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Here’s my informed viewpoint: - There are no excuses about corona, family stuff, etc...AIB/SIBs love to list everything, including which brand of knock-off cheerios he ate at breakfast, so don’t read too much into things of that nature. The AIB overemphasized these things/people are reading too much into them. - The RC is a breakdown in crosscheck from ~FAF and in. It is standard to use speedhold, it is not standard to keep speedhold on for landing. Normally you discontinue use of speedhold at some point prior to landing, but he was distracted by his fucked up HMD (e.g. “HUD”) and he lost crosscheck of his airspeed/fact speedhold was still engaged. He did in fact transfer to a visual approach (i.e. “no HUD”), just as many of you have lamented him for “not doing,” but the downfall was dropping AOA out of his crosscheck. Had he cross checked, he would have realized he was fast and made the appropriate correction. There is some negative transfer from the Strike Eagle that contributed to the above problem; but might be SE Priv...don’t know. - The “HUD” issue: It sometimes gets fucked and displays invalid attitude information...so yeah, think about the main attitude reference you look at being out of whack at night, flying an approach over the black hole of the bay. It’s pretty disorienting. There are other options and you can ignore it, so not an excuse, but it is not just a “millennial” thing. Trust me, I grew up on no datalink/helmet/9M only/visual formation (including takeoff/landings...yay!); also still use a 1:50 map in CAS and am more efficient/accurate than all those young guys trying to keep everything digital on their displays. So I get it. But, the first time I saw this shit in the TX, coupled with LM’s flippant attitude towards it, sent me ballistic. I honestly can’t believe we haven’t crashed more jets due to this problem. It’s a massive safety of flight issue, yet who knows when/if ever it’ll be fixed. If someone dies with one of these things as a CF, I hope LM gets sued for billions. - Nobody knew about the portion of control laws he got into, except a few folks at LM holding their cards close...literally not written in T.O.s, etc. Another “go fuck yourself LM” thing. When he landed and immediately realized what was going on, the jet did not act like he thought it would; his control inputs were normal/as any of us would have done in the same situation. He was unable to go around due to the jet essentially ignoring what he wanted. So, while he could have avoided this situation by the earlier cross check discussion above, its ludicrous the jet would not react properly to your control inputs at such a critical phase of flight. Checks in the mail how this might be changed in future S/W drops. For now, at least the community knows this can happen, and frankly it was only a matter of time before some guy in the CAF unintentionally played test pilot and lost. Huge foul on this not being a warning in the T.O.s or something to that effect. Bottom line that every pilot can take away: This was not so much an over reliance on technology as it was a distraction that led to fixation, and a break down of basic instrument crosscheck (at night, with no peripheral vision). Establish solid habit patterns that will keep your instrument crosscheck from breaking down, while actively ensuring you do not fixate on a problem and drop the rest of the crosscheck. Remember the guys who were trying to change a light bulb and crashed in the Everglades, or just about every pilot who has CFIT’d? This loss of SA due to basic speed/altitude/position crosscheck breakdown is the the type of thing that has caused tens of thousands of aviation accidents at this point. It is agnostic to airframe and every single one of us is capable of distraction leading to bad/no crosscheck. God knows I’ve been in countless situations where I “broke the chain” in my own cockpit far too late for comfort, but here I am, wiser and alive. So many times it could have been the other way around in a matter of seconds. So, I took something from this mishap, and it wasn’t “fucking SNAPs and their reliance on Gucci shit!”

