Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzpat
That reminds me of my initial AR check ride at Altus back in the day. We had to stay on the boom for 10 mins with the tanker's autopilot on and 5 minutes autopilot off (I think that was it). Before I took off, I called the tanker unit and spoke to the AC. He told me he'd make it smooth. He was impeccable. I called him back after the ride to thank him and he told me he just left the autopilot on the whole time. Best check I ever had in the USAF.
Was that you Timbo??
I was in NH ANG, usually we were on the east coast, so I doubt it, but I'd have done the same for you Buzz. We worked with a lot of 141's out of Maguire.
One guy told us it was his check ride and asked if we could do some autopilot off with S turns, so I asked how much bank?
He said "What ever you want..."
So I did 45 bank each way, twice.
I figured if he fell off he could blame me. I was getting a check ride too, so I had to work hard and be smooth.
To his credit, he stayed on the boom the whole time, our boom was telling me he was doing great. He did give us an Attaboy on the way out, said it was some of the smoothest AP off he'd ever seen. His IP even asked, "You sure the AP was off?" It was, only because I had to for my check ride.
The scariest was when the C5's came in fast, the bow wave would lift our tail up and you had to be ready for it or else you'd dive down into them.
And on the way out, the opposite would happen, ie. you'd go nose up. We always preferred to hand fly those because if they came in too fast, the autopilot couldn't keep up and it would kick off, then you'd really have your hands full, all of a sudden. It was easier to just hand fly and trim it yourself.
05-19-2024
