HuggyU2

I live in the Rocklin/Roseville area. It's a 40-45 minute commute. I drive north on Hwy 65 in the morning; south in the evening. Traffic isn't a problem. However, traffic going the opposite way is heinuos. If you move here, I recommend Rocklin for schools, Grass Valley/Nevada City if you must live in the mountains. Not much in Wheatland, but land values are going up; and it's only 10 minutes to the flightline from Wheatland. I wouldn't live in Wheatland if your kids are in high school. You can actually live as far out as Loomis and Auburn: there are some back roads that can keep your commute to under an hour. Very little TDY. I hear it is a 3 year assignment. Short days: seems to me those guys don't work much. I don't know for sure --- just my impression based on watching them run for their cars at 1530. Why are you considering the RQ-4?

I was airborne on a flight from Kansas City to O'Hare, as a UAL 727 flight engineer. We never got the word while airborne to secure the cockpit. When we got to O'Hare, we landed, and realized something was up: nothing was moving on the ground. Weird. We were sent to a piece of tarmac and told to park. Over the next hour or so, we got SA on the situation from various sources. At first, I thought it was a massive power failure. Then, a cryptic message came down through the ACARS (onboard data link) that made me think a nuke went off. I remember when the second tower came down, that a pax told me her brother worked in that tower. When we finally got inside, I stayed in ops a while. When I ventured out, I was one of the only people in the entire airport. You just can't imagine walking through O'Hare and not seeing anyone, except a few security folks. I spent 4 or 5 days there, and finally got onto the first airplane that went from O'Hare to San Antonio (my home at the time).

Frank Borman had one about 3 years ago in Las Cruces, NM. I don't know if he still has it. I don't think the CAF has one anymore, though.

Yes, don't lock it. Personally, I'm done reading it, but it seems like great entertainment for a bunch of folks. Let 'em play!

You'd better think your situation over very hard, then. Expect a year to Korea, Iraq, or Afghanistan fairly early in your career,... as well as numerous TDY's. Your glass should be "half full", not "half empty".

We've got a U-2 pilot who got a single-event Air Medal back in Jan 03 for a U-2 mission over Iraq. Another guy got a single-event DFC for an event that took place around Nov '01,... not sure of the date. Whether they deserved it or not, I'm not going to engage in. However, it did happen.

Yes it is. We've learned a lot over the past 50 years, when it comes to physiology.

I met Col Kittenger about 10 years ago at lunch. I don't remember the details of any glove failure, but to answer your question: It depends. What kind of malfunction? Rapid D? If the suit fails, how big is the hole? Is the emer oxygen providing enough flow to make a difference? Just like with an "engine malfunction", there are certain levels of concern, depending on the nature of the emergency. A compressor stall doesn't concern me like an engine fire being fed by a ruptured fuel line. The same can be said with the multitude of physiological issues that crop up in the high altitude recce business.

A lifetime.

Holding your breath doesn't stop the gases in your bloodstream from boiling out if you lose cabin pressure above 63,000 feet.

I would have, too. But it turns out that it is "statute". The reason, I'm guessing is that 50 statute miles (264,000 feet), or ~80 kilometers, is the US standard for being an astronaut. The international standard, set by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) and used by everyone else, is 100 kilometers, or 328,000 feet. If you remember the Space Ship One flight a couple of years ago, that aircraft's registration was N328KF, as in 328 thousand feet, which was their goal.

Nope, note even close.

A couple more for you. Here's Napa Valley and the Grand Canyon:

If you only knew. They had those pencil holders in the old C-models "back in the day". There are some things they originally put in the cockpit, and are still there, that just make you scratch your noggin'. It's downright comical. When I was new at the whole pressure-suit-thing, I had a sortie where I dropped 5 of the 6 pencils I had in the jet. Isn't that when you'd yell "Winchester" in a fighter?? You're out of 30mm, and I'm out of pencils. The pencil is mightier than,..... nevermind. Most folks now carry those long, metal, flexible things with the claws on the end, so you can get stuff off the cockpit floor, and they work great. We're finally putting the pencil holders on the glare shield. What I'd really like is something like the A-10 saddle bags, or whatever y'all called them. The cockpit is an F-104 cockpit widened about 10" and made about 8" deeper. The yoke is a C-130 yoke. Do you Herc guys have those pencil holders? Yes, that's a Garmin. We attach one (we now use the color 296 or 396) to the left mirror with a rubber band. Works great. This is an old shot (about 3 years), and the old display on the right has been replaced with another 6x8 display, i.e. we now have three 6x8 displays. The moving map is a piece of FOD, but works for what we're using it for. The moving map I've flown with in the Cirrus is a heck of a lot nicer. Overall, though, the displays are nice. There's a small 3x3 backup display on the emergency bus that will get you back should you lose your main MFD's. It provides attitude, heading, altitude, speed, mach, and ILS/LOC capability. Overall, though, 52 years of U-2 tradition, unhampered by progress. Gotta love it.

