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No. There is no chance that any fighter pilot went through the verbal diarrhea in the the 6-9 seconds of the mishap. This is not a political statement. They may have very well had side effects from the vaccine, but this rumor is just stupid. There's simply not enough time to say all of that, nor would any real fighter pilot waste the brain bytes whilst crashing and trying not to die. Don't be an idiot. And if you are a professional military aviator, you should know better than to float bullshit rumors and speculate during an active mishap investigation. That's a foul.

Sometimes you just have to stop and ask yourself before posting, "Would an idiot say this?" And if the answer is yes, don't.

True, but have you tried playing the audio backwards and listening?

Grinder, BTW, is a good shit and tremendous fighter pilot. She would throat punch you and stomp on your dick for adding her photo to this joke.

Come on guys. Be better than this. Wild speculation about an aviation mishap involving our brothers and sisters is a shitty thing to do anytime. But it's especially shitty to co-opt that mishap to bolster your preexisting political biases. Aviators in the room, ask yourself this: Are these sources credible in any way? Does that quote sound like anything you've ever heard on safety privileged mishap tapes before? Of course not. Because no one blurts out verbose political/vaccine statements seconds before they eject from an airplane.

For those still playing the waiting game for UPT assignments, AFPC told me they are finishing filling classes this week to early next week. Additionally they said most start dates they've seen so far are in the Oct-Dec 22 timeline and can expect to PCS 45-60 days prior to CSD so get to enjoy a little casual time.

You said your “friend the Hornet Airboss guy” heard it with his own ears and relayed that to you. That’s your original posts, reading like it’s your statement and your 2nd hand info. Only later are you suddenly “not in the Navy.” You don’t get to now try and represent it as something else, you started a thread for the explicitly toxic purpose of reporting BS tied to a political third rail that is vaccines, and you did it using an event that injured 7 and damn lucky didn’t kill anybody. This is an aviation forum full of professional military aviators who serve a function of vetting the noise out of those misrepresenting themselves or the facts under a color of professional coverage. That kind of nonsense doesn’t stand here. This is not F’ing Reddit. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Benny is catching a lot of shit right now, and I can understand that. What I can also understand, is the possibility (albeit quite remote) of a fighter pilot coerced into receiving the vaccine to safeguard his income, at great expense to his objecting conscience. If someone was disgruntled enough about receiving the injection, and subsequently had an adverse reaction while flying…I personally don’t see it impossible that he may have uttered words similar to those alleged before the mishap. The simple facts known to us: a DoD F-35 was involved in a mishap on a carrier. Everything beyond is conjecture, and al possibilities CAN exist.

Um what? I separated after my UPT ADSC and am currently collecting $1400/mo (~$17,000/yr) tax free for VA disability, something you can't do while on AD. So in a sense, I'm collecting almost as much as I would if I would have taken the bonus. I'm not sure how that would have swayed you even more to stay in AD, because to me that sounds like even more reason to punch.

I've said it before in this thread, but when you know where you want to live, you have to compare the airlines based on that domicile alone. Sure, the upgrade at AA might be 4 years if you want LGA, but it might be 8 years at PHX (I'm making up numbers but you get the point). Also, people say all you'll fly at SWA is a 737, but PHX is a A320 only base for AA, so there goes all the WB int'l that might sway you to AA. I work at SWA, but I'm not a SWA cheerleader by any means. We have our issues like anyone else, and I've really soured on this company in the last year. But make sure you're comparing apples to apples.

Don't be a chickenshit, at least say my name. This forum is not the only place I've heard the story, which is exactly what I said. I have no idea if it is true and we have not heard the entire PLAT tape, we don't know what led up to this. Hopefully it is just a made up story. Someone else sent me that link so I shared it, just another data point to use for your own due diligence. Next time I will only post CDC/DOJ approved information.

Light Fighters... interesting article and worth a read IMHO. https://warontherocks.com/2022/02/the-light-fighter-is-the-air-forces-manned-unmanned-team-solution/ Author leaves room for discussion for what I would call mission requirements vs platform requirements, that is what is the mission and then what is the platform required or capable of meeting those technical / performance requirements. How many UCAVs / UAVs would it need to control, at what distance, how resilient to EA to that supplied link, how much organic capability for offense/defense for this platform, etc... most of that I think would be a result of what the cognitive load is determined to be put on the crew, I think a two crew platform is necessary if in control or directing more than 2 unmanned vehicles. Highly scientific WAG but reasonable I think. Stretched and modified version of the T-7 could work Range / Endurance is the original sin I could see adapting what is already a modestly sized jet but high bypass engine option, CFTs, stretch to add internal fuel might fix that. Launch, ingress 500 NM with an hour on station, supersonic dash for self protection, carry two defensive missiles.

I bet if Fauci said it you’d believe it.

Honestly feel the same way. I know MFS is probably going to end up being low threat but right now it seems like another gate to get through where something could go wrong, CRS-wise.

