Snowfox 060722

[Bones]

Round 1:


Round 2:


Round 3:


Round 4:


A big welcome to Creeper joining us for his first hops with our group. Creeper brought a new dimension to our simming by flying the HIND. It really made me rethink tactics trying to cover him since the HIND is so slow compared to the rest of us fast movers. I found myself orbiting above him most of the time just to keep from passing him up.

When threatened it took alot of GCI to decide whether or not the threat was worth leaving Creeper for to defend him. Even then, it was difficult without proper support.

Creeper was able to get a rocket attack off on the target and I was able to soften the area up for him by killing a ZSU-23-4. But the MiGs that came after us were out for blood and were very aggressive. At one point every one of my missiles had been spoofed, including Phoenix, leaving me with nothing but the gun.

My main takeaway from this after the hop was that I've gotten complacent again. I've read about pilots, especially those on cruise, who are so used to the same routine over and over (They call it "Groundhog Day") that they get lax in their procedures and it ends up causing costly mistakes. I felt it here. Oh, I'll just afterburn all the way to 30,000 feet so I don't have to wait. Oh, I'll just do a planar barrel roll defense against hat inbound IR missile rather than do it in 3 dimensions and make sure I have enough airspeed to counter attack. Oh, I'll just start my downwind at 800 ft and go down to the proper 600 ft further down the line.

Things like that make you sloppy or get you killed. I got shot down twice because of being lax, and the other time I made it back to the boat but had to emergency jettison my bombs, emergency blow the landing gear, emergency blow the tailhook, and land with my broken wings locked at nearly 68 degrees with engines that were stalling out here and there. All of which could have been avoided if I hadn't been complacent to begin with.

So, keep that in mind--your experience, training, and tactics will keep you alive. Stick to it.

v6,
boNes

[Cr33p3r]

From last night:

Bones trap:


Being chased by 3 Mig-29's and getting one in the...er...Hind-quarters

[Trichome]

I felt like I wasn't very helpful yesterday.....

Communication is key. I found myself yesterday unsure on if I should take a shot, or leave it for another bird coming into the fight and one of those decisions cost me...

[Bones]

Trichome,

I think you did just fine.

Here is what I think, and it is rooted in Navy doctrine...if you have the shot, take it, so long as you are sure it won't endanger another friendly to do so. This is the Navy's loose deuce tactic that they adopted after the formation of TOPGUN that helped bring their Vietnam kill ratio up.

There is also that none of us except Grifter and Hammer were a 2 ship. We should never be a single element, always a flight and/or section.

v6,
boNes

[Hammer]

We should never be a single element