Navy pilots draw "obscene" picture in sky over Washington

[HyFlyer]

http://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Navy-pilots-draw-penis-in-sky-over-Washington-12365612.php

Navy officials acknowledged that one of its air crews was responsible for skywriting a penis over a rural Northern Washington county Thursday.

Local media began receiving reports of the phallic symbol above the skies in Okanogan County Thursday afternoon.

"After it made the circles at the bottom, I knew what it was and started laughing," Okanogan's Ramone Duran told The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/nov/16/military-says-zero-tolerance-for-pilot-who-traced-/). "It was pretty funny to see that. You don't expect to see something like that."

Officials at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island later confirmed that one of its aircraft was responsible, saying an an F/A-18 Growler flew in a pattern "that left a condensed air trail resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground. "

"The Officers and Sailors of the United States Navy are professionals, held to the highest standards, while serving our nation with pride around world," Lt. Cmdr. Leslie Hubbell, the base's media officer, said in a statement. "The actions of this aircrew were wholly unacceptable and antithetical to Navy core values. We have grounded the aircrew and are conducting a thorough investigation -- and we will hold those responsible accountable for their actions. The Navy apologizes for this irresponsible and immature act.

"The Navy apologizes to anyone who was offended by this unacceptable action," the statement continued. "An investigation into this flight will be conducted and if appropriate, the aviator(s) responsible will be held accountable."

Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker, commander of Naval air forces, also weighed in.

"Naval aviation continually strives to foster an environment of dignity and respect," he said in a statement. "Sophomoric and immature antics of a sexual nature have no place in Naval aviation today. We will investigate this incident to get all the facts and act accordingly."

[PhantomTweak]

I'm with Mr. Ramon Duran. I think it's hilarious. :biggrin-new:

Heck, flying a couple holding loops, and a vertical climb isn't any big deal. What if the Hornet was practicing ACM? A couple G Warm circles, a nice vertical pull into an Immelman...

But it's still funny they're making such a BFHD (Big, Fat, Hairy, Deal) over it. Apparently, even the poor Navy is getting PC shoved up it exhaust pipes...

Well, just for the fun of it, I'm going to go out an do some sky writing tonight. Let's see someone whine and whimper like a little baby over THAT...

Have fun, all, and may the PeeeCee Police never darken your doors!
Pat☺

[Tool]

The entire Navy is riddled with "company Men and women" now. Everyone is offended by everything and that's just a speck of it. I thought it was pretty funny too when I read the article. But someone somewhere will try and please somebody and get these guys disciplined. Very sad! Whatever happened to, if you don't like it, keep on moving?

[Penzoil3]

What happened to everybody's sense of humor, for crying out loud. This is funny, not offensive...
Sue

[brad kaste]

Funny. VERY FUNNY!

[Creepy847]

This maybe another reason why so many highly trained military pilots are leaving the service besides the fact that there's limited flying hours and more money in the civilian or private sector? Now with people crying over this **** its probably the nail in the coffin for this flight crews careers.

If I was they're OIC I pin a medal on them even if it had to be behind close hatches..

:redfire:

[BurningBeard]

When I first saw the this, I thought it was just a badly flown Cowboy Hat. I guess the public wanted to see penises.

Beard

[MustangL2W]

Boys will be Boys...

[Daveroo]

I’d want to know if it was intentional or not,were they in some sort of pattern? As is stated in the story? Or did they say “hey looky,were leaving a trail let’s draw a $8+’ “.....if it wasn’t intentional then it’s not an issue! People need to get their heads out of the Bible and let others live as they wish,and yes most people’s moral beliefs are based on a book no one can prove to be truth.

[PhantomTweak]

I just looked at the figure again. Maybe they were hungry, and were indicating they were heading to Arby's for a nice triple roast beef sammich. They used the figure to invite other members of the squadron to join them.

Can't be offended, no matter how hard you try, by the Arby's cowboy hat, after all :D

Pat☺

[Blackbird686]

I thought it was pretty funny.... but there will always be those whose sensitive sensibilities will be offended by this, in this politically charged world we now live in.

BB686:US-flag:

[SSI01]

You're automatically suspicious of management's attitude and response when you see the buzzwords "dignity and respect" in print. That BS started coming out in the late 90s, they were telling us how they wanted us to treat everyone that way - only problem is we never received like treatment from our own management. Note I didn't say "leadership."

[Naismith]

I see a 10 gallon hat, what's so offensive about that?

[PhantomTweak]

Isn't it funny, not funny ha-ha but funny odd, how some people get SO upset when they are offended, but they get all kinds of upset when their being offended offends others? It's not ok to offend them, but it's ok for them to offend others.

