Just curious. See a lot of [I assume ANG] flights coming and going from the local civilian airport and I don’t see anything under the wings, so I figure they are not carrying anything live.
Tired to look up the FAA Reg.'s, but all I could find was “hazardous materials” or “inert”. Those were clear as mud.
So what’s the deal?
If you are armed at a military base–is it out to target and back to base only, and only on very specific routes? [Assuming just standard training stuff–I would guess on a scramble, all bets are off.]
Perhaps someone who’s been in the Air Force can confirm, but I had thought that both the F-15 and F-16 always flew with a full load of 20mm, due to the beneficial weight balance to the a/c for doing so?
Then again, some googling pulled up this WaPo article on a F-16 pilot who scrambled on Sept. 11, 2001, and was ready to kamikaze one of the hijacked airliners if needed. Kind of implies that they don’t normally carry cannon ammunition.
Thanks for the ref to the WaPo article. My SWAG is that there are inert loads identical in weight [and airflow] to live loads that are used for training purposes because the handling and performance effects of a fully loaded aircraft must be [you would think] part of the training regimen.
I believe MachTuck used to fly in the USAF, and Oakminster was a backseat photographer in an F-15(?), once upon a time. You could try IM’ing those posters.
We sometimes had live ordinance with us. The weapons were never armed, and always safe and clear (meaning there were no rounds in the chamber and rounds could not accidentally be chambered, so even if armed, nothing would happen).
Now, overseas in Iraq or something, the rules are different.