Hueypilot

I'm really not sure what an FE would do on a C-130J or C-17...

Issue is on most modern airplanes you don't run TOLD, it's calculated for you by the airplane...and checklists are flows...

17% is a fairly significant number...that's 440+ people who are now being thrust into this "guilty until proven innocent" climate being fostered by the media and politicians.

I can think of several cases where C-130E/H crews landed at the wrong airfield, on the wrong runway, on closed runways or on taxiways...having an FE is not the silver bullet here.

I've flown -21s, E/H model Herks and Js. The FE is absolutely essential on the E/H airplanes, but would serve little purpose on the J or other airlift aircraft. Nearly all modern aircraft today lack FEs. IMO they would complicate CRM on a -17 or J-model, not improve it. FEs from the outset were intended to run aircraft systems in a time before automation, not be a CRM babysitter. Landing at the wrong airport, or in the wrong configuration has and still does occur in the legacy Herk world. I could name plenty of cases of E/H buffoonery, even recent ones. Finally, I found I had a TON of SA and found CRM to be easier on the J flight deck than the H flight deck. I'm flying H-models now and I noticed the difference...the H flight deck is quite a bit more chaotic.

I have a custody agreement and pay support, but I've yet to ever explain that or "prove" anything of that sort on a security clearance investigation. Fact is, I wasn't even questioned at all about my divorce, prior relationships I may have had or any subject like that... Back to the topic...any hiccups he and his wife may have had in the past is NOT a glowing neon sign that he's a sex predator.

I have personally endured something similar. Was married to a woman who got diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder...it was nuts, she would make stuff up and accuse me of cheating, stealing from her mom, keeping tabs on her (yes, she heard an airplane fly over the Walmart she was in and when I got home later that day, I was accused of following her) and much more. 8 months later, I was filing for divorce...but before that was finished, she went through my phone and saw I had texted my female cousin where I had congratulated her on getting a scholarship...and my ex proceeded to punch me in the face 3-4 times. I had the cuts and bruises, but later she threatened to call the police and claim I had abused HER. After talking to a friend in the legal business, he told me at best, I'd be sent to jail, tried and hopefully all that would come out in the trial and I'd be set free...or not. Luckily, she must've taken her meds later and acted like she never threatened that at all. But I shudder to think if she had said "he sexually assaulted me and grabbed me...his face is bruised because I gave him what he deserved". She tried to get my CC involved during the divorce, but after I showed him stuff that proved she was lying about things, he refused to take her calls. I guess because of that episode in my life, I'm a lot more careful about throwing around the "guilty!" phrase. Also, keep in mind, any "evidence" that you have seen up to this point is stuff that the prosecution is putting out there. It's at trial where the evidence will be examined and be found to be true or not...plus I'm sure the defense will have evidence of their own. After dealing with divorces, and discussing the situation I was in and reading about our justice system in general, I'm pretty convinced that many prosecutions are less worried about justice and more worried about "winning" and scoring another win for their record. That's how many criminal attorneys are graded these days...simply on their win-loss record. If they drop the charges, it's often seen as a loss for them. We have a lot of guilty people in jail, but don't kid yourself: we have a significant number of not-guilty people in jail as well.

Apparently you missed the point Hacker, M2 and others including myself were trying to make above... This guy should be innocent until proven guilty. Command and Congress, to include the POTUS, should condemn the crime, but when specifically referring to this case they shouldn't comment until justice has run it's course. Maybe he is a DB. But he hasn't been proven to be a DB. I'm hoping you'd want the same standard to apply to you if you were ever accused of something.

I'm noticing more and more that when it comes to sex assault/harassment crimes, where it is mostly his word against hers, the general consensus is leaning towards "guilty until proven innocent", particularly among our government leaders and in the press. They should say that they don't tolerate sexual assault, but they aren't going to comment on a specific case until the legal system has worked it's way to a conclusion. Maybe he did do those things, maybe not.

No it doesn't really change my mind. I read the FOIA info and there were large gaps that weren't answered. I would have felt like the general did- that guilt beyond a reasonable doubt was not proven that day. Perhaps her story was true, perhaps not, but nothing made me feel that her story was highly likely to be true. Even if he had an affair and lied on his security paperwork, that does not mean he is capable of assaulting a woman. I know of a number of officers (to include quite a few females) that have cheated on their spouses, and they likely also did not tell the security clearance people their acts (because many of them are still in uniform), but that does not mean now they are all likely to sexually assault someone. Had they uncovered behavior with this guy that is consistent with assaulting someone (ie past examples of abusive behavior) then sure, that would sway may opinion. As wrong as it may be, getting horny when you're drunk and getting lucky with the wrong girl doesn't mean now you're a monster capable of forcefully acting on others.

All of you at Manas are in my thoughts. I've been through this before...studied and planned with a flight school buddy then we took off as a flight to Tac X LZ (in UH-1s) and he and his crew bought it in a farm field near the LZ. I wish you all the best, and I'll be toasting the crew this weekend.

The aircraft came down a few miles west of UAFM, for what it's worth. Aircraft was likely still on departure climb out...I've flown that same departure.

Photos of the crash site: https://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?226112-Reports-of-USAF-KC-135-crashing-near-Bishkek-Kyrgyzstan

Hope this trend ends...and hope we aren't looking at increased mishap rates due to the idea that flying for currency only is a good idea...prayers for the crew, and here's hoping for a miracle that there's survivors.

Most newer aircraft have the dual circuit grounded trim systems designed to prevent runaway trim...older aircraft (KC-135, etc) have a single trim circuit that easily caused uncommanded trim inputs. Even in the Herk, older E and H1 aircraft have the older system but newer H2s up thru Js have the dual circuit switches. The NAC airplane was a -400 so runaway trim is much less likely, although not impossible.

I investigated a load shift mishap were the crew felt it was secure, ATOC signed it off as good and it still broke loose. They had even transited several other locations before the mishap occurred. It had more to do with the suitability of the container design than anything else but the crew in question was lucky- it broke loose on landing rollout and there were no pax. Just because NAC issued a statement that the load was properly signed off doesn't mean it couldn't get loose.

May have something to do with ramp MOG. I was flight safety at Kandahar last year and we had limited ramp space for "super heavies".

I agree. Watched it this weekend. Wife generally doesn't dig sci-fi but that's the deal if I'm expected to sit through her movies. She actually liked it as well. Several good twists in the plot, and when the movie slows down (there are a few slow spots) the visuals and effects help you through those moments. Movies like this are truly Cruise's element, as opposed to other roles he's played where he just doesn't fit, so the acting was fairly strong. A few minor things make you ask "how come they did this" or "why is that like this..." but I think most of those gaps could have resolutions that aren't answered in the film, unlike other films like this where there are huge plot holes making the whole premise seem ridiculous. Finally, I really wish they made something like that bubble aircraft Cruise flies in the movie...looks fun.

The father's statement at 4:23 says it all...

Yep the 53rd is supposed to inactivate at the end of the year. Manpower flow out is supposed to roughly match the iron flow out. If you're fairly new on-station you might get to stay around for the TFI H-model unit, or get sent to an AFSOC or UAV assignment. Some may get a white jet assignment as well.

Damn...they had to know they were done. That sucks. RIP.

Apparently there were a lot of witnesses...reports are that the nose went "near vertical" and it came "straight back down". Don't forget the Class A out of Kandahar too...when I worked SEF out there it was common for the two safety offices to help each other out.

There are reports that the crew reported a load shift after departure. Similar to the Fine Air 101 mishap out of MIA in the 1990s.

Crappy few days for aviators in Afghanistan...a contract National Air Cargo 747 crashed on departure from OAIX today. Word is no survivors, and from the grapevine, it over-rotated and stalled shortly after.

RIP brothers...