CHAPTER 4 & 5 - LOW LEVEL OPERATION & THREAT REACTION Flashcards
What is LAT?
the briefed intent to conduct tactical flight where terrain avoidance is a significant factor.
intent to fly below 500 ft AGL
What is the difference between KNOCK IT OFF and TERMINATE?
KNOCK IT OFF - will stop an entire exercise for all who hear it
TERMINATE - should be used during exercises to stop local engagements or terminate LAT flight
What is comfort level?
lowest altitude at which an aircrew can accomplish both terrain clearance tasking (TCT) and mission tasking (MT)
a perceptual concept, never a hard altitude
Can you achieve MAC in a turn?
No. Only achieved in a wings-level descent, never in a turn
What will all aircraft do when KNOCK IT OFF or TERMINATE is called?
will roll wings level and establish climb-to-cope to a prebriefed altitude
When will aircrew call KNOCK IT OFF or TERMINATE?
Any a/c descends below the minimum prebriefed altitude
any a/c descends in a turn
any a/c becomes NORDO
loss of situational awareness
What is MAC (Minimum Altitude Capable)?
an altitude below the comfort level flown solely as a defensive response.
aircrew prioritizes TCT above all over tasks to attain lowest possible altitude
What are the weather minimums for tacnav?
Visibility shall be 5 miles or more
Ceiling shall not be less than 3,000 ft
What should you squawk on a VR route? on an SR route?
VR - 4000
SR - 1200
How far should you avoid airports on a tacnav?
within 1500 ft AGL or 3 NM
How far should you avoid cities and populated areas on a tacnav?
by 3 miles if below 2500 ft AGL
How far should you avoid MOAs/restricted airspace when on a tacnav (if you don’t have clearance)?
3 NM
How far should you avoid flying over noise sensitive areas?
below 3000 ft AGL
How far should you avoid nuclear power plants on a tacnav?
5 NM
How do you compute ESA?
adding 1000 ft (2000 in mountainous terrain) to the elevation of the highest obstacle or terrain feature within 25 NM of the route
How do you compute MSA?
adding 1000 ft to the elevation of the highest obstacle or terrain feature within 5 NM of the particular route leg.
The time of each leg on a tacnav should not exceed how long?
10 minutes
What airspeeds should you plan to fly on a training tacnav? in combat?
- 240 planned, 210 minimum
- per mission requirements
What fuel burn should you assume on a tacnav?
6000 lbs/hour
What are the two methods of route planning?
Which is the best line of defense?
Detection Avoidance Navigation and Threat Avoidance Navigation (DANTAN)
Threat Avoidance Navigation
What’s the preferred method of rectifying ahead times?
Timing triangles
How many NM per minute and second are you traveling at these speeds
240 KTAS
220 KTAS
180 KTAS
240 - 4nm/min or 1nm in 15 seconds
220 - 3.65nm/min or 1nm in 16 seconds
180 - 3nm/min or 1nm in 20 seconds
Timing Triangle
Cut the 90 degree corner
Turn the 45 degrees inside of course to intercept next leg
Turning at 2 mins to go will gain 70 secs
Turning at 1 min to go will gain 35 secs
Turning at 30 sec to go will gain 17 secs
Timing Triangle
S Turns
Turn 30 degrees off for 1 min then 60 degrees back for 1 min to lose 16 seconds
Turn 45 degrees off for 1 min then turn 90 degrees back for 1 min to lose 30 sec
Turn 60 degrees off for 1 min then turn 120 degrees back for 1 min to lose 60 seconds
Timing Triangle
CNI-MU ETA
Turn away from course line until CNI-MU ETA equals your pre-planned turn point time
Can be used to cut off legs without much effort
Works well if you are early
Timing Techniques
Ten Knot Rule of Thumb
Increase/decrease GS by 10 kts from planned
Will gain/lose 1 second for every 1 NM traveled
Timing Technique
Incremental Method (deviations less than 1 min)
Divide planned IAS by 6
Apply this to planned airspeed for 1 minute
You will gain/lose 10 seconds
Timing techniques
Proportional method
Increase/decrease planned IAS by same number of seconds late/early
Hold this correction for the time (in seconds) equal to flight planned IAS
Why should you avoid large bodies of water?
