QRA question
Compliments of the season to all.
Without wanting to elicit any info that may be classified, purely out of curiosity I'm trying to understand what being on fast jet quick reaction alert in the UK actually entails.
Is a pilot physically seated in the aircraft in the QRA hangar, plugged into all systems for the duration of their `shift' with all essential avionics etc. powered up, ready to light the fire and get airborne - or is that only what happened during the Cold War?
There are some QRA videos online of Eurofighter Typhoons - but they seem a little unrealistic - pilots running to aircraft and strapping in - very WW2.
I would have thought that strapping into and powering up a Typhoon or similar fast jet would take several minutes at least.
I seem to remember accounts on this site from pilots who sounded like they'd spent several hours strapped and plugged into Tonkas in the hangar, just waiting... or am I mistaken...