SocialD

They're sleeping...check back tonight.

I left AAL for DAL to be home based. If you want to live in DFW, go AAL. If you want to stay DAL, move to one of their bases. Don't commute. You're welcome.

Way too many variables to know how long to a WB. When I was hired I figured it would take 10 years to hold a WB...I ended up getting it at 2 years. Right now, I think it's sitting closer to 4 or 5 years, but it could go way junior (or senior) on the next bid. In the current environment, anything is possible...whacky times. I can't really tell you what to do about the SWA vs DAL decision. On one hand, I never want to commute (I left another legacy to not have a commute), on the other hand, I'm not sure I'd want to do the type of flying SWA does for an entire career. Delta can't do much about your MLOA, they have to honor it Dropping a trip a month isn't really something that would even get a second look. How long do you have left in the military? Are you planning on staying put? Personally, I wouldn't make a career decision based on a mil commitment, especially if I only had a handful of years left. Plenty of jobs available all over the U.S, especially if you're willing to stop flying and just get across the 20 year line. I talked to another FO today that was doing a non-flying CAP gig to finish his 20. I know a few others that hung up the G-suit to do RCO and AOC gigs. I hate being full time in the guard, so I'm always looking for minimal commitment on that front, so this may not be what you're looking for lol. Edit: Also, what Tree said!

Great life if you can get it. Especially great if you're a commuter. Almost all our trips are commutable and you can cut your commutes to just 2 times a month with our 6 day trips. If I hadn't been displaced prior to rona, I likely would have stayed WB FO until I could hold the left seat of a WB. If I were a commuter, I'd definitely stay WB for my career. When rona started, I displaced all the way down to 717 FO so I could be senior. Many months, I'm working less and make more as a 717 FO than I did as a 330 FO. The ability to work your schedule as a senior NB FO, allows you to easily close the pay gap if you so choose. I chose to stay domestic and bid over to captain, rather than reinstate back to WB FO right now. Until the world stops losing their minds and restrictions are lifted, I'll hang out domestic. Also, right now our WB are doing a much of domestic flying which is shit. The thing that made life on the WB so great was not having to deal with domestic rotations....made reserve life way more predictable. I'll definitely look at going back to WB FO down the road. At DAL, as long as there is appropriate reserve staffing (almost always was pre rona...not sure now), then you can drop your scheduled to zero. I'd drop my entire schedule every month I had a line when I was a WB FO. Then I'd pick up more efficient trips when I wanted to fly. Worked the same amount if days as originally schedule but made a lot more money. Good living while it lasted.

This is not an intelligence failure...if our leaders thought they'd be good, they were delusional. I left there thinking the ANA would be lucky to last a few weeks after we left. Anyone who thought otherwise was lying to themselves.

Fixed it for you.

Listen to the guy who talk about how they make side income/tax write-offs via a business, not the guys trying to get you go in on this "no fail" deal that promises to make you rich (I've never actually flown with one in my decade in the airline business). On my last trip, I learn a shit ton about S-Corps and how you can use them to your benefit, especially when you start making Captain pay. Dude wasn't trying to sell me anything or hype up anything, simply answering questions about a small business he's ran for well over a decade. Crazy enough, he was still on spouse number #1.

Right, we're 100% in agreement. I have zero issues dropping mloa, I do it whenever needed without a second thought. I'm just saying don't be the dude that drops a Christmas trip so you can accomplish your stan eval testing in your 1st month (it happened lol)...then brag about it to your mostly non-mil crew. It's like bragging to your buddy who recently lost his job, that you just made 6k on a 3-day greenslip last week. Like the dudes you mentioned, it's just poor form. Crazy enough, at DAL, they will sometimes rebuild your trip around MLOA on trips dropped over holidays. I've seen it happen...dude mil dropped a 6 day trip that hit Christmas. He only dropped MLOA on day 1 of that trip, so the company awarded the MLOA then DH'd him on day 2 or 3 to rejoin the trip.