This is sort of a big week in U-2 history. On 1 Aug 1955, the U-2 taxi test at Groom Lake (Area 51) got airborne, making it the first "unofficial" flight in the Deuce. On 4 Aug (today) 1955, the first "official" flight took place, again with Tony LeVier at the controls. Not sure, but I think 8 Aug 1955 was the " 'official' official first flight", with VIP's in attendance to witness it. Also, coincidently enough, Gary Powers died on 1 Aug 1977 in a helicopter accident. I met a few former U-2 drivers at Oshkosh last week that knew him. They said he was a real gentleman, and all spoke highly of the man. Here's a shot over NE Afghanistan.

No argument there, Rainman,... you're right. I think you and I mean the same thing ---- 90% of the time anyways,---- it's just "semantics" or the way we type things out on the keyboard. You tend to be a bit more "hardcore" on this type of thing than I do: not that that's good or bad, just different, and probably a function of our aviation upbringing. Like I said, after re-reading this, I think we just word it differently.

Yes, I can: that rumor is false. As for PIT, we send a few pilots to PIT each year. For others, we do a local IPUG using the ACC IPUG syllabus. Depends on their background.

Merriam-Webster: "buffoonery": foolish or playful behavior or practice. If these guys did an unbriefed maneuver, and one that is generally prohibited at Oshkosh, then that's foolish, and it's a flight discipline issue. Now, I don't know this is the case, so don't assume I do. However, I've got enough tailwheel time to know that you can do your best, and still have things get away from you on the runway. If that happens with another aircraft in close proximity, folks will get hurt and fabric will get torn. Did #1 drift in front of #2 on this landing? It's hard to tell from the video, and I don't know the answer. As for "excusing pilot error", that's bit of a misnomer. We've been down this path before, but the bottom line is that many pilots have died, and those of us still alive have had the luxury of sitting back and saying "If they only would have done it this way, it would have been ok." I've seen jets get bent and folks hurt --- and so have you ---- in situations where I wouldn't call it "buffoonery". Other times, it occured when pilots did things that were not very smart: I suppose you could call it "buffoonery". Me, I do excuse pilot error, at least with professional pilots. I don't "make excuses". I recognize that God didn't make me, my mobile, or my wingman perfect,... and that they will err. We debrief it, learn, and move on. To not "excuse it" implies that I take it personally. Unless it's someone doing something unprofessional and undisciplined, I'll let it go after it's debriefed. However, if it's a flight discipline issue, then the story just begins to develop.

Not true: ACC is not getting the C-model.

It was a TBM Avenger and an RV-6. There's probably a bit more to it than that.

Anyone here going? If so, look for the guy wearing the "Huggy" nametag, and say hi. After hours, try Fratello's, Acey Deucey, or Charcoal Pit.

Halleluiah!!! Reopen the A-10 production line!!! The phrase is "champing at the bit": I was corrected by a good friend on this very matter about 2 months ago. But whether it is "champing" or "chomping", I'd be doing both.

A little known commercial from last year, from IWC Swiss watches. And, yes, that's John Malkovich... His quote about why the guys aren't real pilots is classic. https://www.iwc.com/messepopup_2006/pilotmo..._mov_big-en.asp

Not a tough choice. I'll take the 1.5 solo in the airplane. Everytime.

Pretty good stuff, I also thought. I've been speaking with the President of FAST for about 18 months. I'll hopefully get the full story at Oshkosh, but it seems there was a push from many folks to get away from the T34 Manual, and do what the bulk of military pilots do. These organizations that sign on as signatories to FAST (there are about 15 of them) need more pilots with your kind of background, Hacker. Definitely look into it when your time allows. I hope more jet guys get involved: although there's a lot to learn about flying formation in these smaller, high performance prop planes, military-trained pilots can really be an asset to these organizations.