Drew

[Freddy🇩🇪 @FreddyLA7]

This is how the Solar Eclipse looked like from Northern Germany. We didn’t get a full eclipse, but 85%.😎

First one in my life, the next big one like this isn’t until 2086!

[U.S. Central Command @CENTCOM]

An F/A-18 fighter jet launches from the flight deck of USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) while the ship sails in regional waters and supports enforcement of America’s 🇺🇸 steel wall blockade against Iran. As of Aug. 12, U.S. forces have redirected 59 commercial vessels, disabled 3 and boarded 2 to ensure full compliance with the blockade.

[TruckinEh 🚛💨🇨🇦🇺🇸 @TruckinEh]

15 minutes later 🌧️⛈️🌧️

[Drew @hastres]

@TruckinEh Solid 👍, you must be up north, here in Texas it hasn't rained like that in over a month...

[Rio Veradonir @RioVeradonir]

The first of two victories for liberalism over its enemies in the state. The second is to come.

[Ryan Ewing @FlyingHighRyan]

.@FedEx just unveiled a retro livery honoring its late founder Fred Smith.

The 777 carries FedEx's original paint scheme and is named after Smith’s granddaughter, Rosie.

[Freddy🇩🇪 @FreddyLA7]

There was an article in the NY Times today about our planned College Football trip. One part I found really interesting was where they said we shouldn’t only visit the big schools. Honestly, we only had big ones on our list so far… Michigan, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Penn State etc.

So what would you say about this and what college is one that you would recommend that has this special charm?

[Colin McCarthy @US_Stormwatch]

This is going to be a billion-dollar disaster across the Midwest.

View from space shows a violent line of storms, with embedded tornadoes roaring through Chicago with severe thunderstorm warnings including hurricane-force wind gusts up to 100 mph. Winds as high as 130 mph were detected just above the surface.

The complex of storms, which developed over eastern Iowa this morning, will continue racing southeast into Indiana and Ohio and is expected to be classified as a derecho.

[Wendy Davis @wendydavis]

Republican poll with @GinaHinojosaTX down by only 3 points. There have been numerous polls in the last two weeks showing her down between only 1-3 points. In other words, she can win. In other, other words - let's contribute to her and help her do it.

[John Hudson @John_Hudson]

My favorite part: This Turkish catering truck nonchalantly moving from Air Force One to the other plane

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Final results: I asked the FAs to count window shades, but they said they didn’t see any.

We counted 59 meteors, but a few went by before I started counting.the view from the cockpit is good, but not nearly as good as laying on your back & just looking up…we can’t see anything directly above us or behind us.

We can’t watch all the time, either. During climb out with lights on, can’t see much. The last 40 minutes is descent & the sun is rising, so we can’t see then, either.

[Gina Hinojosa @GinaHinojosaTX]

On Day One, I will fire Mike Morath.

[Mark Sudduth @hurricanetrack]

Highlights from yesterday and last night as monsoon storms delivered flooding rains and incredible lightning displays across southern Arizona.

@WX_Overlord @NWSTucson @NWSPhoenix @monsoonchaser @foxweather

[Aviation Reporter @TripppleSeven7]

This footage gets more terrifying with every second.

The helicopter was in serious trouble after an engine oil leak, trailing a massive cloud of smoke as the pilot raced toward the ground. You can almost feel the urgency. He was fighting against time to get the aircraft safely on the ground.

There was no room for hesitation. No second attempt. He eventually spotted an empty parking and managed to land safely.

[Rich "Corky" Erie @RSE_VB]

#TomcatTails Number 29
#TomcatTuesday

“Prohibited maneuvers? Like HOW prohibited??”

Every Navy jet has an “owner’s manual” called NATOPS (‘Nay-Tops’). This stands for “Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization. From Wikipedia, “NATOPS was established by the Navy in 1961 as a positive approach towards improving combat readiness and achieving a substantial reduction in naval aircraft mishaps.” There were lots of mishaps back then (in 1950, there were 776 lost, about TWO PER DAY). Before NATOPS, you learned an airplane by flying that airplane. The training got much more standardized and mishaps came WAY down fairly quickly.

NATOPS was and is the “bible” for Navy aircraft and Naval Aviators take it VERY seriously. Your overall aircraft systems knowledge comes from reading NATOPS as do your emergency procedures. You need to know all that COLD. The more you understand your systems and how they interact, the better you can react when “cascading failures” are happening due to system failures or aircraft damage. Knowing that and knowing Naval Aviators, you also know that we’ll often make jest and jokes about it. It’s what we do.

My Dad got his Wings of Gold in 1956 and was flying when NATOPS came out (A-1 Skyraiders and A-4 Skyhawks). He always told me that NATOPS stand for “Not Applicable To Older Pilots.” Good one, Dad, good one. Or we’d jest that “John Wayne didn’t need NATOPS.” Hardy-har-har™. The following #TomcatTails will be a little irreverent regarding adherence to NATOPS but that’s tongue in cheek. The other thing we’d say was “Live & Die by NATOPS.” And we meant that.

