chopper pilots QUIT IT WITH THE FLARES
It does look really cool at night when someone drops flares and I totally understand that it is just to say hello, but those things are not as reliable as you fancy them and the burn out distance can be much greater than they are rated it. It is horrifying when you drop them on us and they burn out ~20 feet from your fuel point or next to you. It is bad enough already that the Iraqis think buzzing us at unsafe heights to show off is terribly amusing. I did 14 months and about 3 weeks before I was going to leave I almost got hit by a flare. Really, we all know your choppers are cool and what not and we can hear you coming, just quit dropping the fucking flares.
A pilot replied:
They are automated countermeasures…
The crews simply turn the system on or off…
They are not intentionally fired at you…
They save lives…
As soon as I saw the title of the post, I figured, “Either Ry lives too close to an LZ and the birds are blowing dirt in his beer, or someone is whining about ECM…”
Yep. Automated. Someone is illuminating those choppers. Surprised he’s not getting covered in chaff, too, but the dispensers may be threat-specific. (Our aircraft had both chaff and flare dispensers, but I never asked.)
D.W. Drang
25 June 2009 at 2:35