HuggyU2

Interesting article that I first read when it came out 15 years ago... https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jul-02-et-hubler2-story.html

After "working" the show last year and getting almost no time in Box 102, it was great to go as a spectator and just enjoy. Friday and Saturday saw spectacular weather and great flying. U-2 pilot Popeye Thomson raced in the Bi-plane class and finished third in the Gold category. The final bi-plane race was cancelled due to winds on Sunday. Too bad as he wanted to race more. U-2 pilot Nova Beaubien's plane was out this year getting the engine rebuilt, but he was asked to fly the pace plane... pretty cool! Didn't see Hacker, but I'm guessing he was working hard like he usually does, and probably got some great photos. TBirds show looked to have a few new things, and overall I enjoyed it. Glad to see them make needed changes to make it look better and keep jets in front of the crowd more. STOL drag racing has become a big deal, and it was incorporated in to Reno this year. Unfortunately, Draco crashed departing Reno today and was destroyed. Mike Patey's ok thankfully. The Crash itself is about the 6:18 point in the video. Some very good lessons in "decision making" on Mike's very humble recollection of how he ended up in this situation.

From Beto: "I was asked how I'd address people's fears that we will take away their assault rifles. I want to be clear: That's exactly what we're going to do. Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell their assault weapons. All of them." Well, I will admit I appreciate his candor and clarity of communication. Leaves no doubt as to what he wants.

Since Popular Mechanics calls it "a badass plane", I'll post this here: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28872861/u-2-plane-history/?fbclid=IwAR18hdRo5XmuSABUHzvAEeU9JsS3iM-VbuiXqBHn4vBGNSkFqh7sPlGhWAQ As for Chuck Maultsby, I've heard the story told a bit differently, but no less epic. However, Chuck later was picked up for the Thunderbirds in 1958 as #3. He previously spent 22 months as a POW in Korea. Quite a career, to say the least.

C'mon guys and gals... y'all need to step it up because finishing 2nd to the Navy is humiliating. Especially deployed, the chow hall food is free... so eat until you're tired, and sleep until you're hungry. We should be able to hit 25+% in no time. https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2019/09/03/this-branch-takes-the-cake-as-the-us-militarys-fattest/

No... getting any sort of gear like space suit parts and spurs was pretty tough, though I didn't really try that hard. I had always threatened to go get a pair anodized gold and wear those on all of my sorties. Again, never did it. Herkbum: yes, they attached to cables on the seat, and they would retract your feet when you pulled the handle. The ones for the 104, U-2, and SR-71 looked nearly identical (the U-2 and SR-71 ejections seats were pretty much identical).

I love the spurs the pilot is wearing. I need to get a pair of those.

Story time: when I was TDY to Al Dhafra, the U-2 pilots could go in to Abu Dhabi and get massages with an American chiropractor. Apparently, the Emir was in Minnesota a few years earlier, used their services, and asked them to set up shop in Abu Dhabi because he was impressed. I head downtown the day after a flight, and during my consultation with the American doc, I discussed my neck issues, explained that I had almost no feeling in my 4th and 5th finger in my right hand for the past 2 years, and he took x-rays. Finally, I go back for my 1 hour massage with one of the four masseuses. All four of them were from China, spoke almost no English, and apparently were pretty well trained. After about 10 minutes of her working on my back and neck, she has me turn over, and in broken English asks which fingers are numb. She proceeds to work my chest, pectoral and arm pretty hard. After about 15 minutes, she sees the tears working their way out of my eyes and in more broken English says "too hard?" "No! Keep going!" When she was done, I felt like my chest and right arm had been turned in to ground meat. But it felt great. About an hour later, on the drive back to Al Dhafra, the feeling in my fingers came back. And it remained for many years. I could hardly believe it. That experience made me a believer in massage therapy and chiropractors.

If you haven't done so, get a referral to a top-notch facility if there is one near you. When I began having major problems, I went to Travis AFB. Fortunately, the civilian neurologist doc there said my issue was significant and referred me to the UC San Francisco Spine Center... one of the best in the nation. I am very fortunate to still be seen by them.

Care to elaborate?

Personal opinion: they should have made a big movie about his flight and given him the millions of $$$. Not Sully.

Coming up on 30, actually. My old U-2 squadron has had guys deployed continually for over 29 years to the Middle East, starting with Taif in 1990. It's not like there is another squadron that they can trade off with.

Semantics. It's a function of whether they want to allocate the $$ or not. But the money is there. For a number of years, the AF paid for the RQ-4 pilots (which included some Nav/CSO's) to fly the Aero Club Cessna 172s. Great deal for them... dirt cheap for the AF... benefits were readily quantifiable. But it was cut. I remember one of the many attacks on the Beale T-38's. Around 2005 time frame at Nellis, and F-22 crew chief allowed a gear pin to get sucked into the engine. The resulting damage to that F-22 engine was more than it cost to fund 3800+ flying hours in the Beale T-38A companion trainer. Yes... 3800+ hours in the T-38 were cheaper than the F-22 FOD'd motor.

Apparently, Paul Allen's sister isn't the big fan of airplanes that Paul was, and it unloading a lot of the collection. I know a guy that few Paul's MiG. He seemed to enjoy the experience. I'm curious to see who ends up with it.

