F-16's are the primary jet that flies out of Aviano. There are a few cargo planes and of course the rotator that comes in and out a few times a week, but most prominently it is the F-16 and you for sure can't miss them. The jets are SO loud...everything on base pauses for a moment while they are taking off because you can't hear anything during that time anyway! And if you're driving in front of the flight line as they're taking off and they fly over your car, it sounds like the metal roof of your car is just being ripped right off! But it's pretty cool to watch them take off...they usually fly every other day or so (at least it seems like it).
So anyway, here are a few of my pictures from the field trip!
The jet will carry about 10,000 pounds of gas and can burn it in as quick as 30-45 seconds or it can last for as long as 2 hours, depending on how the jet is flown. 10,000 pounds is 1667 gallons!
This was built in 1990 (I believe). Many of the planes are quite old, but they are flown for many, many years. This one had just finished a flight that morning and was getting serviced by the crew.
These are all pics of the same jet. The part you see that looks like a missile is actually where gas is held. A missile would be loaded under the wing. You can kind of see the track for it in the far left part of the picture under the wing.
The kids (and I) got to climb up the ladder to sit on the side of the plane and look in with all the controls where the pilot sits. There is so much to think about and do at once with so many buttons and switches! The Captains talking with us said that it in order to fly you go through college, then a two year flight school, and then a year of specialized training on the F16.
This jet was actually a two seater, but the majority of them are only single seaters. He said each squadron may have one or two, two seater jets and the rest are single.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics, I just found it fascinating!
And a quick update on Taylor, he has arrived safely at Manas Air Base. He is still in temporary housing and is supposed to move into his room on Wednesday. I've talked to him through Facebook messages, but we'll hopefully chat on Wednesday. But he's doing just fine. The time difference is four hours ahead of me in Italy, so it would be 10 hours ahead of Eastern time and 11 hours ahead of Central time.
And I'm doing just fine as well. I've been super busy and have hardly had time to sit and do nothing!! I was excited to live in a clean house for 6 months, but I've yet to even clean up!! And I have a long To Do list that I will eventually start crossing off. Rosario has been over every day, sometimes twice a day (like today). Bringing pasta, and home grown cucumbers and pieces of melon :) He's watching out for me! He just agreed to teach all my friends how to make an Italian meal, so we'll work on a date for that to get everyone over here so he can teach us how to cook Italian. In the mean time it's work, work, work!
Have a wonderful week!
No comments:
Post a Comment