Tag Archives: Fighter Pilot

There’s a Busload of Nuns on the Runway

During every pilots’ recurring Emergency Procedures evaluation (whether in a simulator or in a table-top with an instructor), there comes a point where the evaluator needs to make the pilot “go around,” or wave off the landing, in order to observe the required “single-engine go around” or equivalent emergency go-around.  This might take an extreme situation, because a pilot in an emergency would have wide latitude to land even if, for example, the control tower told him not to.

Unless, of course, there’s a busload of nuns on the runway.  It never fails,  Read more

Marine Crusaders in the Modern Context

A local paper follows up on the decision of the US Marine Corps to order a unit not to become the “Crusaders” as they had traditionally been for 50 years.  As noted previously, the order came from a three-star General:

Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, deputy commandant for aviation, issued an order April 30 that Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122 discontinue use of the Crusaders moniker and a logo that featured a red cross on a white shield. The squadon [sic] will retain its identity as the “Werewolves,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Plenzler, a Corps spokesman.

The Marine leadership apparently felt the “modern context” of the term made Read more

Marine Crusaders Become Werewolves, Again

According to MSNBC, the VMFA-122 Crusaders were “ordered to reverse” their decision to return to the “Crusaders” moniker.

“The deputy commandant for aviation [Lt. Gen. Terry Robling] directed VMFA 122 to maintain the unit identification as the Werewolves,” said Marines public information officer Lt. Col. Joseph Plenzler. “I called down there to confirm that they have changed the tail markings, squadron patches” and other places the squadron logo appears, he said.

The Marines gave no reason for the order, giving Michael Weinstein — who had called the Marines a “national security threat” for the move — the blood in the water he needed to claim victory and make further demands:  Read more

F-22 Controversy Expands with Panetta, Maintainers

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has restricted the flight envelopes of the F-22 Raptor and ordered the Air Force to

take additional steps to mitigate risks to F-22 pilots, George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said…

Panetta reportedly directed the Air Force to “expedite” the installation of a backup oxygen system, though that system won’t be ready until later this year anyway — and it will take nearly a year and a half to modify all the Raptors.

The Air Force as much as admitted its most recent response was a reaction Read more

Air Force to Choose Afghan Plane without Flying It

News reports were aghast recently that the Air Force has decided to choose a Light Attack aircraft for delivery to the Afghan Air Force — which has undergone an arduous contract dispute already — without conducting a flyoff.

The Air Force will choose a winner in its troubled Light Air Support competition without actually flying the two contending planes, the Embraer Super Tucano and the Hawker-Beechcraft AT-6…

The decision puts the Air Force acquisition process back in the spotlight, where it has only suffered in the past.

F-16 Pilot General Welsh to be Next Air Force Chief of Staff

General Mark Welsh, the current commander of USAFE, has been nominated by the President to become the next Chief of Staff of the Air Force.  If confirmed, he would represent a return of the fighter pilot to the Chief position, which was filled for the first time by a non-fighter/bomber pilot with current Chief General Norton Schwartz.

“It’s always a great day to be an Airman … but this one is extra special for me. I came into the Air Force because I Read more

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