Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Military Aviation
Reload this Page >

Hand signals between aircraft

Military Aviation A forum for the professionals who fly military hardware. Also for the backroom boys and girls who support the flying and maintain the equipment, and without whom nothing would ever leave the ground. All armies, navies and air forces of the world equally welcome here.

Hand signals between aircraft

Old 27th Jan 2020, 21:28
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 63
Posts: 315
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes on 4 Posts
Hand signals between aircraft

Hi All, I know that the practice of using hand signals between the pilots of fighters in close formation lasted well into the jet age, but do the pilots of modern jets such as the F-22 or F-35 still use hand signals?
DaveUnwin is offline  
Old 27th Jan 2020, 21:42
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Stamford
Posts: 498
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Pretty sure HEFOM code isn't dead yet. How else do you communicate with radio failure?
Stuff is offline  
Old 27th Jan 2020, 21:52
  #3 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 63
Posts: 315
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes on 4 Posts
Good point Stuff, although I meant instead of using the radio. (As an aside, when I fly an A2A shoot for a magazine the photog primarily uses hand signals, but that's more because he's leaning out of the door or window!)
DaveUnwin is offline  
Old 27th Jan 2020, 22:00
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 26,783
Received 257 Likes on 103 Posts
When we used to formate on Bears in the VC10K, I used to take a copy of The Sun calendar of 1985, on the September page of which was a shot of the curvaceous Sam Fox against a dark background.....

The hand signals we exchanged with the appreciative Sovietski mates on such occasions were probably not listed in the relevant JSP!

Little did Sam Fox know what part her parts played in perestroika until I told a Sun reporter one day. He passed the information on to Miss Fox, who thought it was hilarious.
BEagle is online now  
Old 29th Jan 2020, 07:13
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 1,528
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
I am assuming that the OP is referring to normal signals maybe, rather than radio failure. In all my time in training we taught, and used, signals for services, eg gear and flap, and sometimes for changing position but the old signals for manoeuvring, such as levelling off, turning etc, were not ever used - although I believe they are still carved in stone in AP3456. HEFOM (previously HEFOE) was still much discussed in briefs and debriefs, and occasionally used in practice speechless recoveries, but I don't think I ever saw or heard of it being used for real, other than for the radio failure itself.

When I was doing my final test at Flying Selection at Swinderby, I had a problem with my helmet as we taxied out. Despite being somewhat tense due to the significance of the occasion, I told the instructor that I was going to have to deal with it and said to ATC - "I'm going to have to hold here for a moment because I have got a wasp in my helmet". Quick as a flash, the controller came back with "You should have saved that for the no RT recovery"!
Background Noise is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.