Banner Shoot Prepares Pilots for Combat

by Airman 1st Class Tammie Ramsouer
JBER Public Affairs

5/2/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- F-22 pilots from the 302nd, 525th and 90th fighter squadrons tested their aim during a banner shoot April 22 to 25.

Banner shoots are a way for pilots to be comfortable in air-to-air combat. Pilots demonstrate the effectiveness of doing exercises like these by practicing their aim in the air.

"A banner shoot is a system that we use to increase pilot proficiency," said Air Force Master Sgt. Richie Bill, weapons section chief from the 90th Fighter Squadron.

A banner is hooked up to a Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft that travels through the air at about 288 miles per hour. To keep the pilot and plane safe, the banner is towed about 2,000 feet away.

"Essentially, one aircraft will tow a long banner with a target behind it and the F-22 pilot will come in and shoot at it," Bill said.

The pilots inside the F-22s take necessary precautions not to shoot towards the aircraft towing the banner. The same safety precautions used in a gun range apply in the air. Pilots never aim at anything they don't intend shoot.

"The [3rd] Operations Squadron schedules the banner shoot, and the weapons flight does the actual loading process to prepare the aircraft for the mission," Bill said.

Ammunition loaders, weapons loaders and pilots are all part of the training to ensure proper knowledge of what to do in a combat situation.

Ammunition loaders place practice rounds inside a M61 Vulcan cannon that shoots 20-millimeter rounds at 100 rounds per second. Pilots need to know how to fire in a combat situation and this trains them to be as accurate as possible without getting close to the banner while in flight.

Pilots are always preparing to deploy, and banner shoots are one of many trainings they do.

"These are upgrades that are vital to the pilots so that when they do go into combat they know how to employ that weapon and use it accurately," Bill said.

The 302nd, 525th and 90th fighter squadrons will come together and prepare to train in the exercises so they all have the necessary requirements and skill levels.

"I always have confidence in the pilots to do their job, and I know they take their job very seriously just like we do," Bill said.

At the end of the day, pilots and weapons loaders are trained to be prepared to be in a combat situation at any time and never think twice about how to do their job.