JarheadBoom

There's two C-32Bs at WRI.

Damn shame.

Isn't there a headline at the top of the main AF Portal page with a link about self-updating your GAL info? edit: No, not on AF Portal home page. It was (and still is) on the 514AMW home page.

Our WG/CC seems to enjoy creating these food fights between Ops and MX re: the various timelines, metrics, delay and canx reasons, etc. SQ/CC can't do much when his own boss is a huge part of the problem... We still get beat up on crew show times; see above.

Still gonna be plenty of -135s flying, long after the -46 is flying missions in appreciable numbers. It's not a 1-for-1 replacement.

Can't speak for FRED & Barney units, but can speak to AFRC flying in my unit. I suspect that in these "challenging" times, these answers aren't gonna be too different, regardless of airframe/affiliation: 1. If you're already current & qualified, enough to stay current and off the bad-boy slides/lists. 2. My SQ officially does not like folks who (blatantly) fly only enough to stay current, vs. folks who fly enough for proficiency. 3. The answer from my SQ/CC recently: We don't know. I don't think anyone knows yet. And even if someone does know, by the time it's all said & done, it probably won't look anything like what they thought it would be. edit: gramer, spelin

Sweet baby Jesus, someone in a high place gets it.

I'm getting back into the jet after 7 months of downtime, so I wasn't quite up-to-speed on the latest administrivia involved with getting airborne out of WRI. On my second flight, we had a MX issue requiring an avionics box R&R. I called Command Post to let them know about it and give them an ETIC; they responded with "When were you Dash-1 preflight complete?". During start and the extended taxi, I heard at least three other jets on the ramp call in with problems, call blocked out, or call airborne; the initial response from CP was "When were you Dash-1 preflight complete?" each time. They're playing the stupid fucking numbers game again, big-time. edit: format

Another vote for GunVault. I splurge and use lithium batteries, and replace them every Daylight Savings day (along with the smoke detector batteries). A couple bucks extra for good batteries, replaced frequently, is IMO cheap insurance for something this critical.

God, that was rough to read. Prior to the '09 crash, a lot of S-76 operators in the Gulf had replaced the laminated-glass windscreens (heated, and powered by a dedicated AC generator) with acrylic windscreens. I forget what the exact total weight savings was from the acrylic windscreens and the removal of the AC generator, but it was a significant number - more than 50lbs IIRC.

Damn straight. Too bad there's nothing about all the money he wasted at WRI on "his" flowers, the trees that were uprooted on the main drag to make room for... trees, and all the other fuckery committed in "the Wing Commander" 's name. ** For those who didn't know, he often referred to himself in the third person during WG/CC calls (and probably other conversations too).

I've worked in aircraft production for an OEM - this is much more than a minor inconvenience. This WILL delay delivery to whatever customers were supposed to get those particular serial numbers. Boeing's 737 backlog is almost 500 airframes... they can't just slide every customer 3 serial numbers to the right.

Ouch. That's gonna piss off a few customers...

In the other service, we had a SgtMaj Post & Relief and retirement ceremony rolled into one lovely, cloudless August afternoon. On the flightline. In Dress Blue Deltas. With web belts, magazine pouches, canteens (empty), and rifles. The audience seating and the podium were in the afternoon shade of the hangar; the formations were in the sun. The outgoing/retiring SgtMaj was infamous for being long-winded. At about the 30min mark, we heard a sickening crack/thump and a rifle falling to the ground, and a half-dozen people go "Holy shit!". A Corporal passed out; as he was falling his face caught the front sight base of the rifle. Knocked one front tooth completely out, broke the other one almost flush with the gumline, broke an additional tooth, and tore his upper lip open badly. That ignorant longwinded motherfucker continued to ramble on about how much of an honor it was to take care of "his Marines" for 27 years while the corpsman tried to stop the bleeding, while the ambulance rolled onto the flightline with the siren blaring, while they loaded the Cpl into the ambulance, and while they drove off the flightline with the siren blaring again. About 15 minutes after the ambulance left, he finally shut the fuck up. The incoming SgtMaj was clearly uncomfortable with the situation; he spoke for about a minute and closed with "Let's get this over with, before we hurt someone else."

Good info here, straight from a major producer: World-wide Civil Jet Fuel Grades Military Jet Fuel Grades and Specifications (NATO) Basically, if the fuel isn't JP-8 or JP-5, there's no assurance that there's a FSII in it unless it's clearly stated by the FBO, or requested during the fuel order (and visually verified at the truck). PRIST and other FSII brands have limited biocidal properties (to prevent microbial growth in fuel systems), so some operations that don't even get into the Flight Levels still request it. When I worked at Sikorsky on their .civ production side, our fuel trucks added PRIST year-round.

There are ways around that.

DFRESH, M2, or Toro can point you in the right direction.

Almost every shitty "HOT!! VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY!!" [extra emphasis because that's how they come out when you view them in HTML in Outlook.....] email blast I've seen in the last year or so has had a PT score requirement somewhere in the fine print. edit: fix quote

I found this interesting, in a "I just threw up in my mouth a little" way...

Mine's working fine, both single Quote and MultiQuote. Vista Home Premium IE9 BBCodeMode not selected

Yep. BTDT, in the other service. I wasn't implying that airlifting helos closer to the fight was the best option, or a viable replacement for a contingency deployment of A-10s, just that it is possible, and it is an option.

Helicopters can be deployed (relatively) quickly if the situation warrants it. C-5 can carry 3-4 H-60s, half a dozen skids (H-1s), or two H-47s/H-53s, plus the tools, supplies, and crews to maintain & fly them. C-17 can carry them too, just smaller numbers. There is prep work required for all helicopters to be airlifted -the bigger the helo, the more prep required at either end of the trip.

Hadn't heard that; interesting, but not surprising at all. Thankfully, I reside on the other side of the river.

Full disclosure: I am a disgruntled and unwilling Comcast customer (they're the only broadband option in my neighborhood - no fiber; phone network doesn't support DSL [or even 56k dialup...]).

Ummm... have you heard of Comcast?