FB-111A.net

Incentive Programs.

The Plattsburgh AFB Incentive Program was developed to reward outstanding performance by Plattsburgh AFB enlisted personnel. The purpose was to motivate individuals to perform at their best and as an incentive to make the Air Force a career. Highly trained motivated individuals are valuable to the Air Force and this program was designed to entice this type of individual to be a part of the career Air Force. The reward for this outstanding performance was a short flight of about 30 minutes in the FB-111. The program was open to all base personnel, however for non-flightline personnel you had to be a quarterly winner from your respective organization. Flightline maintenance personnel were selected on a monthly basic, with the top performer from each maintenance squadron being identified by a team from that squadron with approval of the squadron commander and the DCM or Deputy Commander for Maintenance. The program was designed to be very selective and to only pick the best. Incentive flights took place as early as 1984 at Plattsburgh AFB.

On December 6, 1985, the Strategic Air Command approved a new program established to recognize staff sergeants and below in maintenance and security police who were directly involved in flightline duties, and for their contribution to the day-to-day mission of the Bombardment Wing. In September 1986, maintenance specialist were eligible for the incentive flight. At the time, the program allowed only a crew chief a month and two security police members a year to participate. But in October, changes were made to allow one specialist a month to participate in the program. The program improved the people's morale and let them see how their efforts contributed to the mission.

"It was one of the most thrilling things I've done since I joined the Air Force." said Sgt. John Cain, 509th OMS FB-111A crew chief. Sgt Cain flew a half-hour incentive flight at Pease on Jan.23, 1986. SrA. Michael P.Murphy, 509th OMS crew chief echoed the same feeling towards the program. Airman Murphy flew his 30-minute flight on Feb.26. He described his flight, "Awesome, incredible, the most exciting thing I've ever done."

SSgt. Wendy L.Forney from the 509th Organizational Maintenance Squadron flew her first flight in a FB-111A on April 25. Sergeant Forney was the first female crewchief and the fifth person at Pease AFB to be selected for the program. "The flight was great." Sergeant Forney said about her twenty minutes flight along the coastal area. "I worked on these planes all this time, but all I got to see was the planes taking off and landings. I didn't get a chance to see what the crews were doing." According to her, the program gave the troop an incentive to work better on the aircraft and be proud of it.

A1C James G.Beasley II, 509th OMS integrated attack control systems specialist, took his first flight in a FB-111A on Sept.19, 1986. Airman Beasley was the first specialist to fly in the FB under that program. "It was fantastic," Airman Beasley siad about his thirty minutes flight. "Actually seeing our stuff working while flying was great."

According to SrA. Robert E.White J.,"Flying in the plane makes you want to do more for it when it's on the ground. The incentive flight makes you want to do the job!" Airman White was a crew chief with the 509th OMS and took his incentive flight on Oct.17, 1986.

SSgt. Thomas R.Finch, 509th OMS, was the eighth person to take an incentive flight under this program. "It was worth every minute of it," said Sergent Finch. "All the work, the overtime and the day-to-day grind of your nerves is all worth it once you get up there.

A similar program designed to give FB-111A crew chiefs a feel of what their aircraft can do after it leaves the ground began in mid-March 1986 at Plattsburgh AFB. According to Capt. Donald K.Orr, officer in charge of the 380th Organizational Maintenance Squadron's bomber branch, crew chiefs were flying in their aircraft each Friday. Captain Orr said that the crew chiefs competed for the rides and the criteria was how well maintained their aircraft were. "We looked at such things as appearance of the aircraft, the number of delays discrepancies, forms maintenance, and other things to decide which crew chiefs were selected." The captain added that the flights were about an hour long, and included basic flight maneuvers, touch-and-go landings and aerobatic maneuvers

A general sequence was developed and used for several years for incentive rides by the 509th BMW:

1. Have the rider taxi out. It's fairly easy to learn and helps provide a sense of control.

2. Taxi into position and point out the barrier cable 1,200 feet down the runway. Inform the rider that there is another cable 1,200 feet from the other end. Have him observe that he will not feel the first cable pass under the tires as the airplane will be airborne in less than 1,200 feet.

3. Stroke max AB and release brakes. Rotate at about 110 knots (takes about 6 seconds) and keep the nose coming up while retracting the gear and bringing the flaps up to 15 degrees. Climb straight ahead at 180 knots still in maximum AB. This is basically a 1 'G' maneuver that will result in a pitch angle of about 60 degrees. This demonstrated high performance in a way unlikely to produce airsickness.

4. Approaching 10,000' roll the airplane slowly to allow him to see the other barrier cable directly below.

5. Have the rider then fly the airplane as much as possible. The odds are that straight and level (more or less) and gentle turns will provide all of the challenge he can stand! If he is doing really well, talk him through a big sloppy slow roll.

6. Gently descend to about 1,000' while heading out to the Isle of Shoals and make a gentle right turn around the island.

7. Gently climb to 1,800 feet and set up for an overhead pattern on runway 34 (If the rider looks a little poorly make this a GCA) to a full stop.

Following this scenario, under the best of conditions, the first time the rider experienced much over 1 'G' was less than 60 seconds from touchdown. We never had another rider become airsick when this scenario was followed.

