Is this true? Unofficial retirement ceremony for AF pilots.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I read this:

 

Most retiring pilots are usually greeted with a traditional good hosing down by the base fire department when they climb down from their jet on their last flight.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

Army aviation - Champagne flight

 

Imis

[Chief Rick]

Navy also has a variation of this. 

[Sedalia Dave]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I read this:

 

Most retiring pilots are usually greeted with a traditional good hosing down by the base fire department when they climb down from their jet on their last flight.

 

Both Air Force and Navy do this.

[Roger Ball]

Can't speak for the USAF, but something similar exists in the USMC (and USN to my knowledge). With a prior request from the squadron, senior aviators will sometimes get a water arch to taxi through. The local crash crew parks a couple trucks on the line facing each other, and fires the water cannons to create an arch. Once the pilot gets out, pressurized water spray bottles are used to douse them (in the resource-scarce USMC, we routinely just fill buckets and dump them on the person...). Some folks even pull the cords and inflate the flotation device on their flight gear.

 

We spray down anyone leaving the squadron at all, though the water arch is reserved for senior members.

[Sedalia Dave]

I seem to remember the Water Cannon salute being given to a retiring commercial pilot.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

There is a YouTube video of a Lufthansa a380 pilot leaving SFO for the last time giving them a wing wave.

[Phantom Falcon, SASS # 46139]

I was "hosed down" by the Crash Crew after my last F4 flight. When I retired from Continental I was awarded the Water Cannon Arch and Salute on my return to Houston Intercontinental.

 

PF