Obviously the military places great store in obeying the orders of properly constituted authority – we can’t very well go around having a council of war at every different level once the whistle blows. But for all things there is a time, and for every rule an exception.
When I was a lieutenant I had a CO who used to warn us about the risks of ‘flathatting’ thus: “Don’t do it – if I catch you doing it I’ll kill you. If you’re going to do it anyway, then at least for God’s sake brief whatever it is that you’re going to do. I’ll still kill you if I catch you, but that’s better than having some stray wire cross inside your skull provoking you into an unconsidered act which not only kills you but also destroys one of my airplanes. If you at least brief it, think it through beforehand, you’ve got a much better chance of surviving – at least until you get home. You’ll be just as dead either way, but if I can’t make you think of your own life, wife, friends or family, I want you to at least think of the taxpayer.”
Clear guidance. Made sense.
The pre-flight brief, you see, is a binding contract. It’s what you say you’re going to do with the $40 million piece of equipment that government has lent you, and by implication, what you’re not going to do. If you find yourself having to call an audible in flight, it meant that the brief had been insufficiently thorough. Which is itself a “debrief point” – a rather benign sounding term which carries the connotation of having screwed something up.
Came to pass one night that I was up at beautiful Fallon, Nevada, getting a refresh ride in the FA-18 after my tour as an adversary pilot in Key West. I was all rigged out in my best go-fast gear and ready to rain death and destruction – well, 25 pound practice bombs with smoke charges anyway – on the circular bullseye at Bravo 20. High angle bombing it was, 10,000 foot AGL roll-in, 45 degree dive at 475 knots true airspeed and a 3000 foot AGL minimum recovery altitude.
The target was not so much illuminated – this was before night vision devices had become in vogue – as it was outlined by a cross-shaped series of lights. The trick was to roll in, hurtle yourself to the deck at ever increasing speed, align the dim symbology of your heads up display with the vertical axis of the target lights glimmering out of the gloom, place your weapons symbology at the theoretical intersection of the lateral axis and drop your MK76 into the pitch black hole in the middle. And then pull 4-5 g’s (which at night always ended up being more like 5-6 g’s – one each for momma and the kids) to avoid following your bomb into the target. Points on for accuracy, points off for breaking the minalt, game over for plowing in.
We tend to be simple people. We like simple rules.
Our flight lead and instructor pilot was a USAF major on exchange with the Navy. I was junior time-in-grade among the three mid-grade officers in my flight. Besides myself (dash-2) there was another lieutenant commander also on his way to a department head tour in dash-3. Since we were all relatively experienced pilots, the pre-flight brief was mercifully short: Start, taxi, take-off, rejoin, enroute, break-up, bomb, rejoin overhead, battle damage check and return to base for a 10-second break and landing. Emergencies and hung ordnance. Before too long we were airborne, joined and heading to the target.
Flight breakup, pattern entry and mud moving went exactly as briefed, with your humble narrator bearing away the prize for accuracy. Which it’s my story, innit? So I get to tell it any way I like, and that’s the way I remember it. As far as you know.
Rejoined overhead the target and checked my lead’s wings clear of ordnance. Three provided the same courtesy to me. Lead called on the radio to say that we should take cruise formation, since it was his intent to drop down to 500 feet AGL and surveil the lights around the target bullseye. On a dark night – darker than a hat full of *ssholes, as they say. Darker than six feet up a cow’s… well, you follow me I think: Dark.
In mountainous terrain. Without night vision devices. Did I mention that it was dark?
I briefly considered my options. The flight lead was in a position of authority, and he hadn’t asked us our opinion – he’d told us what to do. But this was not anything we’d even hinted at in the brief and suffice it to say it was a significant deviation from normal operations. I waited a bit for the more senior Navy guy in dash-3 to say something, but it remained quiet on the net. Finally I had to break the silence:
Your humble scribe: Do what?
Flight lead: You know, just drop down, take a look. Check it out.
YHS:
FL:
YHS: I’m detaching, I’ll see you guys back on deck.
FL: Say again?
YHS: We didn’t talk about this in the brief and I haven’t got the least intention of dropping down to 500 feet at night until I’ve got my wheels and flaps down on final approach to land. Good luck, though.
Now, I’ve always been a devil-take-the-hindmost kind of a guy, and nobody likes to be thought of as a “non-hack.” But neither are there any posthumous awards or citations attached to augering in on a training flight. I couldn’t order my seniors to abandon what I considered a stupidly risky idea with zero upside, but being in actual command of the aircraft I’d been loaned I could choose not to participate in it. In the end, the flight lead abandoned his scheme, I rejoined the flight and we headed back to the field for landing.
In the debrief I was fully prepared for some of that characteristic fighter pilot ululation, chest-thumping and high energy ego management, but as it turned out everyone was pretty thoughtful instead. It had been a pretty stupid idea.
