What aircraft were you a crew chief for?

@@cruisinguy6024 I was a plane captain on the F/A 18 E/F. My rate was AM though. When I checked in they where sending one person to their shop, the next to the line shack.. there where 3 of us, so I figured I had a good chance to go to my shop... lol nope.

@Phillip Banes thanks for sharing your story

Interesting. Thank you for sharing that.

Amazing story. A testament to the gift of American ingenuity.

That's awesome! I love design stories like that. I've talked to quite a few aerospace engineers and am constantly amazed at the amount of compromise that has to go into a design.

Maybe you'll have a clue to something I have always wondered about . Each wing has a length of metal standing straight up like an inverted T rail, close in to the fuselage. Estimating about two feet long and half foot vertical. I asked a pilot at an airshow about that because it stuck out so much compared to the smooth lines of the entire aircraft. He said in evaluations there was a vortex that disturbed the tail and that "rail" conveniently broke up the vortex. Now I've seen newer F/A-18 models without that device. What's the history on that?

@@hypocritebuster1 He didn't work on the Super Hornet which uses a different design than the original A model shown here. He worked on Gemini, F-4, F-15, F-18A, DC-10 and MD-11 programs. His last project was getting the F-15 all digital before he retired. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, but still sharp as a whistle. His great-granddaughter's husband works the F-15EX.

I built the F-18G and currently build the F35. I’ll tell you that the quality and workmanship that goes into the F18 is far greater than that of the F35. The F35 has some technological advantages but the F18 will outlast the F35 with a lot less maintenance.

beauty is very subjective, I think it looks very plumb and chubby

​@@Robert-G What do you mean chubby? Ever checked out the fuselage of a baby Hornet from underneath. The aircraft is the thinnest 4th gen out there. It in all honesty makes the F-16 look wide.

@@martijn9568 Perhaps robert likes fat bottomed girls?

I agree ‼️‼️🇨🇦

Waoow... amazing.

That's nice to hear when a son has so much admiration for his father, sadly becoming not so common these days. God bless you & your dad.

How tall...short was he finally?

@@MarttiSuomivuori Well this was before I was fabricated out of my pop's wornout spare parts. He was about 5'-9" and had variable weight determined by insertible lead weights. Point being is sacrifice. He contributed and sacrificed , and was sacrificed, forces all us. For G*d, Country, people, and Jesus.

Did his skin sag as he aged,, or is that just a myth?

they may be coming back..biggest thing is FOD on the roads and clearing them enough to be safe for the aircraft I dont know how they are doing that with these roads

@@lutomson3496 its easy with equipment, same way that airports deal with FOD, most airfield snow removal vehicles generally have brushes (like that for skid loaders clearing parking lots) and usually air blowers. or just a large PTO driven brush on a tractor. also the runway need not be completely sterile, just free of anything bigger than fine fine particulate, garbage, and metal (bolts,pins, etc) I've been out with crews flying gliders and we would drape our 1100` kevlar rope right on line of lights on the right side if we had to pull out for an aircraft who wanted our runway(thing takes ages to hand-spool), even for things as large as a c17 it wouldn't move. few laps with a brush was all they ever did to clear and the only real concern was birds, deer and coyote jumping up from the drainage trenches.

Sine the time of Hitler, I think German motorways were built for landing and take-off ;)

Why use a Motorway when you can use a damm country road(the swedes does this with a small parking spot on the side of the road)

As a child I recall seeing a military jet land alongside the autobahn in Germany, it was pretty neat. I found it fascinating. I believe it occurred during the Yugoslav conflict.

Thans for your comment.

yep no bombs or missiles or wing tanks

Have family in Cold Lake. Gotten many tours of the base and met a fair few CF18 pilots, technicians, ATC personnel. Love it up there, one of my best memories was sitting in a pickup on the tarmac as a 2 ship of CF18As took off in max AB. Also got to see the Canada 150 jet. Really cool spot up there with good people. Sad to see the Hornets getting phased out but excited to get to see the Lightning 2s coming out of 4 wing CFB

@@jaxastro3072 Nice to hear. We are also ordered F-35 for the follower of Hornets. Best regards from Finland.

Isn’t that an A model? I thought the D is a dual Super Hornet.

Thanks for great story

A head should have rolled for that. Basic fuel storage management 101

Thanks

That was in the Hornet?

