[simpits-tech] Pictures of aircraft - an insider's info

[Ben Jones]

Brian,  Ditto for RAAF bases in Australia,

I was not allowed to take  a photo of a certain bit of gear inside a F-111 
and was told by the ground staff to pissoff real quick, so i did later to 
return to my office on the base log onto the defence intranet and view a pic 
of what i wanted to take pics off and even could read the flight manual 
online and even print it out if i wanted to.

damm ass smokers!

Any how later on that afternoon i got a call to go and repair a ground power 
unit for the aircraft in question, the dick that gave me the shits was 
looking over my shoulder as i was working , i looked at him and said " umm 
mate your not allowed to look inside it could you please turn around"

so he did ...... damm tool  dont piss me off again.

ben
bjones at pipecomp.com.au
(another insider)



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Sikkema" <bjsikkem at gimail.af.mil>
Subject: [simpits-tech] Pictures of aircraft - an insider's info


Ok, so here it goes. I actually have a bit (though not much) of an insider's 
view on the whole deal with taking pictures of aircraft on an installation.

Add to that the fact that I've been on the other end, too - once at Columbus 
AFB I was told to stop taking pictures of a B-1B that had just landed (for 
an airshow the next day, no less). The SP said he was supposed to confiscate 
my film, but was a decent guy and let me keep it.

Anyway not long ago I got an email concerning base policy here at 
Wright-Patterson, and I'm sure it's the same across the Air Force. 
Basically, that any photography on base, and not even just the flightline, 
needs to be pre-arranged and approved. They make exceptions for things like 
unit group photographs, etc, and spell out some things that are always 
off-limits, and other things that are O.K. But basically they tend to air on 
the side of caution for these things. They need to know ahead of time that 
you're going to be taking pictures, if for no other reason than so they 
won't get suspicious of someone walking around taking pictures - they know 
if you belong there or not. But it also gives them a heads-up to make sure 
the area is secure, i.e. nothing sensitive is visible to be photographed.

In the case of the taxiing F-22's, you were probably fine to start with 
since they knew you were going to be there and taking pictures and had 
appropriate approvals for that. But the F-22's were not necessarily part of 
the gameplan, so just to be safe the appropriate thing to do would be to not 
allow pictures to be taken. You may not have been able to see anything that 
isn't already able to be seen on the thousands of pictures already taken of 
the aircraft, but you never know.

Gene, in your case, it sounds like the guy was being a dick. My personal 
opinion. ;)

Brian