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This reminds me of the “fly only” track. A great idea in theory, but when bounded by decisions from multiple layers of entrenched bureaucracy it becomes in execution unrecognizable from the concept originally intended. We’re at a point in the life-cycle of bureaucracy where the only play for survival is an aggressive dissolution in huge slices of the status quo. Unlikely because the only people with authority to make the dramatic cuts necessary rose to their positions by accepting & living within the system. But that’s what we need.

I may know why that FCIF dropped..... So there I was, walking into caddy shack to fly my daily suckfest sortie out of the Deid. Looked at my flight orders and saw I had one Col Patrick Rhatigan flying with me on that fine day. Didn't know the dude, so whatever. Everything was going fine until he noticed I was wearing my Alma Mater's ball cap during my preflight. He asked me if I was going to take it off before we departed. Getting the hint, I said yessir. He then asked me "if you didn't take off your cap, how would you quick don your oxygen?" I thought to myself "The same way I don it every time I test it during the preflight..." Fast forward a a few minutes, and then he asked me if I was going to unroll my flight suit sleeves. Because "what if we caught on fire and your arms got burned?" I figured if we were on fire, and my arms were at risk, we had much bigger problems. Don't remember much of the sortie, probably because no one did much talking, as we didn't want the Colonel to chime in. After we landed, I was on my way into MX debrief, and for some reason he followed along. Once we entered the outer door, he asked me why I didn't call the area to attention. I wish I remember how I responded. I probably just stared back at him with a confused look on my face. The next day....... So there I was, walking into caddy shack to fly my daily suckfest sortie out of the Deid. As I was scrolling through my seemingly endless FCIFs, I noticed one labeled "Approved Headgear." From Col Rat basically stating that ball caps were not authorized, and then went on to list all of the headgear that IS authorized. That FCIF was because of me. I was so proud of it.

Oh I've seen that happen for sure, and I'll even admit there are a few positives to being attached to an AD base. But in the context of not having to deal with a MTF, I'll take civilian medical care over an MTF every time. To my other point, I just meant that I've had shake my head at some friends who jumped to the Reserves at their last duty station and were surprised that it was same bullshit, different patches.

Well done, Comrade. Seven social credits have been added to your account.

You are a strange bird indeed. You state that you voted for Trump, elude to following the economist Minsky, play dumb in response to a satirical (but hilarious) comment about social issues, and post all sorts of drivel about banking, MMT, and the like to "educate" others as if you're slowly revealing what's behind the curtain in the modern banking and economic system. Stop trying to play cat and mouse with your posts. If you have ideological priors or foundational beliefs, just state them instead of trying to play Socrates on an anonymous forum.

