Drop night is FRIDAY! (aircraft assignment)

[daveleau]

Friday night I get my aircraft assignment! I CAN'T WAIT!!! Our flight commander just got the results today. We turned in our dream-sheets in late November. We were told to list three choices, and we *may* get them. It is based on the needs of the USAF, so nothing is guaranteed. My 3 picks were:[list=1][*]B-52 bomber (aka BUFF) - Shreveport, LA or Minot, ND[*]C-130 (slick C-130) cargo plane- any European base (Germany and England)[*]C-130 (slick C-130) cargo plane- any Japanese base[/list=1]My flight commander said we "should be pleased" by our assignments, so that is good news. Only one other person in our class put in for the B-52 and no one else put in for overseas slick C-130s. I chose the B-52, which is only stationed at two horribly located bases, for the home-life (fly and return home often) and the mission (kill bad guys and break things). I chose the slicks for the mission (lots of fun low-level flying) and the location (who can beat Europe or Japan?!?). We'll see. I'll let y'all know what I get and post some pics, maybe.

This is what we have been waiting for since I started in the USAF in Nov of 2001! The suspense and the fact that my commander actually KNOWS already are killing me!

The available aircraft for me are:

AC-130 Gunships
HC-130
MC-130
EC-130
C-130 (slick or trash-hauler)
KC-135 (rarely assigned)
RC-135
B-52
J-Star
AWACS
C-5 (very rarely assigned)

While F-15E's and B-1's are available for navigators (actually called WSOs), in choosing to come to Randolph for training instead of Pensacola, I excluded myself from those two aircraft. Likewise, if I'd gone to Pensacola, I'd only be able to get the F-15E, B-1 or AC-130.

WOOHOO!

Dave

Have no idea what any of that means, Dave , but good luck in whatever it is for Friday!

Cheers
Mick

[RADAR1797]

Dave,

Hope you get what you want. Stay away from JSTARS/AWACS, cool mission, but Navs usually don't like flying in circles.

-RADAR

[daveleau]

Sorry, those are US Air Force aircraft. I am a navigator (trainee). Most of the older aircraft in the USAF arsenal use human navigators instead of computers and GPS since humans cannot be jammed and are more reliable and the cost to "upgrade" is prohibitive. The pilot flies the plane, the navigator tells the pilot where to fly, how to fly, looks for threats, drops bombs and cargo, and plans the missions. (No offense to any pilots out there, but we often call them bus-drivers since the nav's do a vast amount of the work in getting the aircraft to the desired place on time to perform its mission.) I am told Friday what aircraft I am to be assigned to.

Originally posted by RADAR1797
Dave,

Hope you get what you want. Stay away from JSTARS/AWACS, cool mission, but Navs usually don't like flying in circles.

-RADAR

Ugh, those are my last choices. If I get those, I will try and cross-train into something else very quickly!

[willy_ph]

Hope you get the mission you want Dave. Sounds like a lot of fun.

[Toadman]

What? No C-17 Globemaster II?? Guess you're gonna have to suction-cup the antenna for your personal GPS to the windscreen on those antiques. For shame, no B1-B slot either

[EndobioticChaos]

Sure hope you get the post you want! Good luck!

Good luck Dave!

[daveleau]

Well, the C-17 doesn't have a Nav position or even a place to put one. They want one for certain missions, like the C-5 has. Nothing has come of it yet, though.

[Knothead]

C-130 (slick C-130) cargo plane- any European base (Germany and England)--Davelaeu

WHOOO! Folks, this is an airplane weighing something like 100,000 pounds, with a wingspan of about 132 feet!

Calling this an 'airplane' is like calling a T-Rex a lizard!

Good luck with this, Dave!