Nat's Blog - Day4
Friday 09.11.2011
Well it is day 4 and the trade show days are over!
We now have two public days left, traditionally the companies tend to disperse after the trade bit, leaving a minimal crew to brave the onslaught of the public, for us remotely located 80 miles to the south, the show goes on.
Unusually the next two days, we have two air display a day about 4 hours apart – which for me is very strange - I have never been to a show like that before. Mind you, judging from the numbers of people who have been lining the edges of the airfield (clearly far more than those attending the trade show) then I suspect it'll be a huge two days and I'm guessing they'll like the double display.
So back to the last 2 days, well it's been business as usual, spiders, spiders, spiders, oh and did I mention spiders? But today at my medical the Eurofighter blog animal collection got even bigger with the addition of a King Cobra! Fortunately, the said cobra was not in the cockpit - that would be a step too far - but rather an occupant of the medical centre where I have my morning check up. Now when I say occupant, I don't mean in a tank, I mean living wild in the building! I know I'm supposed to be talking about the show, but this is the reality of operating in this part of the world.
So yesterday the weather was good and I was able to do a full display. After I landed, a plan was hatched to land at the show site today in order to take a picture of us and the other competitors for the Malaysian Air Force fighter competition. Now that would have been great as not only would we have been able to land at the show, but I'd have been able to take-off from there too. As impressive as the display is when flown from a remote site, it is so much better when flown from a standing start. However, after several frantic calls and organisational issues, the plan was consigned to the bin and normal operations continued.
Today (Thursday) was like any other.....almost. First the Chief of the Royal Air Force (CAS) came to visit his team from 6 Sqn at the RMAF base in Butterworth. It is important to understand and acknowledge that this whole display would not have been possible without the significant efforts from the RAF and in particular the men and women from 6 Sqn, RAF Leuchars.
As it turned out he arrived just as I was crewing the aircraft so I never spoke to him, however, once I had taxied out he spoke at length to the groundcrew. So off I went, rolling down the runway, lifting off around 160 mph (higher than the display as I'm not using reheat), and as I raise the gear I see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 birds in quick succession above the aircraft...I get to 100 ft and woah..... a huge flock of birds is in front of me! I have speed in hand so I pull up and over, missing them all safely, but CAS and his team must have wondered what I was up to. Anyway, I then proceed to the display site which is an approximate 10 minute transit at 350 mph.
As on the other days, I have to land, roll and take-off but for some reason they seemed to have forgotten that and have cleared me to display with an F16 on the runway! I do have a plan B as it would not be correct to take-off with the aircraft in the way but luckily he gets moves in time and then I'm on the ground, reheat in, nose up, climbing in the vertical, start the roll over at 3200 ft and wow I’m looking downwards. Unlike Dubai, where I got a face full of airfield, here I get a face full of jungle which seems less worrisome, but it is not something that is ever comfortable. Even though, I know exactly what the limits are and of course ensure that I always meet my gate heights, it is still not the most relaxing feeling! The good news is that this aircraft makes it easy and allows me the luxury of being able to manoeuvre close to the ground safely everyday. As I pull out at 500 ft and start my three rapid rolls down the runway, I wonder:
a) What my next manoeuvre is,
b) What was the extra bit I had to do to make it look better and
c) Where is that Black Widow spider?
Up we go 7g at the end of the runway in to a half horizontal, upside down again and coming down at low level, oh look there is the F18 sat waiting to be flown by my test pilot friend "Bull" from Boeing - he is waiting for me to finish so he can display the Super Hornet after me. So where was I? You know sometimes the display is just a blur, working at the edge of the aircraft and human limits for 7 minutes is not something to take lightly, it is quite demanding at times. I have, on the odd occasion had to ask my display supervisor "did I fly all the manoeuvres correctly". Of course the answer is always "yes"! So 12 minutes later I'm back on the ground at Butterworth 80 miles to the south, CAS has left and another display is done. The RAF guys take the aircraft from me and start the servicing to ensure we are ready again tomorrow for our double bill.