Technology is great but it can be a double edged sword when it allows basic flying skills to atrophy. Flying WIC sorties between the various Gunpig models it was obvious some of the crew on the "newer gunships" leaned a bit too much (IMHO), on all whiz-bang gadgets they had. As an example the U Boat had a display in the center of the dash called a Tactical Situation Map (TSM). On 99% of my flights in the UBoat, the Co-Pilots would basically stare at that display rather than look outside. Pilots also tended to spend an inordinate amount of time "inside" the airplane looking at that display. As a dinosaur flying older gunships my first action flying into the threat area was to quickly find visual ques that matched my understanding of the battle space...a road pattern, a set of lights, a river as a boundary...etc. That kept my eyes outside scanning for threats...by the way AAA does not show on the TSM. Finally I started bringing a piece of card board that I would place over the display and tell the WUG, "your TSM just failed...no what are you going to do?" I also saw this reliance in the older gunships when it came to degraded modes of fire. I won't go into all the modes but most of the crew only wanted to shoot in the mode with the most automation. I made sure to shoot a few rounds on each sortie in each mode to keep my skills sharp...often getting raised eyebrows from other members of the crew..."what are the odds that will happen in combat?" On my first combat mission in Afghanistan and several others over the years I was forced by mechanical failures to shoot in a degraded mode and on one mission I was forced to shoot with no input from the system at all...and a bad trigger that required a cadence call to the gunners who were manually pulling a lanyard to fire the 105MM and pushing a pin with a bar to shoot the 40MM....all while I was semi-imposing a manual site on a 23MM that was lighting me up. Lesson learned...use technology as much as possible but have a plan AND be prepared to degrade gracefully and still execute the mission. Old guy rant over.

Excellent posts, especially Brabus'. This is a subject that could generate a ton of additional good posts. Two additional things I find interesting from the report: 1. "According to the MP and other witnesses, landing an F-35 at nighttime is not a mundane task, and is more difficult than a nighttime ILS landing in some of the legacy fighter aircraft." I'm somewhat amazed by this reality. 2. The MP has anomolies approaching Decision Altitude; he believes he has an HMD misalignment while low to the ground; he is manually adjusting the brightness late on final because it was "distracting"; the report states his corrections "placed the HMD misaligned symbology further and uncomfortably short of the runway." He is behind and unstable. Nowhere in the entire report do I see any discussion on the fact he had the option to abort the approach and go-around on short final. We all learned this in our first few months in UPT, and I don't have an explanation as to why the Board didn't address this simple fix, since when it happens again, I would expect the next pilot to go-around/missed. I did a go-around from a less-than-well flown approach less than 24 hours ago. It is so basic... yet has it become insignificant? Go around... get to a safe altitude... smoke a Lucky... sort it out. How does the Board not address this?

Being proficient with automation is a critical pilot skill. Being proficient with hand-eyeball flying is a critical pilot skill. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Hey, a line number is a line number. Only reason it matters to me is I'm in DC and could use the cash. The rent is too damn high.

Terrible, isn’t it? I’ve ceased being amazed by all the ridiculous things acquisitions/contracting/LM has done in relation to the program. Don’t get me wrong, the jet is awesome and extremely capable in many ways, but there are so many overlooked things when it comes to basic shit like flying an ILS, not having a HUD, a disaster of a helmet that is not even in the same league as Scorpion/HMIT, etc. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen “do some pilot shit” to salvage a poor approach. I think culturally in the fighter world there is a lot of lip serviced paid, but reality is going around on a full stop attempt is an “emotional event” for most. It shouldn’t be, but it sure seems that way. Guys are so against diverting (fear of unknown/going somewhere new), don’t want to be “the one guy” who couldn’t land on first attempt out of the entire go (ego), etc. It’s a bad cultural precedent and it’s been around my entire fighter career. I don’t know how to fix it, because saying “just go around if it doesn’t look right” or “no worries if you guys have to divert” isn’t cutting it. Maybe actually having defined criteria to meet by X AGL/distance to runway or else go around would be good (ala Airlines). Never seen anything like that published or definitively talked about in the fighter world (but certainly have in the civilian world).

I kindof hope climate change wipes us all out a-la speed of heat's ramblings so we don't have to suffer through whichever dysfunctional administration wins next month

The MOST BASIC part of being an aviator is composed of two parts: A) Takeoff and B) Landing. Lots of other stuff can happen in-between those two events but you have to be able to master those two if you want to take the very expensive war machine and refuel, rearm, and go kill more bad guys and break their stuff. How a $400,000 helmet slapped onto the noggin of an "experienced" IP flying a $176 Million dollar machine landing VF "friggin" R on a huge a$$ piece of concrete can screw that up resulting in destruction of said cosmic aircraft shows a tremendous lack of proficiency and/or training in basic flying skills. Just absolutely stupid for that to happen.