As a former fuel quality manager, that fueler should have been torn a new one. Every day before first fuel the truck should be sumped and shown free from contaminants. Water condensation is common , but it is fairly easily removed. Sounds like improper fuel sumps we're done. Strike one. Filters usually only rip due to high pressure. That is more common in the defuel process than fueling.The second most common cause is the filter was installed wrong (they aren't easy to get right in some coalescer types). Strike two. Your jet should still have filters of its own that would prevent a slug of water getting through.Sure,water in suspension might make it past, but actual condensed water that is heterogeneous to the fuel shouldn't. Strike three.

Can imagine kids happiness 😊

What was awesome about it --- it looked routine to me.

Man, you just can't go anywhere these days without some guy coming up to you when you are stopped and wanting to wash your windows :)

@@trvman1 where? in finnland?

I've had the same sort of feeling in Switzerland, as well.

@@behb3425 No whipers in Finland?

@@bafattvahetere no :)

you have that too :D

No one cares

@@BaloonLlama6056 "walter white" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 are you 11

Can you tell us more about it, Like what kind of plane was it ?

@@Calbeans are you eleven because your clearly acting like one

@@BaloonLlama6056 🤫

Not anymore. I drive I-95 south almost 700 miles one way, and there are few places you could land an F-18 because of all the signs, cables, bad grades, and overhead obstructions. Plus the roads are just junk in many places (SC, I am looking at you). Georgia has a few decent spots that might work, and maybe some NC areas. But I think it's a forgotten aspect.

Few remember.

@@FamilyManMoving lol they will just knock them down if they have to. If we are in a situation in the USA where we have to operate jets from public roads a few sign and wires will be the least of our worries !

@@FamilyManMoving ..... they can remove the signs and lights

@@JDM_MSK OK, good point. Now you tell me how they are going to clear all the deer! Wait...my crossbow looks like it is smiling.

Any modern jet does.

St George Utah Air show just off runway when blue angels diamond 4 did I 10M high pass down the runway... I will probably never hear the same again :) but I was GRINNING for the 4 seconds the pass took :)

Amazing aircraft to watch at an airshow. They all are. I remember seein the B1 lancer. Gosh that plane is beautiful. London England.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I don’t see why you can’t have the engine on while refuelling. Yes it’s risky but depends the situation. And as for this Gents post. Sounds like you have to be very disciplined for this line of work. I wish I joined the RAF was I was a youngster.

Reminds me of hot refueling F-16s at MacDill AFB circa 1984-1989.

Soon we fly with F35, Hornets good as they are you're right they are kinda old. But we Finnish master it. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oJNxgLOW1b-YhYU.html

Thank you

@@Manufly59 more please!

@Karamjeet Bedi My pleasure. The military has been good to me.

Thank you for your story.

Fascinating story. How did he land the F18 in a cornfield without fodding both engines?

@@rains761 They were fodded!

@@TheUnforgiven69 straight into a full front-to-back inspection upon touching ground again I'll bet

Phantoms were muscle planes also.

I worked on RF 4C Phantoms when in the Air National Guard , 117Th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing Birmingham , Al. 1978 Before i went to active Air force we had one get hit by a duck on a low level high speed training run , punched through the fuselage right below the canopy release buttons took out the Ram Air Turbine controls and guts all over the nav/ camera guy and did total of 128k damage to the plane ,i was 18 so i was right up there on top of it checking it all out lol and found a duck foot ,i give it to the pilot lol

@@shoe3727 my squadron at El Toro (VMCJ-3) had RF-4C and EA-6A's. No guns, no missiles, just speed.

Thank you!

Yep that good ole American jet aint to bad either, it dishes out discipline!

@Samson 92 @Timothy Cook Sweden too! :)))

Hey Lana.. Lana.. Lana, . . . Hey Lana.. *Danger Zone

You are perfectly right. Local people enjoy this excercise (wich lasts 6 days) and nobody complains noise. Lot of people come to see from long distance like our capital Helsinki wich is 250 km away. Finnish air force knows that and they prepare public place where training activity monitoring was possible and safe.

God forbid you to see combat aircraft in action in real life. With love from Russia.

@@rail7449 ORK..........

*Reading your story gave me chills in a good way. Nowadays that rarely happens. Cheers!*

Non-military civilian question. Would not those dual AB tear up the road? Like peel off the asphalt? Maybe Finnish highways are mil-spec??? Just curious guys... be gentle. :-)

Takes longer to boot the phone. 🤣

Thanks, we use it for Air Force because we have not Navy aircrafts at all.

here they seem to have fire truck ready to blast foam cannon.

😆 lol

Thanks, and hello from Finland.

Much respect.

