Hacker MikeD and others..

[alphaone]

So, I was thinking we got some guys on here who have some really great flying stories from a Military perspective. I think everyone would love to hear them AND they would serve as a great indicator of whether people should pursue this career or not, especially after reading the snippet Hacker posted about the SAM.

So Hacker, MikeD, and anyone else with experiences worth reading about, please post away!

[MikeD]

Already did:


http://forums.jetcareers.com/152411-post1.html

http://forums.jetcareers.com/156091-post23.html

[alphaone]

Oops, awesome anyway though

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by alphaone

Oops, awesome anyway though

lol....no oops necessary. It been nearly 5 years since they were posted.

[ian]

I only have UPT stories

[Low_Level_Hell]

Been shot down once... or maybe twice depending on your definition.

[c172captain]

Originally Posted by Low_Level_Hell

Been shot down once... or maybe twice depending on your definition.

You're gonna have to elaborate

[sharkey]

Originally Posted by Low_Level_Hell

Been shot down once... or maybe twice depending on your definition.

Go on

[alphaone]

Originally Posted by Low_Level_Hell

Been shot down once... or maybe twice depending on your definition.

Did this happen in a bar?

[aloft]

Originally Posted by ian

I only have UPT stories

n00b.

[Superfly7XAF]

I figure Hacker hasn't responded as his stories would go something like this:

[Blackhawk]

All my missions were from Tedium to Apathy and back again- with an occasional side trip to Monotony.

[Low_Level_Hell]

In OIF 2 as a WO1 we were responding to troops in contact North of Al Hillah. We were making multiple rocket and gun runs along a canal were we saw muzzle flashes coming from. On our fourth time around we were hit with an RPG in the nose of the aircraft taking out our FLIR systems essentially blinding us, the PC in the back seat immediately started turing away from the fight towards BIAP and being I had the only pair of NVG's he told me to look out for obsticals while he flew back. Being only 3 months out of flight school I guess he didn't trust me to fly with goggles. About a minute after our innitial hit I start hearing "TWACK" "TWACK" "TWACK" my canopy window was shattered and my pilot started yelling "take the controls... take the controls". The gunfire we were taking also hit an engine control unit and out #2 engine started to overspeed. Being my skills weren't has sharp as they are now and the fact I was scared sh**less I was a too slow in responding the engine overspeed and it automatically shut down the engine. With half our power gone and the amount over power I already had applied I ended up over-torquing the remaining engine and there was too much pitch in the main rotor blades and the rotor slowed down (rotor droop) resulting in a good loss of altitude. I lowered the collective getting our rotor speed back. By then it was too late to recover from the decent I had going so I turned slightly to get over a road the by god's good grace was near by. I managed to perform the hardest roll-on landing of my life. I immediately brought both power levers to off then climbed out to check on my backseater. He had his canopy open and was holding his mouth. A bullet passed through his jaw and he was also shot in the arm. While this was going on my wing man was laying down suppressive fire all around us and coordinated for the troops in the area and medivac to come get us. I was uninjured but flew out on the medivac anyway. The next morning a CH-47 sling-loaded the helicopter to Taji were it was fixed up and flying the next week. My backseater ended up going home for a few months and is fine right now except for the scars on his face.

A few months afterwards myself with a different pilot were flying along at night patrolling Rte Tampa when a burst of tracer fire went across our nose and the guy I was flying with banked sharply evading the fire. He ending up running the rotors threw some trees. It was a pretty rough flight but we flew a couple kilometers down Tampa and set it down on the road near a convoy. New rotor blades were driven out the next day and replaced on the spot and the helicopter was flown out.

My second deployement went alot better than the first. It was during the Surge and our tactics were a little bit better and as PC for most flights I kept us out of the "knife-fights" that got myself shot up the first time. We ended up killing a hell of a lot more insurgents than the first deployment as well and took off and landed to the same place everytime.

[MikeD]

-58Ds took a beating when I was over there. Responded for QRF support for two while I was there. One shot down near Ramadi, the other that they thought was shot down, but later found to have snagged powerlines across a river up near Mosul.

[bunk22]

Well I can't match combat stories as the aircraft I flew in the fleet was support only. Flying into Pakistan at 300KIAS at less that 500' during OEF was about as it good as it got for us

I will share an event that happened about 1 week prior to 9/11. I was with VRC-30 DET-2 with CVW-11 onboard the USS Carl Vinson. A John Fischer (recently screened for command of a VRC squadron), callsign Fish, and I were sent into Bangkok to fly some VIP's out the Carrier the next day. We launched the next day with the mayor of Bangkok and the Govenor of Thailand amongst our guests. The ship was about 600 miles away...

As we check in with Strike at 100 miles, they give us pertinent info...specifically type Case. At 50 miles we check in with Marshall and they repeat the same as Strike, Case I conditions...think VMC conditions, at least 5000/5. However, from well beyond 50 miles, we can see a giant thunderstorm ahead of us, right where the Tacan needle is pointing. As we close on the ship, I'm dropping down to stay VMC, at 10 miles, I'm at less than 400' and can see the ship driving right into the storm. I inform Fish to let marshall know, prior to switching to tower that there is no way it's Case I, has to be Case III. Just look outside for crying out loud. They eventually agree and we are sent into Holding, about 30 miles from the ship, Angels 15.

