TreeA10

American Airlines is running a test on the 777 right now. I've seen the iPad used and it is pretty slick. Throw in aviation charts, weather, etc. and it is quite handy.

From the way it sounds, the EP thought something wasn't quite right on the checkride and had to review grading criteria to assess the correct grade based on acceptable parameters and/or area to downgrade. The EP told the examinee basically the same thing. Doesn't sound too odd to me.

I can personally attest to the validity of this statement.

Observations as a T-38 IP: 1. Your most important concern is what you are doing next like the next training sortie, the next test. What happens in a year doesn't matter if you don't prepare for tomorrow because you won't be there in a year if you can't get past tomorrow. 2. UPT success is sort of like golf. You are competing against yourself. What your classmates say about how good or bad they are is strictly their opinion and usually wrong. With that being said, UPT survival is a team sport. You will learn a lot by helping others. 3. Your Instructors will work as hard as you do to keep you in the program or extend your ability or knowledge. If you do not give a rats ass, neither will they and you will wither and die on the vine. 4. Have fun. Starting somewhere around Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, you should not be anywhere near a -1 if you can help it.

There are numerous stories about him floating around the airline community. He would stick his head in the cockpit and say something like "Good luck men, we're all counting on you" or "Don't eat the fish."

When I was up there we had what was known as the "3 Layer Rule." Anyplace that you might fly with surface temps below 10 degrees, you were required to have 3 layers. It was polypro or nomex thermals, flight suit, and fat boy pants w/winter jacket or winter flight suit. We also flew with a survival vest and the heaviest ACES II kit in the Air Force. Most guys also packed extra gloves, balaclavas, and a pair of winter gauntlets (those big mittens you see dog mushers wearing) inside pockets or the jacket top. The kit contained more gloves, socks, a vacuum packed sleeping bag good to -40, and all sorts of other winter survival gear. The Arctic survival school was mandatory but you could be up there and flying before you actually get to the school. (I got up there in June and didn't attend the school until February.) The school taught me that you could survive in the cold without too much difficulty albeit it would suck. However, if you broke an arm or leg, you ability to function would make your ability to survive orders of magnitude more difficult.

Not sure if this is the same woman we called the "Chena River Bitch" but there was some woman in that river valley that would complain constantly about us in the A-10s. Not exactly noisy but we were normally cruising at 250-300 feet in her neighborhood. Somehow, the LPA found her address and she became a subscriber to a variety of magazines like Guns and Ammo, Soldier of Forture, and a few others. When the conversion to the F-16, we figured this woman would have a seizure. I guess she is still alive and complaining.

With all the discussion of illegal immigration and the law passed in Arizona, I picked up "Midnight on the Line, The Secret Life of the US-Mexico Border" by Tim Gaynor. It covers a wide gamut of topics. Illegals walking across the border, corruption by US border officials, drug smuggling, tunnels, Border Patrol on horseback, Predator, the Minutemen and terrorists linked to Hezbollah. The scale and scope of the problem is huge. On one end of the spectrum is poor individuals just trying to make a better life for themselves. On the other end is very organized, high tech, smuggling operations complete with advance scouts, decoys, and lots of cash.

Flying into South America, it is not uncommon to get a call from ATC and the usual reaction is the Captain and the FO looking at each other and saying "Did you get any of that?" If the controller speaks heavily accented English at the same candence he speaks Spanish, I usually miss a lot unless I already have a good idea of what the controller is going to say.

Don't do anything dumb, different, or dangerous and employ the K.I.S.S. principle. My personal favorite was a young flight lead who got confused and lost IN HIS BRIEFING. If your tactics/techniques don't work at 0 KIAS and 1 G, those tactics will not survive contact with the enemy/threat/weather. Or a checkride.

With Kuma being one of the few, the proud, the Marines, the amazing part is not his ability to swear. I'd expect nothing less. The amazing part is he is a Marine and that he can read!!! Since when did that happen? Semper Fi and press on, Kuma.

