Originally Posted by
Vito
Crewdawg,
You wrote,
"This is valid, there is a reason they were sent to an aircraft requiring two pilots... "
Whether you said that in jest or not I can tell you that my C-17 squadron has a few ex F-15, F-16, A-10, and B-1, oh I forgot an F-4 guy years ago, either way they all said how difficult it was AR'ing in the heavies, compared to their fighters etc. Again, the discussion revolved around the difficulty of some airframes vs others in AR, not whether heavy drivers were less skilled at it or whether a C-17 pilot was as skilled as BUFF pilots who view AR as admin (?) really, No offence to BUFF drivers ReCALcintrant, but Nobody wanted a Buff back in 87 when I graduated, so I'm glad to see the skill level of the Buff fleet has risen so much over the years, It was pretty bad back in the day. Also, to dispel a myth my unit has at least 10 DG's/Top Sticks from UPT that wanted to fly heavies for whatever reasons, so don't be too fast throwing the "heavy drivers=less skilled moniker around. Personally I'd have given my left leg to fly fighters, but my class washed out over 65% of us in UPT, and we were only assigned 2 fighters for 25 students. Much different times (1986-1987 Columbus AFB) than now, where a class starts out with 25 studs and graduates 23...I wonder how some of you superior types would have fared back then?
BTW a common reason for washing guys out was if they were too cocky or good, they would test them and turn the heat up to see if they could handle the added pressure. I kid you not, we washed out some really good guys because they couldn't handle the stress. That was the mentality then..maybe others can chime in to confirm my Numbers but they are listed
Absolutely agree Vito. I've always been a reservist so I had my plane before UPT. I've seen some less than stellar pilots flying Buffs. This kind of backs up my point about how hard it is though, right? And yes, for Buff's, AR is admin on the way to bombing. We brief it for all of 2 minutes of 2 hours in the brief. Since you graduated from UPT 25 years ago, things have changed several times. Including a plane called the T-1. Only 8/30 fly T-38's. My guess is the lack/less of formation flying on the T-1 side has made it more difficult for the guys in that track to get used to doing AR. Just a thought. Again, I wasn't trying to pick a heavy/fighter fight. At UPT, instructors are from every airframe. Believe me, there's good and not so good from every MWS.