Aging B-52 Fleet

Was there a difference in combat rated max gross, and what you could use in peacetime/training? If so, was that waived for operational evaluation type events?
 
X3 Skier said:
When they upgraded to the CFM-56/F108 engines they had to put in an auto rudder since if you lost an outboard engine, you couldn't react fast enough to maintain directional control.
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I believe that. I think the CFMs were roughly 2x the thrust.
 
GlennAB1 said:
That's what my brother attributed his silver hair to. He flew KC-135's and KC-10's before becoming a test pilot.
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Guess that prepared him for being a Test Pilot. Was he at Edwards or Eglin?
 
He flew 135's out of Beale (79 - 83), 10's out of March (83 - 86), and Tester at Wright Patt (87 -90). He was accepted to the space program in '90, just after being diagnosed as diabetic. He continued in programs management at Wright Patt to 94 then went to the Pentagon as staff officer then division chief till 2001 and back to Wright as Division chief till retirement in 2006 as Colonel.
 
mscard88 said:
Guess that prepared him for being a Test Pilot.
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20 USAF pilots are selected annually for test pilot school, how often do you hear about Chuck Yeager type, ground breaking stuff, going on anymore? My brother did receive the AFSC Test and Evaluation Award, 1990, for C-29A development. He also was a Test Pilot for the C-5A Space Cargo Modification, his experience suited him for that role over a fighter pilot.
 
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35 AoA said:
Was there a difference in combat rated max gross, and what you could use in peacetime/training? If so, was that waived for operational evaluation type events?
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Yes there is a difference. The number for the buff is classified for the nuke role. Fcf flights are not conducted over the tech order number as it requires depot level inspection of the aircraft and mandatory replacement of structural components, which in the case of the buff that's a euphemism for writing off the aircraft.

Similar waivers for taking off over tech order conventional max weight exist for the tankers in support of nuclear launches. Thence why tankers are referred to as toads (take off and die).

Glad to be out of the PRP business. Thankless job don't pay any better than doing loops and rolls in the MOA for a living :yes: and I've already said it, these days helicopter pilots get the chicks and the REAL medals. I'm married and cloth never motivated much, so I'm happy where I'm at. :rofl:

Merry Christmas everybody, especially to those who display professional umbrage to such holiday greeting. And to our deployed folks, stay safe out there.
 
GlennAB1 said:
20 USAF pilots are selected annually for test pilot school, how often do you hear about Chuck Yeager type, ground breaking stuff, going on anymore? My brother did receive the AFSC Test and Evaluation Award, 1990, for C-29A development. He also was a Test Pilot for the C-5A Space Cargo Modification, his experience suited him for that role over a fighter pilot.
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Indeed. There's nothing space age about test work anymore. The board looks at their capitalization needs and selects pilots specifically on their backgrounds and the needs of the air force at the time. That means that you will work on the airframe you came from after you get done with test pilot school. For heavy guys that means they'll work on heavy airplanes as test folks. And I agree, they would be better suited than a fighter guy.

I was on track to applying to TPS two years ago but decided against it when I realized what test pilots do these days and the fact theyd stick me right back into a bomber when I was done. It became clear my real motivation (getting to fly fighters) wasn't all that compatible with the career stovepipping attending TPS as a bomber guy would entail. There's a lot of drudgery involved in modern day test flight. Very few of it is outside the flying envelope thing like people visualize test pilots doing.

We get guys go thru the t-38 squsdron in San Antonio (tasked with qualifying t38 instructors) in order to go thru a short t38 front seat qual if they're heavy guys who are going to TPS and haven't flown the 38 at all. Basic handling stuff, front seat only and no formation flying other than fam rides as sandbaggers. They come out with a basic pilot qual so they can attend TPS and not struggle bus too bad on the basic fighter rides all TPS candidates go thru as part of their training program
 
I was at Eglin and the test pilots there get to at least fire weapons/drop bombs on the ranges there. From the Control Tower it was pretty cool to see that. Had a B-52 on one of the ranges back in the early 80s drop something out there, and when the debris went up in the air our radar picked it up and it was probably 5-10 times the size of the primary aircraft target.

I recall them doing flutter tests on the F-16 w/ external bomb loads pushing it more every test session. The test wing lost an A-10 and F-16 I think in '82 but don't recall what caused the crashes. Pilots made it out ok though.

Fun place to work as a controller as it was like an airshow everyday.
 
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GlennAB1 said:
how often do you hear about Chuck Yeager type, ground breaking stuff, going on anymore?.
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All that stuff is now done "under wraps" and out of sight of the general public.
Contract for the NGB (Next Generation Bomber) is awarded, but you never saw the "fly off competion".

Same thing happened with the F-117A, it was flying for years before it showed up in public during Desert Storm. The B-2 was built before the design was revealed to th public.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Similar waivers for taking off over tech order conventional max weight exist for the tankers in support of nuclear launches.
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False. MTOW for the KC-135R is 322,500. Conventional or EWO.
 
You think the tower got tired of saying, "Caution, wake turbulence?"
 
upstateny said:
You think the tower got tired of saying, "Caution, wake turbulence?"
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Actually if memory serves me right, during MITO operations the aircraft assume that responsibility. Well the pilots of those aircraft do. :)
 
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