If you choose to stay in and are the type that is going to use mloa to enhance your schedule, don't be the jackass that brags about it when you're around co-workers who can't do such things. It happens a bit more than I'd ever have imagined and as a fellow mil dude, there nothing more cringeworthy.

Displaced thanks to that bitch rona. If I couldn't stay in-base WB FO (homie don't commute), I just wanted to be as senior as possible while I waited out this downturns. I went from being 90% in seat to 7% in seat, which has been damn nice. If I hadn't been displaced, I'd likely have stayed 330 FO until I could have held Capt on it. For now I'm going to 717 Capt, but I can see myself heading back to 330 FO when these countries stop losing their minds over rona.

For some reason my post was deleted, weird. Rumor is, this guy had it towed out to be a float in a parade, then he decided to fly it out to beat the weather. I did a quick google street view and he had 2,500 ft of obstruction free road available. He started his takeoff roll with ~1,200 ft to the light pole he hit. A 220HP Stearman, even with a metal prop is underpowered, so I'm surprised he attempted this with only 1,200 ft to get over that pole. There was an airport less than 3 miles away... The Stearman groups have not been kind to this incident. End game, just a touch of right aileron might have saved this as well.

If I understand it correctly, you'd forfeit 1/30th of your retiree pay. As a reservist, a paycard is 1/30th of of your pay rate + flight pay, and you can log 2 of those per day. So based on my cursory understanding of the process, you'd make more money in the long run if you're talking just military money. Where you'd really lose out on money is missing stuff at the airline. As an example, when I was a 330 FO, I missed out on a 3 day GS that would have paid me $13k (including 401k), because I was a at drill. My drill check for that weekend was $1,500. Clearly and extreme example, but even now as 717 FO, I recently missed an easy 2 day GS that cost me ~$3,200. This is just GS opportunities, I'm not even talking dropped trips or reserve days that you'll have to do to work at the reserves. That stuff adds up fast! As someone who has done two jobs for the last 8 years, I can say, I've lost a ton of money for being in the Guard (cost of doing business). But more importantly, I've lost TONS of my free time and life on the outside...that's the truly painful part. I've talked with so many guys who've said their only regret was not getting out earlier and they can't believe how much free time they now have. I absolutely can not wait to get out and only have one job. If you want to teach, there are plenty of opportunities at DAL. You can be a sim instructor (paid min of 85 hours at whatever you can hold), if you don't mind living in ATL or commuting to the sims. If not, we have FOs who are part of the line check airmen cadre called LVPs...they do some instruction. Or you could get your civilian instructor ratings and teach at the local FBO on the side. I do this from time to time and find it quite enjoyable. Best of luck in whatever you choose. More than ever, the AF needs good IPs with lots of experience.

I don't think saying cargo is gone 50% of the month is accurate at all, at least not with what my UPS/FDX buddies are doing. I would say the most time at home is in-domicile for anyone of the big airlines (which includes FDX/UPS). I'd also say that the most money is at the airline that allows you to live in domicile. As an example, I'm on my last 3 day stretch of reserve this month and it's looking good that I won't get used (jinxing myself here lol). I've only flown one day this month, which was an over time trip I chose to take. One day of flying, 91 hours of pay and I slept in my bed every night this month. Is that typical, not always, but it's not all that uncommon with a little seniority and living in base. If I were a commuter, I'd likely not bid reserve and resign myself to always being gone 12-16+ days/month. If I did bid reserve as a commuter, I'd be sweating early reports every evening and have to commute into and sit at the base for any short calls...not fun. I'd also likely not have as many opportunities for lucrative overtime flying as they often go out with short notice.

It's not all that uncommon to run an intercept single-ship in situations like this. Assuming there was a two ship in the cap.

It's always been a freestyle and is more about your congressman than facilities/airspace/saving money. A great example of that is the fact that the SCANG is still on their own facility when Shaw is just miles down the road. I'm all for the SCANG keeping their own facility because who the hell wants to be on an AD base, but it seems to make zero fiscal sense.

