HuggyU2

Yep, 500 hours of rated fixed wing time. Your best option is doing the fixed-wing transition (if it still exists), and going from there. I really see no other options. And, yes, we've had a lot of helicopter pilots. The current FTU commander was a T-38 FAIP, who got a UH-1 as his follow-on. The FTU DO is a former Marine Cobra pilot, who did the T-6 at Randolph as a Marine. He was the first pilot to hit 1000 hours in the T-6. There are about 4 more helo pilots I can think of that are currently flying the Deuce.

Squash it. No U-2 pilot has gone to a UAS, except for one who was long term DNIF, and volunteered,... and he became a UAS SQ/CC. I don't have a crystal ball, but as long as the U-2 is around, our manning will always be about 80-90%, and I'd guess they won't force guys to leave. Yes, expect many trips to the sandbox,... with an occasional trip to Korea or Cyprus,... or elsewhere.

Why Willy? Because Willy and D-M are about as far as we can get on our first leg heading east. TOLD can be a pain in the summer, but just pump a little less gas on the jet, and takeoff reduced weight (with OG/CC approval). Yuma's a good bet when it's hot, but it breaks the "don't go there if you don't want to break there" rule. Beale T-38's will almost always choose a civilian field over a military field for our OST's too. Astronaut stuff: no correlation. We've had a few guys get through the first round in the selection process, but no one has made it yet. We have a guy competing this year too. But, talk about a dying platform! TDY rates: 60 days gone, 60 days home. Right now, some guys are getting 45 days at home, due to undermanning. We're short on guys due to the hit we took last year with VSP. That "bathtub" is going away slowly, and our pilot numbers are coming back up. You won't deploy until you've been here about 10 months. After 3-5 deployments, your rate might come down, depending on what your job is in the Squadron. The TDY schedule is such that you'll know your TDY dates fairly well in advance. Not like the stories I hear from other MWS', where you get the call that says you're leaving in 48 hours. TDY locations are the Desert, Korea, and Cyprus. Guys don't complain about going to Cyprus. We also have occasional pop up TDY's. I just did 6 weeks in Key West back in April-May. Once you come here, you're "a U-2 guy". Once here, no one really wants to leave the program. I was one of the very few that did: my original U-2 squadron was overseas and was deactivated. For a number of reasons (including my evil plan to stay in the cockpit forever) I went to be a PIT IP at Randolph. After 3 years of that, I really missed the U-2 Program, and came back. Most pilots that want to be upwardly mobile go to a U-2 staff job in Hawai'i, Germany, Virginia, etc... Very, very few desire to leave the U-2. We have two guys that have been here non-stop for over 14 years. The nice thing about the inteview process is that it's not only a chance for us to inteview you, but it allow you to interview us. If you don't like what you see, you can pull the plug at anytime during the interview. No hard feelings. Most of the pilots that terminate the interview early do so because they don't like flying the jet. The "damage to the career" question is interesting, and hard to answer. What do they want out of their career? We've had plenty of guys fly the Deuce, go to the staff, school and return to be DO, CC, Safety, OG/CC, etc... Occasionally, a U-2 pilot makes general. Maj Gen Jon George comes to mind. Col Greg Kern (AF/OG at the Pentagon) was 5 below the zone to O-6, but decided he'd had enough and retired last month. But with only 80 guys flying the jet worldwide at any given time, the percentages mean you don't see many Flag Officers from our ranks. However, everyone that does PME and a Masters will generally make O-5. T-1 vs. T-6 FAIP: doesn't matter, with respect to whether you'll be more competitive for getting an interview. What other questions can I field?

Folks, U-2 pilot recruitment is down. Why? Lots of you - think we're being retired soon; - are being told by your squadron leadership that it's a "dead end job". - didn't know you could still apply and come to the U-2 Bottom line, if you even remotely are interested in the U-2, you owe it to yourself to look into it, and even come on our to Beale for a day to look around, ride in the chase car, talk to the drivers, etc... Lots of guys come out here on a cross country, and some just fly out on United or SWA. We're about 50 minutes from Sacramento International airport. If you're being advised by your leadership to avoid the U-2, ask them if they've even seen a U-2, or if they know even one U-2 pilot. Chances are, they can't even tell you what the U-2 does. You can always pm me if you like. However, Maj Chris Merten is now running the Recruiting & Acceptance section. Call him at DSN 368-4447, or ping him via email... he's on the Global. My DSN is 368-3838. https://www.beale.af.mil/shared/media/docum...-080313-064.doc Huggy

Speaking of such things,... I found a senior United stew's bra in flight ops. Well, I figured she was senior: it was size 40 Extra Long. Ba-dum, bum,.. ching!

