Ok, why do Air Force Predator pilots wear flightsuits?

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

You've just become my favorite member! 😀

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

I would wonder if it would have anything to do with the laws of war (as in, are all pilots required to wear certain uniforms).

 

[SSP]

Originally posted by: Windogg
My boss does nothing but fly a desk but he still wears his flightsuit. A long time ago he "flew" satellites so he is permitted to "bag it." Hell he even has a set of wings.

Hey AndrewR, I see you are in Ohio. WPAFB I assume? I'm now at a little AFMC base on the east coast.

Whoa... now there's a name I haven't seen in a long time.

 

[slatr]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

You've just become my favorite member! 😀

Back off b!tch, I saw him first! :laugh:

EDIT: want to play lock-on with Eaglekeeper

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

You've just become my favorite member! 😀

😱

 

[murban135]

Originally posted by: HomeAppraiser

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Unrelated, but I've always wondered how odd it must feel to be a Predator pilot. You're based in Vegas and every night you can come home to the comfort of your own bed, your kids, and your spouse. Hell, you can stop at the supermarket on the way home and grab whatever you need. Yet, every morning you wake up and drive to work. You spend your day fighting a war, most likely killing people.

I just can't imagine how surreal that experience must be... "So honey what did you do at work today?" "Oh, just killed a few people on the other side of the globe."

Any thoughts?

The LAG must be aweful!

There is enough of a time delay that they still need pilots in theater to land via a line of sight link.

 

[Scarpozzi]

To hold their MRE's in case they have to go out in the bush and find their planes when they get shot down?

 

[broon]

OP - what do you do?

 

[imported_Pablo]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
Also it sounds like the OP is just jealous he doesn't get to wear one. 😛

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: Pablo

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
Also it sounds like the OP is just jealous he doesn't get to wear one. 😛

That's what I was thinking. I flew satellites from an earth station and a flight suit was part of my uniform. I also received a leather flight jacket. Anyone who didn't work in OPS was pissed because they didn't get the uniforms. But they didn't want to work 24x7 either.

 

[Scarpozzi]

.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

I'm a little confused here. At first I thought you were a WSO on a F-15E, but that obviously wasn't around in 1981. So what did you actually do?

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: HomeAppraiser

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Unrelated, but I've always wondered how odd it must feel to be a Predator pilot. You're based in Vegas and every night you can come home to the comfort of your own bed, your kids, and your spouse. Hell, you can stop at the supermarket on the way home and grab whatever you need. Yet, every morning you wake up and drive to work. You spend your day fighting a war, most likely killing people.

I just can't imagine how surreal that experience must be... "So honey what did you do at work today?" "Oh, just killed a few people on the other side of the globe."

Any thoughts?

The LAG must be aweful!

Joking aside, there is a lag associated with flying UAV's. There was an article where many pilots complained that it took many many hours for the chain of command to approve an attack and oftentimes, by the time they did, it was too late.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

I'm a little confused here. At first I thought you were a WSO on a F-15E, but that obviously wasn't around in 1981. So what did you actually do?

D model existed as a 2 seater
The E model was under development and work needed to be done for A/G capabilities as well as upgraded avionics and weapons systems that were going into the E model.
Some of that fell unto the lap of yours truly working with in conjuction with McDonald Douglas and an civilian AF engineering team.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: herkulease
I've never been in the military but maybe having everyone where it makes it all uniform.
In that everyone job plays a role in accomplishing a goal. You knwo the whole team concept. or woudl you like that you have different uniforms and be identified as the guy that doesn't do much around here.

There are many duty uniforms, and frequently some people in the same office will wear a blue dress uniform, and others BDUs (what civilians think of as "fatigues") or flight suits. The OP's point is that the flight suit is a relatively expensive uniform that is paid for by the Air Force. Officers who are not on flight status have to buy their own uniforms, boots, and contact lenses, whereas flyers get those things free. It does seem a little silly to me to give people who fly planes by remote control costly flame-retardant uniforms at government expense.

The reality is that most Airmen prefer wearing flight suits for status reasons, as long as they have them through official channels. I do find it a little odd that at least one vet in this thread says he still wears one (unless he's kidding, which I hope is the case), but to each his own I guess.

The US air force pays for pilot's contact leneses?

Yep.

 

[tranceport]

Originally posted by: everman
You act like it's not normal to wear a flight suit when playing ms flight sim 😕

Exactly.

Anyone who doesn't wear a flight suit when flying anything is wierd..


I wear one when playing MSFS and I wear one when I fly my Picco Z!

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: jakedeez

Originally posted by: AbAbber2k
I wear a biohazard suit when I play HL2. It's all about IMMERSION, DUDE.

Did you ever play LSL?

Ok that made me LOL.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

I'm a little confused here. At first I thought you were a WSO on a F-15E, but that obviously wasn't around in 1981. So what did you actually do?

D model existed as a 2 seater
The E model was under development and work needed to be done for A/G capabilities as well as upgraded avionics and weapons systems that were going into the E model.
Some of that fell unto the lap of yours truly working with in conjuction with McDonald Douglas and an civilian AF engineering team.

Ok, gotcha. Didn't think a trainer used a WSO. 😛 Good job on the Strike Eagle. From my times flying it in a couple different sims it's just about the best strike plane. Beaten possibly only by the Su-34. 😉 I mean, it has a coffee pot. You can't top that.

 

[EagleKeeper]

The D model was also used for more than training.

