Leaderboard

You're not going to like what I have to tell you, but if you take it to heart, it will help you in the future. Your attitude is 100% the opposite of what it should be. You need to debrief yourself on why you came up short. I'm willing to show you how, but only you can take the steps required to make it count. I can guarantee that you will never, ever hear a CAF pilot say "why can't I catch a break?" in a debrief. If you ever hear a MAF pilot say that, punch him in the face and tell him to fix himself. Asking a question like that is a way of absolving yourself of ownership of the situation. You are the only one who can control your performance, which means that you need to figure out why you failed to reach your goal, strike your target, execute your airdrop, or get hired by a squadron. A good debrief is the most important part of any sortie. It's an opportunity to actually learn lessons, rather than just observe them, in order to be better next time. Doing that requires brutal honesty, and often requires admitting and owning your failures and shortcomings in front of your peers. You don't have to do that yet, since this is a personal exercise, but realize that if you're going to be a successful AF pilot, you should be the type of person who can put his ego on the shelf and take a good honest look at his performance, good and bad. Learning from a debrief usually starts with a question, called a DFP or debrief focus point. Your DFP is NOT "why can't I catch a break?". Instead, your DFP is really "why wasn't I good enough (in the eyes of the only people who matter, i.e. the ones hiring you) to land the job this time around?". That is the question that will drive your future actions and spur you to be better if you can fix it. Once you have your DFP, identify your contributing factors, or CFs. No one knows these better than you. What are your weak points? Maybe you stayed up too late drinking before the interview, or maybe your grades weren't very good in college. How much flight time do you have? Is it less than your peers who are also applying? Remember, the people you're competing against are shit hot, top-1%-of-Americans kind of people. If you have 45 hours and a PPL under your belt but they all have 200 hours and an instrument rating, then this could be a contributing factor to the overall outcome. I realize that you don't know everything about everyone else, but you know what the weaker areas of your application are. List out 3-4 of them, ideally ones that you can improve upon moving forward. Step three: identify a root cause. Usually, there's one CF that's more important than the others, which led directly or indirectly to the chain of events that caused mission failure. What is your biggest shortcoming? Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring board - what part of your application would cause you to look at other applicants rather than snatching yourself (sts) up right away? Usually in aviation, everything can be done better the next day. That might not be the case for you - your college GPA is probably pretty set in stone, for example. However, there are always things that can be done to improve your application and, more importantly, yourself. That leads straight to the fourth and final step: the fix. What can you do to improve your odds next time around? What concrete actions can you take to prevent that root cause from holding you back in the next interview? Map it out on a piece of paper and post it somewhere where you'll see it often. Use this framework anytime you fail and you'll find yourself succeeding more and more. No pilot has ever flown a perfect sortie, but the good ones work hard to get a little bit closer the next time around.

I have nothing constructive to add other than we're on page 69. Nice.

Just had my first interview this weekend, find out in a couple weeks. Wish me luck everybody! Congrats, that’s awesome!

Good email, hopefully see some from here out there next month!

A-10s at Fort Wayne are hiring. https://www.122fw.ang.af.mil/Portals/21/2019 163FS Application Annoucement.pdf?ver=2018-11-04-153644-340

Welp, this thread pretty much sums up being a helo driver in the AF. Fighter and heavy dudes giving their perceptions of dirty, low-life helicopter pilots, mixed with pictures of their personal fantasies. All while the actual 11Hs on BODN just STFU, drink cheep beer and chuckle. Yes PM me if have any more questions. Still driving helos here on AD. BTw, there's nothing like flying a helo.

Don't stress, bro. The board took my old ass, so you're probably just fine; especially if your squadron is behind you and makes a call up there (mine is awesome and pushed hard for me, which certainly helped).

no pun intended?

By swapping one gay pic for another? How does that help?

In regard to the statements made by mcbush, If you knew someone on the board, do you think it would be appropriate to ask them to look at your package to tell you why it didn't cut it for an interview? It would be awesome to get feedback directly from the people that make the ultimate decisions however I understand that there's a lot on their plate and why they wouldn't want to have to do this for everyone (or make the exception). I wouldn't want to make a bad impression even when rejected. Thanks

Troll. If you’re gonna waste everyone’s time, at least make it funny

Congratulations and good luck!!