For the F-14A, NATOPS listed out five prohibited maneuvers for the jet. They are:
1. No intentional spins
2. No zero or negative G maneuvers in excess of 10 seconds with afterburner operating or 20 seconds at military power.
3. No AIM-9 launch with landing flaps and slats extended.
4. No Fuel dumping with afterburner operating or with speed brakes extended.
5. No rolling maneuvers with angle-of-bank change greater than 360 degrees.
All five of them could result in loss of the jet (flat spin, engine failure, structural damage, oh my). Another joke about NATOPS was “As a Nugget you know to avoid the prohibited maneuvers; as an experience Fighter Pilot, you’ve mastered them all.” Hardy-har-har™.

One beautiful sunny day we were flying in the VF-24 Renegades from the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) off the coast of Southern California doing a work-up cycle in preps for deployment later in the year. As per usual, we’d received a couple Nugget Pilots and RIOs between cruises so they were part of our focus to get them ready for their first cruise. This particular day I was crewed up with my roommate “Trigger” and we had a 1v1 scheduled with the new Nugget and his senior (Lieutenant Commander) RIO. If you were a gambler, you’d probably want to put your money on the two cruise/TOPGUN experienced Lieutenants and not the Nugget + Department Head. And you would be correct.

We briefed up, manned up, banged off the boat, and headed to our radial/DME (bearing/distance) from “Mother” that we’d been assigned to work. The schedulers would routinely schedule 1v1s for a cycle and spread them around the ship. And yes, the Hornet guys always came back min-fuel and they’d stack overhead at 14,000 feet at recovery time so they didn’t run out of gas. Anyway…….

We briefed abeam set-ups for the afternoon to get maximum training time for the fuel we had. Those are where you set up on your altitude and 1 to 1.5 miles apart. Lead says “speed and angels” indicating he's on altitude at the briefed speed (maybe 350kts at 17,000 feet). Dash 2 (wingman) repeats the same when he’s ready, then lead says “turning in” and initiates a turn toward Dash 2. Dash 2 reciprocates and both Fighters look to make a left-to-left pass (just like driving in the US….both on their right sides). Prior to the merge (when the jets pass each other), lead calls “Fights On” indicating that we’re all cleared to maneuver.

From there, the training begins. In this case since it was a syllabus hop (with a grade sheet), I had several learning points to hit for the Nugget. He’s working for all he’s worth given his moderate level of skills being new to the jet, but he’s got some good training to rely on. Often, the lead here will make a calculated “mistake” with the intent to see if the Nugget a) recognizes it, b) reacts appropriately to capitalize on it, and c) gets into a good firing solution. I had many flights like this as a Nugget and half the time, the experienced guy would just beat the crap out of me 4 times and let me figure it out. I wasn’t “that guy” so I made sure that our trusty young Nugget got the desired/required training. Until the last set-up. C’mon, I’m not a Saint……

For the last one, I wanted to try some vertical moves that I’d been thinking about so after the “Fight’s On”, I turned across his tails as he did mine, indicating a two-circle flow where we’d meet back nose-to-nose again for the second merge. If we met head on, that indicated that we were of very similar speed (energy management). Sure enough, we did. At the second merge, I had good speed to go vertical (320 knots) so I did. And so did he. Cool. We’re both going straight up (or “bullseye nose high”), canopy to canopy about half a mile apart, full blower, looking at each other. Higher and higher we go, airspeed rapidly plummeting through 250 knots……200 knots…..

pro·hib·it·ed /prəˈhibədəd/
adjective
that which has been forbidden; banned.
“The F-14A Tomcat has five prohibited maneuvers.”

Here’s where we get to the meat of the matter. The Number 1 prohibited maneuver is an intentional spin. I mean, who the hell would WANT to get into a spin, right? Well, the key elements of getting into a spin are departure from controlled flight and some kind of induced yaw rate (aerodynamically or via asymmetric thrust). We’d learned early in our training that you COULD take the Tomcat bullseye nose high but NOT to zero airspeed ("ballistic"). You’d likely tail-slide and could depart in very severe fashion. The technique involved using those giant horizontal stabilizers (as big as the wing of an A-4) with 80-100 knots left to “influence” the nose back a bit so you wound up juuuuussst getting the nose to fall backwards in a very sharp loop, if that makes geometric sense. If done properly, you’d flop over backwards and wind up bullseye nose low and pointing straight down, no muss, no fuss. Note “if done properly” and not taken too slow because you were trying to gun a Nugget or something like that.

…..150 knots….100 knots…..we were at the top of our respective vertical maneuvers and sure enough the Nugget starts his backward bunt to make sure he doesn’t depart too badly into a maneuver known as “The Floppen Housen” where you tumble out of the sky for a bit until the jet decides to fare into the wind when it feels like it. He gets it to start the little back flip and I decide I needed JUST a bit more altitude than him to affect a kill at the conclusion of this fight. As he falls, I glance at the airspeed indicator and Trigger calls “ballistic”, meaning we’re not technically flying anymore. Just for grins, I bunt the stick back to leverage any remaining Bernoulli’s (particles of lift or something like that) to maybe influence the nose away from disaster.

