Leaderboard

I guess since I let the cat slip out of the bag in the VA Loans post, y’all are due for an update. For those who care read on... For those of you who don’t know my story, the short version is came back from a deployment to find out my wife of over 10 years and high school sweetheart had been cheating on me. Once she got caught in the 2nd affair (I know now that there were more than just the two I caught her in) she filed for divorce but let me take the kids and move out of state. I swore then that I would never get married ever again. I did the single parent thing for a while and then randomly her and the boyfriend decide they are going to move to the city I and the kids are living. Then they start coming to my church, then the ex tries to sign up for the same bible study I had been going to. (Crazy, I know). I start dating a girl and the ex starts texting me news articles about her, that she had found online (nothing serious, just some school awards and pictures of her with her old boyfriend). I ended up breaking up with that girl and doing the tinder and bumble thing (for the eagle drivers out there, it’s like grinder but for guys looking for girls). I was on a trip at my airline and the captain saw me doing the whole swipe right thing and he challenged me to hang up the internet dating thing. His wife had left him and his son years ago. He had been in the same situation I was when a widow and her two daughters moved into the house next door. They ended up falling in love and getting married. He told me to trust that God had a plan for my life and he would bring someone into my life when the time was right. I ended up logging off tinder after being tired of dates with crazy nurses and girls looking to tie down any man who would take them. It was just around this time when I decided to sign up for a bible study at my church (the same bible study my ex tried to sign up for before the leader told her that it wasn’t a good idea for us both to be in the same class). On the first day of the Bible study I met the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Total smoke show. She had a very similar story to mine (married to a narcissist, serial cheater/liar, etc). I asked her out for coffee and we started casually dating after realizing we had so much in common. The best part was that both of us swore that we were never getting married to anyone ever, so there was no pressure at all. After a couple months, COVID hit and both our jobs became telecommuting and all of a sudden we were spending almost every minute of every day together. I prayed about where our relationship was going and it became very obvious that I didn’t want to live without her. Maybe it wasn’t fair to judge every female just because I made a mistake 15 years ago and married a crazy narcissist with serious mental illnesses. So I asked her to marry me and she said yes. I’ve never been happier. My parents love her, my kids love her and call her mom. She is just all around amazing. So I haven’t been around here lately because I’ve been pretty busy merging our lives together. Thank you all who supported me and encouraged me through a rather dark time in my life. I am always an open book so if anyone has any questions, feel free to send them here or PM me and I’ll be glad to answer them. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Welcome to the party Brother. Last year my wife said, you are grumpy since you retired, just go buy your damn airplane. Yes Ma'am! I almost bought a Lancair 4P, had a deal in place, but during pre-inspection found out the airplane spent a few years of "unexplained" and unlogged time in Mexico, the maintenance log books were shit. I am 69% certain that plane was flying drugs into the U.S. and had no idea what shape the wing spars were in. Additionally, the insurance on some of the Lanceairs is outrageous because of their accident rate. I was very enamored with the performance of the Lancairs, especially the 4P, they tend to be sleek machines, fast and economical but most models have a high wing loading requiring some extra attention in the pattern. The insurance on the 4P was triple some of the other airplanes I was looking at and ultimately a big deciding factor. I ended up buying a Piper Saratoga TC II. I wanted to fly but also wanted a travel machine for the family. The guy that owned it before me dumped about $120K worth of glass into the airplane (see below). I flew steam gauges most of my career and was shocked by the SA the Garmin offers especially when it is integrated with the autopilot. I put about 180 hours on it in the last year. Four trips to DC (In-Laws live there), A few to Miami (my parents live there), and a lot of shorter trips in between. Once at altitude I typically I can lean for 13-16 GPH and see around 145-155 TAS. I started off using my IPad Pro, but found it too big for the cockpit. There was no place to put it so I kept it between the seats and pulled it out to review. I ended up buying an IPad Air with cell service which is still big but I can mount it with a suction cup. The cockpit of the Saratoga is a bit odd around the windshield/Dash and ideally the IPad Air would be more friendly for space, but we have decided to upgrade to a new airplane and it will accommodate the IPad Air. On trips I can do all mission planning on the IPad and I use it in the airplane with Foreflight running as a back up. As folks have stated above the Bose A2s are great, pricey but they fit is great and the ANR is superb. I tried a few in-ear options, forget the brand name, but didn't like them. My wife's college sorority was having a big get together in the Fall so I flew her to Tallahassee. She is a nervous flyer and at one point said, "it would be a lot better if you had a plane with two engines"...Again Yes Ma'am so I started an upgrade search. I looked at a bunch of options and I am signing a contract for a new SR-22 this week. Yes I know single engine but with the CAPS system I think it hits her "safety button" STS. I'll share my thoughts on the upgrade search and what lead me to the SR-22. We want to travel and we have another couple that usually goes with us. Useful load and range were driving factors. I was going to buy a Baron G-58. Great airplane, fast, and a fully integrated G1000 system. It also has better takeoff performance than the Cessna's. My home base airfield is only 3700' and while I could safely operate a 310 or some of the other Cessna options, the margin would be much smaller. I knew the cost factor would be higher for maintenance and fuel, but again it was insurance that was double that of the SR-22. It has a great useful load until you start accounting for all the extra gas you have to take. It was also the fastest option, although at double the fuel burn. I really wanted the Diamond DA-62, in fact, it wins hands down on all the performance, fuel burn, and operating cost factors. Single engine climb is well over 600 FPM, Cruise speed is superb, great useful load, tons of room inside and it sips 11.8 GPH of Jet-A at altitude. It has one major drawback that for me was a show-stopper, it has a HUGE fucking footprint. With a 49'3" wingspan there is only one hangar on my field that it will fit in and that hangar has been rented by a company for 12 years. They are building a bunch of new hangars on my field, but they are all too narrow...I will not leave an airplane that expensive outside. Finding a suitable hangar was going to create an hour plus drive at about triple the hangar rate I pay now. Previous to this I was not a big Cirrus fan to start with. A great friend and UPT classmate was their chief test pilot and was killed in one. They have come a long way and as I started to look the SR-22 met all of my performance wants. It is FAST for a fixed gear airplane...170 TAS at between 16-17GPH. Faster by far then my Saratoga with a minimal increase in fuel burn. Reasonable insurance (as long as you do the training). Also, depending on configuration, it has the best useful load of any of the other options I looked at. I am getting a new normally aspirated SR-22 G6. Flying in the south I don't need the turbo or icing system (which is very high maintenance by the way). I will still have oxygen if I want to jump up to 16K and grab a tail wind. Dropping the turbo and FIKI icing system bumps my useful load to 1269 pounds. I will be able to easily take my wife and our friends, all their bags and almost a full bag of gas which lets us range Charleston, Key West, Charlotte, DC, Nashville, Dallas non-stop. One other thought in my long rambling post, airplane prices are high right now because of USERRA. If you purchased an airplane by the end of 2020 you could use it as part of a business and go back five years of offset profit on your taxes. Baron Prices are very high, same with the SR-22. I was looking at a 2018 SR-22 G6 and when compared to a new one I can get a new SR-22 for about $60K more, but it will be in my color scheme, have zero time and Cirrus is throwing in a five year tip to tip warranty. Good luck brother and hope to see you out there.

