Page 38 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb 2020
P. 38

38 AIRPOWER FAST JETS
FEBRUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
“We’ve recently had people who were finishing up on Hornets for whom we didn’t have a Lightning spot avail- able immediately. We sent them up to Amberley to fly Super Hornets, with an expectation that at a natural break point they might return to 81 Wing or stay up there.
“The member will express a preference and then we’ll run a needs-of-the-service line across it as well, so we’re trying to take a more whole-of-Air Combat Group approach. But at the fundamental level, we have five fighter squadrons
“One of the things that comes with experience is rec- ognising your own limitations, and that’s one of the key aspects of maturity that our commanding officers need to see before people are allocated more responsibility.
“Lockheed makes aircraft that are architectured slightly dif- ferently to the Hornets and Super Hornets I have spent most of my career flying in terms of the way the mission systems work, and there’s a difference in mentalities associated with a single engine versus two engine aircraft. In the simulator I was want- ing to hold myself to more than simply the acceptable standard.”
SIMULATORS
Four of the six full mission (not full motion) simulators des- tined for Williamtown are already operational and the final two will be installed during the current year. Buildings to house the four simulators intended for Tindal should be completed by the end of this year.
“No-one has yet invented a way to have a full motion sim- ulator where you experience the G forces and the buffets you get with high-angle attack manoeuvring and all those sorts of things in a fighter – we don’t even try to do that,” commented GPCAPT Haly to ADM.
Both the transition and operational conversion courses are baselined on Luke AFB courseware and experience, but optimised for Australian conditions, with a graduation standard appropriate for the roles and responsibilities that will be faced in the frontline squadrons.
“If you’re in the US Air Force and you’re planning a mis- sion, you think I can use my F-22s to do this and my B-1s to do that and my F-15Es to do this and my F-16s to do that and my F-35s to do something else,” GPCAPT Haly said.
“We have a relatively small but very capable force mix in the air combat force, so our training is being developed to ensure our people are able to undertake different roles with different force mixes.”
NEW ROLES
This includes developing proficiency in the F-35A’s Sup- pression of Enemy Air Defence’s (SEAD) capability, a role not undertaken by the Hornet.
Many of the drills and skills components of the SEAD role can be taught in the simulator, but the F-35As are al- ready making use of a training aid based on mobile devices which is used for the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft in the Amberley airspace.
As the Lightning force grows the balance of aircraft ‘owned’ by each squadron will vary, according to the task- ing and relative priorities. Despite the livery and tradition the reality is that the Lightning fleet is managed centrally, and squadrons don’t always have their own paint scheme on the lines, GPCAPT Haly said.
“This is consistent with the way the Hornet has been managed throughout my career in the fighter force, al- though in earlier years the aircraft were ‘owned’ by squad- rons in a more parochial sense,” he noted to ADM.
By IOC, 3 Squadron and 2OCU will each have their full complement of aircraft (about 15) and 77 Squadron, which commences its transition to the F-35A in December 2020, will start out with two aircraft and grow beyond that. ■
“NO-ONE HAS YET INVENTED A WAY TO HAVE A FULL MOTION SIMULATOR WHERE YOU EXPERIENCE THE G FORCES AND THE BUFFETS YOU GET WITH HIGH-ANGLE ATTACK”
in Australia, four of which will be flying F-35As, so if you’re a fighter pilot you’ll be flying F- 35As at some point in your life.”
The exception to this could be aircrew who moved from the classic Hornet direct to the Su- per Hornet and want a Super Hornet-based career.
“That’s kind of natural; for some of them that would be their preference anyway having
been up there in southeast Queensland where it’s a pretty good life and Super Hornet is an exceptionally capable aircraft which is giving brilliant service to us,” GPCAPT Haly commented.
“I was the first Australian Super Hornet pilot; I was in- credibly impressed with that aeroplane and flew it for three years in the US Navy before we brought the type home.”
As of early 2020, more than 40 experienced RAAF fighter pilots had been qualified on the F-35A, all but four at Luke, on operational transition courses of about three months that are very much tailored to the individuals’ experience.
CONVERSION COURSE
The first F-35A operational conversion course for eight ab initio pilots qualified on the Hawk 127 Lead-In Fighter will begin towards the end of this year at 2OCU and last 6 to seven months.
“We need to teach the individual to fly and fight the air- craft but we also need individual to learn and develop their skills at a certain rate,” GPCAPT Haly said.
“Once you’re qualified on type you start down the path of an inexperienced wingman and you work your way through a constant category scheme of upgrades and learning until you’re at peak proficiency leading and teaching others, and then you go off to instruct the young ab initio people as well.”
The F-35A’s single seat design means simulation plays a significant role in transition/conversion courses; roughly two-thirds simulator, one-third flying.
At a recent Williamtown-based transition course under- taken by GPCAPT Haly, blue sky flying, emergency han- dling, instrument flying in cloud and poor weather condi- tions and then an instrument rating test “which is one of the things we all feared as young pilots because it’s one of the real kind of gates” was all completed before he had walked out to an aircraft on the flight line.
“It’s a different approach for a single seat-only commu- nity and it’s also a different challenge for instructors, but an exciting one,” he commented.


































































































   36   37   38   39   40