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Huggy. I've spent the last 7.5 years deliberating and waiting for life to slow down so I can build my RV-7. I waited so long that eventually the -14 was introduced and I was quickly sold on it. When my profit sharing check showed up a couple of months ago, my wife told me to buy the dam tail kit already (she's a keeper!); guess she got tired of my constant yapping about it. I went to the Vans factory last month as well and got the full tour and RV-14A flight. Having flown in -6, -7, -8, and now the -14, I have a decent ability to compare them. Of course, I am now building the -14 so I am a little biased. The best way to think about the -14 is "2 seat RV-10 capable of gentlemans aero, and builds more like a -12." It is by far the best to sit in for room/comfort and has great visibility with the lowered longerons (-8 would be close). It's very light and nimble but also very well balanced. The -10 airfoil used was a great choice (just shorter span) for cross country or IFR. Also, the usable load is insane. You can almost always take full fuel and load- literally two hop across the country if you can sit for that long. Usable load for aero is great as well, especially compared to -6/-4. It's a hot rod like any RV. The throaty -390 lifts the -14 off the ground as fast as you can gently apply full power. I swear within seconds of leveling off at 2500 we were already doing 150+. My plan is to fly with Mrs. Wonderful Wifey all over the country and then beyond. She would absolutely appreciate the difference between the -7 and -14A. I also want to be able to introduce people to basic aero (loops, rolls, Cuban-8's, etc). If you're thinking about the -14 you will not be disappointed. The quality of the kit components and instructions are incredible. My hold up will be waiting for money as opposed to time. As my project gets underway, you're more than welcome to come visit. I'm up the road in Truckee. Cheers! (Pic of -14 and -14A)

By not doing it you tell your O-5 board to pass you over please.

Alright Buckley Hopeful/Hopeful/Business is gone. I appreciate those of you who contacted me. I will do my best to keep up with this, but I rarely view this part of the forum. Just let me know if something needs cleaning up.

Unfortunately I think you are wrong this time. The verbiage in the draft that someone posted on Facebook looks the same as last year. What it means is for contract expired folks, you can sign a second contract to either 22, 23, or 24 YAS but it must be a 3-year minimum. So if you are at 20 YAS, you’d have to sign until 23 YAS. I’d love to be able to sign another bonus contract for 3 years only, but sadly I don’t think that will happen. That being said, the draft I saw also had verbiage that lumped the 1-yr contract in with the initial eligible folks and then explained their options So I don’t think they won your guys will get screwed. Just got a wait until it’s actually released since they like to make last-minute changes.

This is what is RIGHT with the Air Force, they get it correct sometimes, and this time, they got it so right it will give you chills. Kuddos to Luke AFB.

Bro. That was over a year ago... Dafuq u been?

Dafuq you say?

Was there anything new in the presentation? Everything I've seen in open source reporting is we already knew this information, whether Iran admitted to it or not, and this was all prior to the agreement. Since then they are meeting every requirement in the deal. So use the size 3500 font and simple 3 word sentences (gee I wonder who they are writing that for) all you want, it doesn't add anything significant to the discussion.

I hear your points here, but #1 is immensely overshadowed by #3. We did return frozen assets, but they pale in comparison to the money they're making by selling oil. I didn't love the optics of literally shipping they money, but that was a relatively small concession as part of the overall deal. #2 is like saying that the deal didn't stop Iran from making peanut butter sandwiches. I mean, that's true, but that's not what the deal was about! The deal was about stopping them from making nuclear weapons, not limiting their ballistic missile programs. If we are able to negotiate limits to their ballistic missile programs under the current administration, that would be great & we should try. Not that you don't already know this, but #3 isn't a bug, it's a feature. This was the big concession that Iran wanted in order to make the rest of the deal palatable to them. Kindergarten explanation: stop nuke development and allow IAEA inspections, and we'll let you sell oil again. If we don't give them #3 we have no deal and this is all moot, so I'm not sure how you could have possibly negotiated otherwise. Isn't the whole purpose of diplomacy w/ hostile countries working toward a return to normal, peaceful relations? This deal was a step in that direction...we can't expect for them to agree to IAEA inspections while still living under a harsh sanctions regime if those were the two primary things being discussed. Lifting the sanctions was our leverage, it was the thing that they wanted that bought us the things we wanted. I could see arguing that it wasn't worth it, that we didn't negotiate well and what we gave up was more than what we got; if so then cool, understood. I will throw my hat in with Mattis and say it's an imperfect arms control agreement that could be improved but overall all sides seem to be complying with its terms. So if I'm paraphrasing you correctly, you'd like to go back to pre-JCPOA sanctions and give that some more time for an internal revolution against the mullahs? What's the plan if/when they start working toward a bomb again with no inspections? Are we confident we can detect all such activity and calculate their breakout time with any precision relying solely on intel penetrating their operations? To me it just seems like a setup for war, and given the past comments from high-ranking admin officials (especially Pompeo & Bolton) it seems like that's maybe their objective in the first place.

