He Thought He Was Ready
The military runs on a pecking order or rank system and it needs to. The one who has the highest rank, or the earliest date of rank in a tie situation, is going to be in charge. That system works well in almost all areas. In Army aviation that isn’t always true. Rank was not the deciding factor when it came to flying.
When the Army sent out an aircraft or a group of aircraft, the person in charge may not have been the highest ranking officer or even the officer in the leadership position like the platoon leader. This was often the case in Vietnam. The person designated to be in charge of the aircraft or a group of aircraft was selected on ability to do the job. Rank did not matter, and also hours in the aircraft or total hours didn’t matter. Ability to do the job right was the ruling factor.
During my second tour we had the good fortune of having many second tour pilots or pilots that already had one tour of combat in Vietnam under the belts. It was a tremendous asset for the unit and for the new pilots. They possessed a very needed commodity called experience. And because of their experience most of the second tour pilots were quickly put in charge of the aircraft and flights of aircraft. The pilot in charge of the aircraft and its operation was called the pilot in command (PIC) and the pilot in charge of a flight (a group of aircraft) was called a team leader or flight leader.
Most units had meetings of the current PICs and they selected who would join their group from their group of copilots, based on those who had experience flying with those copilots. It just happened that at one time all of the PICs in the Cobra platoon were second tour warrant officers with two exceptions; the platoon leader who was a second tour captain and one first tour warrant officer who had a great deal of experience.
One evening the platoon leader called a meeting of the platoon to give some instructions. He was going to be gone on a two week rest and recuperation (R&R) and was wanting to captains, who was a first tour copilot, was going to be the ranking officer and would be in charge of the platoon. The platoon leader then turned to this captain and told him that he should attend all the meetings and do all the administrative stuff. And then he added, "Do whatever Mr. Karn tells you to do with the flying side of the house". The captain was to assign the crews according to Mr. Karn’s instructions and fly all missions under his instructions. It was obvious that the captain was inflated when he was told he was in charge of a platoon in combat and then just as quickly deflated when he was told to follow what a warrant officer told him to do.
The platoon leader left on R&R and things went pretty well for about one week. Then one evening when we were getting ready to fly over to the Bien Hoa Air Force Base and spend the night in their support, the lieutenant that was flying with me told me that he didn’t think it was right that the warrant officers were the PICs and that commissioned officers had to fly as their copilots. We had a very civil discussion on the subject and I tried to explain to him that in combat flying experience made a tremendous difference, but he just didn’t seem to understand that the warrant officers who were second tour had valuable experience. He told me that he was fully trained and could handle anything that came up. This lieutenant was a very proud West Point graduate and he was smart and had attended a very good school. He just needed some experience and so I decided to give him some understanding at that time.
I was leading a flight of two Cobras that night and so I told him I would let him lead the flight and he could be in charge of the mission until he made a mistake. That really pleased him and he confidentially climbed in the back seat (PIC’s seat) of the Cobra. The first task we had was to lead the flight from our parking area over to the Air Force Base and land. There was no combat involved here; just a quick hop type of flight.
We started up our Cobra and called the wing ship and confirmed that they were ready to go. The lieutenant then called our flight operations and told them that we were departing. Next he called the tower and got permission to depart. He was doing fairly well so far. His only problem had been his wording to the tower, which confused them about what he was asking to do. But after a couple of radio calls, they figured it out.
After becoming airborne we were supposed to contact Bien Hoa tower and tell them where we were and that we needed to land at their base. There were also flight altitude and course restrictions that we had to follow. The lieutenant had flown this course several times with other PICs directing him on what to do.
Soon after takeoff the lieutenant made several radio calls and received no answer from Bien Hoa tower because his radio was on the wrong frequency. He then asked me what the correct frequency was. I responded by telling him that a PIC would know that frequency or where to look it up. He did not ask me to fly the aircraft while he looked up the frequency, which would have been a wise thing to do, and a thing a PIC would have done. Instead he tried to be a one-man show and it wasn’t a pretty show! We were still climbing and were going beyond where we were allowed to go in altitude and direction. I used the radio I had in the front seat and called Bien Hoa tower on another frequency and asked permission to continue to climb and to take the course that we were following. Bien Hoa tower told me that they did not have any jet traffic and so I was cleared to continue. The lieutenant did not hear the call so he didn’t know that I had received the clearance so we (I) wouldn’t end up in trouble for being someplace we weren’t supposed to be or worse yet, having midair collision with a jet fighter. We continued climbing and heading into an area in which we were not normally authorized to be.
