Only seconds after hearing the ‘go’ whistle, “Deuce” and “Smack” have boarded their aircraft and lit their powerful P&W F100-engines. At the same time the mechanics perform the vital external checks to secure a safe and procedurally correct start-up and arming of the on-board aircraft systems.
This highly professional ground-ballet, witnessed by some 100 international spectators, ends when the second of the two jets moves forward to abruptly stop a few seconds later. “Deuce” and “Smack” have just terminated the first part of the ‘Air-Air Scramble’ competition event in the 2009 Falcon Air Meet, organised at the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) prime F-16 fighter base, located in the desert some 100 kilometres east of Amman.
The stopwatch of the all-seeing referee – a pilot of USAF’s Colorado Air National Guard – will later reveal whether they outclassed their American and Jordanian opponents.
Alongside the intense flying programme, the FAM competition also tested the skills of maintenance and armament personnel by giving scores for individual sortie success. The various nations had to compete in a missile loading competition, during which ground crew needed to install an inert AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM 120 AMRAAM on two of the aircraft (wingtip) hard points. Once more ground crew of the COANG supervised the competition and deducted vital points for incorrect hardware manipulations or safety hazards.