No, Roth TSP/401k would still be a thing. It's just saying you can't convert after tax monies into a Roth IRA. This would mean most of us "rich" guys wouldn't be able to contribute to our Roth IRAs via the "back-door" or "mega back-door," like we do now. It's simply a money grab by the dems...something we've all known they've wanted to do for a long time. A lot of us Delta guys (not sure what other companies have the option) use this to stuff our Roth IRAs to the gills. As an example, last year I used the "mega-back door roth," to convert 30k into my Roth IRA and was still able to contribute 6k into a traditional IRA (after tax), the convert that into my Roth IRA. So even though I made too much to directly contribute to my Roth IRA, I was still able to put 36k into it. That option would go away. Not the end of the world, but certainly a loss in a very nice benefit. This is just the start of what they really want to do, because us rich guys are so greedy and "we didn't earn that." Means testing SS, eventual taxing of our currently "tax-free" Roth TSP/IRAs will likely be the next things in their sites. I'm certainly not planning on getting SS as part of my retirement plan, if it's there, cool more beer money. If that still doesn't make sense, check this out. It's different than the standard back-door roth.

Fake news...the best pilots in the AF are already in the ANG/AFRC. Plus they're not quiting over the vax. Awesome source though.

Yup! Non-TFI ANG here...well if you don't count the slew of AD LTs they send our way because the AD can't absorb them. Anyway, a few year ago, we had an AD guy who was our WG/CC (dual status T10/T32). After that assignment he went back to the AD. Were back to ANG bosses, but I suspect that was a test bed and we'll lilely be seeing more that stuff in the ANG as well. So glad to be bailing soon.

This! Years ago, we pretty much did this at one deployed location I've been based. Basically had a CTAF freq where we ensured we were all deconflicted and used our targeting pod to scan the runway. It was pretty simple and worked just fine.

Heck depending on where you live, you could be covered by an eviction moratorium. Start renting now, then don't pay your rent, give your landlords the middle finger until big brother lifts the moratoriums in full. I figure you can account for 6-9 months of rent-free living, maybe more if you want to drag out the eviction process. LOL, I kid...but that kind of shit is going on right now. I guess the question is how comfortable are you that the market will stay the same in your time at this duty station? Although I'm not a huge fan of renting, in this market, I might consider it if I had to move. This market is absolutely ridiculous and I'm expecting/hoping to see the bottom drop out in the next year. When they finally lift all moratoriums on mortgages, I'd expect to see the foreclosures start to hit big time. Pre-Rona, the number of mortgages going into foreclosure ran around 35-40k/month, right now we're running at about 2-3k/month. LOTS of mortgages are currently in default and lenders are just waiting for the moratorium end date. Thankfully, I'm not in a hurry to move, because I'm getting my low-ball hat ready for when/if it does drop. I'm guessing there will be much gnashing of teeth as people finally have the realization that they're going to take a bath to sell their homes or go into foreclosure. I'd expect to see the market flooded with boats/campers/jet skis/etc... as well. Hell even the tax men are drunk with dollar signs. I just got notice that they think my townhome is worth about 20-25% more than I could ever dream of selling it for. Called them up and asked them who their pot supplier was, because they must be getting the good stuff! With ridiculous property taxes in my area, this is a battle I need to win. Hell, 5th wheels are hard to come by right now too. 6-9 month waits and even then, you often can't get the models you want. People just mentioned they were considering selling and they had offers from all over, well over what they paid 5+ years ago. It's nutty!

We're required to wear masks?

Get high, get fast and get your arms around it?

Summer/Fall of 2020, some d-bag made the floppy hat illegal again in Centcom. So we just wore our illegal baseball hats anyway (BAF not the deid).

Having seen these shit heads carry out their dead, then drag dead civilians into the rubble to use as propaganda, tend to jade ones view on "suspected civilian casualties." I'm not saying it didn't happen, and with this rusty coat-hanger abortion of an operation, nothing would surprise me. I'll just forever be skeptical of these types of reports.