Have you ever flown Military Aircraft?

2014-08-30T23:45:33-04:00

If you are a pilot then obviously you needed Base Operations, Flight Plans and 175-1 Wx Briefings as well as Control Tower operations? Do you think the military is as good as their civilian counterparts when it comes to NOTAMS, Flight Plans, Weather and efficiency?

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 30 at 2014 11:51 PM

2014-08-30T23:51:36-04:00

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member.

DUSTOFF is US Army acronym for Dedicated Unhesitating Service To Our Fighting Forces . . . . . .

Per US Army Vietnam Huey DUSTOFF Pilots-- We don't need no stinking Command Authorization, Base Operations, Weather Briefings, Control Tower Operations, NOTAMS, Flight Plans, Weather, or Efficiency . . . But, it wouldn't hurt to occasionally check with Steel Rain and Rolling Thunder to make sure we don't accidentally fly through our own active ordinance delivery corridors . . . We launch on alert . . . pickup coordinates etc in the air . . . and take the word of the grunts on the ground as to whether the LZ is hot or not . . . so the LZ IS ALWAYS OFFICIALLY SECURE!!!

I understand things have changed somewhat in the updated modern US Department of Defense.

Warmest Regards, Sandy

p.s. I have flown as pilot in command and copilot in numerous fixed and rotary wing aircraft . . .

http://www.legion.org/magazine/216261/decline-dustoff

Response by SSgt Robert Clark made Aug 31 at 2014 2:20 PM

2014-08-31T14:20:38-04:00

I can't speak for the other efforts but I can speak for NOTAM. I was based at what used to be Carswell AFB for four years all them assigned to the Air Force Central NOTAM facility. The people working there at the time were the last of the AF to run the NOTAM effort, I left just a few months before it was decommissioned and fully transferred to the FAA. I worked on the comm side to get the NOTAM daily reports and hourly updates out over the autodin and the folks (I think they were all base ops specialist but honestly I never knew their afsc's) who actually created the NOTAMs used their channels to transmit the same information. They were a fine group of people, all of them worked very hard to make sure the crews had up to date information. I don't know if we did it better than the FAA, but I would like to believe we did it at least as good as if not better.

Response by SSG(P) Auston Terry made Sep 1 at 2014 12:20 PM

2014-09-01T12:20:41-04:00

NOTAMs and SPINs are generally top notch. The only issue I've every had with the NOTAMs is units that have a responsibility to have a NOTAM published who fail to do so.
SWO though...If I had a dollar for everytime SWO called unlimited viz and clear of clouds with a >030 cieling and >3sm of viz (or vice versa) I wouldn't have to do this for a living anymore. For those of us that need VFR weather the SWO is like our arch nemesis; it's still better than most civilian sources at class D airports.

Response by CW5 Sam R. Baker made Sep 15 at 2014 11:26 AM

2014-09-15T11:26:28-04:00

It is basically individually tailored, as some folks are very good at it and some are not. As an instructor pilot, I have seen folks show up for a check ride with nothing more than their helmet and others with a map, NOTAMS, weather and the whole she-bang! The standard is that one prepares with all resources and references they need to conduct a flight, however, Army Regulations to some seem to fill gaps in FAA stuff, so most think they do not need to comply and be FAA pilots.

There are protected training areas and routes for military aircraft fixed or rotary and we tend to use those so compliance with all the other "stuff" isn't always necessary. I do think the military has a very robust professionalism to it, however at times we tend to violate airspace due to a lack of reading or complying with NOTAMS.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 11 at 2014 10:33 AM

2014-12-11T10:33:44-05:00

I flew the H-46 simulator for about 30 seconds before the instructor induced a dual engine flame out and sheared driveshaft, does that count? lol