TomcatViPMore by USNI.org:
“We had to do a little bit of integration on just on how our guys handle their aircraft on the deck, how we taxi them around, how we control them, some of the launch procures on the catapult,” Bailey said. “Aside from that it’s just like having just another US squadron on board.”
For example, Rafale fighters sit on deck at a slight angle, causing their engines to point down toward the deck. This created potential hazard for U.S. personnel working on the flight deck, said Cmdr. Marc. U.S. crews are used to being able to simply duck under the exhaust nozzles when F/A-18F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers are maneuvered around the deck because these jets sit flat on the flight deck and their engines point straight back.
Some other differences between the Rafale and the Super Hornet have led to a slightly different pace of movement on the flight deck during aircraft launches, Lt. Cmdr. Winston Cotterell, Bush‘s aircraft handling officer, told reporters.
First, he said, the French aircrew tend to want to do all maintenance in the hangar bay instead of up on the flight deck, where U.S. crews conduct some smaller maintenance activities.
“I’ve run a lot of elevators just for those aircraft,” Cotterell joked, but said that ultimately the French have similar maintenance procedures and prioritize maintenance and readiness of the aircraft, even if they prefer to conduct the work inside the ship.
Additionally, Cotterell said, the flight deck crews have to exchange the spreaders – the clip inside the catapult system that connects to the aircraft – between launching the Rafales and the Super Hornets or Growlers.
“The Rafale takes a different type of spreader that needs to go on our catapults to make them launch off the bow. The (U.S. and French) E-2s are the same, so that’s pretty much seamless, but the Rafales take a little bit of time … maybe a few minutes, a minute or two here and there,” the handler said. After a few days of integrated air wing operations at sea, he said the deck crew has been able to swap the spreaders in about a minute during the daytime, though at night in the extreme dark it takes several minutes to ensure personnel are safe and to ensure the spreaders are clipped in tightly enough to securely launch the next aircraft.
Between having to swap the spreaders and some French procedures, such as not allowing hot aircraft to be towed on the flight deck, Cotterell said it takes a few more minutes to conduct a full launch cycle, but he said he and his crew are learning a lot and enjoying the experience of working with their French counterparts.
TomcatViPYou can watch the show here on Youtube:
Note:
– there are none evidence that substantiate with facts the conclusion that Germanwings Flight 9525 was the result of an act of mass-murder. It still remains to this day a deliberate interpretation of the Fr bureau driven by the early intimate opinion voiced by its leading prosecutor that was put in charge of the accident investigation. Given that the accusations smeared in the press to the point of constituting by itself an evidence was a the leading factor driving the enquiry, the duplication of this by the 60 minute team can only be seen as a deliberate choice, given that the possibility of a laisser-aller won’t honor their professionalism.
– “The [locked away] captain can be heard trying to make is way back [in the cockpit]” (Germanwings)… That’s all the problem. None of the audio were ever released. At one point (before the existence of the audio was acknowledged), a journalist got to hear the band*** “a hundred times” commenting on the panic stricken cabin but he was then highly criticized and nothing more has transpired of it. None of the family have reported that there were offered the chance to ear the last words of their loved-one.*
– There are strong concordent evidence that the flap recovered in the FR island of La Réunion had multiple stays in the water with one witness acknowledging that this specific part had washed-up on the beach where he was in charge of burning drift-aloft debris or throwing them back in the water when not possible, what he remembered that he did with that one**. Maritime life stuck on it where more local species than anything else (if my memory stands right, that were the conclusions of two laboratory – but this has been the subject of some post here in this thread – please scroll back HERE if interested). Hence, the erosion of the thinner part of the flap is more probably the consequence of being washed up on the rocky beach (not sand beaches, small stones) and/or when it was dragged back in the water.
– The simulation (if Microsoft Flight simulator simplistic flight models can ever been ascertained as a valid simulation for a very long haul flight with numerous corner waypoints): let’s be clear, how many of us have not been called away from our screen while “flight simming” for something as casually urgent like the evening dinner, guest coming or a quick run at the night shop for a brick of milk. As this become now facts for a criminal investigation? And what generally become of “our plane” if put on various autopilot mode? She would fly until the last bit of virtual fuel is expended… And crashes. Did the FBI (who first searched the computer) stated that the pilot had actually dived the plane on that occasion at the end of this long simulated flight (something that will show-up immediately in the sim flight log)?… No. End of arguments.
*To me there should be room in it to make 60 min of a bright dramatic show of just this
** Something that stand aside of any French laws despite the weird given order from the island administration
*** Here is a CNN interview of that Journalist
TomcatViPWho pays for that?
TomcatViPI am not sure that there is that many Rafale to rent.
Parly is ridding a Mirage (but at least that’s something).
About the meeting b/w the two MoD (Be/Fr):
“on n’a rien entendu de nouveau par rapport à la lettre reçue (de Mme Parly, ndlr) le 6 septembre 2017. Il n’y a rien de plus concret”, a expliqué la porte-parole du ministre belge de la Défense, Steven Vandeput, Laurence Mortier.
————-
“We did not hear anything new in relation to the letter received (from Mrs. Parly, ed) on September 6, 2017.*” There is nothing more to substantiate [the offer], “said spokeswoman for Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput, Laurence Mortier.
