Oh <censored>...here we go again. Ol' Sweeney is on a rant.
Your note reminds me of a good friend. He's suffering through what is likely his last days right now with a variant cancer that probably resulted from decades of work near, in, and around military equipment and installations throughout the world. In his military career, he served in the capacity of an ATC (Air Traffic Controller) and some other on-the-ground work, though I do not know any details. He doesn't speak a lot of those days.
It is impossible to spend more than 30 minutes with him, it is impossible not to hear stories. Or, photos of exotic places and people. His favorite is a much younger version of himself...urinating (not how he says it) on a 500lb bomb that was dropped near, but not on, a base in Saudi base where he was doing work. A gift from one of our "mutual friends".
One story relevant here, is while he was working as an ATC, he was working Approach and Tower/taxi on a holiday weekend. No one was there, and it was a quiet night. The weather was high overcast with a new moon. So the sky was very dark. The base was next to the ocean (I'll redact it, though I know where it was) and a fighter was inbound for landing, both brining the plane in for repair as well as for leave.
He says that the pilot sounded slightly out of sorts, and had some mechanical problems (which is why it was coming back) and the pilot requested vectors.
For nonpilots, spacial disorientation is a strange thing. It is best described as when you inner ear (which gives you balance) gets out of sync with your other senses. You can feel like you are in a turn and still fly perfectly straight and level. Or worse, feel like you're straight and level but are in a descending spiral, this is what happened to JFK Jr all those years ago. You've probably experienced this --- when sitting a stop and the car next to you creeps --- you slam hard on your break because it feels like you are moving. Pretty much exactly the same thing.
He instructed the pilot to turn left 15 degrees, and the scope showed a right turn. He instructed the pilot to make a 15-degree right turn, and the pilot returned to his previous course. The pilot was doing exactly the opposite of what he was asked to do. My buddy realized the pilot was suffering from spatial disorientation.
Well, the pilot, flying over an open ocean without land reference nor sky, had gotten disoriented and was flying inverted but didn't realize -- He was flying hands-on because the autopilot was impacted by whatever was happening on the plane. My friend had to politely and gently ask the pilot to relax and ask "What color is on top of your attitude indicator" where there was a long silence. When a response came back, the voice said "The dark is on the bottom." from that time through the end of the flight was professional but just a little 'shakey'
An hour later his shift ended, and there was a fill bird colonel waiting at the door still shaking at what happened previously that evening.
This is his cautionary tale not to assume experience is enough... sometimes everyone need the help of others, and sometimes it may be from another discipline and of a lower rank.
True story? I dunno. Probably not. With these old salty ones sometimes it's hard to tell, and, the military has changed a LOT since 'the day.' Also, in other areas he has photos (like the bomb) so there is plausible allowability (?)
My father-in-law (Koren era) was the same way. As an aircraft mechanic, he talks about being trained to fly the planes he worked on, at least enough to land the plane so that if ever doing a taxi test the plane "took off' unexpectedly. How loved telling how he was flying home in the rear seat he was flying rear seat going home on leave when the pilot wanted to 'take a nap' resulting in his landing the airplane at their destination.
I don't know --- I'm heading home this weekend to visit my friend. The cancer he has is nasty - and has metastisized throughout his body. He says he glows in the dark after the PET scans. He also is in great spirits. He insists that at every doctor visit he asks "How long do I have doc?" and the doctor is "required" to look at his witch and say "59...58...57" --- His daughter confirmed this, or "You haven't paid your bill yet, so 6 more months"
-S
