Hacker

The really interesting part of that is how different the "real world" take is compared to what we see and find important in the USAF fishbowl. I know of guys currently at the major airlines with some pretty massive career-ending black marks on their military records, and whom I know for certain didn't omit those things from their airline applications.

Regarding the "news" reports on the leak of the T-Bird CC's CDI, I will say (from *very* personal experience) that testimony, conclusions, and recommendations from CDIs can very much not reflect what actually occurred in a given situation. In the situation I'm referring to, the accused chose to not speak to the Investigator without representation from an attorney, and the Investigator finished the CDI without ever actually going back and speaking to the accused with the attorney present. Thus, only one side of the story was presented to the CC...and later formal proceedings showed that what was in the CDI was, indeed, only one side of the story. I don't have any personal knowledge of this particular CDI, or what Ex-T-Bird#1's actions actually were, but I'd say to be cautious in what you believe to be true with just the CDI info that has been leaked. To me, the fact that T-Bird#1 wasn't relieved of command until well after these events took place, and after the season completed successfully, speaks a lot louder than anything reported in the CDI and makes me question the validity of several of the things that are being reported. As was mentioned in the quote above, if an obvious physical battery took place, why was nothing done right away, and why didn't T-Bird #1 receive any type of punishment out of the whole situation? Maybe...just maybe...things didn't occur exactly the way someone told the Investigator it did? So, I recommend taking all this info in with as much skepticism as is warranted by the circumstances.

I've had a hard time coming up with what to say about Hook. Nothing I seem to write is fitting enough, so I'll just say blue skies and tailwinds on your flight west, brother Hook. It was an honor and a pleasure to be your friend, squadronmate, and fellow aviator.

Part and parcel with one of the cancers that has been growing in AF leadership over the last 10-15 years: nobody wants to make a decision, lest their superior disagree with that decision and it reflect poorly on them. So, we have raised an entire generation of "leaders" (really "managers") who have to "run it up the chain" for absolutely every decision. And this attitude is reflected, now, by the superiors themselves, who expect this kind of "mother, may I" out of their subordinates. The grand result is that nobody is really empowered to make any decision, and few commanders have the balls to just make a decision <gasp> and risk their bosses not liking it.

There are other folks who currently fly for them, ahem, and haven't heard such a rumor.

What's the source of this rumor?

FWIW, according to the AF Historian, in a 100% unclassified source, there were. Thanks to the anonymous tipper who pointed the way to that.

Hoping someone knows some history of the USAF PJ community and might be able to help shed some light. I met someone at a party who says he was an officer PJ, essentially, back in the late 80s and early 90s. The time/location/atmosphere of the discussion didn't really allow me to pin down much in the way of specifics; he said he had been a USAF doc attached to JSOC at Ft Bragg, and had done the same training that the PJs did in terms of Airborne school and some Navy diving school, but he was quite clear in saying, "I wasn't actually a PJ, though." He described being part of a couple of SOF-type adventures abroad, pretty entertaining but seemingly humble storyteller. He sure seemed to speak the language of actual former USAF and didn't peg my poser-meter when we started riffing on Big-Blue specific stuff. Afterward, though, I just wondered how someone could go from standard 1-each military doctor to being the equivalent of a modern-day CRO. I don't know anything about how JSOC and USAF Rescue work, I'm just curious if anyone knows about USAF officers, doctors, being attached to JSOC and doing PJ-type stuff back in the day.

Mission employment, and the relative difficulty of it, is the answer you are looking for.

They really are this stupid.

I think you're seriously underestimating the magnitude of the staffing crisis at the regionals. "Plenty" is not an accurate term. I know of a guy who went to jail for manslaughter....drove his 2-seater Porsche with two women crowded in the passenger seat while drunk, and the drive ended in a fiery crash that killed one of them...and who was hired at the regionals (by more than one airline, actually). So...I am certain our disgraced IP he could find a regional that would hire him with a little looking.

I'm sure there are a ton of regional airlines that'd hire him.

I was actually over on the east side of the course at Pylon 2, so I didn't see it (fortunately? unfortunately?). I heard the mayday on the race control freq, and watched the second jet do a battle damage check with the pace plane through my camera. The best part was talking to Marilyn Dash, who was doing the commentating on the NBC Sports and internet live feed, after the incident. She is known to be quite "colorful" with her language, and she told me, "I've never come so close to yelling 'OH SHIT!!' to an audience of untold thousands as when I saw that midair." I think that would have been epic, personally...but probably not good for the commentating career. Looked like you were having fun with the Patriots, tho. And, yes, of course I will hoist a brew with you at ICAS -- wouldn't miss it!

The aircraft doing the passing has to keep the aircraft in front of him in sight, and pass to the outside and no lower than the lead airplane's altitude.

I did, but it was probably overkill -- based on the questions they asked, they didn't look beyond the summary page of my printed-out digital log.

Outside professional flying just requires chief pilot permission at my airline -- and numerous guys have that permission. Most that I know of do airshow flying or instructing.

Punctuation Nazi sez: inappropriate apostrophe use, remain in AETC one more tour.

Attached below. Hacker's Blank Logbook(1).xls

Personally, I'm looking forward to the storyline next season of him getting his clearance revoked, and his Article 15 with General Discharge, or maybe an FEB. An acceptable alternative would be the story of him getting kidnapped by ISIS and starring in his own special internet murder video.

Those guys didn't sacrifice anything, other than a bit of dignity in having to brief their bros on the ins and outs of sky-dicks.

Definitely a homophobic, anti-LGBT term.

It is also a BUFF base with LA tail codes somewhere in the Virginia or DC area. Also one that can be easily serviced by the USCG station at Elizabeth City. That's not even mentioning the path he took to work on his bike.

Well, that's gay.

I guess I'm just a dinosaur, but I am just now starting to look at this stuff for GA flying. Well timed thread, thanks for the inputs. I use Jepp FD Pro for work, but several guys I've flown with have put ForeFlight on their iPads as a supplement, so I am going to try that out, too.