I find it offensive that those Navy pilots are being persecuted for sky-writing a 10 gallon hat in the sky. It MUST stop, for I am offended :D

Heck, now I'm confused. And offended at my confusion...:biggrin-new:

Enough already. I guess I'll have to sack up and get over it. Ok, I'm over it :dizzy:

Pat☺

[ColoKent]

The politically correct remake of the military continues, IMHO...here is a GREAT article from Dr. John Lehman, Jr, former SECNAV on that very topic from a few years ago:

https://fightersweep.com/6171/is-naval-aviation-culture-dead/

The Navy's reaction to this latest aircrew "escapade" seems to bear out some of the points Lehman made (Can't lie: I'm a John Lehman fan, although I was career Air Force...).

Kent

P.S. PhantomTweak and Naismith-- you'd both make GREAT commanders...ANYONE could see that was a cowboy hat-- it just took you two to point it out. I bet those F/A-18G guys wish either of YOU were their boss!

[Naismith]

liberals have squeezed the fun out of just about every aspect of life.

[PhantomTweak]

P.S. PhantomTweak and Naismith-- you'd both make GREAT commanders...ANYONE could see that was a cowboy hat-- it just took you two to point it out. I bet those F/A-18G guys wish either of YOU were their boss!
Thanks!
I was quite content as a Sergeant, though. After all, Sergeants run the Corps, anyway :D
Being in a dead, or at least dying MOS at the end, I wound up as the most senior Sgt in the Corps, whether you measure Time in Grade, or Time in service. They only promoted 4 Sergeants to Staff Sergeant my entire career. One even deserved it. I was given a choice, eventually: Cross-deck into F/A-18's and spend at least 8 months a year at sea for the rest of my career, or get out. Since I had a job lined up at double my military pay, guess which I chose.

But I do appreciate the vote of confidence.
I would have told them "Great Cowboy hat guys. I'll meet you at the Club later. Get moving!" Not the O Club of course, but whichever bar they use at Whidby to fill the bill.

The only time I saw Naval Aviators do something really worthy of true disciplinary action was one night, when I was working at the Aerostat Site in Yuma. Two Hornets started making gun runs on our mooring system. With the Balloon up at 10,000' AGL. That means there was a virtually invisible, black, 1" diameter, Kevlar tether connecting the Balloon to the ground on the Mooring System. The '18's were making passes at right about 250' AGL, using the metal, van shaped, mooring system enclosure as a radar target. If either of then had caught the tether, it would have torn off a wing or sliced the plane in half, and at 350 KIAS and 250' AGL, they wouldn't have had time to eject.
AND we'd have lost the Balloon!
I was able to use the Balloon's radar (I was the lead e-tech, and know that radar system inside out. Like F-4 Radars) to track the planes as they made their circuits, and get their Mode 2 squawks. We called the base, and had the ATC notify their CO, and the FAA rep, neither of who were happy to be gotten out of bed at 0230. Needless to say, we had them called off target NOW, too. I was able to give Mode 2, Mode C, Altitude, Airspeed, Latitude, and Longitude, to the ATC. We had them cold. March AFB had them called out too, and had called the Yuma ATCs in a fury. They are who we fed data to.
We heard their CO, and Yuma's Base CO, were waiting when they landed back at MCAS Yuma. Ripped the wing patches off their flightsuits right on the flight line after they climbed down from their planes.
Their careers were OVER.
By the way, our airspace was completely restricted for 2 miles in radius, and very clearly annotated on all charts, and briefed to new pilots at Yuma, even the WTI pilots, who these were. Past tense. They had NO excuse.

Sorry, but that little episode is totally different than a cowboy hat, but I think demonstrates the rediculous lengths PC has gone in abusing Naval Aviators. Threatening a multi-million dollar Aerostat, and 2 aircrew's lives, maybe even the balloon's flightcrew if they had crashed onto the site, as well as two Hornets, is a LITTLE different than making a hat.

Have fun, all!
Pat☺

[SPman]

liberals have squeezed the fun out of just about every aspect of life.
Nothing to do with true liberals - everything to do with precious pups going out of their way to be offended by someone on behalf of someone else and then seen to be so hurt they just HAVE to smack those appalling offendees down - it's all about egos and power play! It's political, but not correct (gawd I hate that term PC!)
As a CO I'd smile to myself, be glad my guys have got some spirit and skill, but tell them to do it somewhere a little less "in your face to the "poker up their arses" brigade" next time.

[joe bob]

To the best of my knowledge no one knows what if any punishment will be meted out.

If it affects their careers it will be because of the poor judgement they showed not the specific thing they did.
Liberals or right wing bible thumpers, it is a stupid thing to do today or in the past. Nothing to do with politics and all to do with poor taste.
If they are junior officers, which they almost certainly are, then they will be ok in the long run, probably get a new call sign out of it.