After climbing almost one thousand feet above our normal authorized altitude and crossing in front of where jet fighter traffic goes in and out of Bien Hoa, the lieutenant found the correct frequency and called Bien Hoa tower. The call was confusing and the tower operator did not understand what he was asking to do. The lieutenant did not understand what the tower operator asked him to explain. The tower operator was Vietnamese but was doing a fairly good job of speaking English.
After a couple of more confusing radio calls back and forth I decided it was best to clear up the entire situation. I called the tower and told the operator where we wanted to land and which way we were approaching from. He cleared us to land. The lieutenant said he didn’t understand the landing instructions so I repeated them to him and he acknowledged to me that he understood the instructions.
I let the lieutenant continue to fly the aircraft on the approach until we almost landed on top of a couple of F-4 fighter jets. When we were down to within seventy-five feet of the jets and were still coming down, I could wait no longer. At that point I announced to the Lieutenant that I had the flight controls and I was now flying the aircraft. We remained at about seventy-five feet above the ground for another quarter of a mile until we reached the area where we were authorized to land. At that point I landed the aircraft and started the shutdown procedure.
As we got out of the aircraft the lieutenant said he was just getting it figured out when I took over the controls. About the time he finished saying that, the crew of the other Cobra (a warrant officer and a West Point captain) came walking up. When they reached a distance where we could hear, they both started speaking, “What was that mess all about? I thought you were going to land on those F-4s! That was a screwed up deal!” I just said, “The lieutenant may be able to explain it, I can’t.”
My young West Point (Hudson High) lieutenant took quite a chewing out from the other crew. The entire evening was less than cordial between the other crew and the lieutenant. The lieutenant felt he hadn’t done that bad of a job and the other crew felt he put us at some risk and made us look like a bunch of amateurs. It was a learning experience for him. He wasn’t ready to be a pilot in command and he needed to know it.
Schooling and education are wonderful things when mixed with some experience. Schooling and education alone do not always mean that we fully understand how to actually do something. Even the best schooling only prepares us to start having experiences where we will gain understanding. Experience can be good thing but experience alone can leave us lacking. We can have poor experiences or a limited experience repeated many times and that may not give us understanding on how to do a job. Only studying, learning, and good experiences are most likely to produce good results!
When the Army sent out an aircraft or a group of aircraft, the person in charge may not have been the highest ranking officer or even the officer in the leadership position like the platoon leader. This was often the case in Vietnam. The person designated to be in charge of the aircraft or a group of aircraft was selected on ability to do the job. Rank did not matter, and also hours in the aircraft or total hours didn’t matter. Ability to do the job right was the ruling factor.
During my second tour we had the good fortune of having many second tour pilots or pilots that already had one tour of combat in Vietnam under the belts. It was a tremendous asset for the unit and for the new pilots. They possessed a very needed commodity called experience. And because of their experience most of the second tour pilots were quickly put in charge of the aircraft and flights of aircraft. The pilot in charge of the aircraft and its operation was called the pilot in command (PIC) and the pilot in charge of a flight (a group of aircraft) was called a team leader or flight leader.
Most units had meetings of the current PICs and they selected who would join their group from their group of copilots, based on those who had experience flying with those copilots. It just happened that at one time all of the PICs in the Cobra platoon were second tour warrant officers with two exceptions; the platoon leader who was a second tour captain and one first tour warrant officer who had a great deal of experience.
One evening the platoon leader called a meeting of the platoon to give some instructions. He was going to be gone on a two week rest and recuperation (R&R) and was wanting to captains, who was a first tour copilot, was going to be the ranking officer and would be in charge of the platoon. The platoon leader then turned to this captain and told him that he should attend all the meetings and do all the administrative stuff. And then he added, "Do whatever Mr. Karn tells you to do with the flying side of the house". The captain was to assign the crews according to Mr. Karn’s instructions and fly all missions under his instructions. It was obvious that the captain was inflated when he was told he was in charge of a platoon in combat and then just as quickly deflated when he was told to follow what a warrant officer told him to do.