Good article and the author is a good dude I’ve flown with before, can vouch for his smarts.

Royal thanks for the thoughtful summary.

It's from a totally legit website called avia-pro.net. Some of the other latest news stories on there include: 1. American mercenaries raised the US flag on the outskirts of Donetsk 2. Latvian AN-2 aircraft opened S-400 air defense areas, violating Belarusian border 3. Russian warships stationed in Syria sent NATO a serious warning Lots of Cyrillic on there. Honestly kinda aligns with the overall tilt of this thread.

No idea, but CNN (aka Russian collusion network) is reporting from anonymous source that Putin himself hacked that jet!

Is that screenshot from the Onion?

How long have you known your buddy who is a Navy squadron commander?

Let's also not forget that you had retired USAF middle management (O-6, wing-management type), piling on concurrence, and also linking a "news" article about it from a site that makes OANN and Newsmax look downright credible. Embarrassing.

I'll front end load with the fact that you probably can't go wrong. This career, especially when treated as part time, eclipses almost every job out there. That said, consider the following. I have little confidence AA will expand PHX. It is a company helmed by low rent bean counters; they'll trip over a pile of gold doubloons to pick up wooden nickels. An example: How long has the hiring/retirement wave been discussed? Should it have caught anyone by surprise? Well, it caught AA management off their guard, and they shut down their Phoenix training facility despite having the data. That place would be worth its weight in platinum right now. If you pick PHX and want to do any other flying at AA you will have to commute. Captain upgrade, widebody, anything other than A320, those will all force you to another base. I would not put money on AA getting a new contract in under 24 months. I know very little on the topic, but AA is supposed to be getting new scheduling/trip trading software that's allegedly worse than what they have now. Hopefully someone else can speak intelligently to it. If you want fly out of PHX be warned: America West produced some of the worst pilots I've had the displeasure of flying with. By the same token, I've sat in the jumpseat with SWA many times, and they almost always seem reasonably competent. Retirements matter most if the seniority list doesn't shrink. AA won't be able to do any growth hiring for some time due to the fact the seniority list shrank a great deal during covid. Management is trying to get everyone excited about all the pilots that are getting recruited; however, all those people for the next 18 months will barely cover what the company is making up for since spring 2020. That's the worst of it for AA. The plus side is meteoric seniority movement, good overnights, easy flying, and a great job overall if you don't let yourself get caught up in the bullshit. SWA is hiring for growth; that can get you stuck at the bottom of the seniority list for a long time. SWA is not the same company Herb founded. Hopefully they can hang onto what's left of their culture. SWA typically has much better scheduling flexibility. Why mention all of this? Because despite how tremendous it is to get paid to fly jets, no matter where you end up, the above statements (along with more creative complaints) will be brought up CONSTANTLY on the flight deck. Then you'll start to second guess your choice of carrier; do yourself a favor: Don't. Bloom where you're planted; enjoy your days off and live your best life.

@bennynovaThank you for your service in the relentless pursuit of truth. I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that the pilot took 69 personal ORM points because of cancel culture but his woke commander made him fly anyway.

This is true haha 😅 Have had some ground SOF dudes tell me that in jest. Cheeky bastards. Seriously though, that one f*cking guy saying that one f*cking line put a bad rep on an awesome community literally for 15+ years…choose who y’all send to air shows and fly-ins wisely. Draco was a freaking blast and we did some really cool stuff with some really great Americans. I hope the AO replacement platform gives the dudes what they need to continue bringing violence to bad people. Massive swing and a miss passing on the scorpion jet a couple years ago IMHO, but the capes of the L3 air tractor are apparently outstanding. I’ll believe it when I see it that a tail-wheel will be selected, but I’d be happy to be wrong because the platform delivers a lot that the AT-6 doesn’t. Also happy to personally be flying a GCS from now on…you can miss me with that bullshit of being strapped into the back seat of an air tractor for a 8.69 sortie duration and counting on the 12 year old-looking first Louie up front not to pork the landing of a huge tail-dragger with no rocket chair 😆

'Merica. I like flying someone else's airplane with someone else paying for gas.

This was the core reason I stayed in to 20. Plus, the ability to put my special needs kid in line for a portion of my pension through SBP.

The other way to look at it is that it is the best part of the job. I'm happy with it being completely devoid of anything approaching excitement. Another way to put that is "safe". I go look elsewhere outside of work to scratch the "fun flying" itch, and I can control the frequency and intensity of that exposure to risk.