“I can’t think of a worse scenario than staying because of the money.“ Isn’t...isn’t that the point of the bonus? It’s an incentive to get people to stay who otherwise would leave? The stay/leave pro-con scales are tipped just enough and they literally stay for the money?

Yes, none of which they mentioned, then the CEO denied they had those issues that night. Why did all the other (Ameritrade, Schwab, etc.) halt buys as well. They ALL were having liquidity issues getting required margin to their clearing houses? Yes, you can have shorted shares > float pretty easily when you're just playing with margin and other people's money. Oh yea, and regulation is so lax to allow it among the Good 'Ole Boys. I'm generally pretty chill. But after 2008 I have an extremely hard time dealing with rage that I get thinking about these bankers and billionaires. For them to get away with no jail time, lying about their credit ratings then wrap themselves in the 1st Amendment, blame the people for buying houses they couldn't afford when there were predatory lending programs they set up. Fines of millions on billions of dollars of profit. And we still have hedge funds that double as market makers, and market makers that heavily invest into multiple hedge funds.

Meh, 10 years ago SocialD might have agreed with you. After your initial commitment, it can all be boiled down to compensation, either the money they're paying is worth putting up with the BS, or it's not. He would have been better off just saying, the bonus is coming out soon, whether you decide to stay or leave, thank you for your service...the end. No need for the Dad talk.