The platoon leader left on R&R and things went pretty well for about one week. Then one evening when we were getting ready to fly over to the Bien Hoa Air Force Base and spend the night in their support, the lieutenant that was flying with me told me that he didn’t think it was right that the warrant officers were the PICs and that commissioned officers had to fly as their copilots. We had a very civil discussion on the subject and I tried to explain to him that in combat flying experience made a tremendous difference, but he just didn’t seem to understand that the warrant officers who were second tour had valuable experience. He told me that he was fully trained and could handle anything that came up. This lieutenant was a very proud West Point graduate and he was smart and had attended a very good school. He just needed some experience and so I decided to give him some understanding at that time.
I was leading a flight of two Cobras that night and so I told him I would let him lead the flight and he could be in charge of the mission until he made a mistake. That really pleased him and he confidentially climbed in the back seat (PIC’s seat) of the Cobra. The first task we had was to lead the flight from our parking area over to the Air Force Base and land. There was no combat involved here; just a quick hop type of flight.
We started up our Cobra and called the wing ship and confirmed that they were ready to go. The lieutenant then called our flight operations and told them that we were departing. Next he called the tower and got permission to depart. He was doing fairly well so far. His only problem had been his wording to the tower, which confused them about what he was asking to do. But after a couple of radio calls, they figured it out.
After becoming airborne we were supposed to contact Bien Hoa tower and tell them where we were and that we needed to land at their base. There were also flight altitude and course restrictions that we had to follow. The lieutenant had flown this course several times with other PICs directing him on what to do.
Soon after takeoff the lieutenant made several radio calls and received no answer from Bien Hoa tower because his radio was on the wrong frequency. He then asked me what the correct frequency was. I responded by telling him that a PIC would know that frequency or where to look it up. He did not ask me to fly the aircraft while he looked up the frequency, which would have been a wise thing to do, and a thing a PIC would have done. Instead he tried to be a one-man show and it wasn’t a pretty show! We were still climbing and were going beyond where we were allowed to go in altitude and direction. I used the radio I had in the front seat and called Bien Hoa tower on another frequency and asked permission to continue to climb and to take the course that we were following. Bien Hoa tower told me that they did not have any jet traffic and so I was cleared to continue. The lieutenant did not hear the call so he didn’t know that I had received the clearance so we (I) wouldn’t end up in trouble for being someplace we weren’t supposed to be or worse yet, having midair collision with a jet fighter. We continued climbing and heading into an area in which we were not normally authorized to be.
After climbing almost one thousand feet above our normal authorized altitude and crossing in front of where jet fighter traffic goes in and out of Bien Hoa, the lieutenant found the correct frequency and called Bien Hoa tower. The call was confusing and the tower operator did not understand what he was asking to do. The lieutenant did not understand what the tower operator asked him to explain. The tower operator was Vietnamese but was doing a fairly good job of speaking English.
After a couple of more confusing radio calls back and forth I decided it was best to clear up the entire situation. I called the tower and told the operator where we wanted to land and which way we were approaching from. He cleared us to land. The lieutenant said he didn’t understand the landing instructions so I repeated them to him and he acknowledged to me that he understood the instructions.
I let the lieutenant continue to fly the aircraft on the approach until we almost landed on top of a couple of F-4 fighter jets. When we were down to within seventy-five feet of the jets and were still coming down, I could wait no longer. At that point I announced to the Lieutenant that I had the flight controls and I was now flying the aircraft. We remained at about seventy-five feet above the ground for another quarter of a mile until we reached the area where we were authorized to land. At that point I landed the aircraft and started the shutdown procedure.
As we got out of the aircraft the lieutenant said he was just getting it figured out when I took over the controls. About the time he finished saying that, the crew of the other Cobra (a warrant officer and a West Point captain) came walking up. When they reached a distance where we could hear, they both started speaking, “What was that mess all about? I thought you were going to land on those F-4s! That was a screwed up deal!” I just said, “The lieutenant may be able to explain it, I can’t.”
My young West Point (Hudson High) lieutenant took quite a chewing out from the other crew. The entire evening was less than cordial between the other crew and the lieutenant. The lieutenant felt he hadn’t done that bad of a job and the other crew felt he put us at some risk and made us look like a bunch of amateurs. It was a learning experience for him. He wasn’t ready to be a pilot in command and he needed to know it.
Schooling and education are wonderful things when mixed with some experience. Schooling and education alone do not always mean that we fully understand how to actually do something. Even the best schooling only prepares us to start having experiences where we will gain understanding. Experience can be good thing but experience alone can leave us lacking. We can have poor experiences or a limited experience repeated many times and that may not give us understanding on how to do a job. Only studying, learning, and good experiences are most likely to produce good results!
posted by Bruce | 1:19 PM
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