Aviation Photo and BS thread

[North7]

No water, no problem...

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2021/09/23/amphibious-airplane-snow-takeoff/amp/

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[Wings2Wheels]

I've not followed the proposed A-10 re-engine that closely but from this article it sounds like they have a solution for the A-10 engines.

Another consideration, we all know many have tried to kill off the A-10, perhaps this contributed to the decision or knowing budgets are hard to get approved they broke loose enough money for the B-52 and no more so they took the money an ran. Also, my personal speculation, the green-new-deal people could not stand the trail of black smoke the B-52 leaves.

Besides, the B-52 has been fighting for new engines since the 1950's:

In early 1956, Major General Al Boyd, Deputy Commander for Systems, Air Re-search & Development Command (ARDC), requested the feasibility of replacing the pair of J57’s with a single afterburning J75 engine

In a study for the USAF in the mid-1970s, Boeing investigated replacing the engines, changing to a new wing, and other improvements to upgrade B-52G/H aircraft as an alternative to the B-1A, then in development.[123]
The USAF's 1997 rejection of re-engining was subsequently disputed in a Defense Science Board (DSB) report in 2003. The DSB urged the USAF to re-engine the aircraft without delay,[125]

The green new deal people think the B-52s are a music group. They have no idea what is going on with military aircraft....just that all things that burn fossil fuels must die.

The A-10 has needed new motors since we started operating them at medium altitude during the first Gulf war in '91. The original TF-34s weren't meant for the desert or anything higher than about 10,000' MSL in transit to operating at 500' AGL or less IVO the Fulda Gap in Europe stopping Soviet tank hordes.

Throwing new parts at the old model motors isn't going to do squat. The A-10 ALWAYS operates at a 'reduced' trim power setting our engine guys would set. As soon as we would climb or operate at anything other than sea level on a standard day we were losing thrust...which isn't good when the CAOC restricts you to maintain above 10,000' for weapons deliveries.

No, the A-10 needs new motors, and has for 30+ years. This would have been a great opportunity to leverage two different programs against a COTS solution and actually be wise with taxpayer money.

Eventually another program will be started to re-engine the Hawg, and they will waste millions when it could have already been a done deal.

There is no other aircraft that can provide the type of CAS support the A-10 can (short of an AC-130, and they are mainly tasked to SOF and don't come out unless it's night), and the Air Force keeps having to find this out every 8-10 years.

Whatever...I did my 21, and now I'm just here for the muddin', premium pay trips and overnights!

 

[North7]

The green new deal people think the B-52s are a music group. They have no idea what is going on with military aircraft....just that all things that burn fossil fuels must die.

The A-10 has needed new motors since we started operating them at medium altitude during the first Gulf war in '91. The original TF-34s weren't meant for the desert or anything higher than about 10,000' MSL in transit to operating at 500' AGL or less IVO the Fulda Gap in Europe stopping Soviet tank hordes.

Throwing new parts at the old model motors isn't going to do squat. The A-10 ALWAYS operates at a 'reduced' trim power setting our engine guys would set. As soon as we would climb or operate at anything other than sea level on a standard day we were losing thrust...which isn't good when the CAOC restricts you to maintain above 10,000' for weapons deliveries.

No, the A-10 needs new motors, and has for 30+ years. This would have been a great opportunity to leverage two different programs against a COTS solution and actually be wise with taxpayer money.

Eventually another program will be started to re-engine the Hawg, and they will waste millions when it could have already been a done deal.

There is no other aircraft that can provide the type of CAS support the A-10 can (short of an AC-130, and they are mainly tasked to SOF and don't come out unless it's night), and the Air Force keeps having to find this out every 8-10 years.

Whatever...I did my 21, and now I'm just here for the muddin', premium pay trips and overnights!

You sir have 100% of my respect, great to actually have a Warthog pilot on the forum, I love hearing the details. As much as I follow warbirds I had never heard the A-10 lacked power, great to know, thank you, hopefully the Pentagon finds the budget for them, they did break out the wallet for new wings.

A few weeks back on a visit to eastern New Mexico, I drove the perimeter road of Cannon AFB, home to a number of SOF, hoping to catch some of the AC-130 and other C-130's taking off or landing, like you said, they were all parked on the ramp during the day. I did see one U-28A Draco (Pilatus PC-12) taking off which was cool. Another day I saw a KC-135 towing a C-130, refueling, flying right over town, which surprised me. I spent 4 years there active duty when it was a fighter base tuning ECM units.