Side note: For y'all not familiar with Cal Worthington, just youtube search his commercials from the 70's. I was a young kid in SoCal from '74'-''77 and remember them vividly. "It's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" And... oh, by the way... the guy was a Great American. Read this blurb from his wikipedia page: "At the beginning of World War II, Worthington enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, he was the aerobatics champion at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Texas. He saw combat as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 390th Bomb Group, flying 29 missions over Germany. He was discharged after the war as a captain. Worthington was awarded the Air Medal five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented to him by General Jimmy Doolittle. Worthington's military service was frequently revisited in the 21st century in aviation magazines, since he had trained pilots who would become some of America's first astronauts." In 2016, I was offered a job to fly Cal Worthington's Learjet 24 in Sacramento. Cal died a few years earlier and a local guy bought it. You have never seen such a pristine Learjet. It was fucking gorgeous. I ended up not taking the job (and still have emotional issues as a result). Long, uninteresting, and boring story so I'll leave it at that. But,... if that jet is still in the local area in a few years...

I miss formation in the military, and grab any chance to go do it when I can. This is definitely a different side of "GA Flying". I shot the pic during the prep for Pylon Racing School a few weeks ago. Who's going to Reno this year? Reno.HEIC

Push-ups, pull-ups, 1.5 run, waist. And they really believe this test accurately tells them anything about what physical condition someone is in? As a business practice, is the investment in dollars and resources worth the data we get from the "fitness program"? A month before I turned 50, I did my mandatory PT test with one of my best friends, who was 47. Of the other 7 in your PT group, one was early 30's, and the other 6 were early 20's. Me and my artificial hip came across the finish line at 10:16 with Brad about 20" behind me. We stood there and heckled the other 7 with shouts of "old guys rule!" Most of them were sucking wind. I lapped one of them twice. While this is only one indicator, it was obvious that these kids in their early 20's were lethargic. But was anything productive done with this data now that they were identified? Or was the time away from work, and the money spent on the salary for the full-time civilian monitor with the expensive AED heart-attack-restart box worth it? I appears to be such a monumental circle-jerk that we simply couldn't improve during my 28 years in.

Yes, it ends abruptly.

No argument, Brabus. Sad to hear, but your comments continue validate the scuttlebutt I've heard through my aviation circles.

The past UPT instructors I've known were good, and their instruction was far from inept. They worked very hard to produce the best product they could within the constraints of the syllabus... despite poor "management" from the leadership... and operating in a system where their hands may not be tied, but are often restricted. I'm no fighter pilot by any stretch of the imagination, and simply do not know what basic "stuff" you are referring to. However, in all facets of flying I've done... as well as a myriad of other non-aviation hobbies... "the basics" need to be revisited. The fundamental skills will atrophy and it affects the more advanced skills. I would imagine that a graduating IFF pilot needs to apply "those basics" to their initial training (and even continuation training) in the F-16/F-22/F-15/etc, and adapt them from what they did in the short T-38 IFF course.

Quick story: U-2 bud does his T-38 check ride shortly after arriving at Beale, and flies it with the DO. My bud doesn't wear his nomex gloves. Examiner/DO debriefs him, and at the end says "you violated such-and-such regulation by not wearing the gloves, and therefore I will Q-3 you. It's a safety of flight issue." Bud says: "how could you tell?" Examiner/DO: "I saw it when you took the runway as you lowered your canopy." Bud: "so you intentionally allowed me to do the takeoff and the entire flight without correcting me on the spot for what you perceived was a serious safety violation? I'll take the Q-3... fair enough. However, you and I are going to go talk to the Squadron commander, and then the OG commander and I'm going to ask THEM if YOU should also be Q-3.". My bud ended up with a Q-1.

L-39 runs about $1600-$2500/hr to operate, depending on who you believe, and how well the aircraft is known. Parts are plentiful and the jet is bulletproof. I'd be curious to know the OV-10 operating costs.

SocialD, No, it was a former President of that group. I believe the plane was originally based in Chino, and if I remember correctly, he got it around 9-10 years ago. I'll get a picture if he doesn't mind me posting it online. He also restored a Clark Tructractor that was delivered to the Navy in 1943 for towing aircraft on the carrier deck. Just stunning. Again, I'll post pics if he says it's ok. Another cool thing is that there's a different U-2 guy on the field that has a PT-21. Yeah, PT-21. It's a PT-22 now (interesting history), but it was the 2nd PT-21 ever built by Ryan. Hoping to get one or both of these Ryan's to the Beale Airshow in May.

Never have flown a Super Cub... yet. I'll get some more pics of the Cub and post them. The restoration was done by a place at PVF (Placerville, CA), and is supposedly a well-known place. The guy that bought it is a former U-2 guy who is meticulous about his aircraft, and keeps them in top shape. He's got a Ryan PT-22. And his Stearman was previously owned by the head of the Stearman Restoration Society (or whatever it is called). As you might expect, it looks better than the day it rolled out of Wichita. I'm lucky that 1). he is allowing me to fly his beautiful plane, and 2) that he is allowing me to fly it after seeing how I flew it with him on my checkout. It wasn't particularly stellar. I haven't flown the U-2 in 58 months. I'd be way more confident in my abilities in it tomorrow than I am in the Cub. But the learning curve is a great thing. Loving it!