Hacker

So long as it doesn't have sewn-in creases on the legs and pocket pool side-zippers... Can't wait to see what other retarded "innovations" they've got in store.

Is that one of the responses in the e-mail chain? How do I recruit her for my squadron?

Dude...please do not ever make the mistake of putting FiFi in the same sentence as Zulu. FiFi has some legitimate accomplishments. Aside from not being captured while on the ground in Bosnia, I'm still searching for those "bigger and better" things for Zulu. Besides, if I were trying to show the great people that CAP has produced, I would certainly NOT use O'Grady as an example! [ 17. May 2006, 04:17: Message edited by: Hacker ]

For those of us stuck in AETC, what was the SOF's email?

Back to the uniforms.... Anyone else wanna go back to khakis/pinks-n-greens? So long as I don't have to fly in them!

UPT is a big part of the problem. I recently heard the SUPT T-38 program called a "Self-licking ice cream cone of mediocrity" because of the IP cadre made up of 50% FAIPs and a leadership team that is proud of how few students it washes out.

"Between this, and 'Death by Bunga Bunga', you'll choose Death" It's a reference to this old joke:

We need to merge this thread with the one on holding. <snicker>

Just ask one, he'll tell you.

You'd be surprised at how people perform when the real shooting starts. In my experience during Shock-N-Awe, the guys I expected to be the man sometimes weren't, and guys I suspected would be slugs sometimes surprised the hell out of me as real life-taker/heart-breaker killing machines. I don't know that there's any way possible to predict how someone is going to do in no-sh*t combat. Maybe Moody Suter had it right with the "if you survive your first 10 missions" idea, but I don't think that's an accurate predictor for who will be sharp and who will not.

I don't know of anyone who feels confident going against a "100 to 1" ratio of a "Wall of Flankers." Plus, the Chinese aren't exactly idiots when it comes to tactics. Let's just say they're not a Soviet Client State anymore, mmmmkaaay? You always have to assume your enemy is the top stick in his flight, assume that he is the WIC grad. The first time you assume any less, you're about to get an ass whipping.

Any time post-graduation you can go to the local FAA FSDO and take a military equivelency test. You bring them your AFORMS printout and flight orders, take the test, and you get the Comm/Multi/Inst ticket. At Columbus there was a company that came in and arranged the whole deal, to include a prep course for the test. Cost $200 or some such, and took one day. That was near graduation time.

It's actually a pretty unbelievable one. Or maybe not, if you know the AF. During the 3rd week of OIF or so, there was a major airborne gas crisis. Basically, the USAF didn't have enough tankers or time slots on the boom to service all the jets going into the container. The solution was to run USAF jets into Al Jaber for a pre-strike hot-pit refuel. The idea was okay, but the implementation was shat. Under the original plan, F-15Es would take off from OTBH with just full internal gas but nothing in the CFTs or externals -- by the time we flew up the NAG to AJ, the gross weight of the jet would be good enough to land and take a full onload at the Jaber pits. Unfortunately, POL at OTBH never got the message...so we took off every time with a full gas load (about 33K vs about 13K). In order to get to a suitable landing weight by the time we finished the 40 minute flight up to AJ, we had to basically dump the entire way up there once we got to altitude. So, the photo is on a jet on the Ocean Parkway dumping to get to landing weight at Jaber. Total f*cking waste. But I'm sure it made sense to some bean counter somewhere. I couldn't help but think of the irony of the petrol that we were putting right back in the Arabian Gulf unused. Hey, forcemac, how about shrinking the size of that huge f*cking picture in that first post, eh? [ 18. April 2006, 04:03: Message edited by: Hacker ]

Not a problem! Just don't ever call me "bra" again.

From AFI 11-214: "5.2.8. Separation of Aircraft: Minimum range during operations between fighter aircraft during Air-to-Air training is 500 feet or MAJCOM and service minimum, whichever is greater. If a violation of minimum range appears imminent or has occurred, each aircraft will perform a “KNOCK-IT-OFF/ TERMINATE”."

500 foot bubble in the CAF...