FedEx v UPS Unless you find someone who has worked at both, realize you are going to get a biased perspective for each job. This is just one pilot's perspective, YMMV. I agree with the assertion that Memphis is an absolute warzone, unfit for raising a family, much less safely getting to work. 100% no-go for in-domicile living; it's just a place I endure until training is over. When I'm turning through Memphis, I'm staying at the hub in a sleep room for a few hours. I've heard from both company and union that 70% of FedEx pilots are commuters. The reasons for that are not only the horrific daily violence in Memphis, but it's the trip construction that allows ease of commuting. The 777 on one end is the extreme international-only option, usually one large trip, meaning one commute to work per month. On the other end is the 757, with potential for many small day-long trips, multiple blocks of off time, requiring multiple commutes to domicile. The MD/76/Bus are somewhere in the middle. Commuting into either FDX/UPS is a totally different animal than the pax world. At FedEx, there is no seniority booking of jumpseats (JS). The jumpseat is YOURS if you book it. When I attempt to select a JS that is full, I have no idea whether it's filled with JetBlue pilots or FedEx pilots. It honestly doesn't matter...those pilots have been guaranteed a ride to work/home. The mitigation: FedEx pilots are able to book the JS 3 weeks out; all offline JSers only get the week prior. So we have the opportunity to book anything we want before it fills up. It's location dependent, but generally speaking, FDX JSs are not that difficult to book on a regular basis. There are a few hot spots, like Seattle, Denver, South Florida (where rich airline Capts live) that are more difficult, but certainly not impossible. I also agree with Prozac WRT to UPS weekend JSs. After the last sort on Saturday morning, there is a huge deadzone for jumpseats until the Mon night sort. So the opportunity to weekend commute in jeans/tennis shoes on FDX is near zero depending on location. But that is only one way to commute to work. We also have a travel bank system for deadheads (DH). To clarify, a DH is a positioning/depositioning leg on another airline (wearing business casual v jeans/tennis shoes). A jumpseat is when I book myself on FDX to travel. There have been some exceptions to this during COVID, but let's not digress into irrelevancies. So hypothetically, I'm MEM-based, but I live in random city XYZ. On paper for pay, all my trips must begin/end in domicile. It's entirely possible that the revenue legs for my trip are cities (ABC-DEF-MEM-DEF-GHI). But the trip on paper will look like (MEM-all the cities with rev legs-MEM). So commuters "deviate" each end of that trip. Meaning I'm not going to MEM simply to take Delta from MEM to city ABC where my trip starts. Published in the pairing (pairing=trip) is the actual cost of that Delta ticket, paid by FedEx. If I deviate that leg, telling FedEx that I'm not going to be on that Delta flight, the cost of that ticket is deposited in my travel bank. This money was real when FedEx was going to pay Delta, but it will never be paid to me outright. I can use this money to book air or ground transportation from any city to get to city ABC where my trip starts. You can book on any airline you choose, or even a limo service to have a Cadillac show up in your driveway to take you to work if your travel bank allows it. Once some seniority is realized, a pilot can potentially bid hometown lines...living in city XYZ, and bidding trips that operate XYZ-ABC-DEF-XYZ. This pilot will be at home in XYZ, being paid for the layover on each end of the trip. I know this sounds confusing, but once you're living it, it makes a lot of sense. It's a highly flexible position for the pilot. There are some rules on when you can spend the travel bank (within 3 days of a trip), and the money can expire too. Here's one to really bake your noodle. Let's say I've saved up $10k in my travel bank, and my wife and I are going to Paris. As long as I have a FedEx trip within 3 days of my personal travel to Paris, I can spend that $10k on PERSONAL TRAVEL that is not affiliated with the FedEx trip at all. So I can spend my airline miles to get her into business class, and I can outright buy my business class ticket with FedEx money. All perfectly legal. That's another thing I forgot to mention, airline status. When FedEx is buying all these tickets on Delta/American/United/Foreign carriers/etc, my personal frequent flyer number is automatically linked to that ticket purchase. Any intl leg over 2.5h block must be in business/first, and 5h block sequence domestically must be booked in first. So to the airline, it looks like I'm the big spender, accruing points at a fantastic rate. Because I am. 🙂 PreF, I gather you're going to live in the southern half of Indiana...that makes the domicile choice between FDX IND and UPS SDF a literal coin flip. You can drive to either of them. I wouldn't consider that a variable. IND is FedEx's #2 domestic hub, where every airplane is represented with IND DHs. After about the first year, you'll be off reserve and able to bid a fair amount (if not all) IND DHs. So you'd be MEM on paper but actually driving to/from IND as I described above with city XYZ. That's a quick primer on commuting at FedEx. WRT to your other concern, Fred Smith vs Raj, everything I know about Raj so far--he's a fireplug who isn't waiting for a handout. There is a reason Fred chose him to nurture his baby. Only time will tell, but I haven't heard anything about Raj that gives me pause. And when you talk about culture, FedEx had some of the worst culture in the industry in the 80s/90s--crashing airplanes because the d!ickhead Capt was king. Thankfully that culture has become more CRM-centric. There are always a few turds in every punchbowl, but that's not FedEx-specific. Nine of of ten Capts are just older versions of myself, which is terrifying enough! Go with questions.