The deal was horrid for several reasons, most not obvious because we are focused on stopping their ability to enrich uranium. Lets assume Bibi is wrong and go with the recent Sec Mattis assessment that they appear to be abiding by the deal and have stopped enrichment...We all win, Nobel prize to Obama and Kerry right...wrong. Peal back the onion, put away the talking points and look at what is really going on. #1. We unloaded pallets of money, BILLIONS of dollars that the Iranians immediately funneled to DPRK, instead of funding programs to improve life for the average Iranian. #2. Iran is still free to advance its ballistic missile systems, AND THEY ARE. #3. Perhaps the biggest impact (and least reported), part of the deal was allowing Iran to sell oil on the open market. They are currently selling over 1 Million barrels a day which equates to $35 Billion a month, much of it being funneled into nefarious programs. Over the remainder of this deal Iran will stockpile billions and billions of dollars and have a very mature missile program that will be ready to receive weapons when the clock runs out in seven years. I seriously doubt Israel will wait until the deal expires to take action. If I were king for a day I would decertify the deal and negotiate from a position of strength while we still have the advantage. Snap back sanctions would be the first line of defense and would focus on their ability to sell oil. Most folks people are focused on the leadership but a closer examination of the internal situation would show a LOT of instability from the general populous. Most Iranians are not evil people and they don't want war. It is of course the extremists that control the country, but their grip is slipping as of late. I don't know if the NK approach will work with Iran, but given the internal situation in Iran, they is an opportunity to break the status quo. If we don't, in seven years will be facing an epically more difficult situation...if Bibi and the lads let it go that long. Don't forget, for us Iran is a threat to the region and while the missile program may eventually threaten America, for Israel this is a matter of survival and the Israelis have been known to take drastic action when their survival was at stake.

Thanks Duck.

I think you have the resume to get you an interview at most units, fighters included. From what I have read here and from my experience with two Guard interviews, I can tell you the process is pretty subjective after you land the interview. Sometimes you mesh well with units sometimes you just don't. My advice, you have about 2 solid years worth of applications so I would focus on the units you really want to get hired at first and then as you're approaching the time you would need an age waiver, start casting your net out as far as possible. Getting a waiver can vary depending on the unit so I wouldn't take that risk, just get hired before you will need one.

Made me think of the "Balad Light Show" the tower used to put on for us upon request after landing at night. Definitely boosted my morale.

I had a crew chief run out last week to taxi us wearing one of those inflatable dinasour costumes, myself and the crew about lost it, it was hilarious, good for morale, I was deeply sadden about .69 seconds after I saw him and the second thought in my head was “my god, please don’t let anything bad happen happen on this flight and the tapes get pulled” with this puppet incident in the back of my head. The AF has done a fine job of making us to afraid to have fun.

And this happened in the Guard gentlemen. Put in other words: the USAF is fucked.

You missed the joke

That story was right before the parable of the “inop sarcasm detector”. Believe it is located in the gospel of John (Boyd) 6:9.

You’re a legacy. Use your legacy connections to find out?

Fuck off already.

Just took 20 seconds and looked up your post history, and determined that was a lie. You even changed your name

Anyone know if our favorite Buckley applicant got the call?

Hey bros. Kind of off topic but when I was looking for a slot, I would cruise this board to see who I was going to send my packet off to next. I got a lot of "thanks but no thanks" and it was discouraging. I know of a buddy who found himself in the same situation and eventually gave up on the dream. I sent packets to numerous units. I interviewed at four units before I got picked up. I also know of a dude, who's now in my class, that interviewed 11 times before getting picked up. Long story short, people who want this enough get picked up. Keep at it and keep plugging away. I'm currently BFM'ing my face off in B-course for the Viper and it's the best job I've ever had. Keep applying and keep pursuing this career! I've gotten so much from this board/site and I want to give back as much as I can. Please feel free to PM me for anything! As was once said to me, "Make them tell you no".