010 - Aircraft Maintenance

[@GoldPicard]

I've been working my way through the list of all the podcasts(started at E:00 just to get the full picture) and I have to say I have been thoroughly impressed with the effort and level of detail you put into the podcast, most of the time people will look for the glitz& glamor of being a fighter pilot or a military pilot in general and just gloss over the details which make the story real. As a former UH-60 Maintainer for the Army(8 years) I love seeing how you fixed wing people who live above 200ft AGL do things and compare it to how we operate, and honestly I just love everything to do with aviation and I've read books from everyone to Robin Olds to our British brothers and their fight at Jugroom Fort in Afghanistan. Now I'd just like to offer a view of how we do stuff in the Army, for our Aviation companies we're the whole package(flight crew, ops, maintenance, ALSE(Aviation Life-Support Equipment), fuel, and GSE(Ground-Support Equipment) and we train as one and deploy as one unit the only group not organically integrated to us at the Co level is our depot level guys which don't support a single company but instead support the whole battalion and for deployments we are generally just supported by which ever depot unit is already there. Keep it up Sir, and yes I know you were a Rhino driver but.... Tomcats forever Baby!

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

Thanks very much, we need to get some Army pilots on the show one of these days.

[@CraigBaumer]

Really enjoyed this podcast! As a retired Maintainer (A-10 Crew Chief/Engine tech/Engine Manager) it was great hearing an oft forgotten portion of modern military aviation. As a side note, as you probably know the maintenance folks and the pilots are in different squadrons normally. ( when we deploy, we go as homogeneous fighter squadron) so there is much non flight line integration. We had a FS CC who was had some aircraft maintenance officer background so he was familiar with our "pain" and had any pilot that Over "g"'d a aircraft would be detailed to the Crew Chief to help with the Over G inspection. Over "G" incidents went way down in our unit after that! :-)! Take Care sir and keep putting out these great podcasts

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

Thanks for the comments, Craig. In US Navy squadrons, the pilots and maintainers are all in the same squadron under the same commander. I believe you are correct about US Air Force units and I am unsure of other nations. Yes, I agree--if a pilot causes extra work then there should be some penance!

[@gregory.chalenko]

Great to hear about people who protect us while we are enjoying our civilian lives here in Canada! I hope you'll have more guests from Canadian Royal Air Force in the future! I was really surprised to hear that the legacy Hornet is more agile compared to the Super Hornet. I guess, the extra range comes at a price. Speaking of skydiving parachutes, I would say, 250 square feet would make an unusually big ram-air canopy! Such size is more typical for tandems, that carry an instructor and a passenger. Normally, skydivers begin from large and slow 220 square feet as students, and then use something around 150 to 170 as licensed jumpers, depending on the body weight. Some extreme thrill speaking sportsmen downsize to as small as 90 square feet, and they are still able to safely land them with precise flaring.

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

Our episode on the Blue Angels impending transition from the Hornet to the Super Hornet expounds on agility differences between the two.

[@gregory.chalenko]

@@FighterPilotPodcast Cool, that's interesting fact! Going to listen to that episode right now :)

[@kylerhodges1049]

I was in the US Marines as a flight equipment tech/ PR on the EA-6b Prowler we had one jet come back from depot level maintenance after 6-7 years because it needed a new wing due to clipping a gondola wire in Italy

[@4TDsInOneGame]

Hey Jello! Another great episode Man..keep them coming .I have a question regarding droptanks..If the situation arises, and a tank is jettisoned, do they just crash land into the ground no matter what is below them? Have there ever.been circumstances where a jettisoned tank has caused known damage to structures on the ground? Or injuries to anyone? Are the tanks jettisoned over water purposely for this reason? I know that's a crazy question but I had never pondered on what exactly happens when pilots drop them... Thanks for all the hard work Jello!

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

Drop tanks land wherever gravity takes them. You have to wonder what happened in Europe during WW2 but on the other hand, there was already so much carnage...

[@JonathanFaber]

@@FighterPilotPodcast Jello loving the podcast, thank you! In WW II they started making drop tanks out of paper, so that precious metals weren't wasted on drop tanks and so we didn't supply the enemy with much needed materials.

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

@@JonathanFaber Good to know 👍

[@JoakimFritz]

I would actually love to see some aircraft maintenance in a movie - intimate shots of metal being cared for, glaced with hydraulic fluid... now that's romance right there... not sure the general movie-going public agrees with me, but anyways. Love the podcast!

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

Done correctly you could have a hit movie on your hands!

[@JoakimFritz]

Im actually hoping for a scene like that in a certain upcoming movie. It would fit perfectly if they choose to go down the topic of drones and deal with the relationship between the human agent and the machine subject. @@FighterPilotPodcast

[@Pitchlock8251]

LOL that movie would be rated R if not worse, just on language alone.

[@damiangrouse4564]

There’s a Rock Hudson SAC movie where there was a maintenance component. “A gathering of Eagles” I think it’s called.

[@darkofc]

Thank you for this Sir! Retired - my new self-assigned task is to work thru whole your podcast - CONGRATS! (my background - instruments and oxygen equipment - mainly - special interest in cockpit ergonomics - nowadays RC flying (w/o unnecessary cargo ;-))

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

Excellent! I grew up flying RC with my big brothers. Welcome.

[@darkofc]

@@FighterPilotPodcast Never stop the RC! P.S. Similar to your goal - education - I encourage my fellow modelers not only to build and fly, but research history and backgrounds - a lot of interesting stuff and good for humbling yourself

[@Kaptin77]

Hey JellO, love the podcast, I'm hooked, gotta quick question about over stressing the aircraft, I know dogfights are rare, but is it common in a dogfight for the aircraft to be over g'd, or do you really keep a close eye on the g's during ACM while turning hard and fighting for your life?

[@FighterPilotPodcast]

To my knowledge there has not been a true dogfight since Vietnam and as I understand, overstresses then were fairly common. These days, however, the aircraft does a fairly good job of preventing it unless the pilot applies G too quickly or in a rolling pull (ie. aileron and elevator simultaneously). Over several hundred training dogfights I maybe overstressed a dozen times--which was probably about average.

[@michaelmulligan0]

How are the hours counted? Digitally within the aircraft or literally pen & paper?

[@michaelmulligan0]

How are the hours counted? Digitally within the aircraft or literally pen & paper?