Hacker

I've been at Moody since summer '03 and Remerton has never been officially black-listed for all AETC students that I'm aware of. There was a short period circa '04 that the T-6 students weren't allowed to go there, but that is long gone.

Yes, AETC studs at Moody are still allowed to go to Remerton. There aren't any locales currently on the banned list...

I've killed two helmets so far in my short career -- once after UPT, and once as a T-38 IP. Both times, the LS folks left the not-fit-for-flight helmet on my LS locker to take or dispose of as I pleased.

How about the UCMJ. Your Commander orders you not to do something. Unless it is an illegal order, you must comply. Seems pretty simple to me.

Best info I've seen thus far in this thread. To be honest, my criticism of the formation photo has been entirely sarcastic thus far, as was pointed out by Hoser. Notice I used the phrase "ridiculous looking"? As has been pointed out, I don't know the first f*cking thing about airdrop TTPs, nor the reasons why things are done that way. Why would I? You guys are the experts on it, not me...so long as the iron gets on target (or DZ as the case may be) on time, who am I to care? I was merely pointing out that the traditional convention for a formation is one in which the airplanes are close together in some geometric relationship. To me, the photo looked like it depicted airplanes that, with the exception of one 2-ship echelon, and two 3-ship echelons, just happened to be in the same piece of sky at the same time. That was funny ha-ha to me. Guess it wasn't to you humor-impaired guys out there. Not trying to sh*t in the airdrop bowl of wheaties in any way.

Not following how you make that statement based off my comments. Do you mean something to the effect that fighter guys forget that there are ways to do things other than how they do? Yep, guilty as charged. But as far as accusing me of thinking fighters are the only kids on the block that matter...well, that's just ignorant. Doesn't change the fact that the original photo in this thread depicts a ridiculous looking excuse for a 'formation', no matter what airframe you happen to be from.

And here I was thinking that the *reason* to fly airplanes close together was to be able to penetrate weather. <whacks self on foreskull>

I'm not sure I see a 'formation' there, so much as a 'gaggle'.

Post some pics of the B-17 parts, please.

I also use 60:1 operationally when determining how much offset I need on the outbound leg of holding. Geeky, yeah, I know.

The Royal Bag pubs bags are slightly lower quality in the stitching, but more than make up for it in price. The FlyBoys stuff is WAY overpriced when compared to the Royal Bag offerings.

Yep...that's them. I still have the same pair I purchased about 4 years ago and they work great. I have abused them quite heavily in that time -- I use them at the gym on the treadmill daily and fly with them occasionaly, and they're still working great. I have seen other pilots who have performed the following modification, which supposedly is even better at cutting out noise: https://www.headwize.com/projects/cmoy4_prj.htm

Not coincidence -- FL500 is the service ceiling for any USAF aircraft flown without a pressure suit.

We can't shed light on what 'really happened' because of classification or OPSEC issues. Why is that so difficult to understand? What you read in open sources often only tells part of the story, or repeats information that was just an educated guess to begin with. What happened with the original Cope India is that the USAF brass reported *some* of what happened as a way to bolster support for the Raptor. Since they could not/did not release the *whole* story, the general public went to town with just those specific bits of information. Those bits of info did not tell the whole story, and many of the "conclusions" that were drawn by both the press and general public were false (e.g., the Indians did not kick the USAF's butt wholesale, nor is the F-15C inadequate against the Flanker). Most of the 'results' that you saw reported in the press did not take into consideration the red-air limitations put on the USAF jets during the exercise. Given the disparity between what was publicly released about the original Cope India and what the classified reports stated, I suspect that the same or similar is true with respect to the 'current' Cope India.

+1 to that!!

Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. If you have the security clearance, then go read the report for yourself. If you don't have the clearance, then 'nuff said.

No...quite the opposite. To think we are unbeatable is stupid.

Since the actual truth of what occurred at the first Cope India was different than all the spins put on it by the various news outlets, I'd be very surprised if the real story was also out this year.

There are also a crap-load of great book available for download in PDF format for free at the USAF Historical Studies Office. A couple other books I recommend (other than some of the aforementioned 'there I was' stories): -The Gulf Between Us, by Cliff Acree (Gulf War POW story) -Benjamin O. Davis Jr, American, by Ben Davis Jr. (Amazing autobiography and story of the Tuskeegee Airmen) [ 21. November 2005, 19:24: Message edited by: Hacker ]

You can also download it on PDF and read it for free (courtesy of the USAF!) here. FWIW, Hoser, Lucky Anderegg was the OG at Seymour when the F-15E first became operational, as well as being a former Rocket.

How's this a benefit?

Like a dumptruck. Of course, as a pointy-nosed guy, I don't have a bunch of experience in any kind of bombers to compare it to. Interestingly, the B-25 is about the same size and weight as the F-15E, so there's a legit comparison there. She's pretty heavy on the controls...trim is definitely your friend. Turns usually require both hands on the wheel, but if the banks are shallow you can do it with just one hand. The real trick with a big multi-engine radial airplane, though, is not the stick-and-rudder flying, it's managing the engines. Making sure they're running the appropriate manifold pressure and prop RPM means that you can't just b*tch-slap the throttles around like in a jet. You also have to play with the props to get them sync'd, otherwise the harmonics will really give you a headache (the prop tips are about 3 feet from your skull!). Other than that, she flies very honestly. Very easy to take off, relatively easy to land (but to a fighter guy the landing attitude picture is pretty high up in the air). Vmc flying is avoided, since the Mitchell apparently likes to snap right over on her back when you get below Vmc with full power on one motor. Of course, you can't really quantify how it feels to just fly this thing...to feel/hear those big radials, the smells, the sights. It's absolutely incredible...I feel extremely lucky and blessed. When you're flying around in a WW2 bomber, you get to see sh*t like this: Things that don't just ordinarily happen every day to your average pilot! Dumb luck! Just being in the right place and the right time with friends who have the financial means. The airplane is the flagship of Warbird Digest magazine, N3155G, "The Green Dragon".

Depending on what you want to do in life after the Air Force, you might just consider getting the Jeppesen Pro logbook. I haven't been impressed with the layout of the 'big blue' logbook, and you're going to want to track some different categories of time if you're planning on flying with the FAA later.

This is still a hotly disputed topic even today. I'm currently "learning" to fly the B-25, and the use of reduced manifold pressure takeoffs is batted around frequently. Interestingly, evidence from big piston engine rebuilders is that, over time, the reduced MP settings DO NOT lessen engine wear. Something about the less pressure on the top half of the piston as it goes through the power stroke (sts) contributes to more wear on the connecting rods (sts). An interesting debate, and I'm amazed that even 50+ years later the merits of it are still disagreed on. I wonder if the same will be true of the turbine motors of today.

The guards at Moody are from "USProtect" and wear blue rent-a-cop uniforms. They are frequently augmented by standard SPs, though.