Goblin
Well-Known Member
There are a number of jokes about A-10s floating around and one is similar to what you alluded to.
Joke #1: Did you know that an A-10 doesn't actually fly? It's so ugly the ground repels it.
Joke #2: Did you know that the A-10 is the Air Force's only self-propelled gun?
Joke #3: The A-10 flies low & slow & the pilot sits in a reinforced cockpit (titanium bathtub sts) to help defend against small arms fire. As such, research has found that the best flight simulator is actually a dumpster that you put the pilot in and just throw rocks at.
Joke #4: Did you hear about the A-10 driver that took a birdstrike to the face? Yeah, he was checking 6 at the time.
Now a true story: I read an accident report a number of years ago about an A-10 birdstrike. It wasn't very serious with just some aircraft damage but, this is the hysterical part. The damage was to the "trailing edge" of an aileron. Get it? Now what had actually happened was the aileron was near full deflection when a bird passed close over/under the wing striking the deflected aileron. It was still funny because it read like the bird overtook the A-10 and struck it from behind.
Please Note: There is no disrespect intended towards the A-10, it's drivers or maintainers. It's an age old rivalry. There are barbs exchanged back and forth from every weapons system: the F-16 due to a high growing pains accident rate in the beginning became know as the "World's Largest Lawn Dart"; the "Flying Tennis Court" F-15 for it's size and in it's early years too much credit was placed on it's capabilities vice the pilot's skill so the long running joke was, "the highest mid-air collision potential in the world is a thousand feet behind an F-15"; the F-117 used to fly only at night so it picked up the nickname "Cockroach" since it scatters when the lights come on. there are many more but those illustrates the point I think.
I'll be here all week folks,
Goblin