 

[Wings2Wheels]

You sir have 100% of my respect, great to actually have a Warthog pilot on the forum, I love hearing the details. As much as I follow warbirds I had never heard the A-10 lacked power, great to know, thank you, hopefully the Pentagon finds the budget for them, they did break out the wallet for new wings.

A few weeks back on a visit to eastern New Mexico, I drove the perimeter road of Cannon AFB, home to a number of SOF, hoping to catch some of the AC-130 and other C-130's taking off or landing, like you said, they were all parked on the ramp during the day. I did see one U-28A Draco (Pilatus PC-12) taking off which was cool. Another day I saw a KC-135 towing a C-130, refueling, flying right over town, which surprised me. I spent 4 years there active duty when it was a fighter base tuning ECM units.

You may respect me, but my respect goes to the young 18, 19, 20 year old kids who we did our best to support. Those Army & Marine grunts, Spec Ops, and others are the ones who really put it on the line. Unfortunately, no matter how quickly we tried to get on station or how accurate our attack runs were, many never made it home, those that did lost parts of them physically & mentally, and even many of those who did make it home wound up taking their own lives later.

I have a tee shirt with the grey shape of Afghanistan on it and white letters over the country that say, "ALL FOR WHAT..." I maddens me beyond belief what we lost in precious blood & treasure over there...the military-industrial complex keeps churning and we loose some of the best our country has to offer.....all for what?

Sorry, I digress....but especially the way the 'leadership' (politicians wearing uniforms) withdrew drives me insane when I know it didn't have to be that way.

ANYWAY...back to better things, before I bust a blood vessel - Cannon has become the de facto home to much of SOF aviation assets now. Hurlburt and Duke still have some platforms, but the Air Force seems to like moving equipment around for reasons known only to them (Officer Performance Report bullets perhaps?) Cool that you were able to catch a -135 refueling one of the Spec Ops -130s, I know they have to 'check boxes' like we did and day AAR, perhaps even at lower altitudes than normal, is probably one of those things.

I always thought the MC-12 platform was a much better idea than the U-28...I'm a fan of more motors, not less, especially when the bad guys are probably going to chop your head off if you have to do an off-airport landing.

I've been down at Hurlburt when the AC-130s were doing night employment...very cool to hear the 40mm Bofors whump-whump-whumping, the 25mm Gatling gun going off, and the occasional CRUMP of a 105mm landing. Very, very impressive.

What ECM pods did you work on? I imagine they were probably hung on F-4s or F-16s. We used the ALQ-184 almost exclusively in the A-10 community.

Just noticed you're from north Texas...I went to UPT at Sheppard AFB in '01-'02. People in that area were friendly to a fault, just couldn't drive worth a darn in snow.

 

[North7]

You may respect me, but my respect goes to the young 18, 19, 20 year old kids who we did our best to support. Those Army & Marine grunts, Spec Ops, and others are the ones who really put it on the line. Unfortunately, no matter how quickly we tried to get on station or how accurate our attack runs were, many never made it home, those that did lost parts of them physically & mentally, and even many of those who did make it home wound up taking their own lives later.

I have a tee shirt with the grey shape of Afghanistan on it and white letters over the country that say, "ALL FOR WHAT..." I maddens me beyond belief what we lost in precious blood & treasure over there...the military-industrial complex keeps churning and we loose some of the best our country has to offer.....all for what?

Sorry, I digress....but especially the way the 'leadership' (politicians wearing uniforms) withdrew drives me insane when I know it didn't have to be that way.

ANYWAY...back to better things, before I bust a blood vessel - Cannon has become the de facto home to much of SOF aviation assets now. Hurlburt and Duke still have some platforms, but the Air Force seems to like moving equipment around for reasons known only to them (Officer Performance Report bullets perhaps?) Cool that you were able to catch a -135 refueling one of the Spec Ops -130s, I know they have to 'check boxes' like we did and day AAR, perhaps even at lower altitudes than normal, is probably one of those things.

I always thought the MC-12 platform was a much better idea than the U-28...I'm a fan of more motors, not less, especially when the bad guys are probably going to chop your head off if you have to do an off-airport landing.

I've been down at Hurlburt when the AC-130s were doing night employment...very cool to hear the 40mm Bofors whump-whump-whumping, the 25mm Gatling gun going off, and the occasional CRUMP of a 105mm landing. Very, very impressive.

