For all the GIBs…

Posted on by July 8, 2014

GIBs- Guys/Girls in the back of the bus…

Pretty good video on what they thought of their first NATOPS/Stan Eval checkride in the military…

I don’t think anyone ever thought they passed… 🙂

h/t Bogeydope

Comments

For all the GIBs… — 15 Comments

  2. Pretty much the same reason I went into accounting instead of flying. (and spending hours trying to figure out why something didn’t balance.) I’m alright now; I’m retired.

  3. Thanks for the good laugh! I remember failing my first flight test…got so lost that when I started reading road signs to see where we were the towns listed weren’t familiar.

    Skip ahead to my rotorcraft check ride. I remember asking the check pilot if he was sure he wanted me to put it “there”. He said yes, if you can. Well hell yes I can. Pucker factor = level 10 but I passed!

  4. Kinda reminds me of the first time at the helm, too. “Just follow the previous wake,” they said.

    Yeah, right. 🙂

  6. Check Ride, Czech Ride, oh how fun!! You “Would” have to say,”NATOPS!!” What “LL” said!!!
    Blue skies,
    III%,
    skybill-out

  7. I literally laughed right out loud at the end. Pretty good!

  8. Nothing like an initial qualification check ride with the toughest examiner to bring out your worst points. And then the plane has a sketchy problem with anti-skid system. “Should I stay or should I go now?” Was the theme of the mission.
    Love the video. Wish they’d develop the premise into a movie

  9. One of my dad’s war stories—

    I’m not sure of the exact timing of this–probably mid-1944, post crew training, pre-deployment, somewhere in the Southwest. So, as my dad told it—

    He goes on a pilot check flight in a B17 (probably and E or F model). He the young 2LT and the check pilot, an LTC. Just the two of them and fuel load, no practice bombs, no guns, no ammo. 3/4 power on take-off to simulate a full combat load.

    Off they go into the Wild Blue Yonder, business as usual. The big one my dad is waiting for is the engine out drill where the check pilot pulls one of the throttles back to zero to simulate a failed engine. This is the pilot’s cue to turn off the fuel, feather the prop, etc. Well, the engine out doesn’t happen. They land, and are taxiing to the ramp when the LTC says “Turn around and take her up again”.

    My dad thinks to himself “Aha. He just remembered we didn’t do an engine out”. So off they go again, at 3/4 power, again. As my dad recollects, they were approaching 800ft AGL when, without a word, the LTC reaches over and pulls the throttles for engines 1 & 2 to zero.

    Now it may be possible to recover a basically empty B17 with two engines on one side running at max power. I don’t know, I’m not a pilot. My dad’s solution at the time, with his view of the ground rapidly increasing, was to shove all four throttles to full power, while stating rather firmly “What are ya tryin’ to do you stupid SOB, get us both killed?”. I’m guessing the remainder of the flight was pretty short.

    Story goes that higher-ups were not amused by the LTC’s “maneuver” and my dad got chewed out for not saying “You SOB, sir.”.

  12. Having to go through a NATOPS check ride is tough. Having to sit through someone else’s check ride as the aft observer (GIB/FIB) is downright scary sometimes.

    Bermuda 1979: halfway through a check ride that’s not going so good. The checkee is up front sweatin’ bullets. The NATOPS instructor pilot pulls #1 and #2 engines back to flight idle to simulate asymmetrical power during landing. On touch down, the checkee begins to lose control of the aircraft as it swerves hard left. He adds too much brake and rudder, locks up the wheels and blows 1 tire while swerving hard to the right (towards the oh so close water), so he stomps on the left brake, then the right brake, etc, etc. We slalomed all the way down the runway until the plane came to a screeching, groaning, smoking full stop. I earned a lot of gray hair that day. The checkee did not pass the ride.

  14. Ray- OH…. Yeah… Did you ever get a ride with Jay Beasley??? THAT was a trip!

    Curtis- Yep! 🙂

  15. NFO, no I never got a ride with Jay. But I heard stories. I saw him a couple of times at NAS Jax, but that was about it.