Home Depot instituted a 10% discount for military with ID card, just ask the checkout person.

That would be the weapons control panel for the 11 different hard points on the jet. You also have a couple switches for fuze options, multiple/single options, a couple of rotary swtiches for release interval and number of weapons, and the switch for the AIM-9. The big red button in middle is the selective jettison button vs the "holy shit" jettison button on the glare shield. But that is the old cockpit. The C model has more glass and fewer switches but still retains the "holy shit" button on the glare shield.

Worst biological event I've heard involved an F-16 guy doing a Foreign Military Sales delivery to Israel. They had spent the night in Germany, pushed it up, and enroute to Israel, he had a massive liquid colon explosion with no exposure suit to contain the onslaught. Using charts, gloves, and whatever he could get his hands on, he tried to clean some of the mess up. Approaching Israel, they made radar contact with several fast climbing targets approaching their flight. Israeli F-15s took up formation with them to escort their flight to their destination. After landing, they were marshalled to parking to find a very large greeting committee including guest speakers, band, and other associated dignataries. The jets were parked nose-to-nose as a backdrop for the speaker so this guy did not want to exit his jet and told the crew chief to get the hell away from his jet and remained in the contaminated cockpit for all the speeches and welcoming hoorah. After the crowd left, he finally exited the jet.

It is in the Jepps for AAL. An airliner is a whole different ballgame from an A-10.

The airport at Port Au Prince is already marginal due to a single runway and no parallel taxiway. The additional restriction of "No lower than 8000 feet over the city" due to small arms fire just makes it that much more special. It will be a tough haul for whoever gets the call for lift but the Haitians definitely need all the help they can get.

"Spitfires, Thunderbolts, and Warm Beer" is about an American in WWII who joins up with the RAF and flies with the RAF, then Eagle Squadrons, and then 8th AF.

Hard to beat the response time of "Wedge, guns, shoot where I shoot" briefing.

Could be a celebration of Tiger's ex and her soon to be second place in "Most golf money won on the tour" standings despite her having only recently picked up a golf club.

IIRC, In 1570, Ottoman Turks killed approximately 30,000 Christians in the Bosnia/Kosovo area doing a little ethnic cleansing. Paybacks, while certainly not Christian, are a bitch.

Okay, more reading suggestions. "What went Wrong?" The cultures in the Middle East led the world in art, science, and math while Europe was somewhat backward and lagging. Somewhere around 1300 AD, that changed and the Middle East stopped their cultural growth. And the book "Infidel" which covers conflict between Christian and Islamic cultures up through Bosnia/Kosovo.

Regarding Steve Davies comment on muslims in Europe reminded me of the book "While Europe Slept." Very interesting reading about assimilation or the lack thereof and the associated cultural problems currently and in the future.

Anyone badmouths the Flying Spaghetti Monster or publishes cartoons or drawing of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and I am going to call down the wrath of my fellow marinara warriors and hurl meatballs of biblical and hunger satisfying proportions at the pasta infidel.

The best Christmas party I can recall was while I was at Shaw. One of our guys had his Commercial license and checked out a bus from Transportation. We met at the Squadron with coolers and wives in tow, piled onto the bus, and drove to a German resturant in Columbia. Order what you want, drink what you want, and the bus will make two trips back to Shaw. Plan accordingly. The only problem I recall was someone standing in the aisle on the return trip stumbled while the bus was turning and poured the better part of a 1 liter boot of beer down my back. So, if you have a resturant nearby that will put up you guys, that might be an option.

I think an A-10 type addition would a good idea. Why did we get that jet in the first place? Because some third world gomers one generation from the stone age were puncing holes in small prop planes, high speed jets, and helos and knocking them out of the sky with low tech weapons while the troops on the ground needed better CAS. No need to reinvent the wheel or, worse, ignore history and make the same mistake.