Sure enough, based on the tiny nose bunt backwards, a jet that was pretty straight (not bent), and a little luck, the nose programs slowly backwards as we tail slide. The Nugget had fallen off and was well below us as our jet pitches perfectly backward, right over the spine, fares into the wind immediately in a nose low position pointed straight down. And would-ja lookie here, right in the windscreen is the Nugget, starting the pull on his jet to recover. Select ‘Winder, good tone, “Fox 2”, and we knock it off.

Wrap it up, join up and RTB back to the boat for debrief and some food. We had a great debrief and he’d learned quite a bit. When asked about the last maneuver, we discussed where our personal boundaries are and how they move over time with acquired skill. Also, if one was going to get to the edge of a particular envelope/flight parameter, one has a discussion beforehand with one’s RIO (as Trigger and I did). Your RIO gets a vote, often times 51%, right @TexSandlin???

Any departure from NATOPS can be dangerous, but when I was a RAG Instructor, I liked to point out to brand new students that the VERY first page in NATOPS includes this comment:

“This manual, together with the supplemental manuals listed below, contains information on all aircraft systems, performance data, and operating procedures required for safe and effective operations. However, it is not a substitute for sound judgment. Compound emergencies, available facilities, adverse weather or terrain, or considerations affecting the lives and property of others may require modification of the procedures contained herein. Read this manual from cover to cover. It is your responsibility to have a complete knowledge of its contents.”

Follow “the book” right up until you can’t or shouldn’t. And know where that line is.
Read & heed, Brothers. Reed & heed.

[Dan Lamothe @DanLamothe]

The Washington Post credited this great plane tracker account with an import detail in our exclusive tonight. Sharing credit where it's due:

[Scott Bateman MBE @scottiebateman]

Few things match the quiet intensity of the flight deck during a long-haul night crossing. The world below is fast asleep, the cockpit instruments provide the only glow, and you are hurtling through the dark at Mach 0.85.

It is a view that never, ever gets old. Where is the most memorable place you’ve watched the sun rise or set from an aircraft?

[Ari Sarsalari @AriWeather]

Trying to get in one solid activity per day with no heavy lifting 😆

Today is BLTs for the fam with homegrown NJ tomatoes and pickled onion/jalapeno from our garden.

Straight back to bed after this I'm cooked

[Ari Sarsalari @AriWeather]

Saturday I had a brutal slip/fall down some stairs, broke 2 ribs and collapsed a lung. The lung is fixed and I'm at home waiting for ribs to heal with my favorite nurse Tallulah ��️. I'll be out of work for at least a week, back asap

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Checking my training records to be sure my sim checkride got updated & the screen shows my hours.

It occurs to me I’ve either recently passed or will soon pass 10,000 flight hours. 🎉

(I stopped tracking once I got hired)

Not bad. At the current pace of about 750 hours a year, I should retire with around 22,000 hours.

Non-military pilots generally retire with a lot more hours; they generate profit by flying for an employer while it’s all expense for the military. You can fly a lot as a military instructor, but in both the T-37 & T-6 the average sortie duration is around 1.3 hours; my observation is the longer your average sortie duration, the less frequently you’ll fly in the military, but there are exceptions to that who log ridiculous amounts of time in the military. Still, cargo & tanker pilots tend to come out of the military with a lot more hours than fighter & bomber folks.

I was able to leave the military with about 5,500 hours (I don’t recall the actual number & don’t really care), despite not really being able to fly much the last few years. I went non-current for flying for very long periods & kind of became a pain in the ass for my squadron; not because I wanted to or was being difficult, but because my divorce started in 2019 after I got home from deployment & everything from a family perspective was downhill from there. Courts, Kids, Dad, Cancer, Deaths.

Covid was a very slow 2 years for logging hours, which put a dent in my total. Again, not that I care about my hours anymore – they don’t really mean much once you get past a certain point – but for pilots trying to get hired by an airline, your hours total is an important metric.

You need enough to be interesting to the airline, but not so much that they wonder why you haven’t already been hired. The hours need to be in the right types of airplanes, too…5,000 hours in a single engine Cessna isn’t something they’ll give you an interview for. You need turbine time, and preferably multi-engine turbine time. Even better, an airplane that requires two pilots, showing you can work as a crew. The military gets a different standard, and can be hired with fewer hours.

(Keep in mind this is all very resumé dependent & there isn’t a hard rule. Aviation is also a small world & your reputation will precede you wherever you go…you may look great on paper, but there is a whole network of people who know you are toxic & will say so)

Anyway, 10,000 hours in the air. About 416 days, or almost 1 year & 2 months. Considering I started flying on my own time in 1999 as my finances, work & school would allow, that’s not too bad.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything, and I still fondly recall the electric feeling of my first solo at Double Eagle II airport (KAEG) in Albuquerque, so many years ago.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.