Here are my thoughts: I missed the camaraderie of squadron life. I missed being around mission focused people coming together to get a job done. I missed running a mission in a complex, dynamic environment. (Part 121 flying is boring by design) My wife missed the built in support group. There is a lot I didn’t miss….the negatives are covered ad nauseam in other threads. I haven’t looked back though. You’ve obviously done some research…the money is far better than AD. But it’s the QOL upgrades that make it truly worth while. When I’m done with a trip, I go home until the next one. Simple as that. No 2 hour post flight paperwork session & debrief. No additional duties. No exercises. No inspections. My time off is my time off. Period. I live where I want which means my wife and I are near family. My kids see their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins far more than they ever could if I had stayed in. I lost a parent a couple years ago and have another dealing with MS. I’m very glad to have had the ability to spend time with the one that passed and to be around for the one with health issues. My wife has been able to put down roots & finally focus on her career. In addition to having a nice second income, it has been a boon to her sanity (happy wife, happy life). For all of those reasons, leaving the AF has turned out to be an excellent decision for me personally. I look back at my AD career with fondness, but it’s a chapter of my life that’s closed. That said, I know guys who tried the airline thing and said F that. Some personalities will not jive with the monotony, regardless of other benefits. Of course for many, this can be mitigated by buying an RV-8 & getting your upside down fix in your spare time (or taking up any number of other expensive hobbies…..currently researching carbon mountain bikes for when ski season closes).

For your first question, depends how much you value Tricare. But let’s say you retire at 42, you’ll have 23 years til mandatory airline retirement. So you gain $50k x 23 years = $1.15M. What you give up by spending 8 years on AD is the 8 years at the end of your airline career (before mandatory retirement). So those are 8 years you could’ve been a senior captain. $350k annually is a very low bar to clear for those types, so you lose out on $350k x 8 years = $2.8M (minimum). That’s why conventional wisdom is conventional. ARC gives a happy medium of still having Tricare and getting some type of retirement while starting on the seniority list ASAP. I personally don’t know anyone who’s even remotely regretted leaving AD, even guys who start at regionals. Even during bitter contract negotiations when everyone’s mad at the company and the company is playing games, nobody would trade that for SAPR training and non-vol PCS/TDYs. The post-9/11 furloughees might have a different perspective, but can’t predict that kind of thing. Gotta take the plunge in life sometimes!

This. If none of the various airline domiciles are palatable for whatever reason, and you absolutely must commute, FedEx is the clear winner. Getting paid to deadhead around the world to and from an airport of your choosing, while keeping the miles, can be a great deal. You can do this at a surprising level of juniority. Perhaps a UPS guy can chime in with their experiences… my impression is that it’s a better deal at FedEx, though. Of course, the other side of that coin is days away from home. My FedEx buddies make a TON of money and have fantastic work rules… but are also gone way more nights than I am. They deadhead in biz class to Australia, Paris, whatever, fly around, deadhead back, home a week to 10 days later. That’s awesome if you’re a commuter! On the other hand, I manipulate my schedule much like Lord Ratner, dropping all of my trips and rebuilding with easy turns and 1-1s, with lots of deadheads, and mostly for premium. I drive to work. Less than 20 nights total away from home in 2021, with 4 of those being for my annual sims. I average less than 1.33333 (repeating of course) nights away from home per month. I make less money than my FedEx buddies (by a lot in a couple cases) but, overall, I’m home a lot more. A few of my buddies ended up moving to Memphis to gain access to the type of flying I do at my legacy (turns, 1-1s, etc). They hate Memphis but it’s worth it to them for the QoL/pay bump being able to drive to work provides. Some others live in Random City, USA and bid for a week of trips that “overnight” (overday would be more accurate) in their city throughout, so they’re home sleeping while the kids are at school or whatever. That sounds exhausting but again, to each their own. Certainly a niche for everyone. I know Hacker knows all this, more for those still on AD contemplating where to go. Tons of pros and very few cons wherever you end up…. but most definitely a thousand times better than the AD USAF cesspool.

The pain of commuting depends on where you work and where you live. Personally, they could not pay me enough to live in my base, and commuting is what makes the career worthwhile to both my family and I.

But less than the time they took to actually test the mRNA shots.

I’m not sure how you could really tell. 1. We only saw the very ending 2. There was a ton of background noise going on. I’d say it’s still plausible.

I posted a RUMOR. It was not my friend, nor am I in the navy. Thread title said RUMOR. it was to get to truth. so I have to say, you need to read better.

In the 3rd post In the thread, I talk about being in the AF. So please don’t act like I was trying to pull some wool over your eyes. I even asked for thoughts on the rumor. the one thing I could have done better would have been putting quotes around it.

I specifically said. F35 navy crash rumor? In the thread title. Then I posted the rumor I can’t help it that you guys open threads without Reading the title and then just post the first thing that pops into your peas brains

Co soldering the only PLAT video made public is one with what seems to be a movie playing in the background and only includes the very tail end of the crash and the Carrier folks yelling to pull up.... yes, there’s still a chance. I’m open to both possibilities. Some of you like to just toe the gubment line and be told what to think.

RUMINT is that it was her first !SOLO! and than vax hit her on final! 🤡