These leaders act like money is the devil and we shouldn’t be making any decisions based on it. Completely disagree. The money is a huge reason whether I’m going to stay or not. But not the main one. Every time I move my wife loses 2-6 months of work which causes a pay cut. A bonus helps with this. There are some assignments or a 365 that I never want to do. But I would if the bonus was 60-75k. That money Maybe pays for my child’s tuition or funds 3-4 vacations in having to take a less than idea assignment. Are we all patriots ? Yes. We signed up to do the job. But once they commitment is up I’ve paid my dues and it’s up to the military to entice me to stay. Not the other way around.

W-T-F.... Good on the PJs shirt though for calling her out.

Shack. His other fb post from earlier seemed worthwhile at face value, especially the phrase about not saying “our punks suck” but actually trying to find the solution to make them not suck. Sounds great, I’m on board (I mean, I’ll still tell them they suck, but also have the resources to make them better.) Then he comes to visit the viper FTU and continually pushes the 6 month syllabus, fully acknowledging that it shortchanges our wingmen and puts more of a training burden on the CAF (overall reducing our tactical ability as a fighting force), but that is overlooked because we MUST produce our way out of this shortage. When all the pieces are put together, it’s the same message that all GOs are pushing, “We value you, but not enough to pay you more, listen to your suggestions to improve, or make any large changes to your quality of life. But we will publicly say we value you! That and your sense of duty should be enough.” To me, it seems like the conversation goes like this: AF: “Please stay, Major Instructor Pilot! We need your experience and IPness! You and your millions of dollars of training are really valuable to us!” Aircrew: “Well, okay, but can you maybe fix this one thing? (Insert your instructional fix here - pay, promotion, ops tempo, etc). Because I like serving, but this one thing is making it difficult for me and/or my family.” AF: “No. Stay or go, we don’t care.” ??????

Command and Conquer: Red Alert. Great game!

FltPlan Go is great (and free). I use that combined with a stratux. I have 2x Foreflight IPADs at work, and I still don’t give a shit about bringing them home to fly GA, that’s how good FltPlan Go is. Foreflight is certainly the gold standard, but not worth paying for when I can have the other one free.

Patton gave zero fucks. I’m not saying some AETC general is like Patton, or that the pilot shortage is WWII. We pay our generals to win wars full stop. I don’t want some candy-ass general who cares about my feels. I want a killer with zero fucks to give when the shit hits the fan. Also, I want a $75k/year bonus.

I think leaders want to be genuine but the fact is they would round up your children and murder them if it guaranteed air dominance in the 21st century. Sounds wild, I know, but the truth is, the AF (as an organization) gives 0 fucks about your family. They don't care if they are happy, sad, accompanied, non-accompanied, working, not working, alive, dead, etc... Here's the thing, they've written hundreds of books on negotiation, and found out they didnt work well for government employees working with international partners/etc.... The reason why was because the fundamentals of government negotiation are different than business. In business, you can walk away. In government, you often work in a "no-fail" environment where walking away isn't an option. The USAF can't just pack up our junk and leave Korea because the Koreans won't give us more airspace to train in. Etc... The same thought process works with the compensation/pilot bonus/morale/retention/etc... the Air Force believes they have a "no-fail" mission. They will literally throw lines of people into cockpits to crash planes just to guarantee the mission. They have 0 fucks. Maj Craig Wells as a person may care about you and your family, but as an AF officer, he gives 0 fucks and he will not hesitate to fuck you six ways from Sunday to guarantee mission success, even if it drags your spouse and child under too. In this case, I'm sure they'd give you more money to stay if they could. But I think he is hinting that congress isn't going to bite in an environment where they are passing laws to keep airlines afloat. So they're going to give you what they can, and if you choose the door, your choice. In the mean time, they will fuck whoever they need to that stays to make sure the mission still happens. Once you realize this, you can really make the decision whether you want to stay or not.

