Leaderboard

who cares about a vector when my blues haven't been worn in months...

As another "pilot hopeful," I should probably just sit back and shut up, but I can't help myself... Above is what would've likely been a better response...

BKIH

It's hard to type while standing in front of congress holding a cane and tophat.

If you are set on the requirements that you listed, then active duty probably isn't for you. Ask about Guard or Reserve...I don't know much about them. Just a data point: I'm a CE officer. We move every 2-3 years. Deployments have been about 7 months out of every year, but that is improving rapidly with the drawdown. We were told to expect 6 months down range out of every 18-24 months once the drawdown is complete. My advice: worry about being 35 when you are 35. Family is awesome, but don't waste your life just waiting around for it to happen.

I was also there & recall some growing pains when -130s first showed up. Things ended up being fine, but there were a few months of pain for airlift guys.

And put hundreds of young women through college.

Quibbling. You came here with a shitbag attitude, didn't like the answers you got and the butthurt flowed forth. You claim you were only going defensive? Choke yourself.

If you really wanted to be a pilot you wouldn't bring up any of this whining bullshit....don't attempt to jepoardize the brotherhood by diluting the gene pool. That's too bad! In my aviation career, I made all 4 of my weddings!

No, that wasn't a problem with him (and everyone with the same gear had the same issue; hence SPINS dictating a certain altitude associated with that system). He actually published a NOTAM at ORBD that all C130 departure and arrivals would be filmed by a camera crew because he thought we flew too low and didn't approve of us banking past 30 degrees. Didn't believe our patch who explained to him what we were doing and how we were trained & couldnt understand why a 105k H3 flew a different departure than a 155k E. Each day he would review any departures his E9 (tape monitor) thought were too 'tactical' involving speeds, altitudes or bank angles he was uncomfortable with and would subsequently chew out the crew. I have first hand experience with this process... But no hard feelings.

This thread is already not what I thought it was going to be about. Edit: thread title changed. It used to be something about "intimacy with pilots". Now I'm double disappointed.

Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc has been nominated for his fourth star and to become the next commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa. https://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20130604/CAREERS03/306040037/Gorenc-nominated-next-USAFE-commander

Have any of you ever gone through sim training in the major airlines?

This was awesome! Made me laugh out loud.

Who talks like this? What is a 'cleeding bunt'? I probably have the most 'family friendly' assignment that you can get as a pilot, but I still spend at least one weekend away from home a month on average, and miss dinner a few days out of the week. Every once and a while, there are a few days where I don't see my 3 year old because she's asleep when I go to work and asleep when I get home. And I have it extremely easy, comparatively. If there's a stable family environment to be had as a pilot, it's as a UPT IP. However, I still find that I work more, and spend more time away from home than most of my bros on the civilian side. You came here looking for answers, and you got them. I'd suggest you stop attempting to call out guys that have deployed downrange multiple times, missed out on birthdays, anniversaries, dance recitals and soccer games, and maybe had a marriage fail because of that. They have volunteered and participated in a series of conflicts that most citizens have forgotten or don't care about anymore. These same citizens are able to go about their daily routines with their families without fear of real danger from terrorist assholes that the 'cleeding blunts', as you call them, have had a direct or supporting role in killing or capturing with extreme prejudice. If you do get a pilot's slot to go to UPT, I hope you change your attitude. Since it's becoming increasingly hard to wash students out because they are douchebags, you'll probably pass UPT. Once you get to an operational squadron, you'll be one of the guys that works as little as possible so you can spend more time with your family. But when that happens, you'll just pass your work on to another squadron member that probably has a family, too. Most likely, that guy will spend the extra hour at work to do YOUR job, and spend less time with his family. I see this cycle happen all the time in my squadron, and like I said, I haven't done 1/1000th of what most posters on the board have done. Also, the name ArtOfWar is incredibly toolish. If you continue posting, I suggest you get something like MaleNestingInstict.

Much more accurate. Seriously dude? Open your fucking ears and close your man pleaser. No one is saying you or anyone else is crazy for wanting a family. I've been happily married for close to a decade. I literally have 2.5 kids and a cocker spaniel. What people are saying is stop trying to plan your life 17 years from now when you obviously don't have the next 2 figured out. You want to be a pilot and have a family? Here is a list of shit you haven't done yet: 1 - Get accepted into an commissioning program 2 - Do well enough in a commissioning program to be rewarded with a pilot slot 3 - Medically qualify for a pilot slot 4 - Attend and complete IFS 5 - Attend and copmplete UPT 6 - Attend and complete a FTU 7 - Make it through a 10 year flying career without being medically DQ'd, force shaped, or killed And that's just for the Air Force. I hope your attitude here is just an internet tough-guy thing. If you seriously can't handle criticism or being mocked you are looking into the wrong career field. I can assure you your time in the pilot community will be short and embarrassing - like your pecker. If you have the desire and motivation to make your dreams happen, and you can shut your mouth and open your ears long enough to learn from those that haven been doing this since you were watching teletubbies, you'll be able to make the family situation happen.

