Photo by Allan Amen
Phone a Friend BY LT TOM MCKENNA
n mid-April, we sent two planes down to Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB) in Louisiana to play with the Air Force and participate in Green Flag, an exercise to train coordination between ground troop movements and close air support. We’d also provide air operations in maritime surface warfare training for the 75th Fighter Squadron and instruct them on the concept of composite warfare commanders and command and control at sea. September-October 2015
Only one of two planes got there on the first day. Our plane went down while we were doing the pre-taxi checklist. Our maintainers did their best to fix the issue on the spot, but it was something that required more time than they had. As we found out the next morning, it would still take a few more days to fix the issue. We finally left in the backup plane a day later than we planned. We stopped over in Millington, Tenn., to refuel. On final of a GPS approach into Millington Regional airport, we got a master caution light with no corresponding secondary indications. It was as if our flight was being manipulated by a certain Hawkeye simulator instructor who strikes fear into the hearts of lieutenants and captains alike. This very scenario is beaten into us to the point where a master caution with no secondary causes the hair on the back of our necks to stand. We had a flickering prop pump light. This can indicate something as benign as being a bit low on propeller hydraulic fluid, or it could be some15