Not a firing but it sounds like the military lost a good one this time around. Col. Bode of 959th Med Ops Squadron, JBSA resigns the day before change of command stating in an official letter "leaders throughout the chain of command were aware and did nothing to stop illegal, immoral and unethical actions."

By describing the landlord and Cara using gender binary pronouns of "him" and "her," respectively, the Brits are reinforcing the patriarchy wherein the male holds the power of property ownership and the female is relegated to the role of subservient, dependent tenant. Furthermore, they are reinforcing the heteronormative, chauvinist worldview by establishing the toxic male as the aggressor upon the female. A gender nonconforming example would have been much more appropriate.

Only because the other tanker we've got left is approaching 70 years old with an AP from Boeing that occasionally tries to kill everyone on board. The 46 was supposed to be operational years ago. Wasn't supposed to have tools in the fuel tanks. And a remote vision system that added not detracted. Meanwhile the 330 from LM is fully operational with added capes (and on time to buyers). Yet we're talking about passing it yet again for more 46s for some reason. Especially bad when Boeing has the following track record: 135: A/P tries to kill them. 46: Years late. Fod. Non working boom. NMC. Over budget. New 747: Overbudget. Years late. 737 Max: Grounded for 2ish years. 787: Batteries caught on fire. Grounded for awhile. Also initially late to buyers. Now a great platform. 777X: 5 years behind timeline so far. Wedgie: Not great capes. Old. Still going to take 4-5 years to hit the production line per reports despite being an existing design. P8: Seems solid? Off an existing airframe. Don't follow the navy too much. TX: TBD Airbus recent failures: 380: Wasn't designed structurally for cargo. And economically not the best for airlines. LM Recent Failures: Fat Amy over budget and behind. 50/50 on LM and the scope. From my perspective Boeing has put out nothing on time or budget in the last decade or two. Aside from the 787 they've rehashed new designs rather than push the envelope.

The KC-46 is a great airframe and will be the preeminent tanker going forward. The underlying design is solid, but decisions made by Boeing in the name of saving money have hit it hard. We're gaining more confidence in the airplane everyday and its potential to be more than a tanker will be interesting to follow.

It'll be riots either way, but how we exit is a big question mark. We now get to choose between runaway inflation or the collapse of the credit markets. The only eventual emergence from this mess involves the complete destruction of the modern financial system. Keynesian economics and MMT are dead. But it has to be unwound over time, rather than allowed to implode. Our entire system only functions with the fed "printing money" through two incredibly stupid mechanisms: - Bond purchases to artificially suppress interest rates so the government can maintain insane deficit levels. This in turn suppresses the private rates and encourages unproductive, irrational (wasteful) investing. Reference pretty much every SPAC from 2020/2021, and the housing market. - Forcing reserves down the throats of the banks such that the Fed has to offer a *higher* rate for overnight deposits than the fed funds target. So we force banks to take these reserves to "stimulate" the economy, then we pay them to do fuck-all with them. If your system *requires* a government entity with the unconstrained ability to spend money that does not exist, your system is broken. And everyone in the industry plays along with the bullshit excuse of "that's just how banking works" or "the modern world needs these instruments to keep the transactions flowing." It's all horseshit. We've been riding the high of a slowly and artificially decreasing interest rate since Volker blew everything up in the 80s. That allowed for ever-increasing borrowing, which only stimulated growth by taking (stealing) it from the future. Sounds great, except once you hit 0%, the party ends. And here we are. Now we have to reconcile the fact that 50 years after the wide scale adoption of fiat currency, the experiment failed. We've run out of countries with cheap labor to exploit and the boomers didn't have enough kids to sustain the growth rates they wanted. But they made billions in what effectively became a Ponzi scheme. It'll start with a recession, soon. Then once the credit markets crack, the Fed will step in and go back to the only thing they know: printing. That'll be the unofficial signal to the world that high inflation is baked in for the next 5-10 years. But now the loss of earnings means no raises. There's a lot less distance between the Sri Lankan riots and American riots than we think. With a savings rate of 4%, there's no slack to handle inflation like we had in the 70s. And the collapse of globalism thanks to China and Russia is only going to pour plutonium onto a uranium fire. At the end we'll end up back on the gold standard, or something similar. It'll be a generation or two before the world trusts fiat currency again. But they always go back to it, because rulers always have bigger dreams than they have wallets, and voters are easily bought. Lots of people have seen this coming, but they had no idea just how much the government could spend to prop it all up. Turns out inflation was the party-crasher we were waiting for.

