Buddy Spike

WSOs aren't real people. I'd rather have the extra gas.

The SIB is out on the T-Bird crash and the SIR is now out for the Blue Angel crash.

Unless he's a forum sponsor, it shouldn't be here.

LOUD NOISES!

Just did my ATP at Horizon Flight Center in Chesapeake, VA. After the school fired my first instructor when we landed, I was a bit nervous, but they managed to pair me up with someone even better. He's an Air Force O-6 that's retiring, but likes to instruct. Former C-model dude and flew MC-12s. Great guy, really makes it easy for a military guy to understand. My recommendation is more for the examiner than anything. John Phelps out of Richmond (Also flies out of Hampton Executive and primarily out of Richmond) charges $50 extra bucks to go to Chesapeake, but it's well worth it. Military friendly, easy going. It's not a gimme, but the ground eval is fair and painless and the flight is low threat. I flew 4 sorties and a checkride. They direct-bill the GI Bill and I had to pay for the examiner and airplane for the checkride (reimbursable by VA). ~4 months of benefits all said and done. Mr. Phelps has availability in the coming days since one of the planes he had been flying at Hampton Executive is hard broke.

And like every other .GOV program, this checkride/CTP-ATP program does little to prove that a guy won't pack it in.

The bigger question is why do military pilots have to do any of this nonsense? All of this was covered in UPT and annually on Instrument Checkrides. What purpose does making a dude learn a light twin for one flight serve?

Sky Warriors in Pensacola no longer takes the GI Bill. Not sure what their prices are now, but I know they recently raised them. They have a DPE "Bob" who's a former Air Force shoe clerk with the standard sob story that his vision was too bad to become a pilot. Word on the street is that he's a bit tougher on USAF guys as a result, but they do have several other mil-friendly examiners. If you're looking for something in the Pensacola area, they seem like an OK group. Their scheduling is a train wreck and avoid Bob, but otherwise good to go.

Deuce is right. It's way too early to speculate, and not fair to Tuna to throw around theories like that. Let the process do its thing.

Same here please

Navy waiver was denied this week and recommended Medical Retention Review Board. It did hint to the possibility of considering an appeal pending the results of the MRR. The fight continues.

If you become a submariner, it is unlikely that you'll ever become a fighter pilot. You may have these great plans, but then life happens. You won't be an off the street guard hire, you'll be a non-rated officer. Which means you'd show up as an O-3 after UPT. Unless you start rushing units years out and they love you, you'll be in a very weird category. Add to that the interservice transfer hassle and most units will pass. If you want to fly fighters, take a chance and go aviation. If you want to hang out in a metal tube that's long, hard, and full of seamen, go subs.

Downloaded the app today, so still learning it. Does it have the ability to set 72AFTPs for us Navy bubbas?

Maybe not as a permanent assignment, but they are sending dudes to RPAs as an involuntary mob. Except instead of Creech, you're on a ship. Have fun with that.

Thanks for the info! The MRA and ultrasound came back negative for aneurysms and kidney stones respectively. We're going to start the waiver process this week. My Navy FS did say that he talked to his AF counterpart and he said that even if the Navy issues the waiver, the AF side is far less likely. Does that jive with your discussion with your peers? My FS pointed out that NAMI could be a bit more lenient since I'm already on flying status in the Navy Reserve. Thanks again

Thanks for the clarification. I found the NAMI waiver guide and it says: Emphasis mine. Does that mean they will consider a waiver for all flying, or just non high performance flying? Will the AF be the same? Also, what is considered "asymptomatic"? Kidney pain kicked off this whole thing. Is that a symptom or are they referring to renal function and hypertension?

Great information, thank you! I am currently Navy Reserve, but I was on orders when the diagnosis happened. I'm up for ultrasound, MRI, MRA on Wednesday. Do you know what the waiver process is if it shows any intracranial cysts? Does that make it a whole new ball game? Thanks again. This is great information.

Couldn't find anything via search. I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Polycystic Kidney Disease earlier this week. My kidney function is normal and my blood pressure is good, but I have over a dozen cysts in and on both kidneys. I discovered it during a BFM flight (pain) and it got worse a few days later, which led to the CT Scan and ultimate diagnosis. I'm also in the middle of a transfer from the Navy Reserve to AF. 1) Assuming the MRI/MRA is good and I have no signs of aneurysm or neural cysts, what are my odds of continuing to fly fighters? Has anyone gone through that waiver process here? How long does it take? 2) WRT the transfer - assuming NAMI approves a waiver, would AFRC require its own waiver or can they translate the waiver and accept it? 3) If the worst should happen and the MRI/MRA shows something bad, would that be eligible for line of duty (since it was discovered on active orders and the symptoms started during flight, no previous history)? And if so, would I have to seek a medical retirement? Obviously I don't want to go anywhere near question three, but I'm just trying to get smart on this. This entire thing really blindsided me. I had no history of kidney problems and my labs came back good. Thanks in advance.

The second pilot is in pretty bad shape and definitely not out of the woods yet. Thoughts and prayers for all involved.

Memphis does not have a 100% pass rate. A dude in my squadron busted his ATP checkride there last year.

Pretty much, yes.

When you repost stuff from the nerds at war is boring, you only encourage them. Baseless opinions from neckbeard hipster gamers at best.

That's because this thread is sponsored by Lockheed Martin and Carl's Jr.

Most fighter pilots would rather have the extra gas.

I'm not sure what you're arguing then. Are you saying that you lose digital rights when you use a vanity publisher? Because AFAIK even if you went vanity for print only, you should be able to upload to D2D for free.