You’re welcome. The board really looks at the whole person concept. I didn’t have the best scores or awesome LORs when I was selected unsponsored.

Thanks @Hopefulflyer389. I may be a bit of a difficult sell to big AF despite being sponsored. I'm not certain it's just a formality and my recruiter's not been the most communicative. I'm probably just overthinking.

I actually got that from work but word of advice: unless you are a F-15C pilot, don’t search for “helicopter gay” in google. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

The 163rd Fighter Squadron (A-10C) at Fort Wayne, IN has opened the application window effective immediately. All applications must be received NLT 28Feb19. Interviews will be conducted in early May 2019. See the below link for details. Ask any questions at upt.application@gmail.com. https://www.122fw.ang.af.mil/Portals/21/2019%20163FS%20Application%20Annoucement.pdf?ver=2018-11-04-153644-340 2019 163FS Application Annoucement.pdf

I guess you prefer the other one. Your choice. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Hopefully getting rid of that damn pic posted earlier. Tired of seeing it as the picture of the thread. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

So untrue.

FWIW, according to the AF Historian, in a 100% unclassified source, there were. Thanks to the anonymous tipper who pointed the way to that.

I respect helos, that being said, I’m a fighter guy so here ya go. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

For the CV-22, their ops tempo is very high. They’re great at certain things, not so much at others. Their SOF specific mission is very important, but it’s pretty different from the CAF 60’s. For the rescue side, there will be plenty of “sitting around waiting for the call”. I hope those dudes never have to do their jobs, but I will name my subsequent children after them if they after have to come pick me up. *Not a helo guy, just a big fan.

Not a helo guy, but will pass this piece of advice on: Don’t base your preferences on current downrange ops; by the time you get there it may be completely different. Set yourself up to train to a mission set you are excited about. You’ll likely get to execute it. (Except, we hope, for nukes.)

If ranting in front of a camera for a whole 3 minutes doesn't get your video down voted by the whole squadron, then I think it's time to start considering the youtube life as a viable means of being my main income stream.

You, son, have lots to learn.

Cancel IFR

Advise when ready to copy full route clearance

RF-4C 1. Ops tempo: Outstanding. Best kept secret. Basically a flying club. As a 1Lt it's your airplane with great responsibility; "All we ask is bring it back in one piece." Flying is mostly low level single ship to where ever YOU and your WSO decide to go that day. Not flying, review your film from previous day, do a tour in the RSU, perhaps a little studying in the vault, shelf check at the BX. TDY's and deployments minimal and considered a good deal. AAR training every couple of months. Night AAR is always scheduled with a full moon. If stationed in Germany always save a little fuel for the fur ball with whomever is trolling along the Rhine. 2. LIfestyle/family: Could not be better. Home every day by 5. No working weekends. If stationed in Germany most have a rental Swiss chalet for the winter skiing months. 3. Community morale: Excellent. Surprising amount of fellow pilots UPT DG's. Some turned down fighters to fly Recce. Everyone works and pulls together. 4. Advancement & Future of Airframe: Terrible, once Recce always Recce according to MPC although I managed a 4 yr OA-37 assignment to DM. (another flying club). NO future dedicated manned Recce airframes. 5. Preferred PCS locations: Zweibrucken, Alconbury, Bergstrom. Oh crap, just got up from a nap. Dreaming it was 1977 and not 2017! Sorry guys, you missed a great time in the AF. 10 years AD then off to a legacy airline.

I'm not sure what "valuable information" you're referring to. You should reread his comment history. Seriously.

Thanks! I asked my parents to buy that for me as an early Christmas present, lol.

My package is 17 pages. How big is your package?

Aw man, really? My AD recruiter wouldn't even let me submit a package because I was 28. This is infuriating to hear.

That’s Spicoli bro!

Yes. The bottle was under $50 its not that $300 blue label. Former members of Fresno squadron told me not to be "that guy" who doesn't bring something. Still was that guy, lol.