Post-Flight Debriefing with Flight Crew

[Sparweb]

I have recently been reminded of the value of the post-flight debriefing session with flight crew and command after critical missions. Review of mission timeline and analysis of critical events is valuable for many reasons.

This can be seen in a photo that seems to have been taken during a recent F-22 post-flight debriefing, following a recent air-to-air kill (the first ever for the F-22 Raptor aircraft type):

(The photo isn't mine - it's C.W.Lemoine)

 

[debodine]

I would surmise hPa is hectoPascals, a measure of pressure altitude.

 

[debodine]

My error, hPa (hectoPascals) is a measure of pressure. When used in an altimeter, then it is a measure of pressure altitude. I should have been more precise.

 

[Sparweb]

Yes, hectoPascals. Sorry, my friend, the rest of the world uses metric, and so does the scientific community and large swaths of the manufacturing industry in the CONUS.

Seems to be a total of 3, now. Two objects are now being salvaged. The first balloon's payload is being compared to a "jetliner" in size and it had propellers allowing it to change its course, making it properly an "airship".

There's a balloon somewhere over Latin America This balloon seems to be similar to the first, and may have eluded tracking for now. (or just eluded the media's short attention span) Giving credit where it's due, tracking from country to country, passing over the Andes and/or Amazon basin leaves huge areas with very little surveillance, is difficult. Some of it has to be visual, so the balloon can't be tracked at night. That balloon probably can change course, too, so predictions based on a passive balloon trajectory will not point in the right direction. They have to search again every morning.

And there was another of these balloons over Alaska until it got shot down. What was actually shot down will be unclear until the Navy reports on what they found (I assume it's the US Navy doing the recovery, like they are in South Carolina). This one seems to have been smaller and not steerable, according to the article above. It was also lower, at an altitude that could interfere with civilian aircraft, and likely to drift in random directions over North America. That's a threat to aviation safety, since civil aircraft do not have radar of a kind that can see-and-avoid something like a balloon.

 

[WKTaylor]

It appears that NORAD [and CONUS MIL/Civil] doppler radars were actually 'seeing' EVERY event in the sky with a radar return signature... but doppler/computer software was set to exclude ['filter-out'] extreme 'slow movers' as non-aircraft non-threats. it is NOW obvious that all traceable targets... including 'slow drifters' will be tagged and tracked... and intercepted if needed.

While working F-15s [1990s], I was informed about an astonishing 'tactical maneuver' that the F-15s could perform to temporarily 'disappear' from AWACs and other 'training adversary' radar screens. One young pilot attempting this 'tactical maneuver' lost control and the jet went into an unrecoverable low-speed spin. NOT sure regarding the mishap board recommendations about the pilot's career.

AND NOPE... I was 'asked' to NEVER discuss any 'special' tactical maneuvers that I may have learned about as a service engineer.

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation, Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", HBA forum]
o Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything." -Anton Chekhov

 

[Sparweb]

NOPE... I was 'asked' to NEVER discuss any 'special' tactical maneuvers that I may have learned about as a service engineer.

Too late. Even without saying what, you've let the world know you know something. Base commander will be calling, soon.

 

[IRstuff]

Still, it depends on what the SCG says; sometimes it's the actual performance, and sometimes, it's the fact that it can do it at all.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[WKTaylor]

Relevant to this 'balloon kill...

NOTE1. I admire Scott Manley's ability to describe/discuss/present complex aerospace topics... usually missiles, spaceflight and technology. This topic seems relatively unique for him...

What does it take to fly an aircraft at the [astonishing] altitude of 100,000-Ft [SR-71 territory]...

https://youtu.be/M5UEZMa_p9A

Note2. The highest I have ever been is in a 747SP [~1983] at the end of a 14-hour flight... we cruise-climbed slightly above 52,000-ft. Dang... I could almost 'feel' the pressurization tension in the skin around my window... fascinating and creepy.

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation, Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", HBA forum]
o Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything." -Anton Chekhov

 

[WKTaylor]

Clear image of the TR-2 Shadow on Chi-Com balloon...

Useful for dimensional estimations of the balloon and payload characteristics.

Also notice that the instrument package solar array is remarkably large... and is closely oriented to the sun position for maximum energy gathering... which simply cannot be a coincidence... it is self-tracking!

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation, Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", HBA forum]
o Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything." -Anton Chekhov

 

[WKTaylor]

Also... I'd wondered if the TR-2 cameras captured detailed images of the balloon/payload... then realized... Ohhhh Duuuhhhh... that all of the cameras on-board are intended for recon images from ~50,000-ft and above... not an object a few thousand feet away rapidly changing orientation relative to the jet!

I seriously doubt there are [currently] any TR-2 payload cameras for observing close-up objects like this...

Note1.

Many decades ago, I had a friend who was a crew chief for an F-106B in the early 1960s. One benefit of being the crew dog on the F-106B 2-seat 'Tub*' was occasionally flying in his assigned aircraft!! On a few occasions, he was tasked to fly back-seat and take high altitude tele-photos of most of the Mercury, and 1-or-2 early Gemini missions [capsules... and 'other objects']. He never saw the still-photos he took... only what he could see thru the camera's view finder at that instant... and was way-toooooo busy tracking/snapping etc to make any sense of what he was seeing. But he relished those 'back-seat' moments for a life time.

I knew him in the late-1980s/early-1990s... I knew him in his second career as a senior civil service employee like me. He'd retired from the USAF after a ~30-year career as a Command-CMSgt. Had lots of interesting 'no-**** war-stories' from his 3 VN war tours... crew dog on F-4s and early model 'trash-haulers'.

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation, Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", HBA forum]
o Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything." -Anton Chekhov

 

[Sparweb]

That U-2 shot is amazing.
Why do you call it a "TR-2"?

https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104560/u-2stu-2s/

 

[WKTaylor]

Another cat-n-mouse game being played along the geo-synchronous/equatorial track... and the Chi-Com's are getting involved.

Spy-VS-Spy... tip-toeing along the GSO plane examining other country's satellites.

A Chinese spacecraft has been checking out US satellites high above Earth

https://www.space.com/chinese-spacecraft-tjs-3-inspecting-us-satellites

The Chinese satellite TJS-3 has been inspecting other countries' assets in geostationary orbit.
... ...

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation, Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", HBA forum]
o Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything." -Anton Chekhov

 

[IRstuff]

Doing no more than what the Russians have done

https://www.space.com/russian-spacecraft-stalking-us-spy-satellite-space-force.html

Of course, the US wouldn't admit to doing something like that.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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