Simple curiosity

[chokeu2]

I've been meaning to put this up out of pure curiosity, as I'm a lifelong aviation buff.

What is it that the 160th does to the skill set of a pilot once he earns a spot in the unit. Just to fly the birds one has to be a good pilot, I'm just curious what makes the 160th pilots different from the rest.

I've had the pleasure (or terror) of flying with a LOT of old 'Nam era pilots because I've spent more than a few summers on the air show circuit with this bunch: http://www.armyav.org/
Our loach pilot has flown so low over my pyro pit as to blow my head gear off and give me the finger. Simply amazing. (BTW, the big Army just gave the foundation about 15 Cobra's so that we're now the official Army "precision flying" unit. They need pilots. We have over 20 Cobras now)

Anyways, these guys were amazing as it is. I cannot imagine what the guys from the 160th must be like.

[rgrjoe175]

Normal aviation - ball size - pair of bowling balls
160th - ball size pair of pumkins.

It is humor folks. Big balls in both...LOL

JP

[chokeu2]

LOL!

How do those guys drag those suckers into the cockpit of that little loach? Geeze... All of the sticks in that cockpit must get confusin... :D

[B 2/75]

Not a rotor head, and never been in the 160th, but I'd say that you take an already good pilot, and put him in an envoronment of mucho training and training money, and the result is a super pilot.

Take that super pilot and put him into combat operations for a couple of rotations and you'll get a rotary God.

The pilots from Vietnam had so many hours that the birds were extensions of the self, or so I'm told. Care to elaborate, CAPTAUSRET?

[chokeu2]

Not a rotor head, and never been in the 160th, but I'd say that you take an already good pilot, and put him in an envoronment of mucho training and training money, and the result is a super pilot.

Take that super pilot and put him into combat operations for a couple of rotations and you'll get a rotary God.

The pilots from Vietnam had so many hours that the birds were extensions of the self, or so I'm told. Care to elaborate, CAPTAUSRET?


Makes sense to me. The crusty ole boys that fly at our Foundation really are tuned into those birds. From my position at the airshows, I see these guys hovering out of site waiting for their queue in the most amazing, and tight places, knowing that hovering in itself is an art form; just blown away every time. Never less than memorizing. Coming back from one of our shows, I got to make the trip in the front seat of one of the Cobra's, and was given the opportunity to put my paws on the controls. (Obviously, the pilots hands were never far from bailing my ass out). Even in level flight those things are so sensitive that it simply makes that much of an impression on what these guys can do.

I know the 160th is happy being a quiet group of pro's, but it would be cool to see someone give them some airtime.

[Looon]

The 160 guys are gods in my eyes. The things they can make a helo do are just................it's hard to put it into words!!:cool: That was a long ass time ago. Makes me wonder what they are able to do today.:)

[Ace]

As with anything it comes down to several things Money, training and instinct are big ones. Just like the Marine Corps sniper school, it attracts the best of the best. Once there you get to learn from untold years of experience, couple that with the money to actually train and you get a better than normal group of guys.

A lot of units have very good pilots, the only thing holding them back is more flight time because they don't have the funding, the 160th doesn't have the same problem, we get to do it again and again until it's done right. Couple that with EXACTING standards and you have a very good program. Other units cannot have the same exacting standards because they cannot burn the flight time to do it again and again.
We also have one of the best simulators in the world that just about any scenario imaginable can be programmed into, again it comes back to training and the money to conduct that training.

The desire to be the best and not let your brothers down also factor in.

This is of course just a brief reasoning, and many other factors come into play, but I think I hit the high points.

[SOTB]

Couple that with EXACTING standards and you have a very good program. Other units cannot have the same exacting standards because they cannot burn the flight time to do it again and again....To ME, I think this is what sets it apart. There is no doubt that there were some fantastic pilots in previous eras. But to be truly the epitome of "outstanding", I think it is not enough to simply "practice." Because I do not believe that "practice makes perfect." Instead, I believe that "PERFECT practice makes perfect." And the exacting standards, coupled with the opportunity to train to those standards is what is going to set someone apart.

In the case of the TF 160 guys, they are simply the best -- and better than anyone before them -- because of this....

[TPD1280]

Durants book, "In the Company of Heroes" talks quite a bit about the training and the mindset that sets the 160th pilot apart from the herd.

Ace just did it in fewer words.

[Sharky]

What makes them special to me is the fact that they will do whatever it takes to get their part of the mission accomplished for their customer, even if that means breaking some rules. I also always knew that if they happened to wind up on the ground somehow with me that they would be a fighting asset, not a liability. They are not just pilots and crew. They are warriors in their own right.

[snaquebite]

In addition to the advanced Pilot training etc, 160 drivers recieve intense training in a variety of other areas that other pilots do not...ie SERE

I know at one point the initial pilots (before it was 160th) were required to go through a selection similiar to "D" and a few other units. This was back in79-80. Not sure what happens now.

[Tracy]

160th is definitely best of the best; however, I definitely know of two attack pilots who never went to the 160th and were gods in the death-and-destruction business. What I saw in them was that everything was real-world and every flight was a training opportunity. They never let up in perfecting their skills. I saw a LOT of like-minded pilots with that attitude and adaptability in the 160th.