[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by jim

There are so many movies out there but I have to say Top gun has been watched over and over again at my place. Even though I am not really a jet fan I can watch those ariel scenes again and again. Great fun.

I would like to add an observation tied into another thread about the best jet fighter.

I am amazed at the ability of modern pilots to fly these modern jets. How the heck anyone can process so much information and make instant judgements almost at the same time plus fly the plane as well beats me.

Total respect goes to all those guys, they are just ????? (words fail me).

We're just great, that's all...

All kidding aside, it takes a lot of training and practice. It also takes excellent mission preparation and briefings. However, the modern jets with datalinks and multi-function displays, and the F-22 with its fully integrated avionics, superb displays, and fantastic radar, make it much, much easier (though still requiring a lot of concentration and skill).

FVD

[jim]

Originally Posted by FormerViperDriver

We're just great, that's all...

All kidding aside, it takes a lot of training and practice. It also takes excellent mission preparation and briefings. However, the modern jets with datalinks and multi-function displays, and the F-22 with its fully integrated avionics, superb displays, and fantastic radar, make it much, much easier (though still requiring a lot of concentration and skill).

FVD

That as may be FVD,
but to have the natural ability to fly plus the intellect to absorb all that technical knowledge and be able to use it at a moments notice means to me that you guys are a very special and rare breed indeed.

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by jim

That as may be FVD,
but to have the natural ability to fly plus the intellect to absorb all that technical knowledge and be able to use it at a moments notice means to me that you guys are a very special and rare breed indeed.

Jim, has FVD hired you as his personal PR manager cum 'spin doctor'?

Remember, pilots (or former pilots) don't have any need for ego boosting as their egos are usually sufficient to fill a carrier, not to mention the fact that it endangers their health (head may expand beyond natural limits imposed by the cranium) .

[jim]

Originally Posted by Cardinal

Jim, has FVD hired you as his personal PR manager cum 'spin doctor'?

Remember, pilots (or former pilots) don't have any need for ego boosting as their egos are usually sufficient to fill a carrier, not to mention the fact that it endangers their health (head may expand beyond natural limits imposed by the cranium) .

Just to bring FVD down to earth I will tell everyone a secret,
When you see a pilot walking around his aircraft he is not checking it,he's looking for the way in!!!

[mapleflag]

FVD ,I have to hand it to you guys flying today's hardware, back in the sixties there were guys on the ground vectoring incoming to your backseat who in turn put it into your head, then in the seventies it was AWACS putting it in to your backseat. Now we're at the point that 90 percent of your info is coming from your own sensors and 10 percent is from outside sources and you have to analyze and act on that info in three dimensions.
Looks like they've downloaded a whole lot of jobs onto you and your pay has not really kept in step. Same situation in Canada, but you guys have the hottest toys on the block and given money or an adrenaline rush the rush will usually win out. Be safe.

[Ara1]

Originally Posted by jim

Just to bring FVD down to earth I will tell everyone a secret,
When you see a pilot walking around his aircraft he is not checking it,he's looking for the way in!!!

I thought the pilot walk around meant that he was checking the plane?

For decal silvering--

No?

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by Cardinal

Jim, has FVD hired you as his personal PR manager cum 'spin doctor'?

Remember, pilots (or former pilots) don't have any need for ego boosting as their egos are usually sufficient to fill a carrier, not to mention the fact that it endangers their health (head may expand beyond natural limits imposed by the cranium) .

Yeah, there's something to what you say for sure (well, not the part about me hiring Jim as PR manager, but the rest of it)...

Anyway, it is true that the hardest thing I did as a pilot in the F-16 was manage a 4-versus-4 (or more) air-to-air engagement as a flight lead. It is EXTREMELY demanding, particulalry at the time when we operated without datalinks and some of the neat displays that exist today. Some guys seem to be naturals at it, but for me it was very, very hard work, particularly at first (I came from the F-111 where we didn't do that kind of stuff). And then there's the part about reconstructing each engagement (maybe 3 or 4 per mission) during debrief (easier if you have ACMI data for sure, but that's only on instrumented ranges, at least when I flew), figuring out who did what at what time and who got killed and why (what errors were made). In comparisson, one-on-one fights ("Basic Fighter Maneuvers, or BFM) are very easy at least on the mental level, although they are very hard physically (lots of Gs!). Dropping bombs is also easier, most of the time anyway.

But that's why it takes years of training (and selection: not everyone who graduates from pilot training gets to go to fighters...). And it's a perishable skill; if you don't do it for a while, you regress. Flying hours are therefore important even with the newer jets. As I've said before, though, I do think the new generation of fighter pilots has it a bit easier thanks to the wonderful new systems fielded in the past 10 years or so. On the other hand maybe more is expected of them, so it's hard to assess for sure. And the missiles have gotten even deadlier...

FVD

[MoMo]

MoMo, glad you brought up "Dr. Strangelove"; I love that movie Used to watch it while sitting alert in the F-111 (ah, the irony of it all...).

Not sure I would brand it as an "aviation movie" per se, but since the B-52s play such a prominent role, I guess it qualifies

Dear FVD, you've got to admit that the B52 was a star. The bomb bay and the cockpit were great sets from which to score comedy points. Kubrik and the set were visited by SAC personel during the making of the movie in England. The SAC guys freaked out when they saw the interior of the cockpit because it was so accurate. They didn't know that the cockpit was designed by pure conjecture because the design team had nothing to go on as it was all highly classified. They just did their best to fill the interior of the cockpit with " Stuff " and make it look business-like.

There was even speculation that Kubrik was somehow conveying secrets to the Russians through the film. Typical Cold War paranoia!

One of my favourite lines is :

" The CRM Discriminator's auto-destruct mechanism must've got hit and blew itself up! "

MoMo

[david cotton]

For me it has to be The Battle Of Britain. The colour, the aircraft and the action..... one more can one ask.

633 Squadron is also stiring stuff.

The stuff made in the war is a bit stiff, but then again, they were made in a very grim time.

With regard to more moden films, I like Flight Of The Intruder. I loved the scene as they made the bomb run through the curtain of flack.

[Epapazian]

One of the World War II films I always liked because it caught the spirit of a time when we were really down, was "Air Force" with John Garfield, among others. Like all of the war movies of that era it had a silly ending where hordes of American planes materialized out of nowhere to obliterate a Jap fleet consisting of not very convincing model ships. However the first three quarters of the film were far more realistic and very engaging. Aside from this I enjoyed "The Dam Busters", "Tora. Tora. Tora" and even "Midway", despite its amazing "continuity" gaffs. In one scene Charlton Heston seems to switch from a F-4F to a F-6Fat will, While other shots show SB2U "Vindicators" heading out to bomb the enemy fleet without bombs, F-4Us subbing for SBDs, diving down on Jap carriers, etc. Oh well, that's Hollywood for you.