[MilCom] Fwd: [RadioMonitors] Advice to Student F/A-18 Pilots

[AllanStern--- via MilCom]

By Howard Altman | Tribune Staff  
Published: January  9, 2015   |   Updated: January 9, 2015 at 02:22  PM
 
Minutes after returning  from a flight over the Avon Park Air Force Range, 
where they participated in  laser-guided weapons practice, Navy Lts. Kevin 
Loughmiller and Nick Adams stood  on the soggy flightline at MacDill AFB 
recalling "a mindblowing" experience from  a few days earlier. Adams, 27, is one 
of 14 Navy pilots who have come to Tampa  from NAS Oceana in Virginia to 
train on how to fly and fight variations of the  F-18 Hornet. Loughmiller is 
one of 22 trainers showing them how it's  done.
 
While Friday morning's  practice was a good learning experience, Adams said 
that training to perform  low-level close air support - hitting targets who 
are engaged with friendly  troops in contact with the enemy - is something 
else entirely. "It's pretty mind  blowing, really," said Adams of flying at 
200 feet above the ground. At higher  altitudes, "when you are going fast, 
you do not have the ground rush, but the  lower you get, the faster stuff 
gets moving. It is kind of mind-blowing being  that close to the ground and 
seeing stuff whizzing by you."
 
The goal of the  training, which has created quite a stir in the 
neighborhoods near MacDill and  along the 70-mile route to Avon Park, is to give new 
pilots the best real-world  experience they can find, said Loughmiller, an 
experienced combat  pilot.
 
Avon Park is "a  fantastic range," said Navy Lt. Nate Miller, 31, a trainer 
with nine years in  uniform. It takes only about 10 minutes for the 
fast-movers to make their way  down to the range, a 106,000-acre facility located 
south-southeast of Tampa in  Polk and Highlands counties.  
 
The Navy brought 14  fighters to Tampa, said Miller, including the C and D 
models, which are the  older Hornets, and the E and F models, which are 
newer and called Super Hornets. Aside from pilots, the  Navy brought 150 
"maintainers," those who help keep the planes  working.
 
The training mission in  Tampa is an international endeavor, said Miller, 
with pilots from the French  Navy and the British and Swiss air forces taking 
part as trainers. There are  also Dutch troops, known as joint terminal air 
controllers, who are on the  ground in Avon Park, helping guide the pilots 
onto their targets. The training  mission lasts until Jan. 17.
 
Before heading into the  Detached Unit Center at MacDill, which serves as a 
mobile command center for  visiting aircrews, Loughmiller talks about what 
advice he gives to his students.  "Make sure you are bombing the right 
target," said Loughmiller. "That's No. 1.  "No. 2 is follow the check list. Those 
are the two best pieces of  advice."
 
_haltman at tampatrib.com_ (mailto:haltman at tampatrib.com) 
(813)  259-7629
 
 
AL STERN  Satellite Beach  FL
AllanStern at aol.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilRadioComms
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HFmonitors
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridaMilcom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridaComms
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpaceCoastComms
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridaPlanespotting
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CivilAirlineComms
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScanMarine
**********************************************************



__._,_.___
  
____________________________________
 Posted by: AllanStern at aol.com   
____________________________________
 


**********************************************************************
Respond  to postings via the RadioMonitors Group, not by private  Email.
**********************************************************************  


 
(https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJkNzBjbGNoBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzg3NTE3ODYEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYzMTA4BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxNDIwODQ1
NjQ4) 


__,_._,___