5 was the original doses per vial, but recently was upped to 6 like you said. Pfizer vaccine is cut with saline before it's administered, so if there's a little less saline mixed in (nurse or tech is eyeballing the measurement on a syringe, and syringes vary as well), you may not be able to always get 6 doses with a standard syringe. Hence the need for a low dead space syringe to increase the odds of getting that 6th dose regularly. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/pfizer/index.html The low dead space syringes doesn't look like it ships with the vaccine-it's likely a separate supply chain item for clinics to purchase and manage. The downside is now the FDA approved the label change to 6 doses per vial, Pfizer is reducing vials shipped per contract, since most everyone seems to have negotiated based on dose, not vial. So figuring out the special syringe becomes a problem for the clinics, and could reduce actual doses available by up to one 1/6. And Pfizer will be there to sell the makeup doses required. #profit https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/health/pfizer-vaccine.html

Suck it Putin. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/air-force-secretly-acquired-russian-153600585.html

A couple of my AF Facebook friends really like her as evidenced by their constant praising on her official Facebook. Personally she lost me at the “Bass or Bass” joke that she lost her mind on. In my not so humble badass opinion, she is a complete joke and completely under-qualified for this job. She is a consistent embarrassment to the Air Force. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

So instead of removing the post and apologizing like a real leader would , she doubles down and says social media makes it look bad. No. That’s not what happened at all. You shared a story demoralizing the other side without knowing it whatsoever. if the tables were turned on a man he would be out the door quicker than the story surfaced. This is what happens when the military tries to take a role in social norms. How about instead we promote a dual mil couple that was together for 20 years instead.

15-19 Feb were the dates they said they were notifying people of interviews.

No changes on the rated assignments page so I'ma go with negatron. Anyone care for a little over-under on public release date? My theoretical dollar is on the 14th, which would make commander release day this Friday.

Mainly because of the tripe she used to spew at State.

Circle.mp4

I knocked it out under the old rules, but there’s a separate ATP thread with some good info over in the general discussion section https://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/topic/5582-airline-transport-pilot-atp-certificate

Yes I looked at the Columbia/Cessna 400. They are a bit faster than the SR-22 but they have a few drawback in my opinion. 1. Again high wing loading so keep the traffic pattern in mind and they like much longer runways. 2. Not many of them out there and the ones that are available had a lot of hours or were close to an engine overhaul. 3. Without an extra engine or system like CAPs, I was not hitting the safety aspect my wife wanted. 4. The useful load is a very close to my Saratoga. I believe the ones with AC and ice protection have a useful load of 1050-1100. With full gas you only have 460LBS for crew and bags. 5. Higher insurance cost. Overall a good plane and perhaps a better fit if there are only two people traveling.

You nailed it man. I'm all about serving my country. But when you communicate to me that you do not value me, I don't believe I'm actually contributing any service, because I am not providing any value. Hence, I will leave, and go find a position that either pays better or offers higher quality service. When the AF tells us they don't value us, you are doing exactly what noone wants you to do, you are sticking around for the money (which isn't great). And thats a problem.

The AF has done a poor job messaging that we are valued and needed to accomplish the AF mission. The message went from "go ahead and leave, someone will be there to replace you" to "make the best choice for you and your family, the service will find a way to continue, and thanks for your service." I posit that essentially, the AF message hasn't changed, just the language got kinder. They both resign the service to not having to tell us they want or need us to stay ("I'm not going to try and convince you to stay"), which points directly to us not being valued by the service. I don't remember at any point the AF saying during the pilot manning crisis "we need you. We need you to stay because we value your experience and your ideas. Our country needs you. But my words don't mean anything without actions, so here's what we are going to do to show you the service values you." Of course, that also has to be followed up with actual action, or it undercuts the credibility of the GOs, and pushes people out. That's not to say there's been no improvements to show the AF might care about our value you as an individual. Probably the biggest improvements are the MyVector assignment bidding process (better communication of assignment desires and visibility on what is available your vml cycle), and the ability to turn down school without prejudice. Both do give individuals more say in their careers, which may help them decide to stay in. The bonus is still there, though it seems to lag by 2+ years to what's needed, and probably is too low to push people over the fence, so partial credit there (I'd give it a D-). Yes, a military career will probably net you less money than going to the airlines. But it's a similar problem with other fields out in the civilian sector. For example, someone working at a non-profit versus at a for-profit organization where they could make more money. What drives them to take the lower paying job? Likely, a sense of purpose and mission gets them there, and a sense of accomplishment and the organization valuing their efforts keeps them there. Another example at the extreme is volunteering (like Habitat for Humanity): here there's no pay, yet people participate, sometimes with large chunks of their time? So what motivated them to work for free, and continue to do so? Again, my guess is a sense of mission, pride in that mission, and the organizers valuing and encouraging their participation. That's not to say pay doesn't matter. It's much easier to stay when you can pay your mortgage, take care of your family, and have money leftover to pursue what you want (hobbies, travel, toys, side businesses/investments, opportunities for your kids, etc). This article was posted somewhere here several years ago, but it's still relevant today and I think with reposting. It's a blog by a former RAF fighter pilot turned motivational speaker/consultant and it's his take on pilot shortage in the RAF, and his take on why pilots leave the RAF. https://www.fastjetperformance.com/blog/when-pilots-quit-why-we-must-stop-telling-people-they-are-valued-unless-we-truly-value-them

