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@HuggyU2 what was it like learning to fly in the T-6 Texan 1?

I was a T-1 guy and didn’t learn how to fly as a crew until I got to the 135 FTU. I was also one of the first classes that had 28 sims and 3 flights. A lot dudes got more than 3 flights because they didn’t get enough time in the jet to go to their checkrides. And that syllabus passed the buck to the Ops units. I think the FTU is now 5 or 6 rides and a check. Some jets fly like the sim, the 135 isn’t one of them, IMHO. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Helos did well in an air to air role in a documentary called “Firebirds” starring Nicolas Cage.

I think this is the same concept as a wider problem with the rate of UPT adjustments moving track/specialization earlier and earlier in the syllabus. Yes, there is benefit to devoting more time to specialized skills, even in the T-6 as is happening now. However, I think it's forcing decisions to be made at such an early point in their aviation career that they honestly have no idea what they want (or at least no relevant data to base it upon) Couple that with not having an appropriate cross-section of exposure to different MWS mentalities, and they're making ill-informed decisions at best

If I look back on it 30 years past, I’d like to say UPT was awesome, but I can’t, because I made a promise to myself during UPT. You see, a Colonel came to visit our class (some presentation or sumtin’) and he told us how lucky we were to be having so much fun and that UPT was the best year of our lives, etc. I promised myself that if I ever became a crusty old Colonel and got the chance to tell it like it was, I’d remember this moment as a 2Lt. UPT sucks. I wanted to finish #1 and that meant studying my ass off and treating every day like it could be my last (because one bad week could show you the door). I was one of he worst T-37 studs, and probably the best T-38 stud, so I saw the entire spectrum of good and bad days. Every day was a grind of fear, sarcasm, and ridicule! Don’t get me wrong, there were some awesome times, and I remember them well. In fact they are the only real memories I have of UPT. If it weren’t for that Colonel coming in and telling me how much fun I was having, I’d be writing a different post right now. But I can still hear 2Lt Rogair in my head, “This ing sucks”.

Replicate, that's a bold statement. They polish up procedures, techniques and establish a base of knowledge to make flight training more effective by getting the student to a level of proficiency and confidence that important stuff is emphasized over switchology but they are not going to give a young pilot at that point in their training what they really need, real world experience. Quality pilot training costs money, deal with it AF.

Thank God for the KC-46. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I’d say that was the future except for that “Airbus” part. Boeing will piss and moan about that so they can deliver an inferior product behind timeline and over budget.

Looking back UPT was the simplest and some of the most fun times I have had in my Air Force career. No paperwork, OPRs, EPRs, dealing with Airman snuffy and his financial or marital problems, building PowerPoints or briefings. All I had to do was study, fly, grill and drink beer with the bros and not be a douche. It was awesome! To the OP, take it one sortie at a time and enjoy it.

I agree. There seems to be the idea that experience = good IP in the military. You can be the best pilot in your community, but that doesn’t mean you can teach worth a damn or train someone to be half the pilot you are. There are some totally awesome teachers in UPT, and many who aren’t. I don’t know what the environment is like now, but when I went through you weren’t a young copilot or wingman in the squadron, you were just some student they had to deal with. IFF was the first experience I had that made you feel like you were a part of the team. I just hate when people go around telling the LTs that UPT is the best time of their lives, because for many it’s not. When you're sitting in the suck and hating it almost every minute of it, while having people constantly tell you this is the best part of your career, its very demotivating. Why would someone willingly want to keep going, when you're telling them there is no light at the end of the tunnel?

