Originally Posted by
Vito
USMCFLYR,
Good point, I'll tell you a story that had a big impact on me. I was Flying a low-level sortie in the T-38, I did meticulous mission planning, and flew an awesome flight, hit all my checkpoints on time, IDed all of them and watered the IP's eyes until I exited the low-level route and didn't know which way to turn??? The IP took the jet and reefed it into a hard turn towards the Tacan. I felt like an idiot!! I had planned the low-level route but gave little to no thought about exiting and RTB...I learned a hard lesson that day, plan the ENTIRE MISSION...later in my career, and still to this day You must not only plan for the mission but all contingincies as well, I find this is a trait posessed by the better pilots I've flown with.
Similar story - except with an **experienced* pilot. It was at the start of my first IP tour and I was riding along in the backseat of the IP who was chasing the French (F-8) exchange pilot on the low level (that flight is gone from the syllabus now
). He comes off the last point and turns 90 left to go home (fairly fuel critical) when home base is a wypt away and 90 right! It took about 3-4 calls to get him turned back around 180 and actually headed home. i must say that i was a little surprised by his loss of SA inflight and not following the brief which had clearly shown that we would be a right turn off the last point to head home.
USMCFLYR