A 10 warthog defeated. Good night sweet prince

As a guy that has turned wrenches on a B-1 I can attest there would be dancing in the streets of South Dakota and west texas if they dumped the bone.

But yea... dumping tankers with nothing proven to step into its place... bad bad bad idea.

a reply to: Irishhaf

They told me years ago there is no such thing as an FMC B-1. They're better now, but still not FMC.

they work marginally better in a desert environment... my time at ellsworth... the normal was 0% FMC 0% PMC, and we were on 7 day a week 12 hours a day shifts.. we volunteered for deployments to get a break from the work schedule.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I don't blame you. We had five out there at one point. Kansas had left one with an engine change, and four had IFEd in after taking ice down an engine. Three were blade changes and one was an engine change. They couldn't deice and navigate at the same time because they only had the three generators. So they decided to navigate and flew through some rain on climb out of Singapore.

Ouch...

I did get some enjoyment my last deployment on the 135, sitting around waiting on landers and whenever a bone was getting ready to fly 3 of them would be started to make sure someone made the mission.

All the reserve kids I was working with complained non-stop about the sound because we were only a couple hundred feet away, I listened for a bit then leaned over and asked.. how do you think that poor sob feels on head set.

They shut up about it around me after that, and me telling them how when they ran up the throttles and your on headset you could almost feel things moving inside your body from the vibration... a truly unpleasant feeling.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I LOVED that feeling. One of the best days out there was a group of them on a MITO. We were down the taxiway beside the runway right where the nose broke ground.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Temporary... it was ok.. my normal launch at Ellsworth was 6-8 hours 5 or more of it with engines running, it wore on you something fierce.

Ear plugs and David Clarks were really not enough for the bone rattling roar.

My favorite is and always will be the BUFF... cause well she was my first..

But I have enjoyed my time on the 135, its nice to cross the pond in relative comfort, have great TDY opportunity's (rimpac 2012, 2014) and various trips all over the world.

a reply to: Irishhaf

Oh trust me, I was out there that long or longer every chance I got.

The BUFF was always fun. The beast never broke.

You missed me by six years on your RIMPAC trips.

hehe tougher than I am.. that rattling in my chest was very disturbing to me...

But hey why not, started hearing loss on the buff, got awacs back as an FE, got radiated to heck and back on the B1 (developed a healthy hatred for lazy Avionics people working on weather radar).

Wife just got stationed in Germany so I get to ride out my time in style hopefully in the IMA program.

Don't remember much of either Rimpac trip, its amazing how maintainers can fix a plane with a blinding hangover.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I was always impressed at how badly people could get sunburned. We put so many people on the plane back to Minot with borderline sun poisoning.

a reply to: yuppa

You don't think they will replace it with a drone?

a reply to: WCmutant

No. The plan is for the F-35 to replace it.

a reply to: Zaphod58

which is stupid....the 35 is too complicated..too much to break, not enough redundancy.....

i'm so tired of organizations (businesses, automakers, military) going "high tech", for the sake of going high tech......you go high tech, and then things break too easily, and they cost WAY more to purchase and maintain....

they just don't get that when you keep it simple, you have less problems, save money, and you get good value for the money you DO spend...

originally posted by: Daedalus
a reply to: Zaphod58

which is stupid....the 35 is too complicated..too much to break, not enough redundancy.....

I think this is as much it is about a a new more capable multi use plane as it is abut needed LOADS more people to maintain it.

And that means far a larger airforce. They want a military that has as much of the population in as possible, thats why are so heavily stacking up cops, swat, TSA etc - less people likely to go against goverment rules and more likley to do the bidding.

Technology wise the aging A-10 while still far from useless is like comparing a carburetor car to a fuel injected one (kinda)

a reply to: Biigs

ok, i see your point, but using your car analogy, an old carburetor-based engine is far easier to fix than the newer fuel-injected ones....additionally, if an EMP hits, the old car will still work, where the newer, computer-managed ones will not..

i don't like the idea of replacing something that's a proven platform, with a jack of all trades, that can't do the job as well...

originally posted by: Daedalus
a reply to: Biigs
i don't like the idea of replacing something that's a proven platform, with a jack of all trades, that can't do the job as well...

Nor do I.

The A-10 is a highly cost effective weapons platform, and it wasn't just a one trick pony with that Gatling gun anyway. Missiles, SDB, JDAM - also it has half a tonne of titanium strapped underneath for armor. So its far safer taking off and landing and can take small arms fire.

And of course one important thing, the soldiers safe with one near by due to the accuracy - not sure how they are going to feel with a F-35 jet flying twice as fast or more dropping pretty much only explosives from 30,000, or whatever they fly them at for attacking.

a reply to: Biigs

it's not going to end well.....

if they box the A-10s, we'll probably see them put back in service, when their pretty little toy fighters start falling out of the sky....i'm just pissed by all the wasted money..

frivolous s**t like this, is why we're 17 trillion dollars in debt..

originally posted by: Daedalus
a reply to: Biigs
frivolous s**t like this, is why we're 17 trillion dollars in debt..

I see through this game of theirs. One of the most wealthy country's in the world owes 17 trillion?

Why would they need so much over seas oil and resources, pay for it with "IOU"'s till everyone elses stuff drys up, then they will want the USA's but guess what the USA has the biggest military and police forces in the world - payed for by their resources. Know how much oil is under the states still? A LOT.

Thats my grand theory anyway.

a reply to: Biigs

which, while a dick move, would be completely understandable....except for the fact that they keep jacking up taxes, citing the national debt as the reason...they keep inflating the currency, driving up the cost of things, while taking more of what we have, in the form of higher taxes...it's going to reach the point where basic things will cost more than we make.....things will end badly at this point...and then it won't matter what's in the skies....

but this is off topic.....my point was, we should stop wasting money on this bloated gadget with wings, and stick with what we KNOW works..

a reply to: Daedalus

You dont have a choice, the less homeless, poor people there are and more government suits - police - military - the more likely they are all to follow once the NWO while every else is dead when the world civil war they want comes comes.

Then they are holding all the cards.