Camouflage is less effective; sound travels farther and radar detection is more likely
How to use sun to your advantage when flying
Plan to fly in shadows when possible
Place aircraft shadow in terrain shadow
Early morning or late afternoon since sun at low angle
Hide shadow in a ridge line, ridge shadow, cloud shadow, or dark vegetation
How many degrees within should the IP be planned from the DZ/ALZ run in
Within 30 degrees
What is direct masking?
Preferred and most effective method of terrain masking
Placing terrain directly between aircraft and threat
What is horizon masking?
Maintaining a sufficient standoff distance and altitude to deny radar detection.
Ducting can increase or decrease radar detection range of a system
What is indirect masking?
Placing aircraft so close to terrain that it is inside the radar resolution cell of the threat radar (one-half the pulse width, and cannot be broken out from the ground clutter)
What is one-half beam width masking?
Placing aircraft low enough to terrain to stay in the lower half of the radar beam causing ground clutter to mask radar signature
How should you ingress with regards to the sun position?
Fly early morning or late evening
Ingress with the sun to the back of the aircraft.
Makes detection and possible engagement from various weapons systems more difficult
What do aeronautical charts NOT depict?
What is the worst situation?
Man-made obstacles less than 200 ft nor a change in terrain until it exceeds the chart contour interval
If a 199 ft tower sat on terrain with an elevation just below the next higher contour interval.
If contour interval is 500 ft then this would result in an uncharted obstacle 698 ft above charted terrain
What are some considerations for route selection when flying on NVDs?
(answers don’t include all that are listed in ANTTP)
Avoid brightly lit areas, roads, and population centers
Avoid navigational aids and airports
Avoid heading changes greater than 60 degrees
Negotiate large valleys on the illuminated side from moons position
Avoid flying directly into low rising or setting moon
Do not use towers as checkpoints
Why should you not use towers as checkpoints on NVDs?
Generally lit with overt lights that degrade NVDs
Normally have guided wires associated with them that can’t be detected
Some tower use low cost LED lights that may not be seen on NVDs
How long should the leg from IP to objective be and why?
Never have a leg longer than 10-15 nm, to preclude compromise of the objective and to facilitate accurate timing
What chart should be used for planning and briefing?
For objective and terminal area planning?
JOG (1:250,000)
Objective area - 1:50,000
What angle of bank turn should you plan for low levels?
30 degrees
What is tactical pilotage?
Navigation using visual means to compare features found on a chart to those same features on the ground
What are the 3 general stress moments acting on the aircraft?
Torsion
Shear
Bending
Describe Torsion
Wringing a towel
If aircraft abruptly maneuvered around roll axis, wings initiate movement and tail follows. Empennage is last portion to move since movement is transferred from wings to fuselage to empennage
When is torsion greatest?
When aileron inputs are performed in fewer than 0.3 seconds
Describe Shear
Compared to an earthquake
When an abrupt change about an axis is performed and quickly reversed
Example: beginning a rapid climb, abruptly stopping, and initiating a rapid descent
Elevator initiates movement, wings last to react and still moving upward even though empennage is beginning a descent
Describe bending
Readily seen by the upward bowed wings with a heavy gross weight - same occurs during high G loads
Under 2 Gs the fuselage doubles in weight. Wings bend upwards trying to maintain sufficient lift for the increased total load
When do highest bending moments occur?
When maximum accelerated loads are imposed within 0.3 seconds
When can loads imposed on aircraft exceed the design limits?
Inputs made within 0.3 seconds
Which wing in a turn experiences additional Gs?
Rising wing
What is dead reckoning?
Calculating ones position based on the direction and distance one has traveled rather than using landmarks
What is the correct technique for tactical pilotage?
Check the chart and the clock to locate your probable position then look ahead on the ground
What are the 3 landmark categories?
Positive, linear, uncertain
What are positive landmarks?
Ones that can positively identified and plotted at a point on the chart
What are linear landmarks?
Ones that can positively identified, but not specifically plotted, because they extend for some distance
Roads, railroads, coastline, power lines, river but only if perpendicular to course
A bend in a road or river could be a positive landmark
What are uncertain landmarks?
Features you suspect correlate with the chart, but are not fully reliable.
Not good for making heading changes
Can cue you to more reliable, positive landmarks
Small lakes, farms, windmills, something frequently duplicated
When does the INS only solution begin to drift?
At takeoff
When will the EGI, if GPS becomes unavailable, begin to drift and at what rate?
From its last updated position, at the INS drift rate
What will be displayed if system determines the GPS is being jammed?
