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I thought the F-4 was pretty cool when I flew it in the Seventies. Baumholder AAR track in Germany at 230 kts:

They are called missles, not hittles

I think one of the best periods would have been Korean War - F-86. Gun only jets with a willing adversary who came up and tangled on a pretty regular basis and lots of Aces. Fighter pilot heaven.

We are checking our backup server located in a bathroom in Chinatown.

I’m not an Academy grad but what “if” the academy became a place that groomed pilots. I’m talking 69%+ get an aviation sciences major, full up flight education like an Embry riddle flight program for the military. Why are we giving free education to history majors who want to be finance officers?

Lotsa hate from these boyos...

Last I heard they’re making it color (current -46 system is in b&w). Nothing will replace being able to see the receiver with your own MKI. All the -135 needed was a system to wipe off the hydro fluid, anti-ice, de-ice fluid inflight and it would’ve been fine. Boeing sucks. They hired Rat for Christ’s sake.

Already sold out!

Springer, she sure is cocked up at that speed. Can’t imagine she liked a 1C fight very much, but I bet it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Two years ago...

Gotta test that too.

FBI is investigating, but they won’t find anything, so someone will get charged with lying in hopes that they can flush a quail or two.

If Top Gun 2 generated buzz, then, of course, another in the genre will too... 12 O'clock Nigh Scene 1: Delta FO Harry Stovall, having parked his 787 at Heathrow, kills part of his 20 hour layover with a stroll down some shop streets near The City in London. Suddenly, he spots a model of an F-15C in the window in a junk shop...cue harp music and wavy focus camera... Scene 2: Then Captain Harry "Burner" Stovall is the reluctant wing exec and is slaving away at his desk awaiting the arrival of the new wing king after the previous one had been fired for boning SSgt Yummy Britches in the staff car. The door bangs open and in walks Col Frank Savage, fresh off his Air Staff tour (prior to that he'd flown the Eagle for one tour at Eglin, then had a career of exec/school/exec/school/command, to the Air Staff and now here at RAF Archbury). Stovall stands up to acknowledge the O-6. Who immediately berates Stovall for having the fun meter morale patch, his flight cap visible in his leg pocket, and his zipper slightly below his name tag. "Captain, I want to see the personnel folders of every pilot in this wing immediately." Scene 3: That evening in the Club bar, Stovall is at the bar trying to not badmouth the new commander as the bros gather 'round looking for gouge. When in bursts Savage himself, proclaiming "This bar is closed. All pilots will muster in the wing auditorium at 0700 tomorrow morning." The crowd files out grumbling unintelligibly... Scene 4: The next morning, at 0700, the auditorium is called to attention and in strides Savage, his Chief, and Stovall. Savage ascends the stage, dramatically pulls the cord to the curtain covering the big board, to reveal...The Plan "Gentlemen, effective immediately, every single one of you will reset your clock on all the ancillary CBTs the Air Force and DoD have mandated. You will complete this no later than a week from today. I will not tolerate sloppy uniforms or sloppy green dots." Raising his hand the OG asks, "Sir, that will take nearly 70 hours even if we group take all the on-line tests and the like. We are supposed to deploy for the Baltic Ops mission next week and had some LFEs scheduled with the Brits over the Wash." "Col Cobb, if I want your opinion, I will give it to you. That's all, gentlemen. Dismissed." Scene 5: A week later: "Stovall, why am I seeing all these 7-day opts?" "Dunno, sir. Here's mine..."

Moose, the weapon in question is DA/SA and the defense argued that it was stolen while in SA mode and the light trigger pull of 4.4 lbs contributed to the gun “accidentally discharging.” Anytime the trigger is squeezed, it is no longer an accident and becomes negligence in my opinion, but many folks still consider it an accident if they squeeze the trigger and something they don’t like happens. NS— firearms definitely do not regularly discharge accidentally. Mechanical failures causing a discharge are extremely rare, but you might be of the camp who considers it an accident if you squeeze the trigger and recive an unintended outcome. My general take on this trial is that we don’t know what evidence the jury heard to reach their outcome. However, that so many liberals I know are pleased this guy escaped a murder conviction has forever turned me off to their opinions on gun control. Here we have a multiple time felon, illegal immigrant, with a stolen police weapon who kills an innocent person with the stolen weapon. If one cannot support a criminal conviction in this instance, we have a philosophical disagreement that can never be bridged and nothing left to talk about regarding gun control.

I hear there will be some available soon in Tucson.

Unfounded theory with no actual evidence: The efforts to turn enlisted dudes into pilots is a power grab by Chiefs. They will finally have control over actual Air Force operations by controlling the careers of the operators. They want the AF to look like the Army - crusty Senior NCOs calling the shots while mentoring/scoffing at inexperienced officer leadership. How I know this: the proposed solutions aren't effects-based, they're based on enlisted guys wanting to sit at the cool kids table. Enlisted pilots solve nothing. They won't hang around longer than better-paid officer pilots. They don't solve Delta's production problem (airlines want 4-year college grads anyway). Most importantly, they don't provide the decentralized decison-making ability/authority that we need in complex NKE-thrashed environments.

I mean, firearms accidentally discharge regularly. Not saying that’s necssarrily what happened here, but no one but Zarate really knows. The fact that the single bullet richoched off the ground before it struck Steinle to me makes a much stronger case for involuntary manslaughter than first degree murder. Then again I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express law school so take that for what it’s worth. I agree with you generally that the way the state and city handled his detention (or lack there of) immediately before the shooting was poor. I’m a fan of sane, just national policies in a lot of cases and immigration fits that bill to me. We’re one nation, we need one smart policy that applied everywhere. That being said, there’s an inherent tension in both parties where they don’t want the feds dictating policy on some things (immigration enforcement and marijuana on the left for instance, school prayer and abortion and many other issues on the right), yet they want the feds to impose their preferred policies on those who they disagree with. Just as long as we’re all honest about that duality these are policies that should be widely discussed and debated.