We now have two public days left, traditionally the companies tend to disperse after the trade bit, leaving a minimal crew to brave the onslaught of the public, for us remotely located 80 miles to the south, the show goes on.
Unusually the next two days, we have two air display a day about 4 hours apart – which for me is very strange - I have never been to a show like that before. Mind you, judging from the numbers of people who have been lining the edges of the airfield (clearly far more than those attending the trade show) then I suspect it'll be a huge two days and I'm guessing they'll like the double display.
So back to the last 2 days, well it's been business as usual, spiders, spiders, spiders, oh and did I mention spiders? But today at my medical the Eurofighter blog animal collection got even bigger with the addition of a King Cobra! Fortunately, the said cobra was not in the cockpit - that would be a step too far - but rather an occupant of the medical centre where I have my morning check up. Now when I say occupant, I don't mean in a tank, I mean living wild in the building! I know I'm supposed to be talking about the show, but this is the reality of operating in this part of the world.
So yesterday the weather was good and I was able to do a full display. After I landed, a plan was hatched to land at the show site today in order to take a picture of us and the other competitors for the Malaysian Air Force fighter competition. Now that would have been great as not only would we have been able to land at the show, but I'd have been able to take-off from there too. As impressive as the display is when flown from a remote site, it is so much better when flown from a standing start. However, after several frantic calls and organisational issues, the plan was consigned to the bin and normal operations continued.
Today (Thursday) was like any other.....almost. First the Chief of the Royal Air Force (CAS) came to visit his team from 6 Sqn at the RMAF base in Butterworth. It is important to understand and acknowledge that this whole display would not have been possible without the significant efforts from the RAF and in particular the men and women from 6 Sqn, RAF Leuchars.
As it turned out he arrived just as I was crewing the aircraft so I never spoke to him, however, once I had taxied out he spoke at length to the groundcrew. So off I went, rolling down the runway, lifting off around 160 mph (higher than the display as I'm not using reheat), and as I raise the gear I see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 birds in quick succession above the aircraft...I get to 100 ft and woah..... a huge flock of birds is in front of me! I have speed in hand so I pull up and over, missing them all safely, but CAS and his team must have wondered what I was up to. Anyway, I then proceed to the display site which is an approximate 10 minute transit at 350 mph.
As on the other days, I have to land, roll and take-off but for some reason they seemed to have forgotten that and have cleared me to display with an F16 on the runway! I do have a plan B as it would not be correct to take-off with the aircraft in the way but luckily he gets moves in time and then I'm on the ground, reheat in, nose up, climbing in the vertical, start the roll over at 3200 ft and wow I’m looking downwards. Unlike Dubai, where I got a face full of airfield, here I get a face full of jungle which seems less worrisome, but it is not something that is ever comfortable. Even though, I know exactly what the limits are and of course ensure that I always meet my gate heights, it is still not the most relaxing feeling! The good news is that this aircraft makes it easy and allows me the luxury of being able to manoeuvre close to the ground safely everyday. As I pull out at 500 ft and start my three rapid rolls down the runway, I wonder:
a) What my next manoeuvre is,
b) What was the extra bit I had to do to make it look better and
c) Where is that Black Widow spider?
Up we go 7g at the end of the runway in to a half horizontal, upside down again and coming down at low level, oh look there is the F18 sat waiting to be flown by my test pilot friend "Bull" from Boeing - he is waiting for me to finish so he can display the Super Hornet after me. So where was I? You know sometimes the display is just a blur, working at the edge of the aircraft and human limits for 7 minutes is not something to take lightly, it is quite demanding at times. I have, on the odd occasion had to ask my display supervisor "did I fly all the manoeuvres correctly". Of course the answer is always "yes"! So 12 minutes later I'm back on the ground at Butterworth 80 miles to the south, CAS has left and another display is done. The RAF guys take the aircraft from me and start the servicing to ensure we are ready again tomorrow for our double bill.
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