Surviving military aviation Chapter 1: What not to do

[bunk22]

How about the kid in K-ville, almost 2 years ago who flipped off his buddy in the LSO shack as he was landing. Thing is, he wasn't paying attention so he didn't go to idle, got on the brakes but the aircraft was not decelerating like it was supposed to and he punched. Walked away just fine but was booted not so long after. I ran into him in the halls of the wing, he was wearing some sort of strange SWO type jacket.

 

[squorch2]

There were also some culture effects at work in that one.

 

[insanebikerboy]

That's what the VFR solos in primary are for. Of course, you can't do it with the canopy open in the T-6. Not that I would know anything about any of that...seriously.

Did you wear your ascot and goggles while having the canopy open?

 

[pilot_man]

Did they not have a strike frequency back then for these sorta things?

It happened at an OLF during FCLPs and I'm not sure why he did it, just that he did. I would say that for the most part, dudes in my community generally get the boot for just plain sucking. Very rare is it for something off duty be the cause. It's things like flying into Iranian airspace because you fell asleep, flying all the way home to Va Beach with your Master Arm switch still in Arm, and dropping a bomb so far off target that you almost kill the low safe. That last one may not have been that big a deal, except for the purported evidence destruction post flight. Good times.

 

[squorch2]

Out of curiosity, how would anyone know that you flew home with the master arm switch still in arm, assuming you safed it before you got out?

 

[MIDNJAC]

Out of curiosity, how would anyone know that you flew home with the master arm switch still in arm, assuming you safed it before you got out?

Could have been a dual-ed up flight, or perhaps the person just never safed it up at all and shut down that way.

 

[pilot_man]

Yeah, the PC is the one who caught it, not the pilot.

 

[phrogpilot73]

When I was going through primary, there were two guys who got the boot because they decided to dogfight the T-34... They were both scheduled for a PA solo on the same day, so they met up in a working area, turned off their transponders and went at it. Not the best headwork...

 

[JD81]

I would say that for the most part, dudes in my community generally get the boot for just plain sucking. Very rare is it for something off duty be the cause.

And the amount of "suckage" can vary extremely before the allowable limit on suckage is met. FWIW I know a few dudes with questionable off duty incidents who are still flying, so its not the end all be all either.

 

[Reconjoe]

Not too long ago at Whiting there was a student solo who came up on Rwy 32 (any student familiar with 32 knows how tricky it is coming off the 180 on profile without violating south field airspace a mere 1000ft off the rwy) and biffed the profile some, and instead of going around elected to touch it down....compressed the nose gear hard enough trying to put it down that all 4 props struck tarmac, and due to a panic reaction the student then went full throttle and lifted off, striking the tail section on rotation. 2 laps in the pattern with 4 bad props, some tail damage and an excessively vibrating engine later, the stud finally got it down. Student continued in training all though I have no idea where that student is now. Big lesson learned was WAVEOFF's are FREE!

 

[squorch2]

Thanks to policy changes resulting from that mishap T-6s regularly fly through south field airspace. Always a fun time.

 

[bunk22]

There were also some culture effects at work in that one.

The one at K-rock? Those down here at the time would disagree, it has been discussed ad nausem.

 

[dilbert123]

There were a couple of guys in my last squadron who took a T-28 on a cross country to Andrews. Both were single, met some girls there and, being the big shots they were, suggested to the young ladies they give each a ride in their aeroplane. They were seen by someone at Andrews, got reported on and the ca-ca predictably hit the fan when they got home. Fortunately, no one was injured, so they were invited to return to civilian life. We all heard about it quickly, of course, and only saw them once as they passed through the squadron on their way to Legal that Monday morning. Never saw them again. Nice guys, pity.

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

Stupid knows no boundaries; even nice guys are capable of being stupid and getting caught.

 

[Reconjoe]

So, not only do they go with a pretty bad idea, but they try to execute it at a military airfield? What, they didn't think the two non-crew member looking girls dressed in civies wouldn't seem suspicious on a military flight line? That's just Darwinism...they probably would have done something dumber had their careers continued.