Years ago, back in Del Rio, I was there when the infamous Cessna-crash-into-Amistad occured. Along with the T-38 IP and T-38 student, there were two civilians on board. One was a gal, who I met just before that accident, whose last name was Funk. Her dad was Chief of Safety at Laughlin, IIRC. I was just told that Maj Funk was her brother. I'm saddened at this coincidence.

The T-6 is "an unducted fan", I'd say. So, yes, it's a "jet".

I fly the T-38 regularly. But when I fly with a guy in my squadron who is an airshow performer in a Pitts S-2B, I get pretty queesy. He flies his airshow routine while I sit there. It's fun, but the large rates, negative-to-positive G's, and such, will get even a guy who flies 9G's kind of queesy.

I've got a friend who is an absolutely outstanding pilot. He flew over 3000 hours in the A-10, as well as some other airframes,... and never logged a single hour of combat time in a fighter. Timing just didn't work out. But he certainly had a distinguished career,... one that many would envy.

Good luck on your UPT eye exam there, eagle eyes.

Wish I had heard this 3 months ago, as LG Deptula was just here flying the U-2. One of my best buds worked for him in Hawai'i, so I'll see if he knows the answer. He doesn't look gray in this picture.

That is a great story Steve! But I'm thinking the 10% rule applies here: LG Deptula was never a FAIP. He went straight to the Eagle jet out of UPT. He was a couple of years older, having gotten a Masters Degree right after his Batchelors, but that's about it.

I say "good on the General". He was willing to listen to the Flt Lt offer his explanation, and reversed his decision. It's a good guy that will admit his original decision was wrong, and allow it to be changed. How many of you have bosses that would have refused to change their order.

According to the media, the two F-22's are there for the MX guys to practice on, and to get up to speed with. Where the A-model phase will take place is not a big question: it will remain at KHMN for now. The ACC/TRSS stuff moved to Beale last year, though. As for the HO T-38's staying there for a while, the word is that it did not get funded for the incoming F-22 guys (while they wait for their $326M-per-copy-Raptors). However this is what the official public press release said,... if there's something else going on, then there you have it.

5 or 6 of Holloman's jets are going to Beale. They will replace 5 or 6 of Beale's jets that are high time, and approaching a major phase input. One of Beale's old jets is going on static display. Two (I think) are going to be cockpit trainers (Sheppard?), and the other two or three,... well I forgot exactly, but they are not going to AMARC, but will be stripped down for parts. I could speculate on the rest, but you said you don't want that, so I won't. Bottom line: the 14 "HO" jets are going. The "HT" jets are something I'm not sure about.

To answer your question: not really interested in riding on a space ship into space as an "astronaut". God bless those who do it, though. I'm just not interested. Now, if the new Space Shuttle is a taildragger,....well, I'll have to think abou that.

Well, great dollars have airplanes, aviation, and jets on them. After all, that's what it's all about. Just ask the bouncer at the local titty bar whether he'd rather be there,... or flying jets.

Don't know if it was a "douche Republican", but I voted for him/her. I hope that, with all the cool stuff that there is in military aviation, you can find something to put on the dollar, despite the no-porn-on-dollars ban. Good luck. As a FAIP, I was given a few dollars. At the time, we all got a chuckle from the ones with porn on them. But now, a few years later, it's nice to be able to show my kids the non-porn ones. Sure wish they were all of the variety that I could display on a wall in my I Love Me Room. It's a cool tradition, and it's too bad that I have a bunch of them stashed away somewhere, where they'll probably never get looked at again. So give your IP something he'll want to show his kids in 20+ years.

The Navy/Marine F-5's are grounded too, as the part is common to both aircraft.

All Beale T-38A's have been grounded too.

A couple of months ago, some Italian judge grounded the entire AMX fleet. I would assume they are back up and flying again. But this isn't the first time for the AMX fleet. Side note: why is a judge determining if they ground the fleet?

Do you have any visibility on how different Sheppard PIT and Randolph PIT are? Different culture? Unlikely anyone here has been through both, but I'd be curious. When I went through in 2001 at Randolph, it seemed a bit tough on the 2Lt's.

Are all students at MSU required to have a "Wingman" when they go off-campus??

Just curiuos: what was his background? We did have a Navy exchange position at T-38 PIT for a few years, and those guys never had any training background. We also had a few pilots that were T-37 FAIP's, and were able to come be T-38 PIT instructors after their CAF tour.

Unless the policy has changed, you have to have been a former UPT IP.