*devoid of any substance already
TomcatViPObviously. stupid me.
Here is an insight from Reuters about results of the investigation (2017):
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbus-a400m/airbus-knew-of-software-vulnerability-before-a400m-crash-idUSKBN1D819P
TomcatViPA400m, no one? Looks very similar.
TomcatViPThere is plenty very capable of hardware to shop in Sweden for the Fins. Given the expectations expressed in the RFP, the Gripen is not one of them.
The Gripen has never been designed to be the most capable penetrative platform in the world. Not is it Saab motto, nor Sweden budget.
TomcatViP“They are very compelling,” aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, told CBS News’ Kris Van Cleave. “What I find very compelling is the hypothesis that the pilot did this deliberately, and did one of the most heinous acts in modern commercial aviation.”
And someone just put all his energy in achieving probably one of the most heinous form of laziness ever acted in 60 minute time of serious modern TV.
Note:
The plane didn’t crash nose down but probably stalled and splashed at much lower speed and a much different attitude than asserted by the so-called expert during the show. This has been publicly acknowledged by the enquiry as a certitude (autopilot keeping the plane level despite loss of power due to fuel pulsed starvation). Starring at the salvaged piece of leading edge with a severe look in the eyes won’t change that result.
10 minutes of appropriate reading would have allowed the 60min team to get that info first hand. Given the horrendous accusation devoid of any facts and exacerbated by the dramatic tempus of a 60min show, IMOHO this amount to gratuitous accusation and diffamation [/legalMode]
Sourced from:
CBS News.com
TomcatViPC’mon guys, Convair B-58 Hustler, A-12, F-106 and the mini-dart version of it from Dassault, the Mirage 2000.
The Fak-Fa could have it also but the stealthisation process disqualify her compared to the elegant line of those classics.
TomcatViPperhaps we should end this nicely started thread on a better way:
I recommend browsing the user chanel…
TomcatViPThe internal investigation by Airbus into allegations of malpractices raised by an employee is also believed to have been the reason for cancellation of the coast guard chopper deal that was to have been signed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in March.
While India was keen to go ahead with the deal for the EC 725 Super Cougar’ copters, Airbus did not extend the validity of its commercial bid in February, leading to a technical lapse in the procurement process. It is now learnt that the bid was not extended due to the internal probe by the European company. However, fresh efforts to revive the bid are said to be under way.
Source:
Economic Times.com
TomcatViP[ATTACH=CONFIG]260552[/ATTACH]
an impressive weapon load…
Missile hot launch starting at 1:36s
Enjoy!
TomcatViPRafale and French Hawkeyes on the Bush for carrier calification – Photo album
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180510-N-UV609-0540 ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 10, 2018) A Rafale Marine attached to squadron 17F of the French navy lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77).
“It’s kind of funny,” said Lt. Brandon Rodgers, an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot. “Any fighter pilot from any country, it seems, is the same. We’re a little bit full of ourselves, but we love flying. That’s the commonality between all of us — getting together, talking about fighting, that’s where we all have that common bond. It’s something kind of special.”
That bond can exist even when technology creates a divide. Chief Petty Officer Philip Mina helps maintain the Hornet and Super Hornet. It uses a different engine than the Rafale.
But if a pilot is a pilot …
“An engine is an engine,” he said, “and we’re mechs. So if they’d come down, we’d be more than happy to help.”
And if a Rafale engine were to suddenly be available for inspection, that would be awesome. Expect Mina and his men to try poking around in it.
“Any engine that comes our way that we haven’t worked on, we get kind of interested,” he said. “Old or new, if you haven’t seen it yet, you still want to look at it. We’re wrench monkeys. We just want to see what’s going on.”
Maybe that’s why a French flight officer like Stephane — French policy requires personnel to give only first names — can’t say enough about U.S.Navy hospitality. He’s the commander of an E2-C Hawkeye squadron. The E2-C is an American-made early-warning aircraft, which the French fly and have tweaked a bit for their purposes.
Earlier last week, the French E2-C was briefly out of commission, so a French pilot flew with American crew.
“That’s great,” he said. “That’s the first time in training we’ve used that. I’ve had wonderful support from the squadron, from the U.S. Navy in general. Believe me. It’s not just because you are Americans (that) I say that. It’s true.”
And about the Rafale as seen by USN pilots:
The Rafale […] is super-fast.
“When it’s light, it can pretty much stand on its tail and go straight up,” he said. “When you’re on deck and you see them go straight up — all right, I guess I can’t do that with you.”
Source:
DailyPress.com
VFA 17F?
TomcatViPEmbraer re-affirms KC-390 delivery date despite second mishap
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Despite all the criticismes, IMOHO this crash depicts a good behavior of the airframe (mechanically). We can see that the cockpit integrity remained unaltered protecting the crew and that the landing gear and associated composite shell were neatly teared away absorbing the shock of the impact (see how the high tail remained structurally sounds, something that would not probably have happened if the deceleration was too violent or assymetrical). Sad that we do know nothing about what were the events leading to this crash.
Source:
Transponder1200.com
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