Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Oldman731 on July 22, 2017, 09:07:17 AM
Thanks, Save, that was interesting. We used to have P3s based at Willow Grove NAS, before they shut it down. Very impressive to watch.
- oldman
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Serenity on July 22, 2017, 12:03:14 PM
Pushed this to a buddy of mine who was a classmate in API and Primary, and just started his first deployment a few days ago as an EP-3 driver (And here I am STILL in flight school lol).
I particularly enjoyed the insight into the P-8A. I know a couple of Poseidon drivers, and from a pilot's standpoint, it seems like a complete nightmare (According to my guys in the FRS, once they rotate, they turn on the auto-pilot and don't touch the controls again until it's time to flare...) but from an operational standpoint, it sounds pretty impressive!
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Puma44 on July 22, 2017, 03:02:39 PM
Pushed this to a buddy of mine who was a classmate in API and Primary, and just started his first deployment a few days ago as an EP-3 driver (And here I am STILL in flight school lol).
I particularly enjoyed the insight into the P-8A. I know a couple of Poseidon drivers, and from a pilot's standpoint, it seems like a complete nightmare (According to my guys in the FRS, once they rotate, they turn on the auto-pilot and don't touch the controls again until it's time to flare...) but from an operational standpoint, it sounds pretty impressive!
Someday, you'll learn to appreciate an autopilot.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Serenity on July 22, 2017, 03:11:47 PM
During my tour with 67 we flew Alphas. No mamby-pamby multiple launch tubes for the buoys. ;) My best friend wasn't in a TAR outfit. He was in 47 and they flew Charlies.
It was all Cold War, then. Easy duty. The world ending on our watch was taken for granted. Get that Philippine deployment in.
That article wan still rather enlightening and enjoyable.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Puma44 on July 22, 2017, 04:30:41 PM
oh don't get me wrong, it would be nice on long legs, but I compared to NEVER touching the controls? Not a trade I'd like to make.
"Never touching the controls" may be a bit of an overstatement from your bud. Hand flying is a perishable skill in a heavier aircraft. Disconnecting the autopilot in the flare (about 10' in the 737) is definitely an overstatement, unless they are practicing for carrier landings. Trading off autopilot for pilot skill won't bode well if both the auto pilot channels have failed. Yes, that has happened in the 737.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Oldman731 on July 22, 2017, 10:29:53 PM
"Never touching the controls" may be a bit of an overstatement from your bud. Hand flying is a perishable skill in a heavier aircraft. Disconnecting the autopilot in the flare (about 10' in the 737) is definitely an overstatement, unless they are practicing for carrier landings. Trading off autopilot for pilot skill won't bode well if both the auto pilot channels have failed. Yes, that has happened in the 737.
Yeah, yeah, and, like, how would you know anything about that?
- oldman
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Puma44 on July 23, 2017, 10:41:33 AM
Yeah, yeah, and, like, how would you know anything about that?
- oldman
I read it on the internet. It must be true. Right?
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: DaveBB on August 06, 2017, 09:46:06 PM
As a kid in the late 80s and early 90s, I used to see P-3s landing at Standiford Field (Now Louisville International Airport) with the big MAD boom protruding out of the tail. It wasn't everyday, but at least twice a week I would see them taking off or landing. What were P-3s doing so far inland?
For that matter, I still quite a few fleet F/A-18s. If I remember, I try to look up the tailcode and see what ship they are on. But again, why so far inland?
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Arlo on August 07, 2017, 04:23:54 AM
Not sure `bout the 18s (were they all single-seaters?) but our P-3s picked up some of our reservists for drill weekends in the nearby areas often (we were TAR). NAS Memphis (Millington, Tenn) was an inland training command. Louisville was a 'short hop' turning a five and a half hour one-way road trip to less than a couple of hours round. Some of the airline pilots at Louisville were likely Naval reservists in my squadron. VP-67 has been disbanded and NAS Memphis is now 'merely' Naval Support Activity Mid-South.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: DaveBB on August 07, 2017, 03:56:36 PM
Cool photos. Though I didn't see the MAD boom on those P-3s. These definitely had them.
Both single seat and double seat F/A-18s come through here. Last group I saw were Growlers. Looked them up. Also saw a strange triple vertical stabilizer turbo-prop naval plane (two of them) a few months ago. Maybe this is just a good spot to refuel.
On a side note, Navy Seals actually train near Louisville. There is a small river (Salt River) that runs on the north side of Fort Knox that is used for live-fire for swift boats.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: Arlo on August 07, 2017, 04:00:50 PM
Its the angle. There were/are mad booms on every Orion.
The C-130 was always a pure military design. I'm sure both were designed for stability with their specific fuselages and missions in mind.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: DaveBB on August 09, 2017, 08:29:32 AM
Good point. I noticed the C-130s wing has a much larger surface area than the P-3 (as well as being much longer to keep nearly the same aspect ratio), but both aircraft weigh the same. The C-130 can carry about 20,000 lbs more, but still. It appears the P-3 has quite a big higher wingloading.
Title: Re: Confessions of a US navy Orion Pilot
Post by: colmbo on August 09, 2017, 08:47:27 AM
If the P-3 uses the same wing and engines as the C-130, why is the vertical stabilizer so much smaller?
They have different missions. The P-3 operates off of long, hard surfaced runways where the C-130 may be called upon to operate from short unimproved strips. Short field work means lower airspeeds, lower airspeeds require positive yaw control.