YouSaid · the spoken record

David Fravor

lines on the record: 332
first: 2020-09-08
most recent: 2020-09-08
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“So he has the range really scoped down because the radar can see a lot further. He's looking at about 12 and a half miles when we're in the terrain mode where we're dodging mountains and stuff. And what the pilot has is there's they're called range bins and there's eight of them. So the very far range bin is the 12.5 mile. And the closest range bin, it's a thing and it'll be like between like a half a mile and or a quarter mile to three quarters of a mile. The next one might be three quarters of a mile to two miles. And then it just keeps going out like that. So if there's a mountain in front, let's say we're on a flat plane and there's a mountain out in the distance at 15 miles and we're just driving right at it. So when we get to the point where it hits 12 and a half miles where the radar is going to see it on his scope, my range bin for that would pop up and it would show like a big bump, like a mountain.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Probably a four inch or six inch wide by maybe four inches five inches high. It looks like it's literally a CRT. That's how old it is. A CRT screen. And what it would do, what the radar would do is the Bombardier Navigator is looking at his radar and he's looking out about 12 and a half miles in front of the airplane.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, actually, what it is is the bombier navigator had a radar and he was getting raw feet off of a pulse radar in front. Okay, so it's just basically mapping the mountain. So if you look at a mountain on a radar and you're coming up on it, the front side is going to be, it's going to give you a really bright return. And then the back side, it's just going to be a giant shadow because you can't see on the other side So, the bomb of your navigators would do that, and they would have charts, and they could shade their charts knowing that, hey, if we turn a little bit left here, we can get in this valley, we can sneak up this valley and go around the backside of the mountain, which is what the airplane would do.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No This thing is totally radar based. Now, the airplane had a flear ball, target recognition and multi-sensor. It was called a tram.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So let's start with the A6. The A6 was really an analog airplane that was built in the 60s. All right. And there's been studies done on the crew coordination, which is the interaction between the pilot and the bombardier navigator. So we would fly low at night in the mountains. So I was stationed up in Whidby Island, Washington. So you've got the Cascades and incredible amount of time. And we would get in the simulators because unlike normally people think terrain following and there's the radars, the 111, the B-1 has a system like this, but the radar can see and it'll fly. It basically flies a straight line. So it goes up and over mountains and back down and up and over mountains where the A6 was really manual. So you do this low level routes where you're going to fly in the mountains at night. You're going to be at 500 to 1,000 feet above the ground ripping through like fog layers because you don't need to see outside. You're literally flying a little TV screen and a radar.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I can tell you so that let's say there's a bunch of stories. No, this is good. This is good. And this is, I'm enjoying this because now we actually get to talk about something other than a tic-tac.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Equals two in that environment because it really, there's a huge amount of capabilities that the single seat has and the autonomy that comes for the ability to make decisions quickly and how well the airplane flies. But it does equal more than one. And I would say that one plus one with two people as well is a minimum of 1.5 because you've got an extra head, you've got extra eyes, you've got someone that can monitor systems. The airplanes can do two things at once. I mean, there's an incredible amount of capability that we add when we do that.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Me, it was one, it was a huge honor, and I got to serve with, you know, I got pulled up because So the XO becomes the CO. So the executive officer becomes the commanding officer. So I had worked with soon-to-be vice admiral Weitzel was the, he was commander Weitzel at the time, was the XO, and he really wanted, because he knew there was a little bit of a problem when the Superhornists came into Lamore. Lamore had been a single seat fighter community since forever. And now all of a sudden you've got the F-18F coming in, which has the weapon systems operators in the back that are not pilots. They're weapon systems operators. And there's a difference. And Kenny is a weapon systems operator. And Kenny knew because of my A6 background that I have a switch that I can go one seat, two seat, one seat, two seat. Because when you fly two seat, there's a lot of stuff that the pilot will offload and take the advantage of the weapon systems operator. And it's not that one plus one.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's about half and half. So I started off in A6, was a two seater. Then I went to single seat F18s, and I flew those all the way up until 2000, let me think, 2001, to the end of 2001. And then I shifted over and started flying the super hornets and I flown both of those, the E's and the S. But I deployed when I had command of VFA 41, I had the two seats. They were F squadron.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The modern two seaters, yes, but most of the tactical airplanes in the world today are single seat. Person with the exception of probably someone will yell at me, but really with the exception of the F-15E Strike Eagle and the F-18F Super Hornet, which is the F is a two-seater and the G is also a two-seater, but it's more of an electronic attack by say full-up fighter bomber.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's Was in the Navy, that was the only one. The Air Force, the F-111, was a side by side, but the Navy, it was the A6. And then there's the EA-6B, which is a derivative of that. And now that those are all gone. The EA6Bs just went away a few years ago, and now the E18G growler is the replacement for the EA6B. There was never a replacement for the A6 that I flew. It really became the F-18, which the A6 could go quite a bit further distance-wise by fuel. Then the Hornet.