Aa777jr From , joined today!, posts, RR: Posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1750 times:
I remember after 9/11 Prez Wubba flew onto that carrier. What plane was he flying and does he have a pilots license or keep one up to date from when he was in National Guard? I remember the media making a huge deal out of the face that Bush actually was flying and landed on the carrier. I know he had a co-pilot with him. Any comments...please no slamming with political issues either.
Gary2880 From , joined today!, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1717 times:
i thought he was in the jumpseat, ive heard landing on a carrier is incredibley difficult and.. as you said without bringing political issues into it i doubt he would be capable of doing it
N6376m From , joined today!, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1700 times:
It's no different that when a student pilot goes up for an introductory flight with a flight instructor. The PIC was the Navy pilot, though GWB manipulated the controls. If I remember the story correctly, he flew for about 15 right after take-off. I'm sure that he didn't land the plane.
RareBear From United States, joined Jan 2004, 553 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1694 times:
Pres. Bush definitely was not flying the S-3B that took him aboard the Lincoln. His national guard training from 30+ years ago did not qualify him to land on carriers. As far as I know, all his flying was in single engine jets, so I'm not sure he ever flew a mullti-engine aircraft.
Cedarjet From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 7029 posts, RR: 41 Reply 4, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1644 times:
Oh come on, the naff publicity stunt of the century and you guys are seriously wondering if W actually executed the landing? That's hilarious. The man is no more an aviator than he is a diplomat. Unfortunately for humanity, he was in the capable hands of a real pilot. And two Secret Service guys as well.
Yes! Senator Obama. We are ready to believe again.
KITH From United States, joined Mar 2004, 296 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1616 times:
Isn't Kerry an actual pilot? Any idea what he flies? In a ad fore his campaign I think he was flying in the left seat of a helicopter...any clues? -Matt in KITH
ATLhomeCMH From United States, joined Dec 2003, 770 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 1524 times:
RareBear:
You're right, Bush would have had to have been carrier qual'd by the Navy in order to land the S-3 on the carrier. He was just hitchin a ride.
A buddy of mine is a Marine Corps 2ndLT in flight school, and he just started his carrier quals...he says they're really challenging, but a lot of fun.
I could have been spared the footage of Bush in a crotch-accentuating flight suit, that's for sure!
"The most terrifying words in the Engligh language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"-Ronald Reagan
Wmupilot From United States, joined Jan 2003, 1473 posts, RR: 8 Reply 8, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1464 times:
Name : KERRY, JOHN FORBES
Airman's Address : 19 LOUISBURG SQ
BOSTON, MA, 02108-1202
FAA Region : New England
Date of Medical : Dec, 2003
Class of Medical : 2
Expiration : Dec, 2004
Airman Certificates : Commercial Pilot
Airplane Single Engine Land
Airplane Single Engine Sea
Airplane Multiengine Land
Instrument Airplane
Glider Aero Tow (Private Pilot)
Ftrguy From United States, joined Aug 2003, 331 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1450 times:
N6376M is very much correct. The actual S-3B in which he landed on the carrier is on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fl. Hopefully it is still in one piece after Ivan. It is the only plane in recent history to carry the call sign of "Navy 1". Having landed on an aircraft carrier, I can tell you its not something you just go out and do. It requires hundreds of practice field landings before you can even think of going to a carrier. I think I had at least 250 landings in the first aircraft I took to the boat.
XFSUgimpLB41X From United States, joined Aug 2000, 3243 posts, RR: 21 Reply 10, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1445 times:
Bush flew a single engine jet...yes..... That jet was the F-102- not exactly an easy aircraft to fly. Thats like saying that the F-16 is hardly a jet since it has 1 engine. Dont forget, Bush went to UPT at Moody- also flew the T-37 and T-38 in training. The T-38 is quite the hotrod- and has 2, count em...2 engines.
Bush may be a few years out of the game, but given that experience- he was certainly much more of a pilot than Kerry ever will be. Besides- of course they wouldn't have let Bush execute the trap...he's never done that before. The manuever is very tricky- that Navy pilot got the number 4 wire...almost missed it. I know his pants almost went code brown.
