CyberC - Bombardier Ah, a man after my own hea
Post# of 82672
Ah, a man after my own heart, after departing the USAF and my Toys Flight Simulators, I had to decide whether to go to work for the Company who built the First Simulator LINK, it was the Largest Military Flight Sim Provider to the DOD, or go to work for Learjet.
Had I gone to work for Learjet on their Simulators in Wichita, it would have been for the Sole Purpose of Thousands of Hours of Free Hours of Simulator Time, as I also desired to be a Private Jet Pilot. While in the USAF I Logged over 10,000 hours of SiM Time in the Phantom F-4E, and only one hour of Actual A/C Time.
The most fun was Knowing the Aircraft & It's Systems better than the Pilots and WSO (Weapons Systems Officer). It helped that I spent 5 years as a Jet Engine Mechanic on the F-4 before Cross Training into Flight Simulation.
Pilot " Hey this isn't working" me leaning over the cockpit flipping a Few Switches " Try it now Sir"
Or the Pilot Gets Bored and starts flying the Aircraft Inverted, on the Instructors Console I slowly reduce the Oil Pressure to Zero which can be seen on the gages if paying attention. Then Kill the Genererators, and the Cockpit Goes Dark.
Pilot "Hey what happened ?
Me You Tell me, your the Pilot... Pilot ???????
Me You can't Fly the AirCraft inverted for any extended length of Time..
Pilot - Why Not ?
Your the Pilot, You Tell me...
Pilot long Pause.. Please explain.
Me - Your not Flying a Thunderbird F-4 AirCraft Sir.
Pilot - Long Pause, OK please give me Power back and explain.
Me - You got it.
The F-4 has Gravity Fed Oil Tanks Sir, the first thing to Sence Oil Pressure Loss is the Constant Speed Drive on the Generators.
The Thunderbird A/C have an Extra small oil tank on the Auxiliary Air Door on the bottom of the AirCraft to be able to Fly Inverted while doing Stunts.
The Flight Instructor on the Console chimes in, Do You need a Sim Tech, a Computer Nerd to tell you That ? The Instructor laughing hysterically followed.
When working in Germany for LINK on the Cobra, Apache and BlackHawk, Helicopter Sims, the same thing use to happen over different situations. It's scary when the WSO calls and says he Can't Fire the Tow Missile ? Flip Flip, Try it now Sir. Of course this was right after the Sim had been Installed, but Still, he been flying a while, that's Scary.
By Contract, we got a Ride in every aircraft we Simulated once a year.
My First Flight in a Real Helicopter was in the Cobra, the Branch Chief of the Army Sim Shop was my Pilot, he flew Cobras in Vietnam.
As he was doing his walk around before flight, I ask him if the Tail Rotor Bolts had Lefthanded Threads. NO he said.
Then yourTail Rotor Bolts are SafetyWired Backwards. He came around Looked, bent over and looked at them upside Down.
Your Right! How the Hell did you Know or even notice that ? Buy me a Cup of Coffee after our Flight and I'll Explain I said.
Our Rides were not merely just rides, as very soon, they would say, You got the Aircraft, Copy I have the Aircraft, as we were flying close to a New Autobahn, not opened yet.
Watch out for the Power Lines about 5 Miles Ahead he says. I gave him back the Aircraft as we approached The Town of Rothenburg sill completely Surrounded by its medieval wall, so I could shoot Video with my VHS Luggable CamCorder of the era.
I miss my $60M Toys. But then I did get to spend the next 23 years launching Space Shuttles and Rockets which was Fun, Rewarding and Interesting Job too, as a Mainframe Computer and Networking Nerd in Real Time Computers & Range Safety.
Any Young Guys out there ?
Always find a Job you Love Doing, then even the worst days, just never seem that bad.
49'er