Hi guys, I figured someone on this site (or CCS) might have some expertise in the above or if not, maybe know someone who does. Believe it or not I write for a hobby and in the novel I'm working on I'd like to use some cockpit dialogue that isn't just my own imagined bulls#1t as I like to get details correct. I'm not after military secrets or hardware details, just what would actually be said in a couple of situations. Preferably it would be UK based but any info would be nice. Thanks in advance. PS I tried googling it - complete waste of time!
Not a plane driver, but I was a backend crewmember for a couple of yrs on raf surveillance aircraft. I'm no good on pilot/atc speak, but ok on inter-crew dialogue, depending on what you need. Any help?
Well, the section in my book details a C130-J landing in unknown and potentially dangerous circumstances with no-one present at the airfield (no ATC, no ground crew or any airport staff at all) and the pilot asks the First Officer to give him a constant verbal account of the numbers: altitude, airspeed, approx distance from threashold, any activity on ground... anything that might be important. It's actually just a bit if literary conceit to make the landing more convincing and suspense-filled but I'd like the inter-pilot chatter to be as correct as possible.
Ah OK Colin, I'm not going to be any more help than you can find in open-source C130J landing checklists. All I'd suggest is that first they would do a flypast or a parallel missed approach to check runway/landing strip is clear. On the committed approach the co-pilot would monitor airspeed (slow/hot) and will also call the aim point (short/long) and centreline (left/right). The J has a nagging-Nora to announce heights from radalt on the approach so I don't think the co-pilot would do this in real life, although for literary purposes I agree it would read better coming from the co-pilot . Of course, the cockpit computer could've gone down and the co-pilot would have to manually call the airpeeeds?
Ooooooh, that's really interesting as in the story, the Herc has been sitting on the tarmac for 5 years and has only had the bare minimum of servicing that the flight crew and some extra flight personell could manage, so a cockpit computer going down is fairly believable! I'm going to add that detail now before I forget! And looking for C130-J landing checklists is also a great idea! Oh, and I already included a low level fly past to check the runway condition and that there aren't any nasty surprises on the ground.
Ha ha, only the Americans would fit howitzers to a Hercules! Awesome. Also, the J is a glass cockpit, with just the basic standby instruments as back-up if the computers fail.
I can see the pic better now, & the skids. Not an AC130 as I thought. Spotter-fail. Good luck with the book.
The US ski-equiped Herc is a Hercules LC-130. They are sometimes rigged for “jet-assisted” takeoff. I’ve flown twice to McMurdo with the US in the C130, and once from McMurdo to South Pole. Certainly not the most comfortable ride... Cheers Tony
I was in the USAF for 22 years, mainly fighter aircraft maintenance, feel free to pick my brains a little...
Thanks again guys. The novel is ongoing but when it's in a fit state to be read, I'll let everyone know. Colin