The helmet is 2006 (not joking) spec’d technology that is still having issues in 2020. I did a masters paper on it in 2009 and the problems where I visited the factory and talked with engineers. They should have gone with a HUD/Scorpion combo a decade ago. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Geez, projecting, are we?

Let’s make a separate climate change thread. Back to Doe Biden and Orange Man please.

Glad to hear you still have the fight. Is your commander in the fight with you? Honestly, he/she SHOULD be the one leading that fight with rage, fury, and an unquenchable lust for justice. You can still win that fight, I am simply curious as to the current state of leadership. BL: It is not your job to write your OPR, PRF, or get to the bottom of why you did or did not get promoted. That's a commander's job. If your commander is not leading that fight, I would gladly rip that faggotrous pin off their chest. Ability to command and lead is demonstrated, not earned.

FWIW, an extremely experienced IP and weapons officer with years in the jet did the same thing, but luckily didn’t have to eject out of it. He recognized he was fast and corrected/accepted a long landing because of the runway available (as have thousands of pilots before him), but the ensuing flight control shit show also happened. So, just food for thought...there are some significant system CFs at play (not to say they are the PCF), and no level of experience/capability is immune from these types of situations.

If I wasn't/haven't been clear, my apologies. The misuse of national agencies for domestic purposes isn't about "my side" or "your side." My intent, on every post related to this topic, is that if bad things occurred and were directed by the very highest in an agency or in the White House, then there needs to be accountability and punishments for those proven to have committed crimes. Otherwise, it will only continue and become worse because underlings will see that no harm came to leadership that misused the system, so why shouldn't they when they move up in the food chain. If Obama and Company did it and walks with no consequences, then most likely Trump, his successor, and future Administrations are very likely to do the same. Which is against many, many laws designed to safeguard my, and your constitutional rights for merely being an American citizen. An unpunished misuse of national power against our own is not ok and should be punished, regardless of what political affliation. But the same media that was leading the anti-Trump charge, often times at the behest of those same Administration officials who were doing shenanigans, are either ignoring these revelations or actively downplaying/spinning them differently. You do not see much coverage of this on the networks, or the Post, or the NY Times, or the LA Times, ad nauseaum. Mud slinging in politics is one thing. "Orange Man bad" vs. "Sleepy Joe" is fine if stupid. Mr. FBI/CIA/NSA man doing things against fellow Americans for political gain is not. edited to add: I don't think Hillary is to blame for this fiasco. As much as I think she should've been prosecuted for her server complete with multiple TS/SCI/SAP/STO email traffic to/from her, the misuse of the FBI/CIA, probably others (remember ADM Rogers went to the FISA Court during this. What he reported hasn't been made public, but the Obama Administration mounted a campaign to fire him, then backed off suddenly), was at least at the Director of various agencies, if not the White House. Remember Susan Rice's infamous last day in office email to self, "The President directed that everything on this matter be done by the book." BTW, I don't belong to any party. I quit the GOP in disgust in 2016.

Yea, this part gets super old. I remember when the Sen Maj Leader Reid dropped the nuke to get judges through...and the R's jumped up and down. Then the R's do it (since the the D's opened the hole) and "it's a travesty against the honorable institution of the Senate, Constitution, God, et al." Also...who the fuck is saying on here, with a straight face, that Obama didn't have scandals? The gun-running, Iran, Pred strikes of dubious value (at best) are the big ones I can think of just off the top of my head. Lets not act like Trump's just getting a "rough deal" from the press...he's wants it that way so he can look like some kind of fighter for the people, but only his people. I also have no idea wtf is going on with this latest Russia stuff. Since Trump's busy fucking up his campaign by giving COVID to everyone, it's not really in any news that I've seen.

