I always liked the OV-10..the A-29 is also a good platform probably cheaper to maintain and operate in the long run...
It used to be that it was hard to just hit one person from a distance and if you had a rock between you and the other guys on the ground you'd be fine. If you're in an armored vehicle you can be cut down Hellfire and if you're in a group by an AC-130 or an A-10, if you're in a pickup or standing in a window is plenty this APKWS to take you out. It's basically now a man hunt with precision weapons and the cost is low enough that you don't have to be a "high value target" to get more attention than you would want. Now it's a different world, and the capability to "reach out and touch someone", is more than catch phrase for the phone company.. If you're on the wrong side, the modern battlefield is no place where you'd want to be.
Not long ago during an all hands meeting at Lockheed, the flight line director was asked why we couldn't get better tools to work with. These meetings usually turn into gripe sessions which is about normal in a room full of maintenance folks. A good ol' boy from Tennessee spoke up and said, "We can put a missile through a doorknob 3 countries away, but we can't get a damned ratchet that won't slip a cog when I use it". Amazing! The director said, "That is the funniest thing I've ever heard". So both is true, our tools come from the dollar bucket at the check out stand at Big Lots, and on a battlefield, you don't want US mad at you.
On the airplane side, it's great that they're using the older platform. There's been so much emphasis on faster and higher, when low-and-slow is more effective in some cases. That cropduster-turned-ground-attack machine is another example.
I'm still chuckling. However, you guys don't buy your own tools? The Snap-On man was my best buddy 'back in the day'..... Stopped by the shop every week & relieved me of way too many $ (UKP back then, but I can't find the sign. ) Cheers, Ian
Nope, we're not allowed to have any personal tools. When I worked the flight line at Boeing we all had our own personal rollaways.
With all the tools "included"? My Snap-On box remains one of my (few!) prized possessions! The contents are pretty much priceless. At least to me. Cheers, Ian
I still have some of my tools from when I was a mechanic on the flight line in 1950-1952. Then I have a few thousand dollars worth of drawing tools and instruments from when I was on the board off and on from when I was illustrating and then in PD from 1977 to 2002.