What ECM pods did you work on? I imagine they were probably hung on F-4s or F-16s. We used the ALQ-184 almost exclusively in the A-10 community.

Just noticed you're from north Texas...I went to UPT at Sheppard AFB in '01-'02. People in that area were friendly to a fault, just couldn't drive worth a darn in snow.

I worked on the F-111D, our ECM pods were the ALQ-87 and ALQ-119, the ALQ-131 was in the pipeline when I got out. We also had three on-board systems, Trackbreaker, RHAW and the tail mounted IR missle sensor.

 

[Wings2Wheels]

I worked on the F-111D, our ECM pods were the ALQ-87 and ALQ-119, the ALQ-131 was in the pipeline when I got out. We also had three on-board systems, Trackbreaker, RHAW and the tail mounted IR missle sensor.

The Aardvark.....SWEET! Good buddy of mine was a -111 driver back in the day...48th out of Lakenheath. Unfortunately he missed out on Qaddaffi's tent party.

 

[North7]

The Aardvark.....SWEET! Good buddy of mine was a -111 driver back in the day...48th out of Lakenheath. Unfortunately he missed out on Qaddaffi's tent party.

Lakenheath was my first pick, instead the Air Force said your going to this place called Clovis, NM, yeah, had to look it up on a map. Well, I met my wife there, still togeather.

 

[Deleted member 12876]

Arizona/Nevada

 

[HeathMas]

Aspiring Air Force Academy cadet and F-22 pilot, from Portland Oregon. Recently got the chance to hang out with the F-22 demo team and the Thunderbirds for a full week. Absolute dream come true and the best 7 days of my life. Got to see the cockpit of the F-22 and chock the all of thunderbirds when they arrived. (They arrived in PDX with no crew so it was up to me and one other 16 year old to chock all seven jets) Meeting all of my idols and getting to know them on a personal level was something that I had only dreamed of. Just turned 16 and I have about 21 hours in Private Pilot Training. Just hoping I don’t pass the Air Force height restrictions.

 

[kodiakisland]

Aspiring Air Force Academy cadet and F-22 pilot, from Portland Oregon. Recently got the chance to hang out with the F-22 demo team and the Thunderbirds for a full week. Absolute dream come true and the best 7 days of my life. Got to see the cockpit of the F-22 and chock the all of thunderbirds when they arrived. (They arrived in PDX with no crew so it was up to me and one other 16 year old to chock all seven jets) Meeting all of my idols and getting to know them on a personal level was something that I had only dreamed of. Just turned 16 and I have about 21 hours in Private Pilot Training. Just hoping I don’t pass the Air Force height restrictions.

That's awesome. Hope all your dream comes true.
If not though, there are plenty of other ways to get there. Many schools have ROTC.
My wife was the SJA for the cadets for several years, and I can honestly say the Academy would not have been for me. I did enjoy living at the Academy though.

Keep us updated on your flying. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[North7]

Aspiring Air Force Academy cadet and F-22 pilot, from Portland Oregon. Recently got the chance to hang out with the F-22 demo team and the Thunderbirds for a full week. Absolute dream come true and the best 7 days of my life. Got to see the cockpit of the F-22 and chock the all of thunderbirds when they arrived. (They arrived in PDX with no crew so it was up to me and one other 16 year old to chock all seven jets) Meeting all of my idols and getting to know them on a personal level was something that I had only dreamed of. Just turned 16 and I have about 21 hours in Private Pilot Training. Just hoping I don’t pass the Air Force height restrictions.

Great photos and dreams, keep them alive and keep your flying lessons going, you will achieve your goals. If you can't fly fighters because of your height there are many other great planes to fly, MC-130, B-2, B-21, B-52, C-17, etc.

I saw the F-22 demo team once flying with the P-38, like this, very cool:

https://www.airforceheritageflight.org/news/2019/11/06/paul-loco-lopez-f-22-raptor-demo-team/

 

[kodiakisland]

Flew out to a couple of nice camping spots this morning. Almost cool enough to enjoy the outdoors here.

 

[FlyingScot]

Some photos from Go Wheels Up at San Marcos earlier this year

 

[FlyingScot]

And because flying upright is boring, and apparently my GoPro mount doesn't tolerate positive G's all that well:

 

[kodiakisland]

I like boring. Spent some time in an 8KCAB last month doing aggravated spin recoveries. I like boring.

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