allieram 0 #26 October 16, 2001 That's one hell of a deal. During my deployment to the Mediterranean, we had a FAC which was a back seater for an F-18. He was a royal prick, at least up until the point that someone pointed out that he was only the back seater and not the pilot. Military jet jockies are such butt-heads, I won't argue that.The only point I was driving at was that the incident didn't happen because the pilot was a Marine, he could have been from any service. I didn't read the whole report, but hopefully the pilot received NJP and more for his stupid mistake, I did see that it was recommended for NJP. Dropping one's ordnance before clearance during training shouldn't happen.I don't really know if F-18 pilots are very good at CAS or not. You're right, they're suppose to be, especially since that's what the Marine Corps practices.Again, I'm sorry for the loss of life of your friend and the others involved. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
allieram 0 #27 October 16, 2001 Some more good info here from Chuck.Joe, you should have enough info here to hopefully get you started and decide. Best of luck to you.Tom CarrollB-24638 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #28 October 16, 2001 "at least I wasn't a leg"Heheheheheheh..............."but hopefully the pilot received NJP and more for his stupid mistake"Nope, he was a squadron commander and the Corps made him retire. Not that railing his ass would bring those 5 people back. What's done is done. Ya gotte die of something...Jay died doin what he loved and ya can't pick a better way to go than that. That pilot has to live with it for the rest of his life. Thats probably worse than than anything the Corps could have done to him. As far as Marine pilots go. I don't know whats up with them but it seems that Marine pilots think they don't have to listen to anyone. I have worked with pilots that try to "Run the mission" which is really dangerous. The FAC is just that. A controller. I saw two FA-18 morons fly right through the middle of "MY" range. I was working a single A-10 at that time that luckily had time to get out of the way. I still don't know who they were (somebody from Misawa I think) or what Freq they were on but I know I yelled "Get the Fuck off my range!" Over the Guard freq so everyone and God in the Korean theater heard it. Kinda funny now...."The sky resembles a back lit canopy...with holes punched through it"- IncubusClay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #29 October 16, 2001 Ailleraim- I went back and reread some posts. I see where you're coming from. A friend once told me. "All we have in the Corps are these great looking unforms and our pride!" Sadly sometimes thats true. You guys never got shit for a budget and promotions are as bad as the Air Force so I hear."The sky resembles a back lit canopy...with holes punched through it"- IncubusClay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites