This Modified Dash 8 ISR platform I used to fly on.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

It's a decommissioned 15 year old project you can read about on the internet.

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ungratefulgoose@reddit

Was this a GOCO aircraft or flown by green suiters?

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

If I remember right, it was owned by the army but leased to dynamic for like a dollar. Or maybe visa versa. All the pilots, crew and maintainers were civilians though.

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Ok-Needleworker9121@reddit

Dynamic owned, they still have it. Army bought all the RO-6As though.

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Ninjamowgli@reddit

Im a super noob, what ratings and licenses do you need to fly this thing?

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

Our pilots all came from the airlines/cargo. I don't think they had any special ratings.

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Ninjamowgli@reddit

Thank you for the answer. Such a cool looking aircraft makes me think you gotta be special to fly it haha

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72corvids@reddit

The Dash-8 seems to have as many weird and wonderful variants are the good ol' King Air.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

We had a few King Airs too, on a different program.

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derekbox@reddit

Guard Rails?

I used to work on guard rail.

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NeighborhoodParty982@reddit

I always thought they looked like a plane with a fungal infection.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

Desert Eagle and Night Owl. Also one off counter IED aircraft.

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Drenlin@reddit

DGS nerd here, I'm familiar with these and also probably several people you worked with. Cool programs.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

There were so many cool programs going on then, with some super interesting people too. The Golden years of contracting.

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Drenlin@reddit

If it makes you feel any better there are still some really cool programs being worked on. Not as many, but the ones that are up are doing some really neat stuff.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

Dynamic owned the aircraft and the pilots, the sensor operators and analysts were from SAIC. This was almost 15 years ago though.

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SimonsToaster@reddit

so the US paid private contractors to fly over Afghanistan to look for IEDs? Do i understand that correctly?

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

There were contractors doing EVERYTHING in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

There's gotta be dozens of us!

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BobTheHalfTroll@reddit

I would've really wanted to paint that beak yellow if I was on that plane.

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Xivios@reddit

What are the kill marks for? IED's detected?

edit: Are those kill marks bob-ombs?

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

And one with for the guys who were caught sitting at the end of the command wire.

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francis2559@reddit

Remote detonator. Long wires, with someone waiting for the right target on the road.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

Synthetic aperture radar with change detection software. We could see any disturbances on the sides of the road when compared to the imagery from the previous flights of the same route. If we found something then EOD or engineers would blow in place and the convoy kept moving.

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theonlypeanut@reddit

No joke one of these planes probably saved my life. I was driving around south of Kandahar just minding my business and all of a sudden the fbcb2 started popping all sorts of IED icons all around me We stopped and tried to contact whoever was populating the icons. The ana we were with decided they had enough waiting and drove out in front of my Vic and boom big ol IED right in the road not 20 feet in front of me offset for the mine roller and everything. The offset saved the afghans but took the back bit off their truck. It would have been dead center on my Vic though. Thanks for being you bro.

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FleetAdmiralWiggles@reddit (OP)

This made my day for sure! Thats amazing to hear! Yeah IED's are scary as fuck. I worked in Baghdad for a while and experienced a 2000lb VBIED from 150 yards away, on the other side of a 12ft T wall, and it still rang my bell.

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Maxx2245@reddit

I assume VBIED stands for VERY Bad Improvised Explosive Device?

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Hyp3rson1c@reddit

Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device. You’ll also see SVBIED, which means Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device, though the two are usually synonymous.

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