(Courtesy of Ed MacNeil, 509th BMW)

The following is Jim Norton's description of his incentive ride in 1985 at Pease AFB.

"We were 'Helio 17'! The pilot was the Major Greg Shaka. He always impressed me as a crew chief as a down to earth, regular guy. (Most of the FB drivers were!) I was thrilled when they told me I would be going up on a flight. I had quite a bit of sim time, a big advantage of sitting on alert! The day prior I had to get a helmet fitted and a trip to the egress trainer, then I went home and tried to sleep. The next morning, my aircraft 6509 'The Spirit of the Seacoast' had one of the first launches of the day. Upon landing, I would hop in the right seat, and begin the greatest half hour of my life! We restarted the # 2 engine and taxied out. The thing I remember the most was the distinct 'kick in the back' for every stage of AB that lit. We only had 9,000 lbs of fuel so the take off was quick, the acceleration was a rush. I had always heard the pilots talking on the alert pad of how smooth the Vark was, and at this stage in my aviation carreer, which included a Cessna 150, and nothing else, they were right on the mark! Maj. Shaka let me fly out over the Atlantic and after a few turns he engaged the TFR and Auto TF descent to 1,000'. It was the neatest thing as a crew chief watching all the systems work together and as advertised we leveled at 1,000'. The sensation of speed was pretty cool. he had me hit the AP disconnect paddle shaft and we climbed back up to about 3,000' and turned around back to the south. As we were going south I started playing with the attack radar and found the runway at Pease, if only all targets were 13,000x300 foot pieces of concrete! We came in to land and the massive landing gear of the Vark absorbed a lot of the force, or Major Shaka greased one on, and I tend to believe the later. We rolled out, shut down the # 2 engine, taxied in and I got wet! After the flight, I raised my right hand and signed up for another 4 years, but before I could finish that, I got out and went to ROTC, and then on to Laughlin to give my shot at getting wings. Upon my graduation, there was a FB-111A sitting on the ramp. Major Shaka attended my graduation and that meant a great deal to me! Since then, I have over 2,700 hours in T-37, T-38, EC-135A, L, and KC-135A, R, RT."

Captain Jim Norton, USAF

Mike Kaplan's incentive ride in 1984 at Plattsburgh AFB.

"I was awed at being selected to receive this flight. My supervisor, MSgt Bob Avakian, came out to the jet with me, took a picture or two and bid me well. I recall it was an engine running crew change. The wso strapped me in, flying was LtC Orin L. Godsey, who at the time was the commander, 4007th Combat Crew Training Squadron, Plattsburgh AFB, NY. Flight plan was to fly around the "barber pole", the local airfield area. Take off was smooth, awesome power! First roll out, I almost blacked out, never felt anything more than 1 G before! Within 15 minutes, I wasen't feeling so well, as we were yanking and banking so often. SAC guys are tough, no Anti-G suits! Total flight time was about 35 minutes. We landed, he let me taxi it back in. Remember having trouble keeping it on the straight line! Shut down, think I walked back to the shop! Took me hours to recuperate, I was wiped out. could'nt get my head off the desk! I told LtC Godsey I was going to reenlist as a direct result of that flight, and I've been on active-duty since. My flight in the FB-111A was quite an honor for a young (Airman First Class) Flight Control and Instrument troop. Made all those long-long hours make sense. SAC trained killer!"

TSgt. Mike Kaplan, USAF

"At the time of my flight with Mike, I was Commander of the 4007th Combat Crew Training Squadron (CCTS). I had flown a mission with a student and upon landing I dropped off the student and picked up Mike for his incentive flight. It was a pleasure for me to be able to fly with our Wing enlisted personnel. The flight on June 28, 1984 with Mike was very special to me because it was such a pleasure to be able to show Mike what the FB-111 could do and what the Plattsburgh area looked like from the air. Everyone that I flew with on incentive flights, especially Mike, were outstanding individuals and highly deserving of much more than a flight in an FB-111. However, in the Air Force we were unable to provide financial incentives, so the FB-111 flight was used to put these outstanding individual in a category apart from other individuals, they had bragging rights that they had flown in this supersonic fighter-bomber".

Orin Godsey, Brig Gen (Ret)

View a photo of A1C Mike Kaplan after his incentive flight and his flight certificate.

Joe Deamer's comments on his incentive flight from Plattsburgh in 1984.

"The flight was November 1984. I was in Plattsburgh at the 380th AMS, Com NavPenAids(CNPA) section. I think I got the flight because I was Airman of the Month for AMS. I don't remember who the pilot was, he was a Major. It was the last flight of the day and the wind had picked up. They talked about cancelling the flight. We went anyway. It lasted 14 min. We took off and flew over the mall, turned right, flew over Peru, turned right again to line up the runway. We attempted a touch and go but the cross wind were to much. The low fuel light was flashing and the stall warning tone kept going off. The major did a 45 degree climb, did a quick turn and landed the plane. After shut down I was met by my wife Kathleen, Major Jones,(AMS Commander) and Lt. Brown (maintenance officer), and my camera man Mike Kaplan. It was a short flight but I'll remember it forever."

View a photo of A1C Joe Deamer after his incentive flight.

See the incentive flight listing.