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Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation (Part 3)

pilot_man

Ex-Rhino driver
pilot
Laser line up? Is the laser coming from the jet or the boat?

Laser lineup is from the boat. Basically it is a meatball for lineup that you can see 8 ish miles out. If you are off of lineup then you see green or red or flashing green or red. On lineup you see amber. It's gouge for those actually looking outside or the E-2.
 

e6bflyer

Used to Care
pilot
This is how civilian aviation works:

It+actually+works+like+this+_bbe5482e16997702b463bb78fc62d540.jpg
 

Coota0

Registered User
None
Series of stupid questions:

1.) Do aircrews fly with the same crew for the majority of the time? (same pilot and WSO as a crew)
2.) Do you fly with the same wingman the majority of the time?
or are these both bookism/movieisms to avoid confusing the audience?
3.) Could the RIO fire missiles in the F-14?
What about in the F/A-18 or F-4? Is there a difference between the F/A-18D and F?
4.)Can WSOs drop bombs in an F/A-18?
Could the RIO in an F-14 or F-4? The B/N in an A-6?
5.) Can the EWOs in the EA-6 fire the anti-radiation missiles?

Stupid questions over, thanks.
 

wlawr005

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
1) and 2) not always...but there are only a certain number of pilots/section leads in a squadron, so you end up flying with the same guys a lot. As far as WSOs in the fleet, I'm pretty sure they try to pair one senior aircrew member with a junior one at least in the beginning. YMMV from squadron to squadron.

3) and 4) WSOs have the ability to fire/drop anything in the F/A-18...however, SOP dictates who shall drop what. I believe (others may correct me) that WSOs are allowed to shoot A/A missiles under certain circumstances, but that's about it.

There are a lot of differences in the D/F. Most notably is the software and the how the controllers/crew station are equipped. The newest F's out there have the Advanced Crew Station. I'm not 100% sure exactly what that means, but I know WSOs hate non-ACS jets, so it must be way mo' betta.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
1.) Do aircrews fly with the same crew for the majority of the time? (same pilot and WSO as a crew)
2.) Do you fly with the same wingman the majority of the time?
or are these both bookism/movieisms to avoid confusing the audience?

Only so far as 'on-wings' go. Does the Army do that? Assign the new guy a more senior aircrew (up to and including the Skipper) as a mentor/informal evaluator. I wound up flying with my first XO a lot as a new guy, which was awesome as he was one of the best controllers out there. Then at some point you're experienced enough to have a New Guy of your very own to warp and mold, and you fly a lot with them.

I was an Instructor CICO for my last 12 months or so in the squadron. Me and the other JO Level IV/Vs wound up flying with all the upgraders because the hinges were too busy with hinge stuff.

But no - the movie "crews" are just to build that drama for when one of them gets killed. I've never heard of a squadron operating that way, if for no other reason than it'd make the flight schedule impossible on cruise.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
1.) Do aircrews fly with the same crew for the majority of the time? (same pilot and WSO as a crew)

Depends on the airframe and squadron. We deployed as individual crews in my first squadron so by default you flew with the same folks for 2 months. you also usually ended up deploying with the same set of folks because you usually ended up in a cycle, that squadron was not the norm though.

In my Prowler squadron they usually tried to keep some semblance of a crew together on deployment for training and familiarity purposes but you often flew with everyone else as well. I knew some Prowler squadrons that did similar a similar setup and some that didn't.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
1.) Do aircrews fly with the same crew for the majority of the time? (same pilot and WSO as a crew)
To piggyback on Flash's response, my squadron's flight schedule was more or less completely random when not flying combat ops. They had to shuffle things up regularly, as a function of crew rest, who was on duty or had meetings, who needed what upgrade or currency, and everything else that went into that house of cards they had to build every day. In OEF, we had combat crews, again, to simplify the schedule writing. A crew would cyclically rotate through day go, day spare, night go, night spare, and night off. Not necessarily in that order; I can't remember the exact ideal order they were striving for.

In all cases, junior pilots would always start out getting scheduled with a more senior ECMO1 in the right seat, and vice versa for junior ECMOs when they flew front seat flights. The good deal all-JO flight was usually reserved for more senior JOs, though a nugget might get to go up after a while with a "known quantity" crew of the more trusted senior JOs.
5.) Can the EWOs in the EA-6 fire the anti-radiation missiles?
No. All ECMOs have some capability to assign a target from their station. ECMO1 has the Master Arm switch, and is responsible for sending data from the jet to the missile. Pilot puts the jet in the right piece of sky at correct altitude/airspeed and pulls the trigger, which is the only means to get a missile off the rail. HARM in the Prowler is a crew-served weapon.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
No. All ECMOs have some capability to assign a target from their station. ECMO1 has the Master Arm switch, and is responsible for sending data from the jet to the missile. Pilot puts the jet in the right piece of sky at correct altitude/airspeed and pulls the trigger, which is the only means to get a missile off the rail. HARM in the Prowler is a crew-served weapon.

Segues into my own Stupid Question: did the Prowler ever carry any kinetic ordnance besides ARMs? I can't think why it would've, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been tried.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Segues into my own Stupid Question: did the Prowler ever carry any kinetic ordnance besides ARMs? I can't think why it would've, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been tried.
Well, unless someone calculated the proper mil depression setting for a 300-gallon drop tank in a 30 degree dive, and grease-penciled it on the canopy . . . :D

Something I always did wonder is whether it ever would have been possible to shoehorn an APG-series radar in that fat nose. They got one in a T-39, after all. Would have been nice to have a little more than that APS-130 Etch-A-Sketch.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Segues into my own Stupid Question: did the Prowler ever carry any kinetic ordnance besides ARMs? I can't think why it would've, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been tried.

Not operationally, and I don't think they tested anything else either.
 

ea6bflyr

Working Class Bum
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
If A-6's could shoot Sidewinders, then I believe the EA-6B could have....they just never did.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
If A-6's could shoot Sidewinders, then I believe the EA-6B could have....they just never did.
Totally different armament system. Prowlers aren't wired for the same stuff that Intruders were. For example, no electric fuzing capability in the Prowler. It's not just a matter of throwing the right BRU or LAU on the wing and a few boxes in the cockpit.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
They "appropriated" some of the old F-14 LANTIRN pods and use it for NTISR AFAIK. Small number of jets moded for it.
 
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