Why Walk the Throttles?

[hassata]

Watching "Jetstream' about Canadian F-18 student pilots (highly recommended btw). In formation flights, the instructors advice "walking" the throttles (advance right slightly, then following with left). Any idea as to why that would allow for more precision then simply advancing both together carefully? Would have thought the opposite. Also one guy had his flight grounded because he dropped his pen in the cockpit prior to take-off. The chief looked pissed because he may end up having to remove the seat looking for the thing. Any such 'war stories' form the chiefs on the forums?

[mvsgas]

Also one guy had his flight grounded because he dropped his pen in the cockpit prior to take-off. The chief looked pissed because he may end up having to remove the seat looking for the thing. Any such 'war stories' form the chiefs on the forums?

 

This a common occurrence specially with new guys. The worst ones are the ones that don't say anything about it until they come back from the flight.

This an example of a bad pilot for us. We hope they empty their pockets of unnecessary items and secure anything they take into the cockpit, as you can see this guy does not do nether of those things.

Edited February 14, 2011 by mvsgas

[YorZor]

No one of them flew a whole plane into the ground.... Which is worse?

 

And student pilots have to learn these kind of things. That's why the IP's don't mind these kind of 'small' mistakes. As long as flight safety isn't affected they can't be bothered too much except for the part where you have to pass or fail a flight ofcourse.

[mvsgas]

No one of them flew a whole plane into the ground.... Which is worse?.

 

The problem FOD is that the item could prevent the seat from ejecting, or could make a component fail, like getting the rudder pedals stuck.

And we are the ones that spend hours upside down looking for pens, rings, change, finger lights, switches they kicked off, light that they kicked off, etc

Edited February 14, 2011 by mvsgas

[Chill31]

Walking the throttles lets you use half of the thrust for the same amount of movement of the throttle. Good for new guys when they are tense and dont have the finess you get with experience.

[YorZor]

The problem FOD is that the item could prevent the seat from ejecting, or could make a component fail, like getting the rudder pedals stuck.

And we are the ones that spend hours upside down looking for pens, rings, change, finger lights, switches the kick off, light that they kick off, etc

 

Oh was in no way anything bad to the ground crews. I have the upmost respect for them (otherwise I wouldn't fly hehe... something like quid pro quo? ;) )

[mvsgas]

Man I really need to work on my typing.

I did not meant anything by that, I was trying to be informative not corrective, sorry

[Dugulus]

"Walking the throttles" makes finer adjustments to engine power easier. By twisting your wrist a slight bit you can move each throttle a more finite amount than if you push (or pull) both throttles at once.

[mic1184]

where can I watch this series? sounds interesting...

 

btw, anyone knows some good documentaries about the A-10 specifically?

[hassata]

http://www.papernyfilms.com/productions/jetstream

 

Edit: P.S. Canadian fighter pilots are funny. They're just too polite and nice to pull off the sh*t-hot stick-man thing :D.

Edited February 14, 2011 by hassata

[Teej]

 

Hey Wilbur...is that a taco @ 1:18? :D

[StageFright]

Lets see...funny crew chief stories. Our Wing Commander had his Monster blow up in flight which then soaked his M&M package, which then broke open and dumped M&M's everywhere. That was fun. Oh yeah, I watched a pilot close the canopy on a boarding latter, that was hilarious...kinda. We had a pilot "accidentally" hit the "tow" switch in flight which then locked his brakes up on landing. That ground the wheel and brakes down to almost the strut. And then yes the countless times, pilots either come back from EOR after losing there pen, or they just take off and say they lost it in flight. For the most part you just end up upside down for an hour in the cockpit looking for the stupid thing. Most pilots are pretty cool and have a case of beer waiting for you after work. I think the canopy on the latter got us a Keg :thumbup:.

[StageFright]

Hey Wilbur...is that a taco @ 1:18? :D

 

If i'm not mistaken I think that's his piddle pack. GROSS!!!!:eek:

[=Panther=]

I love the 1:18 mark in that video, Joker living up to his callsign, hehe.

[Spetz]

I was working at a Maple Flag a few years back (managed to do 4 total in my old trade as Air Defence in the Canadian Army) and we got a tour of 417 Sqn. I was sitting in a 700 series CF-18 and my buddy who was a AVN tech there told me about an exchange pilot they had from Europe. Every time he came back from a flight there would be cigarette butts in the cockpit that they would have to clean up. Seems the guy (Italian IIRC) was a chain smoker and once wheels up , he would light up..too funny. Don't know what happened to the pilot though..

[BugOut]

This a common occurrence specially with new guys. The worst ones are the ones that don't say anything about it until they come back from the flight.

This an example of a bad pilot for us. We hope they empty their pockets of unnecessary items and secure anything they take into the cockpit, as you can see this guy does not do nether of those things.

 

:lol: I lol'd a few times....

 

and I thought the same thing as Teej at 1:18, thought taco.... :joystick:

[BoneDust]

Here's a trailer to Jet Stream for those interested.

 

[mooshim]

Speaking of emptying stuff before stepping into the cockpit...

 

There's an excellent recording of a pilot on a training mission involving other flights that takes a crap in his G-suit during the first half of the mission.

 

He has to announce it and then is called to RTB.

 

If I find it, I'll post a link.

[LeLv30_Superbus]

btw, anyone knows some good documentaries about the A-10 specifically?

 

Yes! The first one (the one that autoplays) is the best I've seen.

