |
  |
AWC - Aviation Weather Center |
Aviation Weather Center Homepage provides comprehensive user-friendly aviation weather Text products and graphics. |
aviationweather.gov |
  |
AIRLINERS.NET - A Breath Of Fresh Jet Blast |
Discussions going on in the most active aviation forum online ... MyAviation.net - Just like Airliners.net but accepting all aviation photos! ... |
www.airliners.net |
  |
Avhome.com - Your Link to the World of Aviation Featuring Aviation ... |
The aviation search engine and directory. Featuring thousands of categorized links related to aviation and aircraft. |
www.avhome.com |
  |
The Aviation History Online Museum |
Browse through a selection of airplane photographs from the beginning of aviation history to the present day. Take a virtual tour of the Garber restoration ... |
www.aviation-history.com |
  |
Aviation Week's AviationNow.com |
Aviation news and information, with aircraft for sale, aerospace engineering, jobs and images. |
www.aviationnow.com |
  |
Aviation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Aviation refers to flying using aircraft, machines designed by humans for ... Civil aviation includes all non-military flying, both general aviation and ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
U.S. Army Aviation Warfighting Center and Fort Rucker |
The US Army Aviation Center trains military, civilian, and international personnel in aviation and leadership skills. |
www-rucker.army.mil |
  |
weather.com - Aviation Welcome |
Aviation Maps View cloud ceilings, turbulence potential and other aviation maps. ... Share questions and answers with pilots and aviation enthusiasts. ... |
www.weather.com |
  |
Aviation Safety Network |
Resource centre for airliner accidents and civil aviation safety issues. |
aviation-safety.net |
  |
Aviation Jobs, Aerospace Jobs, Jobs in Aviation, Cabin Crew Jobs |
A recruitment agency for jobs within the aviation industry. |
www.aviationjobsearch.com |
  |
NTSB - Aviation |
US Government authority responsible for maintaining the standards of the US aviation industry. |
www.ntsb.gov |
  |
Aviation.org |
Org--the interactive website operated by Aviation Safety Connection, Inc.--addresses fundamental safety issues related to pilot performance. ... |
www.aviation.org |
  |
Aviation |
The aviation site at DTLR. Sections on environmental and noise issues, the future of air transport, the Heathrow Terminal 5 enquiry, air safety and other ... |
www.dft.gov.uk |
  |
Canadian Aviation - Real Pilot Info for Canadian Pilots - Home |
Your Canadian Airline, Aerospace and Pilot Portal. News, Webmail, Links, Metar Reports, Classifieds, Wallpaper, and Galleries that affect you in Canada. |
www.aviation.ca |
  |
AVweb the internet's aviation magazine & news service |
Aviation magazine and news service featuring aviation news, articles, searchable aviation databases, and on-line shopping. |
www.avweb.com |
  |
EAA - The Leader in Recreational Aviation - Oshkosh, Wisconsin |
Official Home of EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association), The Leader in Recreational Aviation, an international 170000-member organization encouraging and ... |
www.eaa.org |
  |
Unusual Aviation Pictures |
Aviation Pictures you don't see in the Paper Everyday. |
www.aviationpics.de |
  |
|