The one we had assigned to our group was instrumented up the wazzo and continually being retrofitted/upgraded with the new intended H/W. The advantage of the extra space in a two seater.:thumbsup:

The only thing that we could not really change was the internal airframe structure. We put in a lot of cludges for testing purposes.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
The D model was also used for more than training.

The one we had assigned to our group was instrumented up the wazzo and continually being retrofitted/upgraded with the new intended H/W. The advantage of the extra space in a two seater.:thumbsup:

The only thing that we could not really change was the internal airframe structure. We put in a lot of cludges for testing purposes.

Interesting, I thought it was just training.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: herkulease
I've never been in the military but maybe having everyone where it makes it all uniform.
In that everyone job plays a role in accomplishing a goal. You knwo the whole team concept. or woudl you like that you have different uniforms and be identified as the guy that doesn't do much around here.

There are many duty uniforms, and frequently some people in the same office will wear a blue dress uniform, and others BDUs (what civilians think of as "fatigues") or flight suits. The OP's point is that the flight suit is a relatively expensive uniform that is paid for by the Air Force. Officers who are not on flight status have to buy their own uniforms, boots, and contact lenses, whereas flyers get those things free. It does seem a little silly to me to give people who fly planes by remote control costly flame-retardant uniforms at government expense.

The reality is that most Airmen prefer wearing flight suits for status reasons, as long as they have them through official channels. I do find it a little odd that at least one vet in this thread says he still wears one (unless he's kidding, which I hope is the case), but to each his own I guess.

The US air force pays for pilot's contact leneses?

Yep.

Huh, so you do not have to have perfect vision to fly jets?

 

[slatr]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: herkulease
I've never been in the military but maybe having everyone where it makes it all uniform.
In that everyone job plays a role in accomplishing a goal. You knwo the whole team concept. or woudl you like that you have different uniforms and be identified as the guy that doesn't do much around here.

There are many duty uniforms, and frequently some people in the same office will wear a blue dress uniform, and others BDUs (what civilians think of as "fatigues") or flight suits. The OP's point is that the flight suit is a relatively expensive uniform that is paid for by the Air Force. Officers who are not on flight status have to buy their own uniforms, boots, and contact lenses, whereas flyers get those things free. It does seem a little silly to me to give people who fly planes by remote control costly flame-retardant uniforms at government expense.

The reality is that most Airmen prefer wearing flight suits for status reasons, as long as they have them through official channels. I do find it a little odd that at least one vet in this thread says he still wears one (unless he's kidding, which I hope is the case), but to each his own I guess.

The US air force pays for pilot's contact leneses?

Yep.

Huh, so you do not have to have perfect vision to fly jets?

That changed a while back. There are now rules on how "correctable" your vision must be.

Here are a couple of links regarding this

http://www.afrotc.com/collegelife/flying/prereq.php

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/genjoin/a/pilotvision.htm

 

[slatr]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

I'm a little confused here. At first I thought you were a WSO on a F-15E, but that obviously wasn't around in 1981. So what did you actually do?

D model existed as a 2 seater
The E model was under development and work needed to be done for A/G capabilities as well as upgraded avionics and weapons systems that were going into the E model.
Some of that fell unto the lap of yours truly working with in conjuction with McDonald Douglas and an civilian AF engineering team.

Did you ever try the Jane's F-15 sim or Lock on?

If so, how realistic do you think the flight models are?

 

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Ok, gotcha. Didn't think a trainer used a WSO. 😛 Good job on the Strike Eagle. From my times flying it in a couple different sims it's just about the best strike plane. Beaten possibly only by the Su-34. 😉 I mean, it has a coffee pot. You can't top that.

I've always been partial to the Strike Eagles nickname "MudHen".

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: slatr

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
I cried when mine were stolen (during a move). And not being on flight status, I could not qualify for a replacement.

Holy Sh!t, are you saying that you have possibly flown F-15's??? Or just an m-15 mechanic (eagle "keeper")?


I always thought you had a big job at a factory, but now I remember that was Engineer (same avatar, both elite, same personaility: great)


If you have I need pictures ASAP.


BTW OP, are you saying it's weird that when I play Jane's USAF I wear a Nomex flight suit, and when I have to eject I hop out of my chair and out the downstairs window and then do a PLISS roll? My neighbors laugh at how creative I am. 😉 😀

I was a weapons officer for the Eagle.
Went through "emergency" flight training out of Langley AFB.
Flight time for live testing.
Recalled to active duty in 81' - sent to a bunker in Israel.
Left the reserves as O-4

That is everything in a nutshell

The EagleKeeper handle was chosen because it would be improper/incorrect to use EagleDriver.

I'm a little confused here. At first I thought you were a WSO on a F-15E, but that obviously wasn't around in 1981. So what did you actually do?

D model existed as a 2 seater
The E model was under development and work needed to be done for A/G capabilities as well as upgraded avionics and weapons systems that were going into the E model.
Some of that fell unto the lap of yours truly working with in conjuction with McDonald Douglas and an civilian AF engineering team.

Did you ever try the Jane's F-15 sim or Lock on?

If so, how realistic do you think the flight models are?

After the real thing, and 10+ years having past, I tried a sim once in 93 using a dual 486 on NT.
Not having the proper equipment in front of you, for myself it was a serious handicap. I could not get used to having to use a keyboard to assist in control along with the joystick and throttle.

One of the game consoles came out with a F15 package in 94 that I enjoyed because it was not anything pretending to be the real thing. Used to play it with a nephew.