JS

Don't forget the option to escalate the situation (after consulting your chain of command of course). If your local detachment commander doesn't seem to be doing enough for you, try taking it to the next level. This is your career on the line here, and if you truly believe you are getting screwed (I don't know what the regs say with regards to how they can just swap assignments on you like that), I would definitely talk to someone with some silver or perhaps stars on their shoulders. Obviously, you have to go about this very gingerly. Good luck. [ 29. March 2005, 14:53: Message edited by: JS ]

I thought that low-interest $25K loan from USAA was only for Academy grads once they graduated. Does anyone know if it is available to any officer?

Anyone know if there is a possibility of buying a Tweet from the AF? You would think that they would probably sell for relatively cheap. If you had a rich friend and a crusty former Tweet maintenance guy to keep it flying, it could be a very fun plane to own (and a very expensive one to fly and maintain).

Around a year ago, Columbus allowed officers (UPT studs) to use the dining facility for breakfast and dinner only. A few weeks ago, they added lunch too. Like Phlash mentioned, the food is pretty good and a meal usually goes for $3-$4 including salad, drinks, and dessert. I used to hit the dining hall at CBM every once in a while, and I always saw other studs there (not a lot of them, but usually 6-12 or so).

A lot of people who get DQ'ed at Brooks for CV never even knew they were weak, let alone deficient in color vision. Like Dennis said, the tests are "different" from the standard CV tests they give at the FC1. If you have good CV, you have nothing to worry about, of course. Just take your time.

I don't think any Dash One can be found online - at least I have never seen one. Not sure for the reasoning on that. As far as what a -1 is; it is basically the pilots operating handbook for the specific aircraft in question. It contains all your systems info, operational limitations of the aircraft, emergency procedures, and lots of other numbers and information that you will be asked on daily flights and weekly quizzes. All Air Force aircraft (not sure how the other branches do it) have a series of technical orders, or TO's. These TO's are labeled in sequence as -1, -2, -3, etc. The first manual for any aircraft TO is the -1 or "dash one." It is the basic owners manual for the aircraft that all pilots are issued and are expected to pretty much master. Usually the -2 and -3 are maintenance manuals (I think) or references for some other systems on the aircraft. The nomenclature usually goes something like this: T.O. 1T-37-1. This would be the first tech order for the Tweet, or the "dash one." There are add-ons for checklists (they add a "CL" at the end of the -1 name) and appendices for TOLD. Again, the dash one is available at your UPT base. You may be able to buy it somewhere like Ebay or something, but it is probably a waste of time and money since it will be out of date. I would just wait until you get to UPT, go to the bookstore when you get there, and get a -1. You can start studying ahead at that point if you want (whole 'nother discussion as to how much, if any, you should study beforehand - see other posts). Good luck. [ 22. February 2005, 21:08: Message edited by: JS ]

There are waivers if you can prove you can reach the controls and can fly your respective aircraft safely.

sky_king, In case you haven't picked up on it yet due to the Top Gun quote and Fury220's response above, my comments about a FAIP being a highly competitive assignment out of UPT was a total joke (and I see that some Tweet FAIPs didn’t pick up on it either….hmmm :confused: ). Generally it is NOT a very desirable assignment, as you will learn in UPT. There are some who do want it as their first or second choices, though (usually married people or people from the local area). Just as Baseops and HueyPilot have said, there are different types of instructors. You can instruct at UPT at a later time in your career or you can instruct in an operational aircraft like a fighter or airlifter. Usually these types of instructor assignments are more desirable than the first-assignment instructor pilot job. So don't worry about having your chance to be an instructor in the AF - you are pretty much expected to be an IP at sometime in your career (unless you fly a C-21 and get out of your instructor tour or if you really don't want to be an IP). And by the way, you really don't get an instructor "ticket" like you do in the civilian world. I guess the Air Force really doesn't have "tickets.”

sky_king, Like they say in Top Gun: "Only the best of the best get to come back as instructors." If you do well at UPT, you can ask your flight commander if it is possible for you to become an instructor (you have to specially request it). If you are lucky and good enough, you may get one of the coveted first-assignment instructor pilot (FAIP) slots out of UPT, but don't be disappointed if you don't get it. If you are selected for a FAIP job, you will go to instructor training (PIT) a few weeks after UPT. It is around a 4 month course. After that, you go back to UPT as an IP. Good luck. As far as test pilot school, you have to gain some experience in an Air Force aircraft before applying, so you really don't have to worry about looking seriously into it until some time after you get your wings. The only thing you can do before UPT to prepare to be a test pilot is get your engineering degree, which you have. There is a website on AF test pilot school that explains some of the requirements: https://www.edwards.af.mil/tps/ Antother thing to consider is Navy test pilot school. A friend of mine was looking into that because he didn't have an engineering degree and the Navy doesn't absolutely require it. https://www.usntps.navy.mil/ Good luck again. [ 14. February 2005, 00:37: Message edited by: JS ]

Not to pour it on you, but I agree with Flylady that you are kind of grasping for excuses now - not knowing the definition of cheating? Only having the FAA definition? I think most military officers would agree that bringing in exam answers on post-it notes would constitute cheating. I mean, where will it end? Most of us hate having to sit through those CC calls where they drill into us what the definition of sexual harassment is. What next, a CC call to define cheating on a spouse, one on the definition of lying, and one on the exact definition of shoplifting? Torro's point is right on - would you tell a judge that you were speeding "because the cars next to you were doing it?" And if you presented the judge with a long list of UPT studs who admitted to speeding on highway 45 in Columbus, the judge would take that list and issue all of them speeding citations too. Not to mention that it would make a great story in a major newspaper or on a major news network.

