I have noticed something over the course of the last three months while on orders at my Guard unit. Every time Marine Corps jets land, they always do a flyby first before they land. And they always fly in pairs. I have not noticed the same thing from Air Force aircraft.
I have seen AF jets in pairs, but they aren't always that way. But I have never seen a Marine Corps jet without a wingman.
Any of you military fly guys have an opinion or firsthand knowledge on this?
That's not a "fly by", they're doing an overhead approach. It's a fighter thing.
Flying in pairs is also a "Fighter Thing".
Overhead approach, so they can see exactly what they are getting into.
Making their impending arrival known.
It's a flyby. It's their way of screaming "hey look at me, I fly jets". No tactical need to see what they are getting into at a civilian field in the USA.
Other than "practice", 'cause I've only ever seen it at a military field, or an air show.
Quote from: a2capt on August 24, 2013, 03:36:35 AM
Other than "practice", 'cause I've only ever seen it at a military field, or an air show.
An overhead approach is the standard visual approach for fighter aircraft.
About the only time you don't see them do it is when they're directed by the tower to make a strfaight in approach only or if it's IFR and they're doing an ILS or a TACAN approach.
And I've seen plenty of overheads done at civilian airfields. Happens mostly at airports that also host an ANG fighter unit too.
Done more then a few in C-141's, usually when we're doing "tactical" stuff like airdrops and stuff.
(250 KIAS, throttles idle at approach end, gear and approach flaps on the downwind and landing flaps on short final.)
Quote from: David Vandenbroeck on August 24, 2013, 02:17:19 AM
It's a flyby. It's their way of screaming "hey look at me, I fly jets". No tactical need to see what they are getting into at a civilian field in the USA.
Yes, of course. They should do things differently here than in theater...that way they'll always do it right.
Two reasons to do an overhead in the US:
1) Train the way you fight
2) It is an efficient way to break formation and achieve appropriate separation for landing.
Don't know about current generation procedures, but as the previous poster said, it was done as SOP in Century series fighters as a way to gain seperation in the landing sequence effciently, and so conserve fuel. Fuel was almost always foremost as a concern in the Century series. It was also cool, and fun, but getting down quickly was the main reason.
Motoring in on final in an F15 at approach speed burns a whole-lotta-gas. Keeping your speed up to the airport gets you there faster and is more efficient. The break bleeds off speed. Its a fast way to get a lot of aircraft close to the airport and on the ground quickly. The f16s at Fresno do it multiple times per day and almost always ask for the "SFO" Simulated Flame Out.
The F16s do (or did, before they took them away and gave us drones) this here at the local ANG base every time. Usually in pairs, but often in groups of three or four.
Quote from: Flying Pig on August 24, 2013, 11:14:07 PMThe f16s at Fresno do it multiple times per day and almost always ask for the "SFO" Simulated Flame Out.
Though SFOs and overhead patterns have similarities, they are completely different approach procedures serving completely different purposes. The SFO is a practice emergency procedure where the overhead is a standard VFR traffic pattern that (as others have pointed out) is an efficient means of sequencing any quantity of multi-ship flights into an airfield and inserting appropriate spacing for landing.
They might ask for a SFO, doen't mean that the tower approved it though.
But F-16 drivers do have to log a certain number of them each quarter for currency purposes.