Hornet pilot luggage

[Cypher1o1]

I have a intresting question if anyone can help. So when a hornet pilot heads out to the carrier from his land base where does his luggage go? Is there a mxu-486 pod, he puts his stuff in or a internal conpartment on the hornet, is it shiped in on via c-2 greyhound or does he put his stuff on before the carrier leaves port then drives back to fly his hornet on?

I know kinda a off topic random question but im curious.

[sideshow]

The hornet can carry a personal effects pod for dets. I don't know the technical name, but imagine the harrier drop tank with the rear half removed, also a big door cut into the side of it. The door gets secured with a series of fastners... They'll usually carry those when going on a cross country det. When going to the boat the squadron packs up a few days early. There are some big boxes called Tri-walls that get set up in the hanger. Everybody piles their personal gear, as well as tools, books ect into them. Some are marked to go to the hanger, some to the flight deck. The boxes get loaded up into contracted 18 wheelers, and driven to where the squadron catches the ship. Personnel fly out on C-40's (with an exception of the pilots who get picked to fly to the ship). Once at the ship location, IE NAS North Island, the squadron sets everything up once the trucks arrive. Bunch of union types run cranes loading everything on elevators to go up to the flight deck or hanger deck. Pilot gear, usually gets staged in the ready room where they can collect it and put it where they need it. The first day after the ship pulls out of port is a big fly in, where all the jets come out to meet the ship. I was stationed in Lemoore, so our jets would fly directly from there to the boat off the CA coast. Naval aviation is like a family. So being our people would already be at the ship location a sister squadron would be tasked with launching our jets, or fixing anything that broke when they tried launching. The squadrons that came from the east coast, like Tomcats when we had them, would fly to California a few days early, stage in CA, then fly to the ship as part of the fly in.

Edited August 3, 2018 by sideshow

[Cypher1o1]

Oh cool thanks i was pondering that cause i heard the planes are stationed at land bases before and after a tour and pilot fly them out to the ship but i never seen them fly in with cargo pods. I worked on kc-135s in the airforce so we just put everything for tdy in the aircraft.

[mytai01]

They need to have cargo loading and unloading on the cargo planes.

[airdog]

When I was in the Navy back in the mid to late 80's we loaded what we called Blivets onto the hornets. As was said above they have doors that opened on the side that the pilot could put his gear into. Some of these blivets were actually converted drop tanks others were purpose built. Some of our pilots would do what they called a cross country training mission over the weekend that always seemed to overnight in their hometown. They would fly out on Friday and show back up on Sunday evening.

[sideshow]

When I was in the Navy back in the mid to late 80's we loaded what we called Blivets onto the hornets. As was said above they have doors that opened on the side that the pilot could put his gear into. Some of these blivets were actually converted drop tanks others were purpose built. Some of our pilots would do what they called a cross country training mission over the weekend that always seemed to overnight in their hometown. They would fly out on Friday and show back up on Sunday evening.

 

That's the name I was looking for! I got out in 09 and we still called them blivets. They're also good for ferrying parts cross country if a jet breaks too. If memory serves correctly we'd take one to the ship, but it would spend it's time up in the rafters with the spare tanks.

[bradleyjs]

Back in the early 80’s (USAF) they were called travel pods and were hung on one of the hardpoints.

[David OC]

Jetstream Ep 4 you can see it in action.

 

[Raz_Specter]

Jetstream Ep 4 you can see it in action.

 

 

 

yes i was just going to post this as I remember when they headed to LA (If memory serves me right) that they put their bags in the tanks.

 

 

Excellent show - well worth a watch IMHO

[Spathiphyllum]

Awesomel! We need this, otherwise how are we supposed to carry our luggage from land to carrier in the sim! This pod is a must! :-) On a serious note, such a pod would be indeed cool in the sim!

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

I read somewhere those pods were ex-napalm bombs from Vietnam war.

[sideshow]

Honestly it wouldn't be too far fetched for blivets to be included in DCS. The A-10 has them. Plus you can load a drop tank on the A-10 in sim. Tanks aren't combat rated on the A-10, so presumably it's for ferrying the jet.

[Switch625]

I just finished reading this article series.

 

https://fightersweep.com/1539/hornet-vs-viper-part-two/

 

He mentions that bags can be placed behind the seat in a hornet. Also there appears to be a few small panels...

 

"Behind the seat, there’s a large open area called the “hell hole” where a bag or two can fit next to the 8MM tape recorders, and there are two panels on the side of the jet where bags can be stuffed next to wheel chocks and intake covers"

[KPenn5]

Honestly it wouldn't be too far fetched for blivets to be included in DCS. The A-10 has them. Plus you can load a drop tank on the A-10 in sim. Tanks aren't combat rated on the A-10, so presumably it's for ferrying the jet.

 

They actually recently became rated to carry tanks in combat..some 30 years later