There's always NGA's Aero app that's free. Just need an NGA account for FLIP. ETA: I also used Naviator in the past as my backup in the T-6 (didn't have iOS devices). Not sure if it added ADS-B capability, as it's been a while since I've flown with it. But for general moving map with gps position off the phone and approach plates, it was a decent backup. There's a subscription fee for charts though.

I disagree, with the caveat that it only matters if he's being genuine. We need leaders that talk more from a place of genuine care for the Airmen. Someone who explains a thought process will get more respect and buy-in than a GO who has a chance to talk to people and takes the tack you just laid out.

Yes

"You're probably not going to like the new bonus, so do it for god and country...because gosh darn it, we care for you..."

Wait until Harris gets in the seat. If I were king for a day we would have a non-narcissist mentally capable president from one party who acts and speaks like a President. The House would be controlled by one party and we wouldn't have an 80 year lunatic as the speaker. The Senate would be controlled by the other party and the Majority leader would be of a reasonable mindset. They would be forced to work TOGETHER and DEBATE issues to work towards COMPROMISE as the framers intended. Who am I kidding?

I’ve had multiple airmen pull out money from their TSP to “invest” in dogecoin. I guess, on the bright side, they’ll get a taste of reality and losses early in life.

Lately, This thread is so much fun to read... Now, who wants to buy some rare tulips!? Better yet some tulip options (Jk).

100% agree. It’s why I laugh when people say we have a capitalist system. We don’t. If you have the money to pay for play, you can diddle the system to work for you. Privatize the gains and socialize the losses. That said, and it’s probably deeper than anyone wants to get here, but it’s never cut and dry. I’m a huge believer in reaping what you sow, but letting banks die in 08 was a double edged sword. The culprits of the collapse already had the ill-gotten gains in their pockets and the average folks out there relying on banking would have actually been the ones to suffer if they failed. The FDIC didn’t have the funds to insure the number of banks that failed, the credit freeze would have decimated non-bank players, and the system would have collapsed. Did it mostly just bail out the rich and powerful. Yup. Should they have paid with jail time and fines? Yes, they should have. But, the wealthy only go to jail if they over other wealthy people. Madoff robbed powerful people and went to jail; Dick Fuld/Angelo Mozillo/etc. just played vital parts in screwing millions of average folks out of their homes/jobs/savings...of course they got off with golden parachutes. In the words of Carlin, “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.” As for the current market diddling, sure, some hedge funds are losing money. But, a lot of it’s not THEIR money; it’s investors’ money. Sure, most are wealthy and can afford it, but I know my FDNY pension has hedge funds in its portfolio. They’ve had to go to alternative investments with interest rates in the shitter for nearly two decades. So, the victory is pyrrhic, in some sense. There are average people gonna suffer because of the manipulation and a game. Hopefully it brings about change in the system, because the big boys manipulate the market at will; always have and likely always will. But, I’m afraid the best antidote for this is the dreaded “Regulation” word.

Your comment made me think of this tribalism cartoon from way back. Which applies to basically all facets of life.

It's a short squeeze, it is fundamental. Happened in 2008 to VW as well. Will GME be worth 326 (current price) in a month, almost certainly not. But it's not going to be $4 either. The fact it was shorted 140% is ridiculous, and when you get the chance to beat someone betting hard with a bad hand...I guess if they're a billionaire we're just supposed to walk away. Fuck that.

Doesn’t seem that long ago! I actually still have my nav school charts somewhere. I’m a pack-rat apparently. Lol Saw a FB post from Davis-Monthan that showed the T-43s...the only plane that could be 13 places at once. Where each of the 12 studs thought they were...and the aircraft’s actual location.