Rental cars MUST be returned clean and with a full tank.....

[Jackonicko]

Glad It’s a Rental #297 (http://safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/archive/archive_251-300/photo297.htm)

I'd like to have seen the guy's face on the rental return desk.

[West Coast]

Looks like the one I took up and down the Vegas strip a few years back.

[Doors Off]

Shame that the holes were not caused by a 'real' (30mm) gun. Lucky they got away with their lives.

[BEagle]

"The cause of the accident was the failure of the pilot to positively identify the intended target"

No $hit, Sherlock!

[Pontius Navigator]

Hmm,

"The cause of the accident was the failure of the pilot to positively identify the intended target during the nighttime, close air support training sortie,"

They train their FAC well. Like the FAC that told the Tonka where they were and the Tonka bombed them!

Moral, if yr a FAC, keep yr head down and don't say where you are.:}

[BEagle]

Ah - FAC training. Whilst holding at Brawdy in 1976, I went on some JFACTSU trips in their StrikeMouse JP4...

Woopert-of-the-Wegiment would be drawling on the wireless in typical pongo style, "Report my signals, over" and all that - and would then describe the reference from which we would be directed to his targets. The best one was a "Wed-woofed barn - oh, with a heat haze on it"...:hmm:

Still, their rubber T-62s were fun. They once inflated one inside the entrance to the Officers' Mess at Brawdy - hell of a job getting it out again!

I hope that the unlucky hire car company make good use of the car - "This is what happens if you drive off without paying"!

[Rigger1]

'T Cut' and MicroMesh -- soon have it like new.

[Ewan Whosearmy]

Doors Off

The M61A1 is 20mm, not 30mm. Sentiment still stands, though.

[Wwyvern]

I trained as an FAC during my tour on Hunters in 1960, or so. The second week was a combination of ground control and the view from the attacking aircraft. I was excused having to see what it was like from the air, and was designated one of the pilots to show the pongoes what it was like.

On one of my trips in the T7, low level around East Anglia, my pongo declared himself unwell. We were too heavy to land back at Stradishall immediately, so I put the airbrake out and rattled around at high speed/low level. For some reason, this made pongo more queasy.

He had been briefed that if was sick, he must catch it in the available bag. Unfortunately, as he began to retch, he couldn't release his oxygen mask. I was able to clip it unlatched just in time for him to fill it. He was very pleased that he hadn't spoiled the cockpit interior, and clasped the filled bag tightly between his legs.

My T7 landings were not as good as my single-seat landings (All my landings are good. It's just that some are better than others.) The T7 contacted the ground more heavily than I would have wanted, and the bottom fell out of the bag.

Fair does - he cleaned the mess up himself and contributed to the ground crew's Christmas Box.

[Wensleydale]

It would be interesting to know.....

If the vehicle had been hired by the MOD, would the pre-paid insurance provide cover for the damage caused? (It always pays to check what cover the "Travel Cell" have arranged for you when States-side). It could be a hefty bill for a squaddy.

[Ewan Whosearmy]

The relevancy of the correction, 1.4G, is that had it been 30mm the outcome might have been altogether different.

[Ewan Whosearmy]

I was talking about the decreased chances of survival for the two men inside had the rounds been 30mm. :ugh:

One minute you poke fun at people for getting things wrong, the next you do the same to people who attempt to correct such errors. I suppose it just depends on whether it's your time of the month, hey?

[Blacksheep]

10mm makes all the difference.Quite right. A 30mm round has three times the mass of a 20mm round.

Fatter and longer gives more oomph (as the actress said to the bishop.)

The relevant formula is πr²L
r1 = 20, r2 = 30, L1 = 1 and L2 = 1.3 x 1.

Thus, with all that depleted uranium bouncing around all over the place, the occupants, even out and running, would probably have been collateral damage to writing off the vehicle.

Hell, the firing aircraft have even been known to shoot themselves down with 30mm richochets. ;)

[Ewan Whosearmy]

BS

Tempting as it is, don't feed the troll.

[West Coast]

The relevant formula is πr²L
r1 = 20, r2 = 30, L1 = 1 and L2 = 1.3 x 1.



Can you use it to figgure the weight of an unladen swallow?

[Blacksheep]

Nah, we don't know the density of a typical swallow. It could be possible to compare an unladen swallow with say, an unladen bald headed eagle, but I don't know what use that would be.

Blowing up cars, now that's different. :}

[HalloweenJack]

Can you use it to figgure the weight of an unladen swallow?

African or European? ;)

[L1A2 discharged]

African or European?

single or in a pair?:D

[Milarity]

I am reminded of a tale told by a mate (get yer excuse in early).

The scene was an exercise big enough (and exotic enough) to attract a large permanent support party. The lead players were a young MTO and a long-haired laser designator operator.

The plot involved the long-haired gentleman and his friends driving a hired Ford Explorer off into the bondu each day to provide targetting on a selection of ranges.

End of week one, the MTO asked the hirsute one for his MT paperwork. Excuses that the Ford being a hire car and paperwork therefore not required fell on deaf ears. A witty rollicking was delivered putting the upstart pongo firmly in his place, along with the order that the 4x4 was issued to the said miscreant as an MT vehicle and it was to be treated as such at all times.

End of week 2, perfect paperwork given to the MTO by the departing team of bondu-bashers, who had completed their participation in the exercise. MTO walks outside to see a sparkling clean, fully fuelled write-off. "What the **** did you do to my car?" yells the MTO. "Exactly what you told us to do, treated it like MT" replies our hero. "It got bent like that on landing after we jumped out the back of the Herc!"

[FlightTester]

We were somewhere in the desert on the run-up to the millenium, and we were bored. Someone had the bright idea of seeing if a Tonka could designate for an AH-64 firing Hellfires, or maybe it was if an Apache could designate for the Tonka dropping Paveways. Well anyway on the day of the trial we trundled up to the range in our nice rental Landcruiser, parked up and put up some deckchairs to watch the fireworks.

It was about that time that a couple of us realized that a lot of the targets on the range were old Landcruisers! Hastily packed away deckchairs, moved car and went and hid behind range control.

[FOG]

June 05 Yuma Proving ground. USMC hasn’t been getting enough HALO slots so finalizing own school.

Two USMC KC-130s helping out, providing some extra drops for the JFK school in addition to the USMC final HALO certification.

A heavy equipment drop is added for the JFK riggers and to keep the Herk bubbas current.

Herk crew inquires as to where they the school house cadre wants the point of impact. Answer from DZCO long haired ninja is “Me, I’ll be standing on that rental Suburban and I’ll bet a case of scotch that you don’t get within two hundred meters”. The Marines took the bet.

The Suburban was parked nose towards the incoming Herk. It was a good drop as the DZ party scattered. Point of impact of the 463L was the windshield.

While the rental was totaled as far as the senior Marine present was concerned there was no mishap.

S/F, FOG