An IP told me a few months ago that it includes Phase II and phase III, at least at Columbus. When they figured out our DG's, I am pretty sure they used phase II stuff as well, but I cannot be certain. I remember that person A did OK in phase II, but very well in phase III and did not make DG. While person B did well in phase II and good in phase III and got DG instead. I did not look at all of the MASS scores obviously, but from talking to these classmates about checkrides etc. it seemed like they used phase II stuff.

Bring the family. There was a guy in my class who came down without his wife and he wound up quitting because he wanted to be near his family (among other reasons). I forget why she couldn't come to UPT with him, but I think there was a reason.

The AFRC B-52 unit at Barksdale DOES indeed hire dudes right off the street to fly BUFFS. I was offered a slot there but turned it down for a slot at my current unit. I went to OTS with a guy who was hired by the 93rd to fly BUFF's for them. And while at UPT, I saw 3 other dudes get their assignments on assignment night to Barksdale as B-52 pilots in the AFRC. While in talks with them, they told me that they typically hire 2-4 dudes per year. This would add up since I saw 3 of them in a year just at my UPT base. I can't remember the guy I used to talk to there, but start calling. If I remember correctly, it took me dozens of phone calls and getting different numbers from different people just to get in touch with the right guys. Just ask the base operator for the chief pilot in the 93rd and start asking questions. Good luck, and PM me if you have any other questions regarding getting a AFRC pilot slot. JS

I have to agree with PCola and Flyboy on this. Of the 15 or so dudes at my college who I graduated with who got engineering degrees (in any engineering field) in my year, the year before mine, and the year after mine, not one of them started out making less than $50K/year. On the other side of the coin, I knew 3 guys (all in my fraternity) who graduated with history degrees. One was pumping gas (literally), one was working as a tour guide in Washington DC, and one was working construction (not construction management – construction, like hauling bricks and coming home each day with cut up "working hands") Sure there are exceptions to the rule. I met people in the workplace with social science degrees who made decent money, and I am sure there are some engineers who don't make big bucks. But overall engineers typically make much more money and have much greater job opportunities than basket weaving major types. This only applies, of course, if the whole flying thing does not work out. I would say major in a topic you enjoy and can successfully complete a degree in. It would be nice to have a technical or business degree to fall back on, but it is obviously not for everyone.

I don't know where you went to college or what you majored in, but I thought slacademics was a lot easier than college. But that was just me. The point is that you probably don't need to study ahead for academics, but you might want to start looking through the Dash 1 during academics because you will have a bunch of free time. A lot of dudes in my class did this and they did pretty well in Tweets. You can get the Dash 1 immediately when you get to your UPT base - you don't have to wait until a week before academics like you have to in order to get your other books.

I would argue to say that a flying training squadron filled with 49% majors, 50% captains, and 1% Lt Cols is probably lacking a little balance. Without FAIPS, there would be no LT instructors. I don't know about everyone elses experience at UPT, but some of our best instructors were FAIPS. As a matter of fact, our class voted a FAIP for our "best IP" awards in T-37's, T-1's, and T-38's. In T-1's the competition for best IP was between 2 FAIPS. I say keep UPT instructors balanced with young, fresh FAIPS, some 2nd tour guys with some ops experience, and some crusty reservists with hundreds of thousands of Tweet hours.

Clearedhot, I am not trying to provoke you, but can you give me a summary of your soapbox on professional reading? Are you in favor of it or against it? I think it is probably safe to say that most officers/pilots/college graduates have done and continue to do some reading on various subjects that interest them. Just curious.

EPQ's are obviously really general knowledge tests covering EP's, systems, instruments, formation, etc. There is nothing emergency-proceduresque about a buttload of questions on how to time a holding pattern and how far out a localizer can be received.

The most F'ed up thing I ever remember hearing about was a pattern a classmate of mine flew in Tweets (this story came from him - and other classmates in the pattern confirmed it). It was his 2nd solo (pattern only) and he was coming up initial pretty offset off to the right of the runway. He broke left and realized how bad his spacing was so he kept the break turn coming around, didn't drop gear or descend, and lined back up with the runway for another initial - all in one maneuver. He then sped back up to 200 KIAS and called breakpoint-straight-through and kept going. The RSU apparently missed his first break because they didn't say anything. After he called BPST though, they asked him why he was going straight through (no straight-ins or anything like that). He came on the radio for like 10 seconds and mumbled something like "Ummmmm......I just didn't really.....feel comfortable with that one"

Along the lines of building time as a flight instructor - I understand that it actually takes a little time and money to get your CFI/CFII right out of UPT (assuming no prior time). You still have to meet all of the requirements like X hours of instruction in the right seat of a 172 and X hours in a complex aircraft etc. Plus you have to pay the hundreds for ground school and the written tests. I hear it is about $2-3 grand for your instructor ticket AFTER you have your instrument, commercial, multi out of UPT. Tack on almost another $1000 for your CFII. I guess I am wondering if it is worth that investment to try and build up time or is it better just to bum around and get the time that way?

Buy a Tweet. They should all be pretty cheap pretty soon.

You think? HD

I have known of 3 IFE's that happened to SOLO studs in my UPT class or the class just below mine (2 Tweet's, 1 -38). When the student is solo, the student will generally take care of the entire EP himself/herself.

We also got the commie green fur hat here at CBM even though I don't think it ever gets cold enough to need it. I guess it is for future use at colder bases.

UPT-hopeful has it on his server but he ran out of bandwidth from too many people downloading it, so it is up to him if he can put it back up again. Any word on this UPT-H?