FASCINATING ADVENTURES OF TWO BRAVE FIGHTER PILOTS OVER NORTH VIETNAM
Our September 18 dinner meeting presentation offered the dynamic duo of Col. Robert Ettinger and Col. Roy Martin who both served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. We enjoyed hearing about the adventures they both had during their tours of duty. Col. Robert Ettinger started out the presentation by discussing the nine month period he flew F-4’s in the late 1960’s in a period of the war called Rolling Thunder. During that duty he flew 100 missions over North Vietnam. Robert shared with us about enemy ground defense, their significant number of SA-2 SAM Surface to Air Missiles (one type they called the Flying Telephone Pole), plus their heavy concentration of Anti Aircraft Artillery.
Robert also discussed our defensive tactics against the SA-2 SAM. We learned about USAF tactics along with the Alpha Strike Force timeline. Alpha Strike Force limitations included distance to targets, reliance on aerial refueling and predictable ingress/egress routes. Just introduced to the Air Force was the first terminally guided air-to-ground munition called the AGM-62 Walleye, which included a TV guided glide bomb with a 1,100 lb. shaped charge. A constant challenge included being up against numerous MiG’s which complicated things, as their primary tactic was to disrupt the Alpha Strike Force. Robert also shared with us his Ettinger’s Rules of Survival. They obviously served him well!
We then heard from Col. Roy Martin who served in Vietnam from May 1972 – May 1973 as an F-4 fighter pilot. This period of the war included the names Linebacker I and Linebacker II and had some differences in focus than the previous Rolling Thunder period in which Robert served. At this later time, there was improved laser bomb technology which included higher release altitudes and more precise targeting. There were also improved air to air tactics against MiG threats. Linebacker II included the 11 Days of Christmas (December 18-29, 1972) when peace talks fell apart and we resumed bombing of North Vietnam. The Peace Treaty was signed January 28, 1973.
It was a terrific presentation which kept the audience focused on what Robert and Roy experienced during their two distinct tours of duty during the Vietnam War. A special thank you Robert and Roy for sharing with us this important time of their lives and for their service to our country.
Flyers Down to Rio
The Del Amo Flyers took a musical trip back in time with our 1930s ‘Flying Down to Rio’ theme. The band In Contempt kept the toes tapping and the group dancing! It was a colorful affair with many dressed for the Mardi Gras themed event and others in period outfits. For dinner, Mitch Taylor provided his famous barbecue (thanks Mitch!) as well as great potluck items provided by all. The Bosa Nova Del Norte punch was a hit as well. A big thanks to Craig and Hanne Ekberg for letting us use their hangar again this year! You are gracious and generous hosts.
Also many thanks to the Hangar Potluck Committee led by Gary Palmer and Nancy Schunke, Mitch for the photo backdrop, all the setup and teardown helpers as well as those that staffed the event. We couldn’t have done it without you! And a final thank you to all that attended, you made it a night in Rio to remember!
AVIATION’S THIRD REVOLUTION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
On July 17, Dr. Susan Ying presented an interesting topic on the Aviation’s Third Revolution. Dr. Susan Ying has been in the aerospace industry for over 38 years. Her experience includes working at Boeing, NASA and COMAC. Currently she is Vice President of Ampaire, an electric aircraft company based at Hawthorne Airport. Her passion for flight started back when she was in college at Stanford and she obtained her pilot's license. She is a proud owner of a Cessna 150 and Citabria 7GCBC. Dr. Ying presented an overview of aeronautical innovation trends and highlights that global aviation is seeing. She discussed how the challenges of aviation involve environmental issues of noise and pollutions, economic issues of cost of flight especially for fuel or energy, and the consumers need for reasonable cost and availability of flights. One of the current trends of Aviation’s Third Revolution is electric planes. There have been multiple global companies that are designing electric airplanes. Electric airplanes cost significantly less to fly, mostly due to the energy cost, electricity verses gasoline fuel. Two of the major limitations of the current electric airplanes are short duration of flight and the time needed to re-energize the airplane. Dr. Ying sees the future of electric airplanes for training and shorter commuter flights.
Ampaire has developed a hybrid electrical airplane by retrofitting a twin engine Cessna 337 Skymaster. This hybrid airplane will cut fuel cost by 50% and reduce emissions. This is Ampaire's first step into the electric airplane market. This hybrid is one of the large electrical airplanes capable of carrying additional passengers. Ampaire is currently developing a large all electric airplane capable of carrying 19 passengers.
Dr. Ying’s presentation with her extensive knowledge of aerospace, aviation, and the impact on the economy and environment was simulating to all DAFers, not just our engineering members. We look forward to news of Ampaire in the future. Thank you to Dr. Ying for giving us a better understanding of what is coming our way in the future!
Conversation in the Cockpit
Our June 19th 2019 dinner meeting featured our own DAFer Cliff Tatum. After an early stint as an actor, Cliff joined the ROTC, and then became a combat fighter pilot for the Air Force, and later for the Navy. He continued his aviation career as a captain for Alaska Airlines. On reaching the magic age he was not ready to retire from aviation, so he continued his career flying worldwide as captain of a G-IV.To better understand his crew interaction experiences, Cliff earned a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. Cliff coupled his academic training with his broad aviation experience to help himself and his peers understand the psychology of human interactions in multi-crewed cockpit situations. Using experiences gained as a crew and his formal research in conflict resolution, Cliff created this dinner presentation for us: "Conversation and conflict resolution in the cockpit".
Cliff explained that there are three main decision-making elements that affect cockpit (and other) conversations: headwork, personality, and attitude. In spite of all the headwork, the end game in cockpit conversations is often set by the Pilot In Command's personality and attitude. This affects the PIC's tone, and tone alone, as much as facts, can lead to disagreements and delays when resolving interesting and urgent flight situations.
During dessert, as a bonus, Cliff administered a multiple-choice self-evaluation test to the dinner guests. He taught us that while our answers could range from 1 (that's not me) to 5 (that's me), we should never answer with a 3 (I am not sure who I am). This helped us bias our answers towards either end of the range so that we would paint a clearer picture of our own conflict resolution strategies. Cliff then read "parables", and we wrote down how well each parable described ourselves. The pattern of our answers, digitally (using our fingers) processed by each guest, lead to each individual getting a clear picture of his or her own conversational style.
Cliff’s presentation was not so much about determining other persons' styles of conversation as it was about learning our own style, By knowing ourselves better, we can minimize conflict in conversations in the cockpit. What is your style of conversation?