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Post by weberjf on Feb 14, 2010 16:42:31 GMT -5
Jesse's comments about getting kicked out of Castle AFB reminded me of the time a group of us were kicked out of Patrick AFB. We were part of the 3552nd Pilot Tng Sqdn ( Cessna T-37B) at Moody AFB, GA. Part of the Syllabus called for a weekend Cross-Country series of training flights. As instructors we flew or scheduled two local training flights, then prepared for the weekend student training. The plan was to go to Patrick and RON (remain Over Night), then Saturday go the Homestead, Refuel and on to Key West NAS (Boa Chica), then Sunday to come home with a fuel stop at MacDill at Tampa. There were four of us, each with a student and we all landed without problem at Patrick. The Aerodrome Office came out to greet us and said we were welcome. However... The planes would have to go. Seems there was a missile launch scheduled and all ramp space was allocated. This brought up another issue. We had each flown three student training flights that day. Air Training Command Regs only allowed three per day (four flights total). A quick call to our Sqdn ops officer and he said to log the students as passengers and to NOT log instructor time. We filled for Homestead AFB and dutifully put the students in the right (instructor's) seat as the minimum crew was "One Pilot in the LEFT seat) --- Sure we did. Students got an un-logged night VFR navigation training flight, of course, following the coast to Miami.
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Post by jesse on Feb 14, 2010 16:55:20 GMT -5
After I retired from USAF and Joined NASA in September '67, Patrick was our support base for our ARIA aircraft. At the time we had not yet converted over to the Boeings and were still flying the C-118s and the B-25s. During the launches of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo series missions it was nearly impossible to find a place on the ramp to put another airplane. I know how you felt.
I was not jet qualified having never piloted a jet, so when we went to the C-135s, I was out of work (Temporarily). I was reassigned to NASCOM NASA communications and I spent the rest of my career in that capacity....televising all of the launches at the cape. I sure miss those days. Cocoa Beach was the place to be.
I also wound up briefly on the Vanguard, a Navy satellite tracking ship out of Port Canaveral. That was fun duty.
Jesse
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