Chris Penningroth’s Weltanschauung

     Wednesday I flew my last syllabus flight, the 2nd of two Surface Attack Tactics (SAT).  We briefed up a set of medium-altitude GBU-24 (GBU stands for ‘Guided Bomb Unit) attacks complete with threat reactions and threw in a little VIS JDAM and WCMD (Joint Direct Attack Munition and Wind-corrected Munitions Dispenser) for good measure.  Unfortunately, a lot of jets broke during the 1st go, and two of us ended up stepping to jets without targeting pods.  Later, #3′s targeting pod broke in-flight.  So ultimately, they weren’t very good GBU-24 attacks, although we at least went through the motions of dropping them.  The VIS JDAM and WCMD worked much better.  On the way to the target, we pretended we were getting shot at by SA-6 SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles) and by S-60 57mm AAA (Anti-aircraft Artillery).  We weaved up and down, left and right throughout the sky, and simulated jamming and threw chaff all over a small chunk of western Arizona.  Of course, we can’t actually jettison our fuel tanks, so we didn’t really get an excellent hack at a good last-ditch turn, but it was still fun.  It’s like doing acrobatics to save your own life! We finished the sortie, and that ended my involvement with the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke AFB.

     Thursday, I hopped into the back seat of one of the 310 FS’s -D models.  Normally, this isn’t a terribly exciting event for a current and qualified Viper driver.  However, I got to watch a FAC(A) upgrade flight (Forward Air Controller (Airborne)), and I watched from a newly upgraded CCIP (Common-configuration Implementation Program) Block 42.  The new jet had LINK-16 capability, which is basically an airborne network that lets us see where everyone else on the Link is, and what they see and where it is.  The jets I will soon be flying have this capability, so I wanted to see and learn a little bit before I actually have to use it myself.  Plus, I’d never seen an F-16 firing WP marking rockets before.  That certainly made target acquisition a lot easier. 

    Yesterday I simply grabbed all my paperwork and signed out.  In the early afternoon, I was privileged to administer the commissioning oath to Rob K., a friend of a friend who just joined the Army as a First Lieutenant in the Chaplaincy.  For anyone keeping count, I’ve commissioned two guys into the Army, zero into the Air Force, zero into the Navy, and zero into the Marines.  The Navy and Corps I understand.  I find it curious that my Army score beats my Air Force score.  Anyway, Rob is a good guy with a great attitude, and the Army definitely needs him.  After the mini-ceremony, I had to break off and go to an officers’ call, and after that the partying started.  It was a great last day at Luke AFB.
 

     The first thing on the agenda this morning was a change of command.  BGen Rand handed the Luke AirPatch over to BGen (sel) Jones.  The ceremony was at about 0900, and it was already about 100^o F out on the line. 

    The second thing up was the close air support mission.  We flew out to South Tactical Range (STAC) and dropped a bunch of practice bombs and bullets on targets the guy in the back seat (GIB) of the instructor’s aircraft called out to us.  The GIB pretended to be an airborne forward air controller (FAC(A)).  It was relatively fun.  It might have been more fun had one of my former troops been down there calling out targets for me!

    Tomorrow I should get to fly my final flight in the requalification course.  It’ll be nice to go fly and not get a gradesheet written! That day is a little way off, but getting closer every day!

    Friday, I spent several tedious hours mission planning.  I woke-up early this morning, spending four hours anticipating a great flight in some of the best weather we’ve had here in four weeks.  Preflight, engine start and setup of flight controls, avionics, and simulated weapons took the better part of forty minutes.  After what amounted to about seven hours of preparation, Video flight was ready for takeoff.  Video 01 took the runway, lined up in the center, lit the afterburner, and roared off into the glorious blue southern sky.  Video 02 followed precisely 20 seconds later.  Like clockwork, Video 03 straddled the runway centerline and lit his burner as I turned my jet left to take the runway so that I, too, could slip the surly bonds of Earth.  

    With the rip-roaring sound of 03 still threatening to ring my ears, I noted a yellow eyebrow light blink on as my nose penetrated the runway threshold.  It was the Master Caution light.  Normally one sees this as a matter of course when one turns the probe heat on too early before it can get 400 mile-per-hour air over it to cool it down.  I had only just turned the probe heat on seconds ago, so I immediately had a bad feeling about this one.  I craned my neck to see between my right thigh and the sidestick controller to see what the Master Caution Panel had to say.  "ELEC SYS."  That’s not a good one.  But it wasn’t automatically bad.  I kept lining up for a potential takeoff while glancing over my left leg and under the throttle to see what the Electrical Caution Panel’s verdict would be in this matter.   "STBY GEN."  The second, smaller generator had some sort of fault.  We don’t absolutely have to have it in order to fly a successful mission, but this is peacetime training, and there was no justifiable reason to take a problem into the air this day.  I had but one more hope, the tiny white Electric Caution Reset button.  It was possible that pressing this hopeful, pure white innocent button would reset the standby generator and let me take off this happy morning. 

    Press.

    The baleful yellow light remained on.

    "Video 01, Video 04, I’ve got a non-resettable standby generator light.  I’m going to taxi clear and see if I can get it fixed."

    "Video One copies," came the reply.

    After some discussion with Squadron operations, I learned to my horror that there was no way to get my own jet fixed (which I figured on already), and I would not be allowed to go to one of the spare jets and rejoin my flight mates (which was a bit unexpected). 

    So ended what might have been a really great day in one ignominious back-taxi. 

    I hope the weather stays good tomorrow and Wednesday!

    Last night was the night Surface Attack Tactics (SAN) flight.  It was not really so much tactics as it was administratively getting me warmed up to fly tactically at night.  This was one of those painful flights that the AETC F-16 community demands you fly in a D-model with a qualified instructor pilot (IP) in the rear cockpit and a qualified and current IP somewhere else in the flight.  We went out to the Gladden/Bagdad airspace west of Phoenix and practiced dropping JDAM, GBU-10, and 1v1 intercepts.  In one of those crazy turns of events, I was the only one of the three of us who was LANTIRN targeting pod qualified, so I showed the guy in back a few things.  Anyway, the Air Force can rest easy, I am now certified to not roll inverted and pull should I find myself flying a Viper at night.

    Let’s see, what’s happened since Memorial Day? At "work," my classmates and I flew Tactical Intercepts (TI), Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM), Air Combat Tactics (ACT).  This week we moved on to the air-to-ground phase and have accomplised Basic Surface Attack (BSA) and a Surface Attack Tactics (SAT) flights.  That leaves Night Surface Attack Tactics and Close Air Support (CAS).  Then we have to re-learn the GE engine, clean up the random simulator or so, and go on our merry ways.  

    I’ve personally flown every business day for the past week.  It’s great, but it certainly doesn’t leave much time for anything else.  The problem is, that pile of ‘anything else’ never seems to get smaller.