I think maybe all of us learned about flying from that.
And to think you could have ended up as the lucky guy in a Grandpa Petibone story…
Instead, you are still amongst us as an example and inspiration. As are FL and dash-3. Great lesson applicable to many dangerous occupations.
Knowing the simple truths…the courage of your convictions and the willingness to act on them is always a winning hand…Best
I really love this story. Knowing how to be ‘alone up there’ when the chips are down. Not easy but sometimes it’s got to be done. My sincerest admiration, Captain …
Marianne Matthews
“Darker than the inside of a dog”
Lex,
What was your pickle altitude, or did your computer figure that variable?
Bill,
I want to say it was about 5400′ AGL, or about 9.5 on the altimeter. It’s been a while, alas. Far too long.
Now, that was the “target” release point of course, and the computer figured out the optimum wind-corrected release point based on actual parameters in dive angle and airspeed. I always thought that it was a mark of disciplined pattern work if your computed solution and your planned release matched up though.
Lex, A second thought …was your decision affected in any way by the fact that the Flight Lead was an Air Force Officer? Best
Two sides of courage: moral and physical.
Most people forget the moral part.
This probably rates as a good example of both.
There is a fine line between disobeying a lawful order and ignoring willful stupidity and risk.
I am reminded of Adm. Rickover’s infamous Nuc interviews.
Odd, we drill to remove thinking from the equation, yet we want thinkers rather than cannon fodder. How that must confuse some folks…
– Max
The flathatting rules as I was taught: Don’t flathat; if you do, don’t get caught; If you get caught, don’t whine.
BTW, I think the Snark Boy, I mean the Snake Eater, may be on to something with his Air Force Theory…
We can all use a “brief” in many of our daily tasks. Like mowing the lawn. How many fingers and toes are saved when we stop to think the processes through. I do it when sailing, especially on a long passage. We talk about nav work, emergencies and approaches to land.
Great story!
Craig M. The thought came to me from my own experience in the way back where I was for a time XO of Mobile Strike Force Company commanded by an Aussie Captain ( AATTV). Although it never came to it (he was a real good guy/mate/bloke… and a very capable leader) I always thought that if we were ever at loggerheads over an operational matter we had our separate chains of command to sort it out…certainly not the case if the CO was an US Army captain…where I could be charged, at a minmum, with insubordination…
I thought it was a reasonable( as yet unanswered) question to pose… and no snark was intended. Best
PS, By the way… that’s ” Snark Boy Sir”!…if you please…been ages since anyone called me a boy
Could be worse, Snake.
They could be calling you a lad…
Whatever…as long as they don’t call me to late for supper…DA… DA … DUMM … please accept my apologies …my lesser angels prevailed upon me to send it. Best
Established airdale rules don’t always line up with formal chain of command, depending on the tactical situation.
For example, the pilot in command has responsibility for the safe and responsible conduct of the aircraft, not the senior-most officer.
Another category would fall under the role of “scene of action commander,” which has long been established in certain situations such as pursuit of an enemy submarine, drug interdiction, or search & rescue where coordinated action by multiple units is desired. The SAC is typically NOT the senior officer on the scene, but rather the mission leader in the platform best positioned to coordinate all the units in the fight. Depending on the situation, there are certain established rules for determining who can assume the role. It is not unusual in these situations to have a junior officer directing the fight. I assume there must be a parallel in the ground combat world.
Snake Eater, I don’t really think that my decision was made any easier by the lead’s service. The only reason that stands out in my memory is that the USAF had a reputation of being far the “more professional” service than did naval aviation in those days. So long as by “more professional” you mean that they had rules that they actually followed. Navy on the other hand had a rep as being kind of the biker gang in military aviation.
So it surprised me, is all.
Navy on the other hand had a rep as being kind of the biker gang in military aviation.
Nice analogy there Capt.
Different roots, I think. Navy warships were almost completely independent at sea once upon a time. Independent judgement and action was indispensable. In fact, the Brits famously executed an admiral for following rules too rigidly and losing. I think this was the origin of the famous quote about “executing an admiral to encourage the others”. You’d know the French, Lex.
I don’t think the Army was ever quite so loose.
“Dans ce pay-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.”– Voltaire, “Candide”
Admiral Byng it was I believe – shot to death on his own quarterdeck for “failing to do his utmost” at the Battle of Minorca.
Lex,Thanks for the response…asked and answered as always…an ancidote from the way back for Flatlander re ground forces…later though…thanksgiving eve festivities at casa Snake with the fam & ole John Dewar distracting me as usual… Happy Thanksgivng all including my favorite canuck… Michelle. Best
If you want an example of flathatting gone bad (and a vent from Grampa Pettibone) check out the second article (“Nostalgia”) (circa 1945)
- SJS