 

www.youtube.com/LeLv30Superbus

 

It's in 5 parts.

[El_Roto]

Speaking of emptying stuff before stepping into the cockpit...

 

There's an excellent recording of a pilot on a training mission involving other flights that takes a crap in his G-suit during the first half of the mission.

 

He has to announce it and then is called to RTB.

 

If I find it, I'll post a link.

 

That happened to an SR-71 pilot - he didn't telll the Flight Surgeon he had been having intestinal problems and was cleared for flight - and he wound up "having an accident" about two hours into a twelve hour flight. He developed such a bad case of diaper rash that he couldn't sit for two days.

[/hijack]

[mooshim]

he wound up "having an accident" about two hours into a twelve hour flight. [/hijack]

 

copy that

 

I was referring actually to a USAF F-15E WSO flying out of England. The delivery of his "news" was just hysterical...but you couldn't help feel for the guy. :megalol:

 

I would love to find that cockpit recording again.

 

I've been all over the net and can't find it. :(

[effte]

I dropped a pen under the bang seat of a non-operational aircraft while in school. Endless amounts of ribbing, of course, and told many, many times (yawn!) that there was no way I'd be getting the pen back as they weren't lifting the seat out for a couple of months.

 

When working on operational aircraft later, it was 100% sterile of things to drop when in the cockpits.

 

Of course, the aircraft were then handed over to pilots and that's a surefire way to get them back screwed up. More hangar queens to the people - saves a lot of hassle! ;)

[tweet]

This is one of my favorite stories about student USAF pilots. It happened at Reese AFB in the early '80's to my boss near the end of a contact sortie with a somewhat new stud.

 

I was the assistant flight commander of E Flight at the time and I hadn't flown the second go of the day. I was just hanging out in office going through grade books. What fun. The SOF (Supervisor of Flying) called the flight on the squawk box saying they needed me at the SOF desk for an IFE with one of our jets. It seemed Frank, my flight commander, had just declared a physiological emergency and was returning direct to inside downwind of the pattern. That's not something we liked to do unless it was pretty serious because it really can disrupt a busy pattern. The pattern wasn't all that full so the SOF told Frank to just do it. That's about the time I got to the desk.

 

The SOF wanted to know about the stud and whether he'd had any known history of physical problems. He hadn't. The next thing he said was a bit strange. He said Frank wouldn't tell him the problem. He only said he needed to get on the ground quickly and that they would not need fire and rescue to meet them. He stressed that he needed to get to the chocks right now. And that's how it worked out.

 

I was still at the desk when frank walked in without the student about fifteen minutes later. The grin told us that this was going to be a good story. The sortie had gone to the aux field for some pattern work and then up into the area to do air work. It's been a long time but I seem to remember the kid being post solo so they would have done a spin or two, slow flight, stalls, and maybe a couple unusual attitude recoveries. Anyway, Frank said the kid had gotten unusually quiet and was being a little slow to do things and respond. Those are classic "he's-about-to-puke" signs so Frank asked him if he felt OK. The kid says, "Uh, sir, I really, really need to take a dump, bad."

 

Frank, "How bad."

 

Kid, "Like right now sir."

 

"Right now?"

 

"Yes sir, I don't think I can hold it."

 

That's when Frank took the jet and headed for the recovery gate while he called the SOF for permission to go direct to inside downwind. With that call out of the way he talked to Lubbock Approach, who controlled our MOAs, and asked for an expedited recovery. He stayed 500' above the normal pattern altitude when he got to the pattern entry point and headed direct to the perch for the 180 degree turn to final of a overhead pattern to a landing. All went quickly and they were in the chocks in no time.

 

Frank told the kid to arm his seat as they landed, Frank shut down the left engine, and had our hero disconnect the buckles to his chute so all he had to do when they parked was to release the seat harness, pop off his helmet, and jump out. All of that worked as advertised and before the right engine is even shut down the kid is over the side and running for the maintenance line shack about 50 yards away.

 

Well, as Frank told it, he wasn't really running so much as doing a cheeks clenched stiff legged duck scuttle. The kid got across the perimeter road and suddenly straightened up nearly stopping. His feet come apart but his cheeks stay clenched as he now does a straight backed, bow legged walk. The trail of runny brown on the sidewalk behind him said it all. Poor bastard! So close. Oh, so close.

 

That's funny enough but then he didn't have the good sense to not go into the line shack. He may not have known he was leaving a snail trail dribbling behind him but the zebra (senior master sgt. in this case) in the line shack sure as hell did. No sooner than the door closed but here comes our hapless young LT at a dead run with a fire breathing maintenance chief hot on his tail. There's no longer any thought about the load in his flight suit because his only concern is to out run the charging zebra. I suspect the zebra was like a dog chasing a car. What was he going to do when he caught him? The guy's toxic. Beating his ass might not have been that great of an idea. Doesn't matter, our LT could run, a serious load in his skivvies not the slightest worry any more.

 

Everyone at the SOF desk was howling by the time Frank got to that part. The Ops Officer had joined us and even he couldn't avoid tears from roaring laughter. I never did hear how it went when the poor kid went back to the line shack with a bucket and mop but he was smart enough to take a case of beer with him when he went. Ah, the care and feeding of new pups.

[mooshim]

HILARIOUS STORY...

 

Allow me to be the first to contribute to your rep.

 

+1!

[BoneDust]

+1 Great story dude!