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I am shocked and saddened to report our friend and longtime forum member Danger41 passed away yesterday after a freak accident. Many of us knew him in real life and it would be an understatement to say he was an American hero. He was an incredible pilot, officer, mentor, weapons officer and a friend to all. More importantly, he was a dedicated husband and father. I had the honor of mentoring him throughout his career and was with him at Nellis the night he put his patch on...there are not enough words to describe how good of a person he was. This is an absolute gut punch and a reminder that every day is a gift, never miss a chance to tell a friend or family member you care. ***** All - Adding an update along with the link to a GoFundMe for his family. https://gofund.me/1ecfa239 As I mentioned above Matt "Macho" Anderson was a great human being. He attended and played football at South Dakota State before going to OTS and then on to UPT. Matt initially flew F-15Cs before he was TAMI-21'd to the U-28. He absolutely crushed it as a U-28 pilot where he quickly upgraded to instructor, attended WIC and eventually became WIC Cadre at the 14th WPS. He was known as the consummate Weapons Officer - Humble, Credible, Approachable. More than anything he would want to be remembered as a great husband and father. Macho leaves behind four children and an incredible wife. If you are so inclined say a prayer for him and his children who were also injured in the accident. Nickle on the grass my friend. 🥃

Matt exemplified everything good about America and the US military. Patriot, warrior, God fearing husband and father. Everybody who knew him is better for it.

What went wrong?

matt was the best. a leader from day 1 without having to say anything. humble. credible. approachable. i've never seen a man love his family more than him.

IMO, in many cases it's those "couple thousand hours" that actually become the problem for those "airline guys". Once a pilot has that many hours flying in an environment considerably different and coming at them more slowly (in terms of general airspeed and timing of flight events), many are going to struggle to ramp back up to T-38 speeds. Their mental clock has been set and it can be more difficult to change that. Contrast that with the zero (or very low hour) UPT student who really doesn't know any better. They just do what they're told (like Forest Gump field stripping his weapon in record time - "Because you told me to Drill Sergeant"). We had a 3000 hour commuter pilot in my class who barely made it through the -38 phase and ended up lucky to get a -130. Meanwhile fungos like me with 25 hours in a cessna to start are killing it in the -38 and heading to the Eagle. There were a lot more of us low time guys who had no issues than high time guys doing the same. Something to be said for learning it the AF way from the start. I think the transition from GA to 300 kts in a T-7 (or -38) isn't that big a deal as long as that student is kind of a clean slate and not tainted with a bunch of "experience" that's not really going to help in the long run.

This. For two reasons. 1) Somebody who has never been in the fast jet business doesn’t natively understand the risks in fast jet administrative or tactical flying. 2) At some point as a theoretically ideal (but resource constrained) readiness posture approaches imminent conflict, the administrative and tactical curves cross. Ex: If war is going to happen tomorrow and I’m expecting double digit attrition by the enemy in each pulse, the smart put is on tactical tasks rather than administrative tasks. If I can save 10% of my force through weight of effort on tactical training while sacrificing 2% to administrative risks, I come out ahead… that varies across fleets, roles, locations, etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately, we’ve not actually had that level of thought about risk in our pilot training or operational training enterprise. We tend to live on the “your mission is my motherhood” (who touched you in the motherhood, @hindsight2020? [good natured ribbing intended]) or “admin is assumed, the tactics will save you” camps, per command/commander. Edit to add: we may have had that level of thought… but I’ve never seen it. If somebody has, please point me to it.

That whiny ass bitch hurts my ears worse than 110 decibels ever could.

o Awww, you got me.

My body my appendix. I know what they are doing with all those appendixes/appendixeye. They're turning the frogs gay.

Well before the pandemic...in one case 23 years before the pandemic. Bought last two in 2019 before a big run up. Data for North Texas (Dallas), does not match what you are saying...yet. Prices are actually up the past few months. I'd have to see a significant price correction if I was going to buy more properties out there. Unemployment will be a tipping point, this month was bad, prognosticators trying to shape next report will be good...I am not convinced based on other indicators. To me untrained eye it appears consumption is falling and we know where that leads. I am still looking for a large plot of land...was close on 320 acres but holding out for goldielocks location.

Like a real attack, or will it be similar to whatever that was a few months ago?

https://www.foxnews.com/world/several-u-s-personnel-injured-suspected-rocket-attack-al-asad-air-base-officials ???

amazing how kamala went from the most unpopular vice president in history, to suddenly a media darling front runner for president. who hasn't won any vote for nomination, just picked by the big bosses in their soft coup. "defending democracy!"

I taught Luke at Rucker when he was a stud. I remember one particular NVG flight with him where it was like CT with your bro. He was a tremendous dude with a phenomenal attitude. He worked hard and was super willing to learn. He finished the program really strong. Luke, we will miss you dude.