contraildash

Two planes touched in midair at the Reno-Stead Airport, Thursday. Officials say it was a minor accident, referring to it as "trading paint."

Hit up a few breweries in Durango recently. Durango Brewing Company, Steamworks Brewing, and my favorite...SKA! Durango Brewing Co. Blueberry Wheat - I don't like fruity beers, so I just had a sample since they were pushing as if they could convince me otherwise. I guess it wasn't all that bad, not super sweet or a glass of carbonated blueberry juice. My wife liked it...so there ya go Durango Pale Ale - seemed like your average pale ale. Nothing really stood out. Steamworks Brewing Co. Colorado Kölsch - pretty decent Kölsch. Crisp, light, very easy to drink. Lizard Head Red - nice red, bit more kick from hops than most reds with a good malty taste. Ska Brewing Mexican Logger - summer in a can. light lager, refreshing, could throw these back all day. Don't put a lime in it. Decadent Imperial IPA - ever wonder what it would be like if a bushel of hops kicked down every tastebud in your mouth? Well here ya go. True Blonde Dubbel - an ok dubbel, slight sour aftertaste Vernal Minthe Stout - Suprisingly good, I expected some minty abomination here. Just the slightest touch of sweetness in this sout. Good session beer. Lip up fatty!

When he was running 3rd AF, I flew with him multiple times to include a week long trip around France/Italy (rough life, I know). Great leader, down to earth, no-nonsense kinda guy, good pilot. Everyone that flew with him, liked him. Glad to see he's still at it.

Here in ABQ the party doesn't stop just because you have to drive home... Driver runs red light, crashes while having sex in front seat

OK National Guard flyover of the tornado path.

Can't speak for Republic's operating procedures, but I've been in a similar situation. Working underneath the approach to SFO and even with separation, both aircraft eyes on and non-converging, the Airbus went around and stated that they had to honor the RA. I agree with Butters...honor it since ya don't know exactly who is causing it. No need to disregard it or do something different and end up like the 757/Tupelov over Switzerland.

There are a ton of mil a/c that are pretty damn far behind the curve when it comes to keeping up with the changes in IFR terminal operations. With the big push to GPS/WAAS we are seeing many radio based navaids going the way of the buffalo. GPS/WAAS...

I was curious and looked up her bio...didn't do anything USAF ops related from 1984-2002 (grad school, USAFA prof, TPS, exchange engineer, astronaut). Then right into the mix. Interesting.

Do you wear these?

If you look up the boots on that list they are either the standard Belleviles or knock-off Belleviles. With the exception of the Danners ($300 is a bit steep IMO). Thread bump because I'm looking for something other than the Belleviles. I'm not sure what the process is behind approving boots for flight, but I'm leaning towards contracting/political motivations.

f*cking brutal.

Not suprising I guess....always more to the story. Trim can bite ya... I was flying around in the back of a Piper Aztec doing survey work back before I got in the AF. There was a new pilot getting checked out and he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. We were operating out of Lynchburg, VA and our survey area was out west over the Blue Ridge mtns. On our way back this new guy was flying and the company pilot was really giving him a hard time about everything. While this was going on, the new guy had somehow run the trim nose down somewhat significantly, probably with the death grip he had on the yoke, and was complaining about the plane not flying 'right.' I was out of my seat taking a film cassette out of the camera and getting ready to take the film out of that. Just as I took the cassette out of the mount, the new dude let go of the yoke (why? we still have no idea) and we nosed over like a Kamakazi. The company pilot recovered immeadiately. Me? I flew up and hit the roof and landed back behind the camera. The 30-ish pound cassette landed on my right shin. The company pilot still claims I threw something up at the new guy, I don't remember but I'm sure I did. Needless to say, that guy didn't fly with us anymore.

I second that. Just finished Mavericks of the Sky about the start of the USPS air mail service which in turn led into many early innovations for long distance navigation and flying. Lots of guys died in those early days flying the mail. Good read.

That's pretty damn sad. I wonder what they were actually doing. I saw some real 'interesting' stuff at the FBO I worked at for a few years. From dudes pencil whipping their experience/ratings (and eventually caught) to just downright dangerous flying, people never ceased to amaze me.

So a couple hundred didn't have their masters and still got picked up? Hmm.

Just finished both of those. Very interesting books, what do you think of em?

The PT system needs to be revamped with some semblance of common sense (like that's going to happen), I have personal experience with the BS that's involved: I had a signle component failure once. Wasn't feeling good to start with, rolled over on my side to puke while doing situps. Failed on the spot for leaving the "position". Called my flight/cc at the time and he told me to just go ahead and do the run. I beasted it out, got a 88 overall, but still failed. I also have always struggled with the waist measurement. At OTS (my best PFT) I maxed out the pushups and situps, got a 9:40 on the run, but my 36 inch waist drug me down. Shit, if I can haul my 'fat ass' around the track faster than a skinny dude....I should get bonus points.

Answered this myself: AFI 11-403 3.3.2.3. The ROBD should be used for all refresher aircrew whose aircraft oxygen systems and emergency procedures are not adequately represented in the altitude chamber. Examples include: CV-22, B-2, B-1, F-22A, and the F-35. 3.3.2.4. For all other aircrew, a ROBD is an approved replacement for the altitude chamber during refresher training as long as the appropriate oxygen system configuration is available and the training scenarios are appropriate for their MDS. Trainees will receive ROBD flight pre-brief and post-briefings prior to and following the training system event.

Anyone here know if the reduced oxygen breathing device / hypoxia familiarization trainer (ROBD/HFT) is now interchangeable with the chamber as far as currency is concerned? edit for correct verbage

Holding out some hope. Thoughts and prayers to his SQ, friends, and most importantly his family. Full Story Here This is the kicker that always gets me, he and his wife are expecting their first child in 2 weeks: From Modesto Bee

They said on the news that it fell off a "storage rack" in a warehouse. In the end, it doesn't really matter where since it's terrible. Hear Hear.

On a related note to the data plate discussion, I had read a while back that the German government was reissuing serial numbers for the 262s and 190s being built right now. That's kinda cool.

Chance of Cannon is 33.3%. As far as flying after the AF look at FAR 61.159 & 61.163.

Spartacus, The fridge may be a lost battle since you signed it, but the other stuff may not be. Were the items in numbered boxes, or in a box that was on the shipping list? They can't list every single damn item that is in each box so the items don't need to be on the manifest per say. Now if you are saying that they shipped un-marked boxes you may not have any ammo to fight with. Even in that case, I'd try to fight it. Hindsight is 20/20. I've been PCS'ing my entire life and one thing I learned was to photograph all high value items...from several angles. And then I won't let any HVIs get packed without my wife or I being there and then confirming it's on the HVI list. Very tedious, but worth it in the long run. For everything else I usually walk through each room and take a few pics while everything is still out. Saved me about $500 this last PCS when a bunch of stuff showed up covered in mold of epic proportions. All because someone spilled coffee on some of the boxes.

sigh...pussification of America continues.