HuggyU2

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.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-us-trying-get-bagram-airbase-back-from-taliban-afghanistan I hope the Bagram Ice Cream guy can get his job back at the chow hall if we go back. Does anyone have a picture of him that they could post? That guy had the most hateful, combat-hardened look on his face that I've ever seen. But the ice cream was tasty!

But the plot thickens, Swizzle: https://htxlabs.com/news/craig-wills-joins-htx-labs-as-senior-vice-president-of-defense-programs/ https://houston.innovationmap.com/htx-labs-air-force-ai-2671762577.html

Not me. The career paths those guys had are not the paths that I would want.

If you are referring to Phil Stewart, he was found guilty of dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming. He was reduced from Maj Gen to Brig Gen, and retired in May. 2 months restricted to base. $60,000 in pay to be forfeited over 6 months.

https://htxlabs.com/news/craig-wills-joins-htx-labs-as-senior-vice-president-of-defense-programs/ https://houston.innovationmap.com/htx-labs-air-force-ai-2671762577.html

That explains things somewhat! Back around '97, D-M hosted an ACC Crud tournament. It was sponsored by Hiram Walker and the winning team got $10,000. Every ACC base but one sent a team. It was awesome. When we got there, the Wing CC Colonel gave a talk to all of the teams in the Club. Cynical me was waiting to hear the usual spiel, blah blah blah. Instead, he gave a great but short talk about keeping the traditions alive and to make the most of the weekend. I don't remember the specific worlds but it was so refreshing to hear someone tell us to push it up hard and leave exhausted. I have no idea how he got promoted keeping those old school values, but I'm glad he did. https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/104647/general-john-dw-corley/ We proceeded to have a pretty epic 3-days. I guess it was in D-M's DNA.

Any updates on how the pax is doing and how significant the injuries are?

You're in the process of getting your PPL, as you stated in your first post. In your mind, how soon do you believe you will be competitive for an FO job at HA?