Um, yes? Though I'm not sure you have firm grasp of what "projecting" is. Should I consider it an honor to be trolled by a king troll? Why am I hearing mini-boss level music in the background?

So like I thought...I'm very close to the bottom. But...better to be the last Lt Col promoted than the first Maj to be passed over. I'll take what I can get.

Our squadron has guys living everywhere from on base to Cal City, Palmdale, Santa Clarita, Tehachapi, & LA. It depends on what you and your spouse want for yourself and your kids. I lived in Lancaster in for 8 months and despised it as a single dude while other guys were content there for 3 years. I would personally avoid Cal City and Rosamond and either live on base or live closer to civilization but have a commute. Plenty of outdoor activities to do depending on your interests. Living on base you’re about 1.5 hours from LA and 3:15 from Vegas. If you have any specific questions, shoot me a PM.

Biden's 15 Sep gaffe about "black women stocking grocery store shelves" is getting more internet time in the last couple of days. In response, his campaign says he will begin writing notes to voters to explain his points. I am not making this up.

This could end up being an excellent case-study on the negatives of over-reliance on cockpit automation when task saturated. I honestly cannot tell if the HUD comment is tongue-in-cheek. I hope it is. I remember years ago when we did a gas-and-go with a four-ship at Laughlin. We grabbed a bite in the Base Ops snack bar and got in a conversation with the students about the C-model. They told us a No-HUD landing was a Special Syllabus event flown dual... and that if the HUD goes out while solo, it was one to a full stop. We initially thought they were kidding. The dreaded "no HUD T-38 landing" has stymied many a great aviator. Maybe some emphasis on proficiency with backup instruments would be a good thing for all communities?

so he landed via a prohibited maneuver? (speed hold enabled) "The pilot pulled back on the stick and hit full afterburners to try to abort the landing. But with the stabilizers pointing down, his effort to take off again was unsuccessful and he was forced to bail out." that's terrifying to me that the computer could overrule the pilot trying to go around!\ "And he had several things on his mind, the report said, including a positive COVID-19 test of a contact of a contact that might require him to quarantine, which contributed to his task over-saturation." - really?

"Did you just call me a jive turkey?"

Have you considered looking at other internal positions? Move around the company to a different department or something. You've been there long enough to likely be past any new hire probation kind of situation. We have people move internal positions at my company all the time when they feel they're getting stagnant.

Seems to be the resounding answer, good point on better to have options vs not having any. My personality has always been more entrepreneurial or I’m going to make something of myself, so the whole burned out at 26 thing is more so I feel trapped in an environment I landed in right out of college and spent the last 4 years involved in, but I don’t know any other occupation except the one I’m currently in which meets one need ($$) but not the others (fulfillment, enjoyment, etc), so yes the grass is looking bright green doing anything else. I’m constantly reminded that the environment I find myself in does not fill up my tank, not that I can’t do the work, I definitely can but at the end of the day when I go home I just feel drained not in the physical sense of building a home but in the mental sense of I don’t care to do this work. I just don’t want to look back 10 years from now with regret because I was too scared to try something else.

The most basic aviation skill after takeoff is landing the jet. I guess the $400,000+ helmet just isn't adequate to make that happen.

This could go in the other thread but the AF did give me, average joe, non shiny penny, IDE via correspondence only a shot at running a squadron a few months back. So far so good. And for the record you have no idea until you take that guidon what it truly is like.

Yep, and its difficult for people to really know where they are on the curve. I don’t think anyone has ever done more to amplify my generally skeptical attitude on any topic more than SoH’s emotive postings.... So much so that I’m skeptical of his authenticity.