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I went to Kingsville, Scott went to Bill, and Missy went to Meridian. So the three of us that we had all went through, we selected out of primary together, we all ended up going jets. And that's how, besides from school, I knew her at school too. Long story, I got done, got winged. It took me two years to the day from the time I graduated the Naval Academy until I got my wings. And through some luck, I ended up getting A6s on the West Coast, which is a side-by-side bomber. So it's a pilot on the left seat. And the bomber navigators on the right seat. It was built in the 60s. It is all weather and it flies low at night. It's got a terrain mapping radar.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I want to do that. And the way to do it was to not go in the Navy because there are Marine squadrons that go out to the aircraft carriers, but most of them are land-based, you know, to support the Marines because they're that unit, that whole unit, the Marine Corps is at one surface at all. And so when I graduated and I got to, you know, I worked hard through primary and that's where I knew Missy. We were in, actually went through together, Missy Cummings. We went through primary together. And then I went to Kings. We all selected the same time. I went to Kingsville. There was another guy, Scott Wiedemeyer, the three of us.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The air wing is really the weapons. It does have defensive weapons, but for the most part, it's a giant moving airport is what it is. So I was out there watching the airplanes land and take off. And I'm like, oh. And the squadrons that were out there, one of the squadrons was VF-41 and F-14 squadron, VF-84, an F-14 squadron, and then a couple of A6 squadrons. And we actually ended up pairing up and hanging out with some of the A6 pilots and BNs. So it was really a neat experience. And I said,”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so Nimitz is an aircraft carrier. So it's four and a half acres of sovereign U.S. territory that floats around the U.S. Oceans.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, when I was at the, I was going to stay in the Marines. I really wanted to go, man. I love the Corps. I think of all services, it's that one. Everything is in a ball, and they're very, very professional. And it was a great, great organization to join. But I went out to the Nimitz on my freshman cruise after your freshman year at the Naval Academy go out on a ship and you're an enlisted person. You get to experience that half when I already was enlisted. So it was fine with me.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, part of it is family. My dad was, I used to call him a fire ready aim guy. You know, he'd smack me and then ask me what I did wrong. Back then, you know, I joke and people look because at times it was kind of tough, you know, because he can be pretty demanding, but on the other side, you know, I probably needed to be reined in a little bit at times. But then everyone else in my family, you know, my mom was really awesome when I was a kid. My grandfather, who is a big, big part of it, my mom's dad, who he taught me a lot and you have a question there that we'll talk about about him. But huge, huge influence, very, very positive. And a lot of the stuff that I do today and decisions are based on things that he taught me. And, you know, and I figured, you know, it was the first funeral I ever went to. And it was about three miles long and church was overfilling and people were out. He was a beer delivery guy. Dead serious. And you go, someone asked who died, the pope.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm doing this, and I know that if I do a maneuver, if he's going to counter it correctly, he should do A. If he doesn't do A, he does some degree less, like B, C, D, and then I know how bad his error is, and then I capitalize. So I don't have to be perfect. I don't have to go. I need to go to 47 degrees nose high. If I just kind of get above 40, then I'm good and I can watch how it reacts and then I can adjust for that and you continually work that problem and you chip away because if you start neutral, you're just basically chipping away and gaining advantage, advantage, advantage till eventually, you know, and if you're really fighting, you know, just guns only rear quarter where you got to get behind the guy, kind of World War II dogfighting type stuff.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If you get 8%, you can go, and then you can always adjust, which is exactly what, like if you're fighting in BFM, the 80% solution is it's like a chess game, but it's a really, really fast chess game where you go.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think very quickly 80% solution is typically good enough because if you overthink it, you're behind in an air-to-air fight, that's what happens. People try and overthink it. And before you know it, because it's happening so fast, you don't have, you can't get to the nth degree, you know, six decimal places. 80% solution is good enough.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The easiest way is one, never take no. Don't let anyone put you down and say you can't do it. I knew what I was capable of inside, you know, and if I really believe if you want something and you want to do something, then you can achieve it. Not in all cases like if I loved basketball and I really wanted to be in the NBA, there's a realism that says I'm 5'8 and I got like a really short vertical leap, but I'm really not that good at basketball. It's probably not ever going to happen, no matter how hard I try and practice. It's just the way it is. Or for me to be in the NFL, I'm not fast, you know, I'm not that big. It's just physically I'm incapable of doing that. But there's things that don't really tie to a true physical ability as far as size and strength, but it's mental, and I'm not saying you have to.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The guy two doors now from my end. I was a paper boy in the neighborhood, so they all knew me. And I went to my cousin's wedding and Mr. Race looks at me and he says, David Fraver, I go, Mr. Race, how you doing? He goes, You fly jets. Top gun and all that I go. Yes, sir. He goes, I figured you'd be in jail by now. It was kind of a to me, it was a little bit of a badge of honor going, you know, I kind of overcame that, but uh.