Quote:
Originally Posted by Vishnu
Dear "High Sea" ...
A couple of clarifications:
Firstly, I am not entirely sure what you mean by by "incentive ride." Whose incentive ? Mine as the journalist who has agreed to fly the sortie ... or Lockheed Martin's for having a story done on them by India's largest 24 hour tv news network?
|
Vishnu, welcome to WAB.
An incentive ride is the term used for any ride offered to someone who would not otherwise have the chance to ride in the type. It could be anyone from someone who is considering a career in the air force, to journalists like yourself, businessmen, community leaders, etc. It's a generic term.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vishnu
You wrote : "incentive rides are never offered with combat-coded AC.If this Viper came from Iraq, it would hav had an airshow tape loaded for the demo rides. There are declass versions of the software that are used for these kind of events. The APG-68(v)9 has 2 ft. resolution in SAR ground imaging mode. What the author saw was not what a Viper driver sees in combat."
I regret to inform you that your information is not correct. The twin seat Block 50 F-16 I flew did indeed come from Iraq. Secondly, I have worked extremely closely with Lockheed Martin for this sortie which was offered to me. I was not allowed to film the cockpit ... but there were NO restrictions whatsoever in what was shown to me. Here are some more details on the circumstances in which the ground imaging mode on the radar was switched on ...
<snip>
THERE WAS NO ELABORATE SCHEME TO SHOW ME A CENSORED IMAGE SHOT ON A DECLASSIFIED TAPE, NEITHER WAS THERE ANY EFFORT AT SHOWING ME AN IMAGE THROUGH A LESS THAN OPTIMAL VERSION OF THE INSTALLED SOFTWARE. It would not be in Lockheed-Martin's interests to have done so ... and there couldn't conceivably have been a security concern since I didn't have a camera on me. Neither am I an expert.
|
When I refer to the tape, I am not talking about a video tape or some type of alternate images fed to the back seat displays. The term refers to the software build that is running. It is a carryover from the days of loading the software with paper tape readers. Obviously we use portable computers to actually load the program these days, but the terminology remains. It's analogous to the "batch" files on your PC, which are a holdover from the days when computer programs were run by loading a stack of batch cards into a reader.
A new tape can be loaded in a matter of minutes, and this is the program that runs the radar. All incentive rides are given with declassified builds, unless you posess the appropriate clearance. Considering your profession as a journalist from India, (and presumably you are not a US citizen and therefore ineligible for one) I assume you do not hold a US security clearance.
Even foreign users do not get the same tapes that the US runs, so this is not a slight on you, it's just the way it works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vishnu
Also, you wrote I had had made a "pretty stupid mistake" in apparently not knowing the difference between smoke and contrails. Now you are being plain silly.
|
If you read the thread, you will see that it was not me that suggested you did not know the difference. In fact, I believe I quoted your comments wrt the amount of smoke you witnessed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vishnu
Let me elaborate ... <snip>... In all three phases the KUB is NOT completely smoke free.
|
Which is what I said...
I have a question for you. You said:
Quote:
|
Anyway, there is a button on the Master Caution panel on the front right on the pilot which says "Cobra." That button has to be pushed before the maneuver can be done since the flight control system has to be overridden.
|
Are you saying the alpha limiter override has actually been labeled as the "Cobra" switch? I'm only asking because to me, this is one of the funniest things I have ever heard.