Prozac

Assuming he's smart, which he probably is....shrewd at least. I give even odds he takes a dirt nap. Either way, fuck him.

My day job is flying freight out of Shanghai. It is stunning how much shit moves out of that place on a daily basis. They had to build a new port on an island several miles offshore to handle the ship traffic. China is the world's factory. Their success and continued growth is dependent on that fact. They know that as long as we are a player in Asia, as much as they'd like to, they can't mess too much with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, or any of several other countries they have territorial disputes with. That isn't to say they wouldn't if they thought they could get away with it. Which is why even our current administration understands why it's important to re-focus our military and diplomatic efforts on Asia. It's also why the Japanese have been changing their tune on US troop levels there recently. I think as long as we are the strongest kid in the neighborhood, China's economic ambitions will outweigh their military ones.

Not that simple. Don't just look at oil. Overall, we are (or are about to become, depending on who you ask) a net energy exporter.

Then who will build our X Boxes?

Alpharatz, are you a Nav, or just retarded?

Ok, so the video a couple of posts up is obviously a joke, but somebody please tell me this NAAFA group is too...

I'm pretty sure the line would be drawn at "Housewife Cookin' Night". The poster would promote a barefoot, prego, gal in an apron, holding a kid in one arm, frying pan in the other, while another rugrat tugs at her skirt. The menu could include meatloaf, pot-roast, and steak. If not prepared correctly, male patrons would be expected to correct the situation immediately. Pretty sure that would offend appropriately. Who wants to ops check?

No one says you guys don't bring a lot to the fight. Problem is, it isn't just about cost per flying hour. Here are the arguments for canning the 10: Big Blue has said that they only reap big savings by retiring a whole fleet. It's more about all the infrastructure - the depots, training assets, MX, base infrastructure, etc., and what that costs to run. The 10 is a good candidate for the axe because we already have a fleet of airplanes that can do the mission. Will it be more challenging? Of course, but it will still get done. Additionally, the KC-135 fleet already has the mods to fly on for another 20 years. It sucks, but the DOD isn't going to drop the cash to upgrade the 10.

Damn dude. I'm all for a little friendly banter between MWSs but in all honesty, most of the KC-10 pilots I know are only a little douchey.

Holy sensitive Texans Batman! I stand corrected: Texas has liberals, but apparently no sense of humor. Got it.

Liberals? The complaint was filed in Texas. I thought they didn't have those there.

It's hard to argue that so much of a country's wealth being controlled by so few is a good thing. You could make a strong argument that the great democratic revolutions of the past 300 years or so have been about that very situation. If the rest of the country was getting richer as well, I'd be singing a different tune. A minute section of society continues to accumulate more wealth while the rest of us see our buying power reduced across the board. That's an untenable situation in the long term.

Excellent find. These guys do nice work!

I'd NEVER consider giving up US citizenship. That said, there are lots of places in Central/South America, SE Asia, the Pacific, and Eastern Europe that I'd consider spending the majority of my time in.

If AMC is having so many problems with crews doing stupid things, the command should take a look at itself. I think there are some deep seeded problems there. There are issues with initial qualification and upgrade training. People are being upgraded to AC and IP before they are ready and for the wrong reasons. There is a lot of emphasis on non-flying related things as we all know. When I was in the command, it was not unheard of for a crewmember to open up his PME books (yes, we had books once) while in an orbit in the AOR. Leadership went through the roof when they heard about it, but couldn't seem to make the connection that their subordinates were reacting to the priorities that leadership had clearly set. AMC is reaping what it has sown WRT to emphasis on what we call queep. It continues to react with leadership by FCIF. Emphasis on REACT. The command has got to become more proactive. Instead of focusing on punishing people for their poor decision making skills, it needs to understand that it has lost focus on providing people with the tools needed to make GOOD decisions.

Holy shit you've cracked the code! Now just figure out how to implement your plan and maybe we'll make you a Lt Col vice kicking you out at 17 years.

Not all of it. The Saudis, Qataris, and other Sunni states in the region would like nothing more than to see the Al Assad regime get schwacked.

She's 18 now, no? I'd hit it.

University of Phoenix

So, it would ruin an F-35 in about 69 seconds?

This may be true for the regionals, but good luck getting an interview at a major without one. As it stands now, you need to get it done if you ant to be remotely competitive.

This whole thing just dumfounds me. With minimal effort, the FAA will certify me to teach Joe Baggadonuts off the street how to fly a 172. I haven't flown light airplanes in years and this is something I have no business doing without proper training. However, if I want an ATP, the accepted route is to go spend 10 hours or so in a Duchess--with some instructor who's more interested in time-building than instructing--then go do what's essentially a single pilot checkride in equipment that I'm utterly unfamiliar with. Nevermind my experience is almost exclusively in heavy, multi-crew, turbine airplanes which happen to be much more akin to the equipment I'll likely be using said ATP on than the tin can I'm paying $100/hr to rent. Prepping for a no-shit FAA checkride in two or three days is doable....that's how I did it. But it was the least comfortable I've been going into an evaluation by a long shot. If you guys can swing it with your units, I would HIGHLY recommend getting chummy with your local FSDO and having an examiner come out to do the checkride during an instrument qual sim (likely not an option for the fighter guys....sorry). I know this has been done in the past and it HAS to be the easiest and most economical to do it now.

This.

I don't think this incident had anything to do with design flaws in the aircraft unless the Russians somehow decided to omit a gear warning system. Initial reports point to crew error. Kudos to Sukhoi for building an airframe that, despite whatever other shortcomings it may have, can absorb a gear up landing nearly as well as a T-37.

Jokes aside, it appears they still build tough ass airplanes.