Aa717driver From United States, joined Feb 2002, 1552 posts, RR: 9 Reply 12, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1393 times:
I doubt half of the "desktop flight sim" wonders on this board could make it around the pattern in a 102, let alone get operationally qualified.
My hat is off to anyone who survived the Century series fighters(and the Navy types of the same generation). I also give Kerry a pat of the back for taking the time to stay current.TC
RDUBE90Pilot From United States, joined Jun 2004, 63 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 1228 times:
When I was working at an FBO at Hanscom, just outside Boston, Kerry was good friends with the owner of a Cheyenne 400LS (N248DJ) based there. He flew it quite often to Nantucket. He always had the regular PIC onboard these trips but he was flying in the left seat quite a bit.
I flew with him once and he was a very capable pilot.
The Cheyenne was sold a couple years ago and I have since moved so I'm not sure what he has been flying since.
Aa717driver From United States, joined Feb 2002, 1552 posts, RR: 9 Reply 15, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1142 times:
No one EVER claimed that Bush made the landing on the carrier. The Viking pilot asked him if he would like to fly once they were at cruise and Bush did. The pilot said he did a great job, FWIW.
The pilot was the XO of the S-3 squadron(I think) and he will probably never live down the fact that he almost boltered with the Commander in Chief on board!
Man, that 4-wire gets you close to the edge of the landing area... TC
Captoveur From United States, joined May 2004, 6767 posts, RR: 29 Reply 16, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1067 times:
"The pilot was the XO of the S-3 squadron(I think) and he will probably never live down the fact that he almost boltered with the Commander in Chief on board!"
Especially considering the guy died a few days ago (no joke)
Things were better when it was two guys in a dorm room.
A380900 From France, joined Dec 2003, 647 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (3 years 10 months 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 897 times:
It looks like he had the lowest passing grade.
"Competition for the few openings in the National Guard was intense, and there was a waiting list of 100,000 nationally at the time. Bush took the Air Force officer and pilot qualification tests on January 17, 1968. He scored 25%, the lowest possible passing grade on the pilot aptitude portion. On his application form, he listed his "background qualifications" as "none." But despite the waiting list, his low score and his lack of qualifications, Bush was given a highly-coveted spot and was sworn in on May 27 for a six-year commitment, taking a solemn oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution and the United States of America."
Now people, in all honesty, would you feel safe in a plane with W at the yoke? I wouldn't. No matter how much trained he is.
Aa717driver From United States, joined Feb 2002, 1552 posts, RR: 9 Reply 19, posted (3 years 10 months 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 804 times:
Captoveur--I'm sorry about the Navy pilot. Was it an operational accident? I heard an F-18 went down off the coast but I understood the pilot ejected safely. Sorry again.TC
RareBear From United States, joined Jan 2004, 553 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (3 years 10 months 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 623 times:
XFSUgimpLB41X:
Now that I think about it, the T-37 is also twin-engined. I just have a mental block, I guess, about thinking of the T-37 and T-38 as multi-engined aircraft.
DeltaGuy From United States, joined Sep 2001, 3985 posts, RR: 18 Reply 21, posted (3 years 10 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 578 times:
Any more word on the S-3B pilot? I haven't heard of any S-3 incidents lately.
People doubt Bush's aptitude to fly.....as AA717 driver and others have said, it took alot of skill to do that. Daddy's coattails only take you so far, it's your hands on the stick and throttle that make it happen. Jet time speaks dividends, no matter how you got it. You liberals need to shut up about that. The carrier trap is one of the coolest things that happened on a flattop lately (among all the other amazing things), you saw the faces of all the troops, they were excited to have THEIR CIC onboard. If Clinton pulled that (which he didn't have the courage to do anything with carriers, other than decommission them), you would have seen the usual sideboys, maybe a few supporters, then the CO there with a ship's coffee mug with "Bubba" on the side The troops like Bush, and it was a morale thing for them...deal with it.
And Gary, it actually wasn't the jumpseat, it was the right seat, also known as the TACCO's seat. Has dual controls, but in wartime, could be flown by an NFO, or a backseater. His ONE secret service agent occupied one of the back seats, in front of one of the anti-sub control panels. I believe it was probably the SENSO's seat.
DeltaGuy
"The cockpit? What is it?"..."It's the little room in front of the plane where the pilot's in, but that's not important"
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