Respect

Thank you for your service!

I was stationed in Dachau 1964 . 2nd Howitzer Battalion/ 35 Arty. Still had some old war torn buildings on base. Miss those days .

*Much respect to you and your Greatest Generation comrades. From Munich to Austrian border, remains you saw were most likely Me 262 jets. Germans perfected Autobahn launch, recovery and concealment techniques still in use today. The Third Herd overran them on their way to Vienna. Cheers!*

Also, he burned all that new fuel on that great climb.

Yeah, Finland uses Hornets, and the Hornet has Finnish roundels.

Agree!

The Tomcat was an incredible aircraft... Things move on, but definitely I still have a soft spot for the F14 :)

Thank you!

Most countries are retiring their F16 and F18 in favor of the F35 Lightening.

Australian airforce (as well as the Flying Doctor) uses the highway across the Nullabor Plain as runway. There are even aprons made beside the highway where aircraft can park and not impede traffic. Several videos of this here on KZfaq.

Hey Danny, what airshow is happening??... I am on the Sunny Coast...

Thanks

This is in Finland and the jet belongs to the Finnish Air Force. Tell me you don't read without telling me you don't read.

@@TheMrMused Maybe he's Finnish.

@@PCVMoldova *Never assume. Mr. Amaya is a proud Texan who failed to observe the details of this presentation. As an aside, how many Amayas do you think you would find in any Finnish phone book? Probably zero. Cheers!*

*Always beware of little minds in positions of power. Rather than prosecution, thanks were more in order. Ironic that those same engineers and constructors saved West Germany (and East Germany, too) millions of DMs for maintenance and repair costs during a time when Germany could little afford those costs. Cheers!*

Kiitos

Hope so.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h990Y8-aztW9aHk.html. They are!

Thanks for nice story.

You don't know loud until you have stood in the TBE car park at Heathrow and watched Concorde depart.

@@hb1338 I can only imagine how loud that is. Hopefully we will begin to see supersonic passenger aircraft again in the future. There's a few companies working on models.

*Respect to your Uncle. That AAI/GD contract was a tough one for us to lose. Cheers!*

Thank you

I noted that also, just the plastic canopy too, and the wand itself was earthed.

Is it necessary to do everytime you refuel a plane?

Thats hilarious i wondered what they were doing, my first thought was cleaning but the canopy looked immaculate and they never did the whole thing.

the jets are filled with sensitive electronics like a radar and location tracker in case you get lost for example. you wouldn't want to introduce raw electricity that could potentially overload it rendering most of the fighter inoperable. you wouldn't be able to tell if a friend or foe is approaching and would be taken out before you were given a idea to what it was.

@@EricT01 yes, even shut down they will still electrically bond the truck to the plane. The jet builds up a static charge in flight and that can take a while to dissipate on its own. Also, fuel passing through the fuel filter on its truck can also build a charge, so it is a safety measure. With a hot fuel, that means the engines and hydraulics are running, so even more chances for arcing and sparking of static charges. Finally the canopy is very prone to building a static charge, hence the discharge wand you see. Jet fuel is essentially a highly refined kerosene (like camp fuel) and as such is susceptible to ignition from electrical sparks. Unfortunately, every safety method you see is the result of an accident somewhere that taught a lesson.

no rest room or coffee ...lol

im 99%sure that its not for cleaning but removing static electricity, from air particles. You dont want any sparks when fueling

@Phillip Banes *"Clean" means except for centerline fuel tank and wingtip missiles, no other external stores are attached. Max lift, lowest-drag configuration. Cheers!*

@Phillip Banes *Agreed. When Form follows Function, beauty is the result. Cheers!*

Kiitos

Yes

I thought they were washing the 'windshield.' lol

@@barbrn 😄

Thank you!

Yes, that it is for.

Its not just for refueling but reloading the aircraft with ordnance. S. Korea will use roads for airstrips also.

They showed us these types of videos when I was stationed in Germany during the 90s.

That is true. We can manage it but remember to never trust russian leaders too much.

@@Manufly59 Any bit of trust towards Russian leaders is too much.

@@apveening true

There are remarkably few roads in Finland that cross the Russian border. Those that do provide absolutely no cover for any tanks that might be hoping to pass through. Clever chaps, these Finns.

@@hb1338 Thank you. That is true that we have not many roads from russian border to mainland. We have historial reasons for that.

If you want even better sounds for DCS, Echo19 makes some great sounds that make each aircraft even more realistic and really bring the whole immersion up to the next level.