[ColoKent]

If they are junior officers, which they almost certainly are, then they will be ok in the long run, probably get a new call sign out of it.

JB - Respectfully differ from your analysis. For a large number of years, we have lived in an era of "ZERO tolerance" for "mistakes" in the military-- regardless of rank and years of experience (read the Lehman article at the link I posted above to get a sense of this). I predict that sacrificing these aircrew on the alter of political correctness (which unfortunately, this has EVERYTHING to do with) will end up being a cheap "no-brainer" for the NAVY to assuage and win begrudging (albeit blindingly brief) approval from that part of the population who seem to announce their "outrage" and "anger" about something or other on a daily basis.

Unfortunately for these guys (and the military as a whole), it isn't a good time to be "colorful" and it is especially dangerous to think/act like warriors...

Just my .02 cents. We'll have to see what happens...

Kent

[joe bob]

I certainly get your point but I can not think of a time where doing this would have been acceptable to the public or the military.
It is one thing for boys will be boys in the confines of a unit but this was entirely different.
My first point is there seems to be an assumption that they are done for, no one knows what the penalty will be.
Lamenting their demise is premature.
However I could not blame the military for holding them responsible.
I am not offended by the subject personally, but I do think a good military will welcome to identify those with problems of good judgement.

I painted a pair of grand tetons on the bottom of our wings UH-1P but you had to know what you were looking for to make it out in the Euro 1 paint scheme so it stayed an inside joke. This is like painting it on the front gate of the base.
To be sure the military is very PC these days but this is not an example, To do something so visible may offend some but the biggest issue is it shows guys who are not grounded in the reality of the world they live in.

Again, I think those who think this was OK back in the day are not really getting the context of the prank.

[Eoraptor1]

I thought it was a cowboy hat.

JAMES

[rhumbaflappy]

Again, this is a media-caused problem.

Citizens who actually saw the event (not a picture or video of the event), could call authorities to complain. Those complaints would be handled by proper military personnel in their manner. There would be no general outrage.

But, in steps the media (news sources or internet posters) and it becomes the worst thing in the world. I got over it in less than 2 seconds after viewing the story. I'm a little miffed with myself for having wasted my time reading about it.

With all of what's wrong in the world, with all that's truly in need of outrage, this is definitely minuscule. I'm more concerned about those expressing outrage or even annoyance, than I am about the pilot. :a1451:

[simulloyd]

At first glass of the internet post, I thought it was just a cowboy hat.

[PhantomTweak]

See?
Arby's for chow this evening!

Some whiney little p%$$-ant(s) decided to make a BFD out of it to get attention. Either that, or they'd never seen the item they claimed it to be. Maybe they were jealous cause it's bigger than their...ummmm...cowboy hat! Yeah...

Point being, a few whiners just destroyed that aircrew's careers. They will get passed over for promotion, and kind of shuffled off the flight schedule. They may as well resign their commissions now and save the wait. They're done in the military. They're at their terminal ranks, though. They'll probably be able to get jobs with a small commuter airline, but their time in high performance military aircraft is over.

Very, very sad for them, yes, but think about the money, time, and resources that went into getting them to this point. Their time in college, probably paid by the military, time getting through OCS, and the instructors etc involved in that, their medical screening for flight school, including the doctors and med tech's salaries involved, as well as their travel to and from medical.
Now they've made it so far, they're in flight school. The instructors (again), the books and training materiel, not to mention the training aircraft, the fuel, maintenance, parts, etc of such. Oh, don't forget, before they're Naval Aviators, they have a ton of FCLP time, and then some recoveries and launches off a carrier, still in training aircraft. Talk about expense! It aint cheap to provide a carrier asea for qualifying nuggets for their Wings. But, they obviously made it.
Now they've gotten their Wings of Gold, they go to a RAG outfit, and again, the instructors, training aircraft and materiel, fuel, parts, maintenance, etc. , personnel salaries, all higher than in the basic flight school because now they're in F/A-18's. Again, a huge number of FCLP hops, and the attendant expenses, as well as some carrier hops. How can you calculate the cost of a carrier, and all the sailors involved??
But they made it through. Now they are officially full fledged Naval Aviators. It cost literally billions of dollars to get them to this point. Billions, with a B!

Now, because of a few whiners invoking the deity of PC and Zero Tolerance, all those billions, all the time and hard work by ancillary personnel, are lost. Flushed down the PC head. Gone city. Not to mention the attitude of two men who worked so hard to get those pretty gold Wings. They will be resentful of the military, and those who tossed them aside like a used condom, not considering their hard work and effort, as well as the hard work of all those involved to this point.

