On the tarmac, the ground handling team has been notified accordingly.
The F-15E has been towed out of the hangar and parked on the apron, ready for departure.
The ground crew imports the data into the fighter's system, adds fuel to the cold-cabin fighter, and mounts weapons at the corresponding hardpoints.
In fact, under certain circumstances, the ground crew can start the cold cabin of the fighter jet before the pilot arrives - they have received such training, especially in emergencies, when they need to prepare for takeoff as quickly as possible, the pilot is required
After receiving a quick mission briefing and arriving at the helipad, he immediately got on the already activated fighter jet and prepared to take off.
It's just that in non-emergency situations like this, it's not so necessary for the ground crew to be responsible for these things.
Generally, it is the pilot who performs this series of operations.
A group of ground crew members wearing various colored vests perform their duties, refueling and reloading.
Until Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin, who had changed into flight suits, arrived at the scene, their work was still in progress.
The ground crew leader took them both to the nearby awning, where the clothing, weapons, equipment, kneeboards and various tools they needed for flight had been placed.
According to the relevant security regulations of the imperial military, they must dress neatly here before they are allowed to approach the fighter plane.
Wang Yu was naturally very proficient in this set of procedures. Without saying a word, he started to put these seemingly extremely complicated things on himself in order. The seemingly huge pile of things placed aside was just like this.
He put the suit on his body until he picked up the last flight helmet in his hand. Standing here, he immediately felt like he was ready to go.
Liu Lingxin's movements were a step slower, but she quickly ended the process.
The ground crew leader then led two flying officers (I forgot to mention it earlier, let me add here, pilots and weapons controllers are collectively called flying officers, or flying officers for short) towards the fighter plane.
While walking, he began to briefly introduce the installation of this fighter plane.
"This is a multi-functional mount. The ground weapons include two GBU-38s and two GBU-12s. The anti-air weapons include three active radar missiles and one infrared combat bomb. The auxiliary equipment includes a navigation pod and aiming
The pod, in order to increase endurance, has two additional auxiliary fuel tanks."
In fact, this was written in the mission information that Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin received. The ground crew captain said this just to deepen the readers... I mean mainly to deepen the impression of the two flying officers on the weapons they carried.
Soon, the three of them arrived below the fighter plane.
At this time, the ground team has completed the weapon mounting work. The fighter aircraft uses a typical asymmetric mount (the weight is different on both sides). Under the left wing are two mid-range active radar bombs and a huge auxiliary fuel tank. The left fuselage pylon
There is only one GBU-38 bomb on the aircraft, and the other GBU-38 is hung on a pylon on the central axis of the fuselage.
GBU-38 is a 500-pound joint guided attack bomb, which is what we usually call a JDAM bomb.
Under the right wing of the fighter plane are a radar bomb, an infrared bomb and an auxiliary fuel tank. On the right fuselage pylon are two GBU-12 laser-guided bombs that were used in the previous actual combat. To put it simply, there are a total of four bombs and four air-to-air missiles, which is a relatively balanced CAS mission configuration.
As for the two extra auxiliary fuel tanks under the wings, it is mainly because this is a long-distance flight mission. The mission area is deep inland and more than 500 nautical miles away from the Shadao base. The time spent on the round trip requires staying in the air within the mission area.
If you add up the time, it is estimated that this mission will take about a few hours. It is not too much to mount two auxiliary fuel tanks.
The combat radius of the F-15E is close to 1,300 kilometers, so this much fuel is enough.
In order to prevent accidents, the military even arranged for an aerial tanker to hover outside the mission area. If Wang Yu needs it, he can contact the tanker on the corresponding frequency to replenish fuel.
In fact, to be honest, according to the practice of the Imperial Air Force, this kind of mission is generally done on the principle of proximity, which means that the nearest base sends fighter planes to complete it in order to save fuel costs and time costs.
No matter what, actual combat missions inland cannot be completed by coastal bases like Shadao Base.
But for some unknown reason, this task was handed over to the Shadao Base by the military.
The commander of Shadao Base, Colonel Zhang, even named the F-15E crew composed of Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin to carry out the operation.
Maybe the military has some special arrangements.
At first glance, this mission seemed to have some kind of inside story. After Wang Yu knew the specific situation, he seemed to see the author digging a hole. However, with his identity, it was not easy to ask his superiors what the purpose of arranging this mission was.<
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He still has Liu Lingxin to do, which is to obey the mission arrangements.
Before boarding the plane, a ground crew member showed Wang Yu the load capacity diagram of the current fighter aircraft. Wang Yu calculated that, plus the required full load of fuel, the take-off weight of the fighter aircraft with the current load capacity was approximately 33 tons.<
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Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin got into the cockpit one after another.
The first thing they do is to fasten their seat belts. After completing this work, they need to connect the helmet's oxygen mask and some lines to the seat of the fighter jet so that the fighter's oxygen supply can run smoothly. The pilot can connect to communications and test the helmet.
Aim.
At this time, the fighter plane has been connected to the power supply, so when Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin got into the fighter plane, the screen in front of them had lit up, and they could make some adjustments to the fighter's system, such as some basic flight control checks.
The ground crew has previously input all information such as the flight path and bullseye point of this mission into the fighter system through the computer, so they do not need to set the flight waypoint based on the coordinate points on the map.<
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All Wang Yu has to do is to turn on the navigation mode, and the fighter will automatically display the flight route on the HSI screen.
The ground crew captain was standing on the gangway carrying some things, waiting for the two flying officers to complete their preparations.
Before Wang Yu closed the canopy, the ground crew leader still had some things to hand over to them.
An electronic kneeboard with mission content, a holster with a gun and a survival kit.
Obviously, except for the electronic kneeboard, the rest of the things Wang Yu didn't want to use as a pilot.
But these things are considered necessities, and you cannot do without them when you go on a mission, so now I will describe these details that are not mentioned in other books, so that you don’t need to spend more words on this aspect when you encounter similar situations in the future...
…
In short, it took several minutes for Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin to prepare for takeoff.
The cockpit cover of the fighter plane began to close, and the ground crew also ended their work around the fighter plane.
They retreated outside the safe area and raised their hands to signal the pilot to start the fighter jet's engine.
After Wang Yu confirmed that there were no people around the fighter plane, he asked Irene to assimilate the fighter plane while starting to start the fighter engine.
This is considered a last resort. When Erin assimilates, there will be a fleeting light outside the fighter plane. Although it is not obvious and cannot be seen from a certain distance, people can still see it when they are close enough to the fighter plane.
One scene.
The fighter plane parked on the tarmac suddenly began to make an unbearable noise.
If you stand nearby without wearing noise-canceling headphones, it may even have a certain impact on your hearing.
Soon, both engines of the fighter jet were activated.
Wang Yu made a thumbs-up gesture to the ground crew leader. When the ground crew members who had originally retreated to the side saw this gesture, two people took the initiative to approach the fighter plane and stood in the open space next to the fighter plane on standby.
At the same time, Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin raised their hands one after another, looking like they were performing a French military salute.
At this time, the two ground crew members approached the fighter plane, touched each of the weapons mounted on the fighter plane, and took away the safety insurance on it - only after this step can these weapons become usable.<
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Moreover, after all, the process of releasing the insurance is risky, so the members on the fighter plane must raise their hands to a position where the ground crew can see them, so as to prevent the members from accidentally clicking buttons or triggers...
Soon, the ground crew returned to their original positions with the safety pins of the bombs and missiles, and then the ground crew captain made a gesture to Wang Yu.
Preparations are complete and you can take off.
Wang Yu lightly pushed the throttle lever, and the fighter plane began to leave the apron, enter the runway and take off.