Valid points and I understand the new guy mentality and don't blame them--- I blame their bosses and a system incapable of picking the right bosses. Like I said: combat success/failure is not connected to career success/failure. If that could be fixed a lot of the rest would work itself out naturally. And yes, most communities are insulated from the ground user. But realize you can pick up a phone anytime and call them post mission just to ask "how could we improve?" Not doing that is on you, not your leadership and is part of that whole assertiveness thing I was talking about. I can blame bosses and systems all day long but ultimately you must ask what you have the power to fix, and focus efforts accordingly. I can't fix the system. I can teach a new AC to pick up the phone, call the user and harness that innate desire to excel that got you into a rated slot to start with.

The problem isn't in identifying who falls above/below your "red line." The problem is in the criteria that defines the line.

I predict the first half of the book is about BUDS. Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

The blue force is strong with this one.

FIFY, but no. When it's 110* and your flying an E model -130 near max GW, even at sea level you climb out barely over 1,000 FPM. Most guys practiced the technique of accelerating to above cornering velocity while still in ground effect because Balad, like all the airfields in Iraq, had a 2 mile long runway and no terrain in sight. Getting as much smash as possible allowed you to raise the nose higher than normal and get above the small arms WEZ ASAP, then slow to best climb, cornering, or whatever made sense. This was taught at the school house and everyone I knew who flew E models did this. Apparently there was a Eagle O-6 at Balad who saw this and didn't like it. I was never stationed at Balad and don't know the name of said O-6, so I'll confess that the threat to Q3 guys is based on widely reported rumor from many different sources. But you only have to hear that Richard Gear with a hamster story so many times before you give it some credibility.

Then you don't know anything about the military in general, and pilots in particular. If you want to ask a bunch of pilots what they think about your specific life choices with your fat wife, 2.5 kids, white picket fence and a golden retriever, be prepared to be addressed as a clueless college kid who is probably spending too much time in the library and not enough drinking shitty beer and chasing tail. But thanks for letting us know you are an oversensitive douchebag on your second post. You could have just as easily walked down to your ROTC detachment and asked them these same questions. Since they probably are looking for people they would have spared your sensitive ego the sarcastic and patronizing comments. Good luck.

A good experiment would be to put the RPA pipeline graduates into a T-6 and see if their 50-60 hours of T-6 sim time actually taught them how to fly.

It’s possible, but you will probably need some sort of restraint….maybe duck tape or a burlap sack?

The young guys need to be aware of what the ADSC means. For the aspiring pilots: It is not an agreement that the AF will let you fly for 10 years. Nowadays, it prevents people from punching when faced with a 365 non-flying job, UAV, etc. Who knows how the AF's "creative" force management techniques will utilize that ADSC in the years ahead. I will finish my ADSC in 2 years and it will take me to 16.5 years of service. I already know that I will not take a bonus even though I will be so close to retirement because I have seen the ugly reality of having an ADSC. I would have to have a written guarantee that I would be flying household goods around the Pacific/Carribean or I could punch in order to sign another ADSC at this point.

There's a research lab at Wright-Patt that probably has plenty of info. I'll see if I can get some contact info for you. I know when we were up there the controllers got a lot out of being able to control our simulator missions. I imagine having them control computer driven aircraft would not be nearly as helpful.

If I pay off 100,000 of my pilot training costs a year, why can't I get that 100,000/year as a bonus when I'm done paying off my pilot training commitment?

If you can't do something smart or effective, do something visible.

I have personally endured something similar. Was married to a woman who got diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder...it was nuts, she would make stuff up and accuse me of cheating, stealing from her mom, keeping tabs on her (yes, she heard an airplane fly over the Walmart she was in and when I got home later that day, I was accused of following her) and much more. 8 months later, I was filing for divorce...but before that was finished, she went through my phone and saw I had texted my female cousin where I had congratulated her on getting a scholarship...and my ex proceeded to punch me in the face 3-4 times. I had the cuts and bruises, but later she threatened to call the police and claim I had abused HER. After talking to a friend in the legal business, he told me at best, I'd be sent to jail, tried and hopefully all that would come out in the trial and I'd be set free...or not. Luckily, she must've taken her meds later and acted like she never threatened that at all. But I shudder to think if she had said "he sexually assaulted me and grabbed me...his face is bruised because I gave him what he deserved". She tried to get my CC involved during the divorce, but after I showed him stuff that proved she was lying about things, he refused to take her calls. I guess because of that episode in my life, I'm a lot more careful about throwing around the "guilty!" phrase. Also, keep in mind, any "evidence" that you have seen up to this point is stuff that the prosecution is putting out there. It's at trial where the evidence will be examined and be found to be true or not...plus I'm sure the defense will have evidence of their own. After dealing with divorces, and discussing the situation I was in and reading about our justice system in general, I'm pretty convinced that many prosecutions are less worried about justice and more worried about "winning" and scoring another win for their record. That's how many criminal attorneys are graded these days...simply on their win-loss record. If they drop the charges, it's often seen as a loss for them. We have a lot of guilty people in jail, but don't kid yourself: we have a significant number of not-guilty people in jail as well.

Last friday, I got the opportunity to fly in the Good Year blimp. After a long discussion about dirigible technology and how to pick up chicks at bars, the pilot exclaimed "So you guys are the reason people keep constantly asking me if the airship gets folded!" It turns out they really do fly it at 35 mph indicated when they take it cross-country.