Experiences vary and are in many cases based on who your leadership/IP’s are and sq environment. Sadly the USAF struggles with IP’s “teaching” vs “evaluating” in its training at all levels from what I’ve seen. We’ve probably all had the rides where you are relaxed and flying well with a good IP who has molded a proper instructional environment vs flying with the IP that thinks he’s there to just find your every mistake and hammer you for it. Flying CAN be challenging/stressful AND enjoyable. Leave it to the USAF to screw it up though. I haven’t enjoyed a single UPT/PIT/FTU/TX course yet but I also use the sub-par USAF experience to make a better environment when I’m instructing. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I couldn’t agree more. UPT isn't a good time. If you find yourself thinking “wow this ing sucks and its supposed to be the best time of my career” like I did, just keep pushing on. Because, I don’t believe its anywhere close to the prime of the job. The people who I usually see saying that are a bunch of OFA who cant even remember if they turned in their 781 from yesterday, and definitely don’t remember 20 years ago. Sure, I made some friends that I still talk to, and had my weekends getting hammered by the pool, but I still do stuff like that. I feel like the people who say its “the best time of your career” just don’t remember the actual experience. Its basic stuff that I find incredibly easy, from the view point of a rated pilot for many years, who isn’t graded every time I fly, or competing for something. It is not easy for someone who is learning the basics, and you are always a few flights, and some FAIP who has no idea what ops is actually like, away from a commanders review. The best time of your career is going to be the LPA at your ops squadron while you’re flying around CT, no grade sheet, just your bros and some jets, actually employing an aircraft. My first month in ops I dropped multiple 82s, shot some $150k mavericks, and over 1,000 rounds from the gun, while my heavy bros were traveling around the world. UPT sucks.

For your viewing pleasure....the link to the one stop shop to getting a flying (all rated positions included) gig in the Air Force Reserves. Current as of 7 April 2020. https://afreserve.com/downloads/AFRC_UFT_Guidebook.pdf

They were the greatest

They proposed a turbofan version also: Both could have been contenders but I would still push for a two seater for the Observation / Tactical ISR role for the aircraft. Two craniums for this mission are better IMO.

That's exactly what works damned near every time. The only time we've gone down to "turn" with a helo was to blow through and get them to wheel underneath to keep the aggressor in sight (just like we do with a "circle the Hogs"), inevitably leading to a climb as they look up. Then the other guy runs in for a low-to-high Fox II. Oh, and in the sim when they tell you there's blue helos in the scenario but they turn out to be ten hostile Hinds swarming under you. Then, when you get tired of them shooting at you, you drop into the middle of them and just turn the gun on whilst pulling six Gs. Absolutely Leeroy Jenkins. Got four of the bastards... even surprised myself.

Appreciate the good words-- it's always been about trying to make sense of this crazy ride. whether it's barbs and spears I'm throwing, or making reflections of, or commentary on, things I've seen--the artwork (and sometimes the writing) serves, for me at least, as the medium through which I'm exploring, coping, and sometimes trying to shape. There's more that's never seen the light of day (sometimes that's a good thing), and I'm working on (yet another) side project that puts everything together-- from the first days of the Dodo as a SMACK at the zoo, through eDodo and anything in between. There's a lot of started-but-never-finished projects in there... alot of things that started as good ideas but just ran out of time or inspiration... One of the projects that I still consider one of the greatest missed opportunity was an attempted collaboration with other mil cartoonists around the 2009 timeframe. Air Force Blues was at its heyday... the B-52 toon kicked ass, and there were mil cartoonists that were just killing it left and right. I had the idea that we could all get together on a collaboration that took our characters to a Red Flag-- the audience would see the same scene from multiple perspectives such as the initial mass brief-- each artist would tell a part of the story (and you'd see the others in the background or silhouetted to keep the continuity... it'd progress through the flying and culminate in an absolute riot of a Friday night that I envisioned would be like the hotel scene in the Reno 911 movie... and then we'd all retreat to our individual comics again with a slight walk-of-shame cloud hanging over us all in a "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" moment. Never even made it past the idea stage... and then we all just seemed to grow up overnight and our works were overcome by events. It is funny how things come full circle... and now being on the backside of the power curve, I feel like I've got a little more time to get back to the works. Man, it was so much easier when eDodo was around. Times have changed though... social media eclipsed most websites, and humor has been pushed into sound-byte clips that can be quickly digested by instagram users; I wonder how eDodo would even be received by the current generation, though I suspect that. like most cult-followings, it would take root again and flap its fat little wings to make waves... just like always. Cheers, Zero

Airmanship. T-6 training is designed to take a dude with zero flight time and get them to be comfortable in a turbine powered machine flying in close proximity to other aircraft IMC. At Rucker, we take that baseline understanding/knowledge and build on it with a RW perspective (for example, training "wingman consideration" in helo form). Also, the intangibles should not be forgotten. FW training makes our community more understanding when we integrate with assets like HC-130s, A-10s, F-16s, etc. A baseline to integrate upon, if you will. Edit: I.E. FW energy management (sight pictures, stalls/spins considerations, pattern flow), FW limitations, FW advantages (f/ mission command upgrades). Edit #2: Forgot to mention earlier, HH-60 and CV-22 both train ACM and build on fundamentals of aerobatics. We cannot execute any g-related training due to system limitations of the H-1.

