Hearing Aids, eh?

[Jim]

Nope. At my retirement physical I didn't swap sides. Diagnosis... total loss of hearing. VA disability physical confirmed the loss. Loss of one ear and the tinnitus got me a whopping 10% disability rating.

 

[azman857]

Me too.

 

[fredintoon]

And maybe disqualified yourself from VA benefits for hearing loss...........

Hi JAX,
- - - and maybe Jim bought himself 10 more years on the flight line for the cost of a VA hearing aid.
And ain't the VA's freebie hearing aid a vacuum tube unit anyway?

 

[Jim]

Hi JAX,
- - - and maybe Jim bought himself 10 more years on the flight line for the cost of a VA hearing aid.
And ain't the VA's freebie hearing aid a vacuum tube unit anyway?

I was doin' what I loved Fred... workin' on jet fighters. If you've never tirmmed an engine in full afterburner, you prolly don't get it.
You get one life... no do-overs. I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[fredintoon]

I was doin' what I loved Fred... workin' on jet fighters. If you've never tirmmed an engine in full afterburner, you prolly don't get it.
You get one life... no do-overs. I wouldn't change a thing.

Hi Jim,
as to that, I built the Concorde, (OK, me & 10,000 other guys) and I'll never forget seeing BAC's Olympus-Canberra flying straight up and up and up to get the World Record climb to height time. Which is probably why my hearing loss (5/8 deaf on both sides) averages out the same as yours.
Only one life can't be proven but if one is recycled one gets mind-wiped first.

 

[azman857]

Under a F-4D on the trim pad at night and it's in full afterburner. Seeing the sonic rings in the afterburner flame. Even with earplugs and earmuffs it's wicked freaking LOUD!

 

[Jim]

Under a F-4D on the trim pad at night and it's in full afterburner. Seeing the sonic rings in the afterburner flame. Even with earplugs and earmuffs it's wicked freaking LOUD!

Now we're talkin'. F-111F... TF-30P100 Zone 5, full afterburner. You're squatted directly under the engine adjusting the fuel control. Like Rudy sez. ear plugs and headsets and all you can hear is the burner. Intercom is useless... hand signals only. It's painful. Your whole head hurts, but it's memorizing. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[jetmechmarty]

Now we're talkin'. F-111F... TF-30P100 Zone 5, full afterburner. You're squatted directly under the engine adjusting the fuel control. Like Rudy sez. ear plugs and headsets and all you can hear is the burner. Intercom is useless... hand signals only. It's painful. Your whole head hurts, but it's memorizing. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I’ve done it on the early RB 211. No afterburner, but more thrust. Definitely not as damaging to my hearing.

 

[azman857]

I wonder how a J-75 in a F-105 stacks up in the list. Those suckers were HUGE in diameter. With a huge AB (or reheat in GB) to match.