brabus

God, I hate you Beaver! Now, back to my AD TPS reports. Fuck, forgot another cover sheet.

From what I've gathered over the years through various conversations, the vast majority of people outside the flightline (and even some on it) truly think we only fly, and when not flying are fucking around in the bar or otherwise not really do anything important. That leads them to the idea that pilots have a super easy life and have won the lottery. Just about everyone of them I've politely informed are speechlessly shocked when I tell them a quick 1-2 min description of the average pilot's "work life." They're so shocked that some of them had a questioning look as if I was spouting hyperbole to the Nth degree. I long ago concluded most of the non-ops people will truly never get it and there's little you can do to change that. That said, the support folks who do get it are worth a million bucks and knowing one or two of them at your base can make a massive difference in getting the job done.

W...T...F. No common sense allowed there apparently. I once had a 1 star direct me (via the SOF) to un-divert because he was freaking out about the lack of security at the civilian divert field. I told the SOF to tell him no and continued the approach at the other field. Never got any flak for it (because my leadership injected some reality into this dude), but I was still pissed that this guy ordered a jet he's not flying to do something that he wanted, even though it was not a correct or safe decision.

Word on the street is Welsh was behind getting the "Home of the Fighter Pilot" sign back where it belongs. It's refreshing among all the bullshit I can't even begin to imagine he wades through on a daily basis, he still fixes "small" stuff like this that really has a lot of impact behind it. Hopefully another Skelator doesn't come along and ruin it all over again.

Talking to Navy bros it really isn't any better. Different name, still a shit show.

That's a hell of an assumption based on zero evidence. It's completely possible that was what happened, it's also completely possible it was 1 of a 100 other unrelated things that happened. Throwing out baseless accusations without any real information is how good people get raked across the coals erroneously.

Copy shot. Thanks Huggy!

The FARs do clearly state for purpose of getting an ATP or commercial rating ("qualifying military pilot") you do not require a landing more than 50 NM from the point of departure. Landings do matter for private, instrument or commercial ("non-military") ratings. So my question is, what do civilian 121/135 jobs care about when looking at time? If asked the question in the future, "how much XC time do you have?", do I answer with my time that does not include landings (i.e. every military flight and my civilian XC time before UPT) or only with my time that included landings other than point of departure? I ask because right now my logbook only has XC time logged when I landed elsewhere, but I'm debating whether I should correct it to include all my mil time or do I just use one of the blank columns to effectively be my "here's so I can get my ATP" XC time and leave the "legit" XC time column alone.

I don't remember if he was banked, but he did the cross flow thing 97-98 time frame.

Doubt that had anything to do with it, considering he transitioned about 8-10 yrs prior to the alleged emails even being sent. I just don't get how someone, a good dude and leader at that, gets canned over 7 yr old emails. Unless something illegal was uncovered and he's on his way to trial (doesn't seem to be the case here...I hope), then firing him makes zero sense. Now watch CBM end up with a douche nozzle of a wing king when they were so close to having an awesome one - Big Blue wins again.

Agree. People need to get over it; by in large we are a Christian country, just like Thailand is a Buddhist country. This doesn't mean there aren't other religions allowed or the "main" religion is the right answer for everyone. It's just simply the predominant choice. I don't go to Thailand and immediately start bitching about a monk praying in public or demanding they melt down statues in public places because it makes me feel uncomfortable. If you can't just politely stand there and not take part, then you're an idiot and need to get over yourself.

I can't even imagine Azimuth - that dude embodies what is totally fucked at the "nearing senior leader" level and beyond. You know it's bad when someone like me who knows nothing about the dude other than that place always thought, "man, it must have really sucked hardcore to be in that guys Wing, SQ, etc."

What exactly are they looking for? I can't imagine the FSDO gives a shit about the academics that go along with IPUG considering they have almost zero to do with the type of flying a CFI is related to. What'd you tell them to get around this?

Almost worse was the exchange with the NCO academy - our flight had an infantry Marine who'd been to AFG x3 and Iraq x1. If that guy didn't already think 90% of the AF was a bunch of useless asshats, he sure did after that. At least he was smart enough to see there is the other 10%. It was hilarious and embarrassing at the same time to listen to the "analyst" who admittedly worked from home 2 days a week on a normal basis argue how irreplaceable she was and vital to the military, then try to pull rank on the Marine when he respectfully argued nobody is irreplaceable.

Man you're generous; I'd give a shoe a week before they go full zombie/break down and lose it.

Once you've transferred it to a family member (spouse or kid), you can transfer among family members however many times you want (including adjusting split percentages). This includes in your post-AD years (when presumably the kid #1 gets into USAFA, so you want to transfer to kid #2). This is what I've gathered by reading the reg and clarifying with the education office (I had the exact same question). The only catch is you need to transfer it on at some point prior to leaving AD.

Do they tell you what alternate number you are? Guaranteed about 16-19 people will fail the PFT, then you'll get alt'd in a week after the thing starts, win win lose (you still lose since you have to waste 7 weeks of your life).

Maybe for heavy dudes, but you're average fighter guy getting out around the UPT ADSC complete date is not much beyond the typical mins it seems a lot of airlines are looking for. And that's assuming they've been flying the entire time; good chance you're SOL if you did an ALO tour. Every hour counts, don't let the HARM office fuck you.

Third Lagavulin 16...it's my new "go to" under $100. Definitely on board with Oban and Macallan. I also enjoy Bowmore for that price range.

At least every place I've jumped the pilot has made several calls on CTAF before anyone exits the A/C. Those combined with the parachute symbol on VFR sectionals and NOTAMs are about all you can do. The problem is the zero SA pilots flying around these airports who either don't give a shit/hate skydivers or are unfamiliar with the field, but didn't do even 6-9 sec of flight planning to realize there's a potential for skydivers in the area.

Luckily for those who can't sift through all those meaningless NOTAMs, the Japanese kindly repeat them all on ATIS. Which is now why I never listen to ATIS either.

Shouldn't have been in red's block without SA. I saw this nearly happen years ago when the pilot of the 210 did a "low pass" just to fuck around and show off...turns out he had miscounted how many jumpers were on the ground (he thought all). Luckily they didn't hit, but you can imagine the words that were exchanged after that one.

Makes sense. I think we should do this for that group of dudes; its a win-win as some MAF communities get their manning down to where it should be and the pressure on CAF manning can be reduced to some extent. Not to mention I'm sure there are a lot of dudes out there who we're that #2 or 3 dude in their class with a one fighter drop and would have done great at IFF and beyond if they had better luck/timing on their side. This especially applies to guys who have only been in the MAF for one assignment, as them going to IFF, etc. would be akin to a FAIP as far as timeline goes (and maybe even better considering their operational experience).

Anyone know what kind of numbers happened back in the mid-late 90s when the cross-flow thing happened? I wonder if a program like that would actually be anywhere near enough to "fix the glitch" in earnest. It's clearly not an easy "take 1100 MAF guys and make 1100 CAF guys." I think looking at the 38 track guys who are currently in the MAF would be a sensible starting point, but that certainly won't get us out of this mess.

to another fallen bro. Hoser, any AWCF fund on the horizon?