Hope the little whiny snowflakes feel real proud of themselves. Maybe they were jelous of the two pilots, knowing there is no way they could ever have duplicated the pilot's accomplishments. Can't step up? Drag others down to your low, pitiful level.
Are they glad they wasted billions of dollars? They usually whine about the cost of the US Military. This kind of thing really isn't very helpful, now is it?

Whine, little jerks, whine. Get your 15 seconds of fame, at the cost of two men's careers and a few billions of dollars. All flushed down the tubes because a few whiny little jerks who were offended by a cowboy hat.

Ok, I'm done now.
Pat☺

[joe bob]

No one has been flushed.
These guys are responsible for their own actions and what ever the consequences are it is on them an no one else.

[HyFlyer]

https://theaviationist.com/2017/11/25/a-serious-look-at-the-history-of-inappropriate-contrails-made-by-pilots/

[PhantomTweak]

JB, I must respectfully disagree.
Actions which once would have treated to a wink and a nudge by the CO, who had done as bad or worse in his career, are now treated as a hangin' offense, figuratively.
Young men, in any system, will be young men. They play pranks. Maybe, MAYbe they offend someone. OH NO!!!
Something like this would once have gotten them a few days off the schedule. Maybe. When my father was a young Lieutenant in the Navy, a Flight Instructor at Pensacola, he went to a change of command ceremony. He and the outgoing CO had had their differences. He got stinking drunk, and leaned against a tree, shouting "HA!" to every point in the CO's speech. He got transferred to Miramar. Still got promoted, was on the flight schedule the day after he arrived.
Do you think he'd have gotten away with that nowadays?? No way. The telephone cameras would have come out, and someone would have been offended, poor little baby. He'd have been relieved of duty immediately, and asked to resign his commission. At least lost his wings, and passed over for promotion from then on. 3 times being passed over is a forced resigning of the commission.

Now, because of the BFD made by some whiner someplace on social media, their careers are over. Done. Ended. If for NO other reason than their CO, or his highers, will desperately try to cover their butts, to protect their own careers.
Will they be asked to resign their commissions? Probably not. BUT, they WILL be passed over for promotions hence forth. Will they lose their wings? More than likely.
All because some little cry-baby on social media thought he saw a penis. SO??? Has he never looked down when using the restroom?? A bit smaller, perhaps, but the same thing he saw in the sky. OH DEARIE ME, how horrible.
Oh, that's right, we can't offend ANYONE. Except us of course. I find the grounding of the aircrew most offensive. But who cares? I don't count, I suppose. I am biased, being an Inactive Marine. I can be offended. I don't whine about it. I was insulted and offended by true professionals, in boot camp. Drill Instructors. Did they get fired, or relieved of duty? No, they were praised for doing their job.

So yeah, the aircrew got flushed because of the current PC atmosphere. Their own actions? Absolutely. Such a terrible offense as to rate the punishment they're receiving? Not a chance. But they WILL be punished, all out of proportion to their action.
THAT is what I find so offensive. Too bad for me, and the aircrew, huh?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. No question. You are, JB, I am, the aircrew is, even the little whiners. I fought for 10 years for that. I didn't lay down my life, and loose some very close friends, to have those opinions forced up someone else's tail-pipes, but nowadays, they most surely are. If they are the right opinions of course...

Have fun all...
Pat☺

[HyFlyer]

There are many things that were ok back-in-the-day. Some of them quite heinous. Doesn't mean they were right, simply that they were accepted.

Society has changed however, and yes, some expectations are different. All societies change over time. Nobody gets fed to the lions anymore, and most agree that's generally a good thing, though lions may lament the loss of the tasty meals.

A quick slap on a passing womens bottom is no longer considered cause for a good, manly chuckle and a wink over cigars and drinks.

And no, you don't draw giant penises in the sky unless you are ready for the consequences. I'm not remotely sorry for the aircrew; they're presumably adults, able to see forwards to the consequences of their actions, and presumably they accepted those consequences before they acted. To assume anything else is to endorse that they collectively evidenced an enormous lack of adult reasoning and judgement skills which should alone be cause for questioning their suitability for the responsibilities given them.

Tailhook is no longer boys will be boys, and having a penis is no longer license to be a dick.

[n4gix]

Seriously. These guys need to quit dicking around and get back to their long, hard jobs until they face some stiff penalties for their cocky behavior. :very_drunk:

[gman5250]

Seriously. These guys need to quit dicking around and get back to their long, hard jobs until they face some stiff penalties for their cocky behavior. :very_drunk:


LMFAO :biggrin-new:

[napacon]

Want this Guy for my Wing man GOT BALLs..Now a legend Among TOP GUNs....Truly the "RIGHT STUFF "..His Legacy will live in Fighter Pilot Lore....Great Flying!