🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 25 Dec 1992 20:02:03 GMT, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) said:

HS> In article <SHAFER.92Dec23221311@ra.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>... Remember that flight test, including the chasing, is
>only done by test organizations; operational squadrons (the people who
>routinely fly with weapons) are only rarely involved.  Dryden, for
>example, has absolutely no weapons...

HS> A side issue here is that many people don't understand that weapons are
HS> *dangerous*.  Contrary to what you might think from half-baked war movies,
HS> properly-trained troops treat even hand grenades with great respect and
HS> considerable caution.  Live missiles are dangerous to handle, dangerous
HS> to carry, dangerous to have around.  Even *storing* them safely takes
HS> care and effort.  Aircraft don't fly armed without good reason.

Excellent point, Henry.  You can't even walk in front of an armed
airplane once the streamers have been pulled at the Hot Gun Line.

All the ordnance (missiles and rounds for the cannon) are stored in
bunkers, quite a ways from everything else here at Edwards AFB.  I
understand that there is quite a series of checks before live weapons
ever even get to the aircraft and I know that there are elaborate
precautions taken when they're on the aircraft.  For example, you
don't just pin the missile and taxi the aircraft back to your ramp for
the night--you unload it, store it overnight, and them put it back on
the airplane the next day.  (I should mention that the precautions may
be different at operational bases; AFFTC, being a test organization,
may be more cautious than, say, a TAC base, but I suspect that the
differences are minor.)


--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot