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He knew he was getting fired the moment he sent that letter. Which, IMO, makes him the kind of person you'd want to be in charge.

In all honesty, I rather not deal in specifics. You can PM me about those if you want. Open thread, the type-specific zealots just get all umbraged and religious about their certified airplanes and things quickly devolve into ad hominems and "well, I got a guy who knows how to work on that for a discount/I got an AP hook-up for parts/337 sourcing so that's your problem if you don't" perennial two circle fights. I'm quite bored of those exchanges so I don't really dabble in it anymore. In the end it's a hobby, people can do whatever the heck they want with their money, no skin off my back. I've said my peace before about my objections to fac-built mx and inspection-authority rules in cert. planes not used for revenue. I was a big advocate of the Primary Non-Commercial category as recommended by the ARC 2013 report to Congress on the part-23 re-write. When that portion of the legislation was snuffed by the FAA, much of my enthusiasm for this hobby waned. I've begrudgingly kept my Arrow because I need the back seat and it's not eating me out of house and home. Though for full disclosure that appeasement has in itself been a result of a concerted effort on my part in minimizing my capital investment in the airplane through the years, down to airworthiness only and at the expense of cosmetics/avionics, bigly. Which is sad for the airplane, but it's a matter of principle for me at this juncture. That wouldn't be the case in the least if I were allowed to maintain, inspect and operate it like an E-AB. I almost quit the hobby last year on account of some of the more frustrating regulatory blockades over modifying/upgrading the simplest of things (headrests was the thing that blew it up for me last year), and it took the wife walking me off the proverbial ledge not to chuck the thing to a part 147 school, get the donation tax credit and walk away entirely. I try not to think too much about it these days, but it's always a bit of a rock in my shoe when looking at this ownership thing on the certified side. I'm just tired of the AP/IA/337/STC/ kiss the ring/ mother may I BS, and the associated $$$ premium.All the while the EAB guy flies overhead shooting IMC to minimums on a literal IPAD and a NAPA alternator for a 1/3 the cost. Oh and homemade headrests just to spite me :D. I digress cuz I'm ranting again. The thing with E-AB is, as much as I'd like to sponsor it, does not cater to the 4 seater XC crowd in an affordable manner. RV-10 is about the only offering of consequence and that's a non-starter for non-builders on the CAPEX front. Otherwise, I'd be there yesterday. At any rate, as to the airplane search, I'm not so much trying to "move up" as much as move "out" of certified land. The family mission keeps me tied to certified tho. But to your question, more than likely I'm looking at an RV-6A (looked at Glasairs, didn't like the seating ergonomics and volumetrics, Lancair 320/360 insurance rates were non-starters), which are in the price range, gear config and seating arrangement I'm interested in. I'm on airplane #3 so my risk aversion is much less than when I was a neophyte, so I've flirted with combining the missions (2-seater acro tourer plus Griswold's family station wagon) but unless I'm willing to find a hen's tooth acro F33C, I'm SOL. I did look at a Yak-18T for a nanosecond, but owning an M14P for the kind of turnkey lazy@ss chock the airplane and hit the beach cross country pilot I am, was just not in the cards. Plus slow and thirsty as all get out. It would have been mad ramp appeal though, pop pop popping up to the FBO behind that throaty monster lol. So yeah, depending on how I feel about doubling my fixed expenses to own two airplanes, the RV-6A is probably where I'm headed for plan B. A very distant plan C would involve getting a different certified 4 or six seater, at a very deep discount, if the market absolutely collapses this year. At that point, it would be stupid not to, for the 10 or so year ownership outlook I have before my mission downgrades to empty nest permanently and the RV becomes the staple. We'll see what the year brings market wise. Sorry for the rambling, this topic gets me fired up lol.

Uhh it is kind of a big deal to discuss readiness when it comes to such a large strategic asset.

I owned a Cherokee for 15 years that we flew all over the country until I had to sell for an OCONUS PCS. My only advice is to don’t overbuy, especially if you are going certified. If 90% of your flying is going to be for fun in the local area, save yourself the $ and heartache of having a turbocharger, retract, etc. For the other 10% of your flying, pack some extra coffee and cookies for the times when you are bucking a headwind at 120 knots and enjoy the ride. Fast is awesome, but there are some great things to see in America down low and slow. If you need to go fast with only two seats, buy a RV and don’t look back.

I built my RV-10, so I have the Repairman’s certificate. With that said, anyone can do maintenance on any EAB aircraft like a RV. You only need an A&P for the Condition Inspection if you don’t have the Repairman’s certificate. mine has been flying for seven years. Oil changes and brake pads have been my primary maintenance expense. Mine has been pretty maintenance free.

Reminds me of an old joke.....

All, Just a general info note, but with so many people out of work due to the COVID situation, food banks are getting overwhelmed by the vast increase in unemployed people needing food. Most of the regulars on here (including me) are pretty lucky to have stable government employment/paychecks. Great way to help out your local community is donating to your local food bank if you’re able.

Would you describe AFNET or VPN as unbridled success stories?....

If you decide to reconsider the Yak-18T option, let me know and I'll get you in touch with Ross Granley. Maybe you've already spoken to him. Ross flies to airshows with the family... unloads a ton of luggage... then flies an aerobatic two-ship performance with his dad in a Yak-55... then packs up and goes home. He's got a ton of Yak -18T experience and would be a great resource. Possibly a quotable quote.

Yeah, this. Sounded like it wasn't so much the fact that he sent the letter asking for help. That was OK. Everything I've read makes it sound like they guy sent it via unclassified channels, to his boss on the To: line and everyone and their mother on cc: That's what got him fired.

That's the second SR that's done this, with their policy being "I won't send a filled in PRF for any 2+ APZ." For those smarter than me, is that a policy thing or an unwritten rule somewhere? Is it really too much to ask for a board to spend all of three minutes reviewing my package (STS)? I understand the calculus about odds and all that but it feels like a slap to the face when an organization believes you’re not worth two lines and three minutes, no matter your contribution. Thanks for letting me vent. These are crazy times and there are more important things but this time of year usually gets me riled up for a couple of weeks until I accept my standing in this place again. Stay safe out there

I had an O-5 tell me I could do that if I wanted to. I won’t get promoted, but I want the AF to have to tell me no again. Don’t want to make the decision for them.

Big Gray/Green/Blue does not like to be embarrassed.

Well in standard pentagon tradition, the one who goes against the machine gets removed from command https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/navy-expected-relieve-captain-who-raised-alarm-about-covid-19-n1175351 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

These next 2-4 weeks will be interesting to watch (I hope I'm not saying that again next month). Some projections have the US topping out somewhere towards the end of April, but that assumes full social distancing. I'm obviously an old man now because I want to kick all of the spring breakers in the ass who are ignoring the social distancing requirements.

My uneducated opinion? The next event based trigger probably would be X ventilators on hand, plans to surge ICU and in-patient care (alternate locations and staffing), and rebuild our stock of PPE for medical workers. At least rebuilding the stock of PPE should allow at least outpatient surgeries/procedures to resume. However, the supply chains seem to have taken a big hit, with a lot of production happening overseas, and producing countries holding on to their production to help at home first before exporting. I've got family in the medical field. My brother (anesthesiologist), said his hospital has already gone from changing their respirator for every patient (prior to the whole COVID-19 problem) to "here's your one respirator, keep it in your locker when you go home, make it last as long as you can." And that's across the board at his hospital, not just for COVID-19 patients, and there's no approved procedure to sterilize/disinfect the respirator (since it's supposed to be a one time use item). It'd be like the AF saying "OBOGS is good, there's only a small risk of physiological incidents, so press on..." except grounding the fleet is off the table, there can be no safety stand down, and in fact, ops tempo is expected to surge for the foreseeable future, crew rest is waived, so suck it up. A nurse catching COVID-19 means they're out for 14-30 days, and each day they are out means 6-10 patients that day can't be supported (or 2-3 ICU patients). I'd imagine the number is roughly the same for doctors. So keeping them healthy (through triage, deferring care that can be deferred, and proper PPE) keeps them in the fight, not just for COVID, but for any procedure that can't be deferred. Right now, we are just delaying the big fight until we can mass our forces appropriately. However, just like in war, it doesn't really matter if we win battles now if we don't have the logistical support to sustain the fight and win the war. So hopefully we are using this time now to appropriately mass our resources and not get caught with our pants down when the fighting starts in earnest.

This is just a rolling ETIC anyway you slice it.

So April 30 is the new date.. I feel like we are setting ourselves up for failure and/or disappointment. I learned once upon a time that event/phased based operations are more effective than time based operations.. I’m relatively certain there are more than a few DLOs to that effect.. so.. What is the event based trigger (expected to occur on April 30th) Trump/Fauci/whoever is looking for so we can ease restrictions? And.. what do those eased restrictions/guidelines look like? I assume they have a plan, right? 😉

So, Peter Attia (linked earlier) addresses the vaccine problem with Peter Hotez (another doctor) across several podcasts with where things stand so far. I’ll try to summarize: -coronaviruses are historically hard to vaccinate against -attempts to vaccine coronaviruses typically have a high rate of leaving trial patients at a HIGHER risk for the virus than if they hadn’t had the trial vaccine -it takes time, even if you were to try shortening the trial sessions, which with the previous bullet is potentially a big risk But seriously, I really think Attia has been a concerned but pragmatic source of info and doesn’t have the hysteria of 24 hr news. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peter-attia-drive/id1400828889?i=1000468407666 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peter-attia-drive/id1400828889?i=1000469033937

This may be unpopular, but take emotion away for a second: we have an obligation as the military to not cease everything and cower in the darkest corner of our home. Leadership must keep the longterm/“big pic” at the forefront of their decision calculus to prevent a short term problem from causing catastrophic longterm effects (readiness, an even worse pilot shortage, opening up room for unchecked adversary advancement, geopolitical fallout at our country’s expense due to a weakened US military, etc.) I think most people and orgs (AF included) are taking reasonable mitigation measures, as they should. But to take draconian measures and shut down important activities for weeks or months (because 2 weeks isn’t going to accomplish much) is incredibly short-sighted, and will have significant effects.

Any other 2+ APZ types here get blank PRFs back from their SRs (despite it being only two lines) or am I just that good? I get that the odds probably didn’t change significantly for APZ because we haven’t moved to the five year window yet but just curious if other SRs didn’t think it worth their time to bother with even a two liner for their previously passed over guys as well.