That write-up was excellent, thank you. No questions!

The constraints were set because they used an existing framework: AFCS PAQ. You can argue they should have used a different framework or created a standalone program, but the constraints aren’t arbitrary and definitely aren’t unique to this CAIP program. https://afciviliancareers.com/recentgraduates/

Agreed. I don't know why they narrowed the constraints so much. There are definitely CFIs who would jump at the chance to fly aerobatics in the T-6 out there.

Fixed it for you.

Their Moms

One of the great things about being in the Guard, is not living anywhere near an MTF...not to mention all the other negatives of being on an AD base. For those looking to get out soon, add this to the long list of reasons why you shouldn't just hit the easy button and join the Reserve squadron on the AD base you're currently based.

Is there even one program that Boeing isn’t screwing up? It’s an honest question as I cannot think of one between all known military and civilian programs.

From the competitor: https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-07-airbus-a330-mrtt-becomes-worlds-first-tanker-certified-for Meanwhile at Boeing: https://aviationweek.com/shownews/farnborough-airshow/new-air-force-one-delayed-again-first-delivery-set-2026 If we pass up the KC-Y for more 46s we as a force deserve everything that comes after. The fact Boeing still gets contracts proves to me this whole bidding process is a sham. Edit: Forgot we already decided to acquire the wedgie from Boeing. We're screwed.

I read this without the proper context and was like…WTF?? 😅 Congrats indeed to USN Stalin, not this guy 🇺🇸

You're a joke.

A little input from Dos Gringos. https://youtu.be/P4Xhx2q_PcM

You can't play a game where the referee is allowed to change the rules at will. This will end poorly

C-130J: “Deployments” are 6 months on 18 months off…with opportunities to switch out at the 3 month point. Quotations as CENTCOM deployments are significantly more chill with the drawdown. Only stateside units deploy, expect a 3-4 day TDY per month besides that. Not bad at all. Overseas units don’t deploy but are TDY much more often. PM me with questions.

I'm actually a bit disappointed our discussion digressed into name calming, as it so frequently does. Anyway, feel free to carry on the discussion. Edit: for torque.

So... AFPC is going through this huge effort... changing the culture of the instructor pilot cadre... and creating 2nd and 3rd order effects that may not be desirable... to get 7 candidates? For how many actual selections? Well... I'm sure this will quickly solve our UPT issues. Just curious. Do some of you see this as a good idea? I'm probably just an out of touch ol' gummer.

Ohhhhhhh, she had qualifications

The fact that single pilot KC-46 pilot operations was even suggested and staffed up to Mini demonstrates just how broken the USAF is. There are only two possible reasons to allow this moronic idea to see the light of day. The first option is they know the big-wing tankers are gonna get whacked in a fight with China, so lets keep the body count low. After showing a ray of hope with the KC-Y discussion, they quickly defaulted to dogma and signaled intent to buy more of the same...Fing brilliant...not. The second option is they know the pilot shortage is worse (and accelerating), than they are saying in public. Sadly, this option is a solvable problem. If they want to try out of the box solutions then give up one freaking KC-46 and dump that $170M into pilot retention. Figure out what the actual number is to get a pilot to stay until 20 and PAY them. Seriously, we spend a $1M to put an ejection seat in a jets to save pilots, why not spend a million dollars to keep them on active duty. I know not everyone wants to stay for 20 years and the nonsensical queep of the past 15 years has made it even less desirable but money speaks and so does messaging. Congress gave authority to pay more bonus but the shoes chase the curve rather than lead turn it with a long-term view. If USAF never uses the full allocation, what message does that send to the force. COVID saved this clown show...but that little respite is over and it is time to get serious. I am using old numbers but as I recall USAF makes approximately 1000 pilot a year and needs an approximate retention rate of 60% at end of initial commitment to break even. In recent years that number has fallen to the around 37-39%. I wonder how the calculus would change if they swallowed their pride and put real money on the table. Realistically they need 200-250 pilots to stay each year...offer each one $1M and see if your retention rate changes. Pay it lump sum, pay a portion each year, pay it however the pilots want to receive it and you will see a difference. $250M is decimal dust to the Air Force and if it solved one of the toughest problems it would be money well spent.

