Category Archives: Fighter Pilot

Admirals Fired, Officers Censured over Enterprise Investigation

Various news reports indicate the US Navy has punished or counseled upward of 40 personnel for their roles in the creation of the videos by US Navy Captain Owen Honors, formerly commander of the USS Enterprise.  Those officers include Honors, as well as CAPT John Dixon, who replaced him as XO, and Admirals Ron Horton and Larry Rice, who were Honors’ superiors while he was XO.

Admiral Horton was fired from his position in the Pacific Fleet after the release of the investigation’s report.  For his part Honors will now have to prove he is fit to remain in the Navy.

[Admiral John] Harvey, who met with reporters…to announce the actions, also said that he recommended that Honors face a “show-cause” board that would decide whether to allow him Read more

Column: Use Predator to Take Out Gadhafi

A newspaper columnist recently suggested there was a “strong moral argument” for taking out the Libyan leader, and the MQ-1B Predator was just the tool for the job.  Columnist Richard Miniter said:

Since President Barack Obama seems comfortable killing terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan with Predator drone strikes, why not in Libya?

Ignore the political and even moral aspects of such a statement for a moment.

Such an assertion is both ignorant and asinine.

Following Operation Desert Storm, hundreds of hours of CNN Read more

Air Force Receives Last Predator

The US Air Force has accepted delivery of the last MQ-1 Predator.  This completes the purchase order created some time ago.

For all those who look forward to joining the Air Force to fly by remote control, not to worry:  Production and purchase of the Predator‘s bigger brother, the MQ-9 Reaper, is still in full swing.

This was the “last” only because newer and better UAVs are now filling the ranks.

Navy Pilot: JSF is Easy to Fly

A Navy Times article on test pilot Cmdr. Eric “Magic” Buus’ flight of the F-35C highlighted his description that the jet was easy to fly:

Cmdr. Eric “Magic” Buus was the first Navy test pilot to fly the F-35B and C. But hearing his take on it, you have to wonder how much the Lightning II variants really need a warm body in the cockpit.

The speculation will continue:  Some theories already exist that the F-35 was purpose-built to one day be unmanned, despite its cockpit.

General Discusses Military “Moral Imperative”

The director of the Air National Guard, LtGen Harry Wyatt recently addressed a graduation of an Equal Opportunity course for the Reserve Component.  Wyatt described “equitable treatment” as a “moral imperative:”

[Equal opportunity] graduates are the ‘change agents’ that help to educate people on the need — the moral imperative — to be equitable in our treatment of all people.

The semantic choice is interesting, if you think about it, because he doesn’t say equal treatment.  Equitable means “fair;” equal means “the same;” the distinction is often missed.

Join the Navy, Become a Fighter Pilot, then Fly a Boat

In the US Air Force, aviators generally — though not always — command aviation units.  (Aviators do sometimes command non-aviation units, but even those units are often support elements to a flying mission.)

In the Navy, though, command above a certain level requires you to drive a boat.  So that’s what fighter pilots (“Naval aviators”) do.

The Navy Times notes new commands have opened up for aviators working their way up the ship command system.  Apparently, aviators often serve as second-in-command of a carrier, then command a non-carrier vessel, then return to command a carrier.

Of course, the article also notes that giving aviators these commands eliminates more slots from the Surface Warfare Officers — the guys whose actual jobs is to command the boats.

First US Air Force non-Pilot UAV Class Underway

Though it has been done under “beta” conditions in the past, the US Air Force is now conducting its first actual training class of UAV pilots who were not previously aviators.

The training is not short.  The new Lieutenants have already completed flight screening, must conduct a significant amount of T-6 simulator training, RPA basic training, and then finally to the basic qualfiication course for UAVs.  The “pipeline” is programmed as about a year.

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