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People are just like, yeah, right. I used to joke, I'm going to fly jets and I'm going to drop bombs. And if people that knew me when I was a kid, they would be like, yeah. And they'd be like, not a chance. And then when I did, I actually had a, it's a funny story, and I'll get to it. I'll finish my career. But I was at my cousin's wedding. We all grew up in the same neighborhood. We kind of, they had Italian side of the family. That's how we grew up. So it was my house right down the street. It was my cousin Chad and right around the corner was my cousin Ray and my aunts and uncles and stuff.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, since 1969 when I watched Neil Armstrong Walk on the Moon, I was at that point I asked my mom, I remember watching it, I was just prior to being five. And I said, It's so cool, mom. And she said, Well, you know, they were all pilots. And at that point, it was like, I'm going to be a pilot. And if you knew me growing up, because I was a little bit of a delinquent.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. So first I was enlisted. I was a Marine and then the Marines actually sent me, recommended me to go to the Naval Academy. So it's always better to be lucky than good, but I got to go to the Naval Academy and I finished. And I had that dream to fly. So when I got selected.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very much, and they're held to it, so it's not hey, I'm now an instructor, so I can do what I want. There is a standard and they have to live up to that standard. They have to, and I mean every moment of every day. So if they go someplace, if they go from Fallon and they come down and do, they're called site visits where they come down and they'll come to Lamore, California, which is where the West Coast Fighter Wing is at for the Navy, and they go around and start flying sorties with the fleet squadrons to kind of pass on some of that knowledge, that same high level of standard. They can't just drop your guard because you were the top gun patch. And people know that. And they wear light blue shirts. So it's pretty easy to identify them when they're out there. And then everyone else who's been through the school, including them, have the patch on their sleeve. So there's a standard that's expected when you come out of there.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the Fallon Ranges, they set the top X number of folks that have been there seniority-wise, and I mean time-wise, are the ones that actually make the decision. And when the door, you may not agree, but when the door opens and everyone comes out from the staff, they all speak the same language. And it has to be that way, which is why the school has been so effective since it was founded. So it's just a, it's an incredible group individuals.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, they are extremely, extremely standardized when you go through the school, and there's a reason for that because what they're doing is they're training, so when you come out of top gun, you're called a strike fighter weapons and tactics instructor. So you're SFTI. When you come out of that, your job is to go usually to one of the weapon schools on the east or west coast and train the fleet squadrons and then you visit the squadrons and train and do upgrade rides and all that. So there's a reason that they are extremely particular when you go through the course. It is literally one of the best things and it's not a rank-based thing because think, oh, Navy, you can come in as an 04 lieutenant commander. The lieutenants, the hierarchy will used to be, I don't know how it is exactly today, but I imagine it's the same. The hierarchy is actually based on seniority at the school, not necessarily ranked. So when the tactical decisions are made, which are based on fact and trying things out.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Being good. So they're briefs. The guys, when they give a lecture, so let's just say there's a fight or employment lecture, which is one of the hardest ones. It takes about two days to give the fighter employment lecture. The guy who gives the lecture goes through multiple, they call him murder boards where he's scrutinized by his peers and he practices. By the time they actually stand in front of a class, they pretty much have their 250 PowerPoint slides memorized and they don't even turn around. They just click and they know them in order. And they repeat the same thing over. And it's standardized.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it's when you go through, it's, if anything, it's more of the students, you know, and then there's the instructor side. And the instructor sides are really, you know, they're guys that you know, they just chose to stay up and fallon. And it's extremely difficult job because they have a very small tolerance for”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For me, probably one of the best experiences of flying because everyone there is extremely competent. It's very, very challenging, but it's what we all signed up to do. So it's just the entire group that is, when you want to be that, you know, that level where you go, everyone really cares and everyone really wants to be good.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So it's funny we used to joke, and a friend of mine who was a top gun instructor said this there's two things in the original top gun that are true that are very realistic. One, there is a place called Top Gun. And number two is they do fly airplanes there. Other than that, I went through in 97, Class 497. And there's actually a log of every single person that's went through, kind of like seal training. You know, there's a list. So people, because there's a lot of posers out there. I was a Navy SEAL. No, you weren't. Well, I went to Top Gun. You could actually go to Top Gun. And matter of fact, just to get a Top Gun patch, the real patch, you have to have gone there. A lot of the patches you see running around are not real. The real ones are controlled. The people that make them honor that. And when you go in, they look up your name. If you want to get one, they look up your name. You just tell them they go, okay, here, and they'll sell them to you.”
2020-09-08 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #122 – David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source