How to improve F15 radar - clean windows?

[saaby93]

F15 pilots clean windows to avoid planes not shown on radar

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-42063...

Beware of incoming gliders

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

You'd be amazed how filthy the windscreen gets when operating at low level, especially in late summer.

[Ayahuasca]

Why don't tanker aircraft crew just deploy a long-handled squeegee to clean windscreens when the jets go for a top-up?

[texaxile]

Ayahuasca said:

Why don't tanker aircraft crew just deploy a long-handled squeegee to clean windscreens when the jets go for a top-up?

Knowing how tight the average pilot is, they wouldn't be prepared to tip them the couple of quid.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Ayahuasca said:

Why don't tanker aircraft crew just deploy a long-handled squeegee to clean windscreens when the jets go for a top-up?

Well they say that probe 'n' drogue refeulling is rather like trying to push wet spaghetti up a cat's backside (or for the guys, like taking a running fk at a rolling doughnut!) so I rather think the Tanker Crew might question your proposal.

Having been a Tanker pilot (1312 Flt in the Falklands) my attitude is that the Fast Jet merchants can clean their own bloody windscreens!

[Simpo Two]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Having been a Tanker pilot (1312 Flt in the Falklands) my attitude is that the Fast Jet merchants can clean their own bloody windscreens!

You could at least have sprayed some water at them...!

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

One day I might tell you how we sprayed (paper) coffee cups at them.

Hearing the roar and watching as a jet comes over the top of you, rather close in, in full 'burner, and in wing rock, is pretty sobering.

[Ayahuasca]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

One day I might tell you how we sprayed (paper) coffee cups at them.

Hearing the roar and watching as a jet comes over the top of you, rather close in, in full 'burner, and in wing rock, is pretty sobering.

If it was an F3 it might have been my BiL.

[mybrainhurts]

Beeb said:

The USAF said its pilots were trained to fly in a "vigilant state"

Oh. Good.

[kurt535]

be interesting to see where the incidents took place on a map

[xjay1337]

brickwall said:

How much does the radar in an F15 cost? And it can't spot a bloody glider???

Can any Radar spot gliders?

[Yipper]

Have we got any fighter jets left.

Heard a recent rumour that there are now fewer than 5 left at any one time protecting all of the UK.

[shouldbworking]

Was it the tornado where the windscreen washer bottles regularly cracked and leaked onto the radar? I seem to recall it was such a pita of a job that they didn't fill the system

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

brickwall said:

How much does the radar in an F15 cost? And it can't spot a bloody glider???

Modern sailplanes are made of fibreglass which is not particularly radar reflective.

I might point out that radomes are also made of fibreglass, which might be a bit of a give-away.

[johnymac]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

brickwall said:

How much does the radar in an F15 cost? And it can't spot a bloody glider???

Modern sailplanes are made of fibreglass which is not particularly radar reflective.

I might point out that radomes are also made of fibreglass, which might be a bit of a give-away.

Does that mean that making planes out of composites goes a heck of a long way toward making them stealthy?

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Probably not, given that the average Vne of a Sailplane is less than 120 Kts.

Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Monday 27th November 14:39

[saaby93]

Yipper said:

Have we got any fighter jets left.

Heard a recent rumour that there are now fewer than 5 left at any one time protecting all of the UK.

you wont know as theyve replaced them with gliders

[Ayahuasca]

Don't gliders carry radar reflectors?

Sailboats, also often made of GRP, carry them as standard safety equipment.

[RizzoTheRat]

shouldbworking said:

Was it the tornado where the windscreen washer bottles regularly cracked and leaked onto the radar? I seem to recall it was such a pita of a job that they didn't fill the system

Well the F2's famously had the Blue Circle* radar, which was presumably pretty immune to such things.





* ie a lump of concrete as the radar wasn't ready in time to fit to the first aircraft

[saaby93]

RizzoTheRat said:

shouldbworking said:

Was it the tornado where the windscreen washer bottles regularly cracked and leaked onto the radar? I seem to recall it was such a pita of a job that they didn't fill the system

Well the F2's famously had the Blue Circle* radar, which was presumably pretty immune to such things.

* ie a lump of concrete as the radar wasn't ready in time to fit to the first aircraft

Was it the next version that could pick up just about everything?
except another tornado

what was the acronym computerised recognition and proximity