—You cannot be Group 1, 2, and 3. They are mutually exclusive by definition. That aside, here’s my response to your points: —It’s the same finality and confidence that’s applied to dozens of scientific discoveries. Ones that you accept without question. The fact that there are tectonic plates, that the earth orbits the sun, and that the earth is round. It is true that the scientific method is open to new discovery and therefore cannot ever claim absolute certainty. But there are things we know.... things like the aforementioned that we accept as scientific fact because they are demonstrable, observable, etc.. There is ongoing research and debate on many aspects of AGW. Some results, findings, and predictions have been and will be proven wrong. That’s fine. Our knowledge and understanding is evolving. But you act like because there are unknowns, doubt, or debate In certain specific areas, that somehow means the ENTIRE phenomenon is invalid. —Type 1. The amount of evidence that global temp is rising is overwhelming. Satellite data is one source. There are dozens others. When you’re flying, you can tell your position by several means: tacan, gps, vor, your eyeballs, etc. Each system has flaws and margins of error, but when viewed in totality leave no reasonable doubt as to your position. The ‘confluence of evidence’ behind climate change is similar. If you don’t know about all the independent fields of study that converge on the same answer, there’s nothing I can do for you. It’s on you to do the reading. Type 2–There’s no scientific ‘theory of CO2 as a greenhouse gas.’ It just is one. We are filling our atmosphere with it (and others), while simultaneously engaging in land clearing and deforestation. Type 3— I can tell this is your go-to “gotcha” on this subject. Except it’s a hypothetical. And a really poor one, because you’ve embedded the only possible answer in the question. If, given your hypothetical, GW is 100% uninfluenced by humans, than of course the answer is that we don’t attempt to fight against it.... you just said we cannot influence it. But more importantly, it’s a poor hypothetical because the evidence demonstrating AGW is so strong. What if.... hear me out now.... hypothetical.... what if the earth is really flat. ...Well, it’s not. It’s just not. So most people won’t waste their time contemplating such a question. — “That’s not science, it’s religion.” Ugh. This is such a tired and predictable trope. This is the denier’s Alamo, where they inevitably retreat to when they’ve exhausted all the other standard logical fallacies. Of course some people blindly tow whatever partisan line their party tells them to, but for people that have actually done the research, it’s not a religion. It’s the opposite. Because there’s so much evidence, there’s no faith required. And you’ll notice that only one side of this conversation ever uses the word “believe/belief.”

The people arguing we need to do something about global climate change would have more credibility if they were open to other options (such as technological solutions like Viperman mentioned) but they insist the ONLY option is turning the U.S. into North Korea/Stalinist Russia. Me thinks the objective isn't mitigating climate change but rather it's political power... At any rate, unless you get China and India onboard, anything we do is futile.

It's been a while since I was there, but off-base many people live in Tehachapi. Lancaster and Antelope Valley is just a big crime infested shit hole. Criminals and dirtbags who can't afford living in LA lives in Lancaster/Palmdale. So you see a lot of crazy crime in the area. But there is a small pocket of decent neighborhood in Lancaster west of the Antelope Valley Freeway. Rosamond and Cal City are both right outside the base (~30 min drive I think) but are really small *towns*. I'm guessing on-base schools are the best but there isn't much to do on-base for fun. There used to be a mobile home park on base when I was around but that sweet deal is no longer available. Personally, stay away from Lancaster, it's a shithole. For fun, plenty of outdoor activities especially in Tehachapi. You can also drive to LA or Vegas for the weekend.

Wow, that's a lot of typing.

