At times, aircraft return to the ship with hung or unexpended weapons. When this happens, the flight leader advises cognizant personnel aboard ship of the total quantity and type of hung or unexpended weapons on aircraft in that flight. As each of these aircraft approaches the ship, the air officer (air boss) announces the model and type of weapon problem over the flight deck announcing system. After landing with hung weapons and/or forward-firing weapons, the aircraft is normally safed after taxiing clear of the landing area. However, at the discretion of the air officer, it may be safed in the landing area. Aircraft returning with unexpended weapons should be safed according to normal procedures. Q1. Q2. Q3. Q4. Q5. REVIEW NUMBER 1 If you want to find information on aircraft ordnance and ordnance accessories, you should refer to . To what authority should you submit a change to or request a deviation from a NATOPS flight or tactical manual? What command resolves conflicts between weapons/stores loading manuals and other publications? NATOPS manuals are issued by the . At sea, the responsibility for dearming forward-firing ordnance belongs to the . BOMB LOADING AND UNLOADING PROCEDURES LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the procedures used to load and unload bombs, As an AO, you will load ammunition on many different models of aircraft. However, the general loading and unloading procedures for most aircraft are similar. The procedures contained in this chapter don’t cover every step of weapon preparation and loading. These procedures will give you basic information about representative types of ordnance that you might load in an operating squadron. The aircraft loading and unloading procedures covered in this section are general, and they are limited to aircraft bombs. When loading practice bombs, you should handle them just like live ordnance, and you must use the appropriate checklist. Before loading bombs onto an aircraft, you must prepare and inspect the aircraft. Step-by-step procedures must be carefully followed. These procedures are found in the applicable manuals. AIRCRAFT PREPARATION AND INSPECTION The first step you should take when loading bombs onto parent racks and improved multiple ejector racks/improved triple ejector racks (IMERS/ITERS) is to make sure that the preloading release and control checks have been performed. Then make sure the aircraft is in the rearming area, and stations you are to load are accessible. You need to make sure that the aircraft is properly grounded. NOTE: Electrical power may be applied to the aircraft during loading/unloading evolutions, but power is to be held to a minimum. The step “if applicable, power removed may be omitted when operational requirements dictate that a power requirement is necessary. However, unless a step procedure in the checklist calls for power, don’t energize the armament circuits. Remove power from the aircraft if the step “power removed” is not preceded by “if applicable.” If applicable, make sure that electrical power is removed from the aircraft. Also, make sure the aircraft is properly grounded. Ground the aircraft by using an authorized ground cable (fig. 14-1) connected to a Figure 14-1.—Typical aircraft ground strap. 14-7