Hacker

Kel-Tec P3AT. They have a bit of a bum rap, and because of this you can pick them up used dirt cheap. What most people don't realize is that they have a lifetime warranty, so if you pick up one used that has had problems you can send it to Kel Tec and let them make it right -- which they always do.

Well done, M2, Although I personally am not a fan of forward serrations, drilled triggers, FLGRs, and the like...you made two very nice purchases. I'm a sucker for any 1911, even ones that don't stylistically appeal to me. That operator looks tough with the light rail.

After our AEF in summer 07, we actually got two of the Crowbar chicks to come to our post-deployment party at Lakenheath. We were not disappointed by what we saw when they arrived. Musta been Navy. They always announce their boats on radio as "This is United States Ship" instead of their actual vessel name. A Navy pilot would probably be inclined to call himself "United States Fighter" when talking to outside agencies like that. But, a fighter monitoring 121.5?

What are the Lear rules of thumb about aborting with a blown tire? In the Eagle and Talon there is a much higher risk associated with a high speed abort with a blown tire than there is with a heavyweight takeoff with a blown tire. We use 100 knots as a decision point -- if it happens below 100 knots, we'll abort the takeoff and accept the risk of the abort with a blown tire. Above 100, we'll continue the takeoff (usually regardless of the damage done by the tire breakup, to include an engine fire or FODding out) and deal with a heavyweight landing instead. Is there such a consideration with the Lear?

You go first.

I still like the idea of going full ribbons on the shirt, bloused trousers with boots, and wheelcap.

The best way to do it is to remove all the leather edgeroll, sand/prep/paint the helmet, and then apply a new edgeroll. That takes a pretty good bit of arts and crafts skill, although I bought a case of beer for one of the life support NCOs in the squadron and she helped me glue all that stuff back together so it didn't look crappy. Painting around/over the edge roll just ends up looking shabby when all is said and done.

AFNav, thanks for your words about STRATCOM. As a fighter dude with lots of N-word experience, I was thinking about trying to peddle it somewhere that it might be valued. I'll be right back after I scratch that off my ADP worksheet.

M2 Johnson is right about HerkDerka Johnson and Boom Johnson being right.

C'mon...does anyone believe that Social Security is even going to still be around by the time we get to an age where we qualify for it?

The book is, as Steve woud say, 'pukka'. Great read, fascinating story. Those of you who buy it will be very happy with it.

What position at EG&G are you applying for? If it's one of those flying out of McCarran, don't count on them even looking at your resume unless you all ready have a security clearance on file.

Sorry, gotta post this again:

You are my hero, Tracy. Flame on.

There is no national registry of DFC recipients, and the DFC society only lists people who have applied to be members of the organization and had their (or their relative's) award of the medal verified. Having worked with base historians before, it's not very likely that the Vance Historian is going to be able to provide you with much. If he went through training there, you might get his class number, might get a class photo, but that is about it. Certainly nothing on a medal he was awarded long after leaving Vance. The best way to really find out is to research through the US National Archives, where military personnel records are filed. The citation for the medals should be part of those personnel records. This is a fairly easy process, and I know several people who have done it and obtained some very great bits of history from the files. https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-...ce-records.html

Well, yes and no. Yes, that's what I meant...that U-2s don't just drop on FAIPs as part of the normal process. But, there's more to it than that. My understanding from this particular dude, whom I worked with in the OSS at Moody, was that his flying SQ/CC did not support him seeking out a job in the U-2. There was something that had occurred which made the CC want to see this individual go to the 135. It was being in the OSS, with a CC that thought he did really great work (he did...) and supported his desire to get to the U-2, that allowed him to start working the interview process at Beale. Don't get me wrong...this guy is a very good dude, great pilot, great officer. He absolutely is an asset to the program, I'm sure. I think he got a *nearly* bad shake from a boss, though.

Realize that guy did not "get" U-2s...that assignment didn't just roll down the pipeline to him. His default assignment, had he not sought out the U-2, was going to be a KC-135. He actively went out after the assignment at Beale. He arranged on his own to go out for the interview, etc, and mostly because he was an attached OSS guy and the OSS/CC let him do it.

I owned a NaviHawk back in the day...I was attracted to it becaused it just "seemed" like a cool pilot watch. Unfortunately, it let me down in two ways; One, it hard broke -- the LCD screen went purple and black one day when I dropped it. It was significantly more fragile than my Omega or Breitling. Hell, it's more fragile than the SUPT-issue G-Shock. Two, I never, ever used any of those "cool features" that attracted me to it in the first place. Seriously. That little itty bitty E6B on the bezel? Worthless. 1500 different time zones? Who cares...I can reset the hour hand easier than I can hunt for what time zone Afghanistan is in. So, to me all the Citizen pilot watches are a lot of hype that don't really offer much to the pilot like you and I. Maybe joe private pilot in his C-172 might dig all those tiny dials and hash-marks and a kajillion different digital features....

I would like a photo of the flight attendant's boobs, while we're making requests.

CAP-10....don't waste your time with the Citizen.

No, not true. Remember, there are two different definitions of "pilot in command" time. - The FAA Part 61 definition says that when you are the "sole manipulator of the flight controls" in an aircraft for which you are rated, you can log PIC -- regardless of if you are with an instructor or not. - The "airline" definition says that you're the PIC only when you signed for the aircraft. So, JT was asking specifically about what the FAA considers, not what the airlines consider. By the FAA definition, once you pass your first checkride and can "area solo", that's when you are officially checked out in that aircraft (that's according to the Memphis FSDO back in 1999 when I asked them specifically about this situation). If you have a license for the same category/class of airplane (e.g. FAA ASEL), then you can log every minute that you are the sole manipulator of the controls as PIC. Here's a good article, but a little dated, that gives more information on how the military, the FAA, and the airlines differ in what they consider PIC time: https://www.jet-jobs.com/articles/loggingpic.html Also note that one of the mods has appended this article to a previous thread that has good discussion, too.

The real question is, WITHOUT your UPT time, how close are you to the 1500 hours? Second, did you have your FAA ticket before you started SUPT? There are plenty of ways to creatively log your USAF time depending on how close you are and how many total sorties you have. A F-16 bud of mine kept his own logbook in which he kept FAA times, logging "aircraft moves under its own power" and "primary manipulator of the controls" time -- the two areas where military time diverges from how civilians do it. This USAF time was something like 1200 hours, but by his FAA-style timekeeping he had nearly 1600. When I was in UPT, the Memphis FSDO told me that my T-37 time could be logged as PIC after the Midphase checkride, since that was the time that I became "qualified" in the airplane at the same level as my Private ticket.

Tracy - Please, please, tell us more. That is quite possibly the best post I've read in the last 5 years on Baseops.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/07/...afghan_072808w/

I've flown with it for going on nine years...beat the living crap out of it for a couple years flying defensive BFM in the T-38 twice a day...and it is still as sweet as the day I got it. VERY durable. Early X-33s that were sold to military guys suffered some problems and they got a bit of a bad name. Omega redesigned many of the components in that "Generation 1" watch, and the ones you order today are the "Generation 2" follow on, so they should have none of the issues (mostly pushers popping out). My watch had none of the reported mechanical problems and is still going strong. Toro's edited pic: