HuggyU2

We are interviewing again. Two students start flying this week. Interested? Here's the official message that went out through AFPC: WANTED: Exceptional pilots ready to fly, fight, and win from the stratosphere wherever and whenever America needs flexible, versatile, and survivable reconnaissance and other effects on behalf of the Joint Force. Must meet, uphold, and demand uncompromising standards in an unforgiving environment, give effort worthy of the U-2’s history, and sacrifice worthy of America’s future. Flawlessly execute the U-2’s final fight, without regret. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB is accepting applications for a limited number of highly qualified and exceptionally motivated officers to join the selectively-manned cadre of U-2 pilots. At this time, U-2 operations are extended through FY26. Applicants must have 36 months TOS by RNLTD to be eligible to apply. Deadline to apply is 28 Feb 26. 1. PILOT APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS 1a. Minimum Flying Requirements*: • Possess at least 1200 rated hours (do not include student, civilian, or OTHER time) OR • 800 rated hours in a single-pilot type trainer aircraft such as T-6, T-34, T-37, T-38, T-45, etc OR • 500 hours in fighter type aircraft AND • At least 500 hours in fixed wing aircraft • At least 12 months or 400 hours as Pilot-in-Command (PIC), whichever is greater *** If you do not meet any of these requirements, reach out to the U-2 Recruiter and we may be able to work with you on a case-by-case basis*** 1b. Physical Requirements IAW AFI 48-123 V3: • Standing Height: 64” – 77” • Sitting Height: 34” – 40” (>38” will require cockpit fit test) • Buttocks to Knee: < 27” • IAW 1-U2RS-1 Weight: 126 – 238lbs 1c. Other Requirements: • Positive Professional Military Image/Passing PT Score • Possess a SECRET clearance • Possess or be eligible for TS/SCI clearance 1d. 9 RW/U-2S recruiting highly desires (in addition to above requirements): • MWS/AETC Instructor Pilot hours • Evaluator Pilot experience • Clean Flight Evaluation History (exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis) 2. PROCESS Act now – we’re racking and stacking applications for the next round of U-2 interviews. Before submitting an application, contact the U-2 Recruiting office at DSN 368-3010, commercial (530) 634-3010 or e-mail to U2Recruiting@us.af.mil. Prepare an application package containing the following required documents: • Letter of Recommendation from your Wing Commander or equivalent • Letter stating your PCS availability date and confirmation of assignment release by your Air Force Personnel Center functional • This is in addition to the Wing/CC letter and can be accomplished with a digitally signed e-mail from your core functional stating “You are released to apply for the U-2 Program for hire in FY 26” • Interview Package Summary of Documents • Letter: “I would like to fly the U-2 because…” (Explain why you want to fly the U-2 and why you would be an asset to this program. 1-3 paragraphs will normally suffice) • Official Photo (Torso, Color or Black and White, 5x7 or Larger) • Copies of all OPR/OPBs and any AF Form 475s (Annual performance reports and Education and Training Reports) • Individual Fitness Test Summary • 1 Page Officer SURF • Copy of AF Form 942. Highlight any Q-2 or Q-3 ratings in yellow. • Copies of all AF Form 8s to include reverse sides. Highlight all downgrades, discrepancies, re-training, failed evaluations, commendables, in yellow. • Flying History Report • MyVector/Talent Marketplace – Select 1st Choice Assignment preference Core AFSC 11R • "Anthropometric data" - Standard Form 600, or just a memo from Flight Medicine listing your: standing height, sitting height, buttocks-to-knee length Send the Application via DoD Safe: Please send documents to Maj Gray “Utah” Kaempf (gray.kaempf.1@us.af.mil), Lt Col Jeff “PESO” Monsalve (jeff.monsalve.2@us.af.mil), Vincent Lopez (vincent.lopez.8@us.af.mil). We will review your application as soon as it arrives and notify you of our decision within 2-6 weeks. If you haven’t heard something by then, please contact us. 3. SCREENING If selected for an interview you will come to Beale TDY for approximately 10-14 days. Your ability to enter the program will be assessed after Week One and after each of the three Acceptance Flights (AF). Week One: • Interviews with Squadron and Group leadership • Mission orientation • Mobile (chase car) rides • Flight physical • Egress Training • Many hours of briefing for your U-2 Sorties • U-2 full pressure suit sizing check Week Two: • AF-1 – 2.5 hour sortie consisting of flight characteristics, maneuvers, descent for an ILS and multiple patterns and landings • AF-2 – 2.5 hour sortie pattern only that consists of an instrument approach followed by normal, no-flap and simulated flame out patterns and landings • AF-3 – 2.0 hour sortie nearly identical to AF-2 however the pilot that drove the chase car on the first two sorties will fly and the pilot that flew the first two sorties will mobile. At the end of this sortie, determination will be made as to whether or not you will be offered a U-2 assignment. 4. POINTS OF CONTACT/MISCELLANEOUS POC Information: 1 RS/DOR POC: Maj Gray “UTAH” Kaempf DSN 368-3010 Commercial (530) 634-3010 U2Recruiting@us.af.mil

I'm guessing I'm just ignorant how to change things... But... When I click on a topic, it goes to the first page of that topic. I'd prefer it go to the last page... or better yet, to the first post since I was last on that topic. Is there a way to change that setting? Each topic shows up with a few sentences of the very first post of that topic. Is there a way to turn off those sentences, so that I can see more topics on the page without the extra text?