A “J” is displayed under the satellite status and you can expect a GPS FOM DEGRADED advisory
When approaching a ridge line what kind of winds should be you cautious of?
Tailwind - results in possible loss of lift
Winds greater than 25 kts - indicates possible mountain wave turbulence
Where should you set the FPA?
1 degree below climb angle
When turning into terrain what AOB should be established initially?
60
What does the CDM project?
Projected aircraft vertical flight path under current energy conditions and loss of energy resulting from a climb must be considered by the PF
When flying down a valley what should you do?
Remain on the downwind side whenever possible
This minimizes mountain wave downdrafts and allows turns into the wind that effectively decreases the turn radius
What does the Ghost Flight Path indicator project?
will provide the actual aircraft flight path including the lateral component.
There can be a significant difference between the CDM and the Ghost Flight Path with high crosswinds.
Flight planning emphasis should be placed on the environment at least __ NM either side of the intended flight path.
10 NM
VR routes were created for who?
SR routes?
VR - airspeed >250 kts
SR - speed <250 kts at or below 1500’ AGL
How do you get an LSA?
determined by separating the route leg into segments based on changes in terrain, and climb/descent rates
once leg segment determined, add 1000’ AGL to highest obstacle/terrain within 5 NM of that segment
When would you fly an LSA?
when terrain is not visually discernible
flying into a setting/rising sun, blowing dust, illumination level below anticipated
What is the optimum exterior lighting pattern when countering an enemy known to have NVDs?
place formation lights to low with no other exterior lights or extinguish all external lighting.
minimize cockpit lighting, use cargo compartment porthole covers, and minimize cargo compartment lighting especially during airdrops
What are the 3 vulnerabilities that radars have?
- limits on maximum detection range
- degraded low-altitude detection capabilities bc of curvature of Earth
- masking properties of obstructions btwn antenna and a/c
TACNAV
How high should you plan routes?
How low should you plan routes?
As high as the threat will allow
As low as the threat demands
What are some significant contributors to visual detection?
Aircraft shadow from flying too low
Wing flash (reflected light) - easier to see and increases RCS - limit turns to 20-30 AOB when possible
What color do you want to avoid using for charts at night?
green
TACNAV
Where are optimum emergency airfields located?
within 50 NM of intended route, approx. every 100 NM
The radar significance of a target is based on it being more or less ____ than the surrounding terrain
reflective
When performing air delivery missions, attempts should be made to load the aircraft so that the CG is as close to what? why?
center or slightly aft
unexpected turbulence or a requirement to expeditiously climb with a forward CG increases the potential of overstressing the tail section bc of a long moment arm
When turning around terrain what AOB should be established? How long do you hold it?
60 degrees initially
AOB can be reduced to increase lateral separation from terrain
The Climb-to-Cope maneuver is initiated for what?
Which is the primary concern: airspeed or FPA?
a safety of flight related matter
airspeed
Crew members should scan in what type of pattern?
in a W or Z pattern up and down and side-to-side, pausing at set intervals to focus on a distant object for distant targets
Observers
A good technique is to focus out to a range of ___ NM
5 NM
TACNAV
In absence of TAWS, what should you set the RADALT to?
10% below planned AGL altitude
What should all the RADALT be set to at:
1000’ AGL
500’ AGL
200’ AGL
600’
300’
200’
What two ways is a bunt utilized?
- used as a means of clearing terrain - wings-level descent
2. means of avoiding ADA fire - deviation in altitude of 75-100 ft every 3-5 secs
How high can you climb in a high-speed zoom climb without flaps?
2000-2500’ AGL
How high can you climb in a high-speed zoom climb with flaps?
2500-3000’ AGL
The low-speed zoom climb is best suited for what?
obstacle clearance in low speed configurations
Hard Turns
Radius
Airspeed
AOB/Gs
Used for what?
4000 ft 235-250 kts 45-60 AOB 1.5-2 Gs used for initial maneuvering prior to becoming decisively engaged
Break Turns
Radius
Airspeed
AOB/Gs
Used for what?
1500 ft 156-188 kts 60 AOB 2 Gs used as a last resort when maneuvering against aggressor aircraft
A slight overbank to 70 degrees AOB requires how many Gs to maintain level flight?
2.67 Gs
When will the radar altimeter in the HUD disappear due to declutter?
> 65 degrees AOB
30 degrees nose up
20 degrees nose down
