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Flash was on my combat team at Creech several years ago, we were named together. He was always kind of a goofball, but I would have never expected something like this. I can definitely say I’m glad I wasn’t young and single when I was sent to Vegas to kill people for a living, who knows how I would have handled it. Whether he actually did what he was convicted of or not, his life definitely took a dark turn the past few years. I’m shocked to say the least. He walked into his naming stripped down and wearing a toga, Roman helmet, and carrying the Spartan shield and spear. It was pretty hilarious. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure. Plenty of ways to get an AD retirement. Some, like going to ACSC in Montgomery, aren’t at all appealing. Sounds like it worked out for JS. I’m guessing the proximity to his/her family and the lack of moving made it palatable.

If it is necessary to get to a military retirement... especially one where you don’t have to wait until 60 years old to collect... I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it. I find my retirement to be very valuable

This seems appropriate here... We're definitely off scale high.

Short answer: it's a cluster. There's nothing cheap about aviation, add in that parts are one off and don't benefit from economies of scale and that $200,000 system is now an $800,000 system to manufacture. Oh, the FAA iterated requirements? Do it again. It failed a half million dollar test? Do it again. Safety analysis says it's no good? Do it again. Customer changed their mind? Do it again. Why didn't Boeing redo the system safety assessment after the MCAS change? That report alone likely cost millions to write. That sounds insane? Well that report is fed by hundreds of other reports, each fed by a few to several dozen other reports, each taking anywhere from 10 to 1000 man hours to write, all written by specialist engineers (like myself) all making $40-$100 an hour. That's just for the writing and analysis. A fire test on a relatively small part can cost upwards of $100k. Just the cowling, thrust reverser, and some of the tubing around the engines of the new G500 cost over a quarter billion.

I turned down IDE in residence in order to separate from AD a few years ago... I can’t imagine taking the pay and QoL cut necessary to drop mil leave, move my family to cesspool Montgomery, AL for a year, and attend a fake indoctrination school after a couple years at my airline job. It would be a serious decline in both compensation and time off. Was it difficult to take the program seriously?

I don’t doubt that things suck now ... but it didn’t used to suck (as much). I’ve seen and participated an many wonderful bar shenanigans. Sometimes the bosses stuck around and did shots off the strippers. Sometimes there was punchy-face. Sometimes they left early for plausible deniability. Sometimes the shenanigans were at their houses. But there were always shenanigans.

A lot of guys are doing this now. The guys I know that work at the mil desks for the airlines think this is the min-run scenario to keep you off the bad-boy list. Getting off probation fully is the brass ring, but getting through consolidation is where most places won't give you the hairy eye-ball. To me that makes no sense at all - if you are out more than a couple of months you have to go back through training. They say training takes 2 years of flying the line to recoup the cost. Not sure why they would "like it" for people to come out for 100 hours then bounce. Oh well, just another thing I don't understand about the airline. FWIW, I did the full year - got off probation in about 8 months (@ DAL it's 400 hours of flying or 1 year on the line). I wanted to be off of probation but I also wanted to know if I'd hate it or not. That way I'd have 5 years of leave to find something better. I ended up not hating it at all. I retire this fall and can't wait to go back.

Ex-AD, ANG Nav (ECs -> ACs -> slicks) looking to X-train to Pilot with same unit. 37 yo O-4, 12 years TFSC, needed ETP approved by NGB/A1 and AF/A1P. Have PPL. Board: March 2018 <- canxed, pilots overmanned Board: April 2019 Hired, pending ETP approval: April 2019 FC1 Scheduled: May 2019 FC1: July 2019 (soonest available after finishing IN school) ETP submitted: July 2019 FC1 stamped, ETP updated: August 2019 ETP approved: 26 December 2019 UPT: ??

Their arguments are based on emotion so it’s fairly easy to get them turned around, usually pisses them off when they figure it out. I then usually get attacked for being a white male, it’s fun throwing out a #metoo when they do. Anyone else see the irony in poundmetoo?

It rips me apart to post this, Matmacwc flew west peacefully Christmas morning after a long fight with cancer. He bravely fought it to the end. He was truly a good man and a great fighter pilot. If your inclined to pray please pass a few on to his family. Nickle on the grass my friend. 🍺