Coincidently, I met one of the guys leading the charge for this, on Wednesday in Vegas at the ICAS convention. He sounded very optimistic at how things are progressing, and I sure hope they can pull this off.

Pearl Harbor was 84 years ago. From the end of the Civil War to Pearl Harbor... 76 years.

If the plane is carrying nukes and/or flying 40 hour missions, it should have a 2nd person. Pilot, CSO... even RPA pilot. Someone smart who can think and make solid decisions.

Haha, yeah he took a lot of grief. But of the 71,337 in attendance, about 22 even noticed. And seldom do I see the players react like they did I'll wait to see how well a formation of jets that are less than 60 years old manage the next one (14 Dec) in that overly complicated airspace. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRgdW09kceb/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Beale back in the saddle for the MNF flyover 2 nights ago. George Kittle saw the pilots and made an effort to thank them for an epic flyover at dusk. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRdz4P-AAMW/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

No. ACE should be focused on low time co-pilots of crew aircraft... and they should be flying a real aircraft All of the other training options like LVC need to continue to be pursued and aimed toward their specific goals. Completely agree with y'all. But ACE was/would be very effective when aimed at the correct audience.

i totally agree that UPT cuts are seriously degrading the quality of the product. But don't conflate the UPT syllabus cuts with a need to create a new ACE program: even with a robust UPT syllabus like I went through many moons ago, the ACE Program was extremely beneficial for the new co-pilots. Story time: I remember back in the 2005-2006 time frame, there was a Langley F-22 at Hill AFB whose crew chief lost control of the landing gear pin during ground ops, and the pin got sucked down an engine. IIRC $6.8M in damage. That year, at Beale, our T-38 CT Program was run on a budget of around $6M for ~3700 hours of flying time. Think about that. That's around 3,000 SORTIES in a T-38... for $800,000 less than the cost of a single Raptor FOD incident. My experience in the Beale T-38 CT Program has made me such a better U-2 pilot and overall aviator than I would ever be without it. A magnitude better. There is so much that could be done to make our USAF aviators "that much better"... but the AF leadership will simply not invest the pennies... and I do mean "pennies"... to make it happen. It's no longer a priority. I hope I am proved wrong on my last statement.

Correction: ACE did not end when SAC went away. It remained within the newly-formed ACC until summer 1994 (maybe '95) when General Loh cancelled the program literally overnight. In my opinion, this was one more indicator of the lack of understanding that officers like Loh and many of the other ACC generals with fighter backgrounds had WRT to the non-fighter platforms under their command. Although I was never in ACE, I have many friends and classmates that flew as ACE co-pilots, or that were assigned to ACE as instructor pilots. I have a lot of experience with the CT Program at Beale, which ran in conjunction with ACE until the ACE portion was killed. You pose a number of questions, Clark. Bottom line: the ACE Program was a cost effective and solid aviation method for getting low-time co-pilots some much-needed quality flying experience. Not to mention, it made pilots very happy that they were able to fly... actually fly anywhere they wanted to go, and work on developing their new aviation skill sets. Imagine that... happy pilots working to better their fundamental aviation skills. For a brief period of time, Beale RQ-4 pilots were flying Beale aero club aircraft in an ACE-like program. Pennies on the dollar. Of course, it was cancelled. But it showed that with a tiny bit of thought and effort... and not much money... something positive could be done. The short-sightedness of Gen Loh and his staff was very unfortunate. Bringing back an even better version of the ACE Program should be done today. In both ACC and AMC.

Try five engines, with three different ones on the same jet. Real good friend flew this until RR retired it 2-3 months ago.

For those of you using an Insta360 X5 camera (or similar) in the cockpit, what are you using as a mount? I'm also interested if your mounting setup is good enough for aerobatics.

Blytheville AFB. "Hooterville". Forgot all about that place. It was one of the ~13 bases that had B-52s and KC-135's when I graduated UPT. They had Tweets too, for the old ACE Program... which Gen Loh killed, in what I'd call a not-well-thought out decision.

Engines are numbered left to right... for those unaware like I was at one point. Brabus... In the Viper or F-35, that would be "#1".

The Travis AFB Aero Club has a TB-20. I went out there 4-5 years ago and rented it with an instructor just to try it out. Enjoyed it. Maybe a good option for you to go sample it. https://www.travisaeroclub.com/our-fleet

But... does it have a built-in crew ladder?

Yeah, I'm sorry!! At SGU, I took Hank Hoffman flying: 205 combat missions in the A-37 and a TPS graduate Neat guy! Still knew and flew the jet really well!

Thanks, SHFP! Honored to meet a fellow jet pilot like you! And thanks for finding me on the ramp! Really nice event this weekend! And your amphib is awesome!

No, the A-37 sounds like a T-38. it doesn't make the dog whistle of the T-37's J-69. The J-85 in the Super Tweet puts out as much in Mil as a T-38A puts out in Max.

Today, a good friend and I flew formation. It was the first time in 34 years that two A-37's flew in formation in North America. Took them from Boise to St George VFR. And yes... it was a blast.

Remember Gulf War I: - A-10: 2 - F-16: 0

Friday practice runs noon-1830 with gaps. Sat/Sun: 1100-1440. F-35A and F-18F demo got canx'd due to shutdown. It's still a great show though.

Did Textron develop the aircraft with an internal ladder system? Or will they just provide the pilots a pole vault like Boeing?

It wasn't Coach Huggy. And many of the soccer parents were truly not happy I wouldn't.