That spot has tuned into a pilgrimage for some who go there and relive that wonderful event.

Bro you arent going to find many sympathizer here. The democrats changed the rules for civility, not the other way around. Once they normalized threats, riots, police attacks, sequestering government buildings, burning cars, etc.... harassments, even sexual in nature, became completely fair game. You may not like it, but that's what our civilization has become. If AOC feels "uncomfortable" than she can step down. But I recall her saying that protest should make people feel "uncomfortable." Edit: to clarify, I don't personally condone any of this. However, it has become the reality of the US, that political supremacy is now earned through civil unrest and civil disobedience, not through civil discourse.

I'm not sure that's the appropriate metric. Biden isn't selling water softeners at Costco, he's the leader of the free world, elected by us. Part of the application for the job is what kind of a man or woman you are. Of course one of my main arguments *against* Trump to the conservatives I fly with has been that America deserves a better man than Trump. I always ask, "would you want your daughter dating Trump?" And "Trump has cheated on every relationship he's been in." These stories were not systematically hidden from the American voters by the press and Big Tech. Say what you will, but Trump raised three very functional children who are fiercely loyal to him (with two still to be determined). There is much more to consider, but that says a lot to a lot of voters. And he was up against a candidate who regularly painted himself as a grounded, no-nonsense family man. Biden was one of the dumbest people in the Senate for years, but he was supposed to be moderate and compassionate. Obama was clearly a man deeply committed to his wife and kids. But the "smartest man I know" according to Joe Biden was addicted to hookers, crack, illegally owned firearms, and curiously, filming all of his crimes. That same son, deeply flawed, had incredibly lucrative connections to foreign businesses with government ties to our adversaries, all on the basis of his blood connection to the senator/vice president/president. You don't think that's relevant to the voters interest in selecting a president? You don't think most people will look at that dumpster fire of a 52-year old and think, no way his high-profile parents aren't aware of this? How would that story affect a security clearance? OSI: Do you or any of your family members have connections to officials of foreign governments? You: Me? No not really. My son is on the board of several foreign companies with ties to their respective governments. Hmm? Oh yeah, China is one of them, sure. And he has hours of footage of him engaging in illegal activities involving drugs, prostitutes, and firearms, many of which he suspects have already been seized by members of the Russian Mafia. But other than that I can't think of anything... Right... By this logic, what did the candidate do that was illegal, many of the arguments against Trump vaporize too, as they still remain largely unproven. As to question one, seriously? First, have you seen any of the videos? They are hilarious, but quite obviously real. Second, have you ever, EVER, in your life, seen politicians let that type of story hit without categorically rejecting it? Your question should be has any Biden family member actually gone on the record denying the authenticity of the videos? Spoiler alert: no. I'm not sure the nepotism argument has legs given the Kennedy, Bush, Clinton dynasties. Ultimately it's not illegal, nor should it be, to use family members as advisors, or for them to use their name as a campaign tool. I wish the American people didn't go for it, but it's not illegal. Joe Biden rented his home to the secret service for years. Trump rented them rooms at his hotels. Ok, neither really bothered me. But Trump's kids didn't become "gajillionaires" because of their father's access to the highest office in the world. And at least the American people got the Abraham accords out of the arrangement. What are we getting now?