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This. Not too long ago, several bros and I were sitting on the back porch with some drinks, talking about how some dude had recently porked something away to the point of *almost* killing himself and being lucky to have walked away with nothing more than having to be the "guest speaker" at a safety briefing. Later that night, my wife mentioned that she was glad to know I was a better pilot, who didn't make those mistakes. Dudes who have seen me fly would laugh, but she doesn't know any better, and was no shit serious. It got me thinking (dangerous... especially after back porch drinking)... It's different with dudes you actually know, but when some faceless dude packs it in, it's easier to assume that it wouldn't have happened to me... that I would have had the SA to save the day and walk away. It's a coping mechanism that distances the rest of us from their fate. It makes it less of a hazard of the occupation, and more of a hazard of "that dude" and his stupidity. I've done plenty of bone-headed things, in my own and Uncle Sam's airplanes. Sometimes, it's just circumstance that differentiates small mistakes from big ones. Tomorrow, I'll wake up, zip it up, and go do what I love to do; but tonight, I'll toast to dudes who are no longer able to do the same. Cheers, BUSTED

I still want a permanent indoor GCS on the top floor of One World Trade Center in NYC tasked with smoking bad guys 24/7. NYC is already the city that never sleeps, let's make sure terrorists don't ever get to sleep either.

Then they should be crushed accordingly. It's a failure of the system if those types graduate with that attitude. And the instructors should be held accountable.

Sorry guys, but as a GA dude, I'm not leaving advisory until I'm damn sure I'm clear of everyone, and nobody on this forum knows what else was going on at MKS that day. The odds of me hitting another spam can trying to enter the pattern is much greater than getting drilled by a viper miles out at 1500 being vectored for an approach. Sometimes there is no fault or explanation; Fate is the Hunter. Hug your loved ones tonight, and drink a beer for two people who were likely very competent and passionate aviation dudes.

Go helos...avoid RPA's. Sounds like a pretty good slogan! ...oh, and more importantly, helicopters are bad ass!

Actually, a mix of 500lb mk82s (the thinner ones) off the wing pylons, and 750lb mk117s (the fatter ones) out of the D-model's "big belly". They made a heck of a mess when they hit, especially if they came from a three ship, strung out beside each other about 400m apart and extending over a mile (roughly a 600-700m x 1200m rectangle). Occasionally they'd ask for BDA and I'd go down to look. The "assessment" was usually something like "On target...half mile by a mile of tree splinters and mud." Of course, they never told us what the target actually was, so the only accurate part was the tree splinters and mud. Due to my stupidity (turned Guard off earlier and forgot to turn it back on), I flew right through the bomb train once over Laos (in my OV-10) and "rode the surf" at about 5,000 AGL. Impressive!!

This all sucks. These dudes should just have to sign an 18X ADSC; if they take a manned jet for a 2nd assignment then they could serve out the original UPT commitment.

Leave and never look back. Offering continuation is a win-win for the AF. They either get you to stay or they get your separation pay. It's fucking extortion.

Political moves paid for by airmen and their families see why RPAs are at such great places like Cannon. You could put RPAs anywhere, hell, maybe Hawaii, Florida and Italy to actually have people working daytime shifts to cover vuls vs the current shitshow. RPAs are in the suck because in reality, nobody except the dudes who fly them and the people who get their feed care 2 sh-ts about them. A few smart people could solve this problem ASAP for a few resources diverted from new F-35 facilities and a cancelled TSP or two. Unfortunately our leadership is still fighting the Cold War Mig err Sukoi hoard and prepping for Cold War 2 with China rather than caring about these lowly issues.

I'm a controller at a fighter base and I fly recreationally. I wish every GA pilot could spend a day watching the scopes. It would be a really eye-opening experience and further justification to study your frequented airspace beyond just a glance at a sectional. x2 on the not needin further regulation, but perhaps a shift in culture. We have light a/c skirt the edges of our Delta through the FAF at g/s intercept altitude multiple times daily without flight following.

The nautical part of aeronautical... "The Eagle was built by the Nazis and fought for Hitler in World War Two - so how did a tall ship that once flew the swastika end up as a training vessel for new US Coast Guard cadets?" https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33543706

Well, since Michael Bay is directing I'm sure it will be historically accurate and tastefully done.

Not worried about them, they're just playing radical revolutionary while in college before they move on to their upper middle class life via family connections and most likely the accidental privilege afforded by their birth, they are annoying and obnoxious but they themselves are not harmful, it's the bullshit they spew out to people born into horrible circumstances and grow up and are pissed for a variety of reasons, some valid but most not, at "the system", that concerns me. They infantilize them, tell them lies, half-truths and propaganda to make them angry, jealous, aggrieved and distracted from actually doing something about their own lives. The West or America is not being destroyed from outside but inside, these are the cancers eating away at us.

Ya, T-1 bros find out weeks before the drop what aircraft will be dropping across the UPT bases. If a dude is number last of 20 in his class and hasn't mentally prepared for the possibility of getting one of the RPAs in his drop then that's on him. Oh btw, -38 bros don't know jack about the aircraft that are dropping until they see it pop up on the screen when it's their turn. I thought the OG standing up before the drop and saying that two studs were getting RPAs with a signed guarantee of a manned follow on was a good way to handle it. The icing on the cake was encouraging the crowd to cheer extra loud for them when they got their drop and then buy them a drink after. With two weeks notice and the speech from the OG before the drop idk how else you think it could have been handled better. Maybe there should be a box of tissues on stage and we should have their mom's on standby to coddle them. There's no crying in baseball!