We hold about an hour, hit our EFC time and commence the approach. A CASE III approach means coming out of holding at 250knots, down to 1200' at 10 miles. We went IMC at 20 miles out. I can't say the turbulence was violent as I've experienced worse, but it was a bumby ride. However, it was the torrential downpour with zero visibility that was a bit disconcerning. Not a huge deal at an 8000' runway but a little bit of a big deal at the carrier. So we get the standard, "stay clean through 10, we'll call your dirty." Sure enough, at 6 miles we get the "Password, dirty up."

Luckily, the ACLS was up and up that day and we got the call.."say your needles.." with a "fly-up, fly right" response. Then the standard..."roger, fly your needles." So on I go (I'm left seat btw) until glideslope intercept at 3 miles and start down...zero vis, massive downpour, turbulence. At 2 miles, I'm 800' and no change in the weather. A little tightening of the sphincter...just a little. Been there done that plenty of times. At 1 mile and 400', still nothing...can't see . At 3/4 mile, I get the standard "Password 25, 3/4 of a mile, call the ball.." I tell Fish to let em know I'm Clara, meaning clara everything. Clara denotes you don't have the ball in sight. However, I didn't have anything in sight, no meatball, no line-up...basically due to the fact that I didn't see the carrier to due zero visibility.

Paddles rogers up the Clara call and tells us to turn on our taxi light. At 1/2 mile and about 250' I still can't see a thing. I'm still on needles at a point where I should be flying the ball or at least changing my scan to visual to fly the ball. Paddles let me keep coming but I started to go a little high on glideslope, did not want to get low at all behind the boat when I can't see it. Now my sphincter is tight as a frog's ass. I kept coming. When I broke out, I was high and right....I made one play for the deck, a left wing drop, max power to keep the ball from going full red as I dropped like a ton of out of the sky. I never saw red but had a high come down at the ramp, OK 2 wire for the conditions. When I watched the tape, you could only see my taxi light during the last 2-3 seconds...pure grey before that.

I remember taxiing out of the landing area and a Hornet driver gave me a thumbs up. My legs wouldn't stop shaking for 15 minutes....adrenaline more than anything. After I trapped, the ship held all other aircraft (read Hornets) until it got clear of the torrential squall we were in. Nice, the advanced aircraft got the easy approach, the big POS came down the hard way. Regardless, we got onboard safely. Though I'm sure the pax felt it was just another day at the boat. Not really, in my nearly 550 times coming aboard the boat, I've never landed in weather like that...I've landed at night, in the snow and rain but have always been able to see ship at 3/4 of a mile...everytime but this one. Fun times.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by bunk22

Luckily, the ACLS was up and up that day and we got the call.."say your needles.." with a "fly-up, fly right" response. Then the standard..."roger, fly your needles." So on I go (I'm left seat btw) until glideslope intercept at 3 miles and start down...zero vis, massive downpour, turbulence. At 2 miles, I'm 800' and no change in the weather. A little tightening of the sphincter...just a little. Been there done that plenty of times. At 1 mile and 400', still nothing...can't see . At 3/4 mile, I get the standard "Password 25, 3/4 of a mile, call the ball.." I tell Fish to let em know I'm Clara, meaning clara everything. Clara denotes you don't have the ball in sight. However, I didn't have anything in sight, no meatball, no line-up...basically due to the fact that I didn't see the carrier to due zero visibility.

If the LSO queries the needles check, and yours don't match up with what he sees, does he have you disregard the ACLS, and is there a backup other precision (PAR) or non-precision-ish approach available?

Also, is the C-2 able to autocouple to the ACLS?

[bunk22]

Originally Posted by MikeD

If the LSO queries the needles check, and yours don't match up with what he sees, does he have you disregard the ACLS, and is there a backup other precision (PAR) or non-precision-ish approach available?

Also, is the C-2 able to autocouple to the ACLS?

The back up to ACLS is AACS, or Bullseye. Not quite as accurate (specifically in close) but at least you still have needles to fly. No autocouple to the ACLS. If you had no negative needles and negative bullseye, it was an internal CCA. Went I went to the FRS as an IP, I had to requal at night and hadn't trapped at night in about 2 years. So I have to get 6 and 2 at night, we have no needles, no bullseye so we just fly on down using instruments and mark one eyeball. There was a lighting system just below the round down. Basicaclly rows of lights in a T shape. To far left or right of centerline, the lights would change from red to green. I think white meant we were on line-up. Used only without the aid of needles.

[Hacker15e]

I haven't posted yet because I'm on a student XC, stuck in a hotel with no net access. I can't imagine typing out a 'there I was' on an iPhone (like this post!).

[ozziecat35]

best thread ever. Awesome stories Mike. You're officially labeled as B.A. in my book.

[alphaone]

Maj. Hack you can jump in anytime.....

[calcapt]

I once landed at Barbers Point with a 9 knot crosswind.

[N826AW]

And you didn't make the FO take the landing?

[calcapt]

Originally Posted by N826AW

And you didn't make the FO take the landing?

No stick in the back of the Tomcat. If there were, the RIO would of logged the landing fer sure. Wherever wind, clouds or darkness exist, there are flying and landing opportunities galore for my First Officers. After all, I have important captain stuff to take care of....

[Ian J]

"I hooked an 18,000lb load in the desert on my first try at night."

"But if it was night time in a featureless environment, how did you maintain a reference point?"

"I was on goggles."

"Bullsht!"

"Naw man, it was a really great move. He was wearing NVGs and hooked the load..."



Whatever... screw you fighter guys.

[Hacker15e]

Originally Posted by alphaone

Maj. Hack you can jump in anytime.....

I forgot that this thread was here, heh. I was sorta preoccupied when it first came out.

Instead of reposting the "the day I almost died" story, I'll look in the vaults for something different of interest.