No...I'm not kidding. Read up on it. I know several guys who have done it before in an Aviat Husky and in a Dh Beaver and (acording to them) it's not as dangerous as it seems. The surface tension of the water at that airspeed is significant, as is the ground effect. The airplane wants to fly away from the water and not get stuck down into it. Apparently, it takes a bunch of forward stick pressure to keep it sticking on the water. This is obviously not the first time these guys have done this. They didn't wake up one morning and decide that it would be cool to do this in formation sometime. I'm sure they've practiced this individually a bunch before doing it in formation as well. The news release that was issued with the initial photographs a couple weeks ago said this: [ 08. April 2006, 17:45: Message edited by: Hacker ]

Not really...go read the thread on the photographs of the same event. Bush pilots do this all the time and it's not as dangerous as it looks.

I'd be interested to know specifically why you do not like the 92FS and why you do like whatever Glock it is you own. Although the 92FS is not featured prominently in much Gangsta Rap, it's still a good handgun and doesn't really have any poor design features (other than it is large framed and shoots a smallish round. The Beretta is suited for a pilot sidearm nicely. For the survival scenarios we're talking about, I can't think of anything "Glock Perfection" provides that your Beretta can't. But really...c'mon, if you're gonna b*tch about the M9 at least say that you'd replace it with something manly (e.g. 1911) and not some Tupperware gun.

Look over at flightinfo.com...there are numerous military dudes over there currently flying for majors, so they'll have a better take on things. More importantly, when it comes to meeting the minumums, make sure you look at each of the airlines you're applying to carefully. Many of them have specific time modifiers to solve the difference between the military's brake-release-to-touchdown hours and the civilian Hobbs-time hours. For some it's a multiplier for your overall time, and for others its an addition to each specific sortie. Modifying your AFORMS-logged time may be enough to put you into the category you want. WRT "total time", maybe I was reading you wrong...if you're just sitting in the jump seat and not actually being a member of the flight crew, then I think you should not log it as anything (because I don't think the FAA cares about it).

Most of the airline apps that I've put eyes on are specific about what they care about WRT categories of time. You can DEFINITELY count "other" in the "total time" category, but I don't think it's legitimately SIC time.

+1. Was that from Grace, Toro? My hero...

Callsign auction - If your squadron gives individual flight leads unique callsigns to fly with, then convince your DO to make everyone *pay* for their callsigns. You have an auction and *nobody* (even the SQ/CC) gets to keep their callsign unless they pay for it. Not only will guys pay for callsigns they want, they'll pay to make sure their bros *get* crappy ones. Generates a truckload of cash and costs the squadron nothing. Plus, you can regenerate cash after a year or so by making the new guys fight for callsigns that have been left by dudes PCSing out. Calcutta - The Calcutta is basically a Turkey shoot, except people in the squadron bet on who they think will perform well and who will suck (like betting on a horse race). You can bet on yourself to do well, or bet on someone else to do well. Winners get ca$h prizes and the snacko takes 30% clean off the top. Again, costs the squadron nothing. [ 20. March 2006, 10:00: Message edited by: Hacker ]

Any CT over-G is pretty much an auto wedge. At Moody we had an IP who failed to secure all his loose items prior to opening the canopy after landing. The result? His FLIP pubs were blown out of the cockpit and, conveniently, directly down the intake of the right engine, FODding it out. I don't remember offhand what a new J85-GE-5 engine costs, but that couldn't have been easy on the O+M budget that month! Recently we had a student wedge, too. If you guys recall, there are a series of water sump vents on the lower part of the T-38 fuselage. During the walkaround, you're supposed to ensure those vents are flush with the skin. Further aft on the fuselage, there are very similar vents, but these have a big red circle painted around them. That's because these are fuel vents and not water vents. Well, at some point in this student's formulation of his pre-flight gameplan, he picked up a habit of physically pushing in those vents with his finger, either to try and drain them or as a strange way to ensure they're flush and closed. Anyhow, on this particular day, the poor preflight technique and the red-circled vents collided, dousing the student -- and all his life support gear -- with JP8+100. His helmet, mask, chute/harness, g-suit, and a bunch of other stuff were condemned. That stud, BTW, is headed up your way Toro...not sure if he's going to blue or red, though. [ 04. March 2006, 06:51: Message edited by: Hacker ]