The Army is 95% RW so having a RW only track makes sense. The AF and Navy are the opposite. T-6s are a great time to find what you want. Many a pilot realized they didn't like instruments and wanted to be down in the weeds in T-6s. Assigning this prior to T-6s would be like assigning heavies or fighter before you ever stepped foot in a aircraft.

I hear 2.5 will be bringing back or introducing out and back SOLOs during T6s. Not enough SOLOs in the current syllabus (only 2 sorties). It builds confidence and also allows the STUD to step outside of the comfortable IP bubble... because when your flying alone, your never wrong! Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Spoiler alert: no one does.

Sixty years ago today, Gary Powers flew the last of 28 Russian overflights in the U-2. The first was flown on 4 July 1956 by Hervey Stockman, the 17th pilot to fly the U-2 (Powers was #25). Here's to those great Americans that put it all on the line to do what the nation needed, to keep the Communist enemy in our sights. 🍺 https://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/early_u2.asp For those of you at Laughlin AFB that haven't been to the Laughlin Heritage Foundation Museum, there's a fair amount of good U-2 history there. James Long runs the place... tell him hello and that you're stationed at DLF. https://www.laughlinheritagefoundationinc.org

Speaking of killing flight training, RPA operators will no longer be going to IFT. So no stick and rudder time, and no background in aviation for robot operators in your stacks. May the odds be in your favor

My conclusion is that I will not worry at all when I am outdoors. Please stop the madness (outdoor madness).

Some dudes all arguing for training better aviators....well damn, let’s just buy some twin engine props with shitty avionics. CRM...check...non centerline thrust...check...high workload....check. We need pilots to have suitable training for their military future. I take fighter guys flying in small planes all the time. It’s a complete sh-tshow from basic handling to even managing airspace and traffic pattern. Different skill set, these guys are all 2,000+ hrs have flown multiple fighter types in sh-t weather all over the world. So I don’t buy that attaining good pilot skills are universally transferable just based on a planes being complex and tough to fly. We are teaching military pilots specific skills. That’s why we do T-6’s, to teach military discipline, rules and basics. Everyone gets a baseline military flying education. After that, it needs to be tailored better. Does a F-35 pilot need to see legacy IFF like the F-16/15C pilot? I’d argue no. Take it further, does an A-10 pilot need to fly T-38s? Should B-1/B-52 be T-1 track. All feasible I think. For the MAF, Im not sure. But my gut and experience tells me if we can cut T-38 stuff lightly, we can cut T-1 stuff heavily. It should not take more flight training to learn instruments in a crew jet than in a single seat. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Guard Rocks!

How to tell the other pilot to get ATIS.

More spam! buy some 737 Maxes and name them the T-43B

it's rich that the people screaming "STAY HOME" the loudest are the ones with the steady paychecks continuing to come in like clock work every two weeks https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/20/amid-pandemic-unemployment-checks-can-take-longer-to-arrive.html https://medium.com/@jbgeach/changing-the-goalposts-four-more-reasons-it-is-safe-to-open-america-560cfc0ab4c3

Organize your drop sheet based on what you feel you would enjoy doing the most after UPT. Trying to play the system or plan for beyond your first ops assignment is pointless and won’t end well. By the time you qualify for any of the weird, non standard assignments they may no longer be a thing, your life will have changed, you may no longer desire to apply for them. As much as I’m sure you and all your buddies in UPT feel you can stick it out for the long game, you will not be okay doing something you don’t enjoy for years, no matter how much you feel you could.

Pro-tip: Avoid referencing the screen name "LoveDumpster" in your application packet.

T-38 students that drop heavies do just fine in FTUs without ever having learned “how to fly as a crew.” Heavy FTUs have less time in the jet now because sims can accurately replicate flight.

No? In my experience T-38 studs perform much better and have stronger hands than T-1 trained folks; another argument for single trainer for phase 3.

Never never ever speak to a FBI agent without your lawyer in the room and never never ever hire a law firm where Eric Holder is a partner if you work for a Republican President. Spent 5 years in DC , I hated every second of it. Disbarments and indictments for everyone. But will not hold my breath to see perp walks of key members of the last administration. Two tiered justice system, if you think this would never happen to you but they went after a retired 3 star General our country and Constitution is doomed.