There are generally three types of climate deniers: Group 1) "climate change is not happening." Group 2) "Ok, climate change is happening, but it's not anthropogenic." Group 3) "climate change is happening, and Ok, is anthropogenic, but...the effects will be minimal , and certainly not worth changing our way of life." --Due to the overwhelming amount of evidence from multiple independent fields of study, Group 1 has thankfully shrunk and most in Group 1 have migrated to Group 2. If someone is still Group 1 at this point, there's nothing you can do for them. It's like chemtrailers or flat-earthers. Evidence is irrelevant to them. --Group 2's popular mantra, echoed by BrickHistory, is (to paraphrase) "the earth goes through cycles. Yes it's currently warming, but it has warmed in the past. We've had ice ages. We've even had periods in earth's history that are warmer than today. Therefore, we can conclude that humans play no (or negligible) part in it." This is the premier example of Dunning-Kreuger. It's a cringeworthy reminder that most people with a strong denial of climate change have literally never bothered to do any research into it at all. How do I know? Because any scientific book, journal, debate, lecture, etc. on the subject will immediately frame the problem in terms of rate of change. No credible scientist disputes that the earth has experienced large variations in climate. The difference now is the rate. It's faster. That's the core assertion. Change that used to take 10's or 100's of thousands of years is now occurring over centuries or decades. Let's say you mow your lawn once every other week. The grass grows, you cut it. Cyclical. What sort of questions would you raise if you found yourself having to mow the grass every day. Or every hour. That's the difference. Not simply that the grass grows and you have to cut it, but that the rate is freakishly fast, and accelerating. So what would you do? You'd try to figure out why. ....did I use a different fertilizer? More water? Did I plant a new type of grass? Is there something in/under the soil? ....You get the point. You would try to isolate the independent variable. When it comes to climate change, there are indeed many natural factors that affect it (solar irradiance, axial tilt, etc.). But those have always existed. And they're measurable. Again, with just a little research you will find that science can easily isolate the variables. Those variables do have an effect, but they do not account for the massive increase in the current rate of climate change. Group 2ers parroting the "Earth goes through natural cycles" are like someone having a really strong opinion on how the KC--NE game will go tomorrow. But as the conversation continues, it becomes clear they've never even heard of Patrick Mahomes or Bill Belichick. They saw a meme, or overhead something they thought sounded clever on TV and want to present it as their own. But they don't actually know anything about the two teams. Or maybe even about football. ....So you cringe, possibly roll your eyes, and go find someone else to talk to. --Group 3ers concede to the overwhelming evidence, but try to minimalize it. Their group is, in my experience, characterized by pessimism, apathy, and defeat. As you've heard here, Group 3ers will say 'China and India are larger carbon emitters.' Or that wind/solar/renewables are expensive and consume energy to build, thus negating the effort. The mantra is essentially, "it's too difficult.....so fvck it." Not the America I know. We are the global leader, the superpower. We have global influence. Other countries do what we do. At least for now. If we would simply lead, others would follow. Likewise, innovation is tough. Maybe solar and wind aren't the end-all, be-all. Or maybe not in their current form. We have to experiment. Risk failure. We have to try. There are dozens of proposed lines of effort out there....we don't need all of them to work. But none will work if we just give up. It's a complex problem, like say, landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. We could embrace the challenge and see similar results as the space race -- leaps in technological advances, achievement of a common goal, etc. Or we can say 'fvck it, it's too tough for us. Let's let China or the EU figure it out.' For those of you in Group 1, 2, and 3, I will close with this: Climate change is happening and is anthropogenic. There is no question of that basic premise. Donald Trump and Joe Biden and AOC and Nancy and Mitch will all come and go. Even Al Gore will be gone one day. But climate change will be with us for the rest of all our lives. And our children's. It's not going away, and I encourage you each year, or each decade to pause and ask: "Hmmm....is that pesky climate change thing over yet? Did the scientists, who dedicate their lives to understanding this, collecting data and evidence in dozens of fields of study, all over the globe finally realize they were wrong this whole time and that the earth 'just goes through cycles?' Did they finally give up and admit this was a leftist conspiracy and a hoax to drive a carbon tax?" The answer will be No. We can discuss, like ViperMan suggests, the validity of specific policies and proposals and the way forward -- that's where the debate needs to be. But again, for the record, 100%, you will not see anthropogenic climate change just fade into a non-issue or revealed as some sort of elaborate hoax. In your whole life. Regardless of the petty noise and friction and squabbling on the internet, in the media, or even in the halls of congress.

Yes...and shockingly, got picked up 1 APZ with a 5/10 push line and P on the PRF. Sometimes there is justice in the system.

Them leg presses finally paid off!

Standing by for another “aircrew discipline” video...