Rocker

The first thing I did before writing this (after maintaining keyboard control, analyzing the post and making the proper response, and going to bed as soon as conditions permit) was ask myself whether I was going to actually answer the question, or offer an opinion. ROTC cadets shouldn't be allowed to wear bags or scarves.

So there I was, sweating my ass off in the C-12 CPT sim, dealing with a left engine failure right at rotate. Oh wait, that was three hours ago and not cool at all and also I don't have any good stories yet. I can think of a few neat things from T-6s I guess, but nothing no one hasn't already heard.

At water survival, they put a lot of emphasis on parachute training for everybody, but does everybody get parachutes? Obviously the ejection seat folks have that option, but what (if any) heavies do? Herks? And in that, what kind of training do they give us for that kind of egress? "Try to put it in a slight climb, and then run like hell..."

When does American Tac Airlifter come out?

That is the best EVER. Nice work. ------------------------- What do you call a fighter pilot with an IQ of 150? A four-ship. ------------------------- A mother and her young inquisitive son were flying Southwest Airlines from Kansas City to Chicago. The son (who had been looking out the window) turned to his mother and asked, "If dogs have baby dogs and cats have baby cats, why don't planes have baby planes?" The mother (who couldn't think of an answer) told her son to ask the flight attendant. So the boy dutifully asked the flight attendant, "If dogs have baby dogs and cats have baby cats, why don't planes have baby planes?" The flight attendant responded, "Did your mother tell you to ask me that?" The little boy admitted that she did. "Well, then, tell your mother that there are no baby planes because Southwest always pulls out on time. Now, let your mother explain that to you."

The island is nice because when you come home, you are away from the city lights and noises. It's 10 minutes from base and the traffic isn't bad at all. The JFK is done now, so there's really no backup any more. The Beach Club Apts are really nice (my home), and there are plenty of great houses to rent too. But all in all, I think the island is the place to be.

It was a lot of fun to give those when we did know what we were talking about. I think we got dumber as phase II went on...

Huh...neat. It'd be amusing if they took a flight of those guys over to Nellis or Edwards.

Hey KoolKat, where were you for UPT that you had "Raptor" callsigns? We had a character in my class at Laughlin (T-6s) doing a pattern solo make a T-6 formation break out after they called VFR entry, he saw them, and then pushed up the juice to try to beat them (while simultaneously trying to remember the pattern priorities EMFREV). Obviously a hook when they found out who he was. And then of course there were several fun IRTs, such as "Texan XX, five miles radar initial" or "Texan XX, initial....um...gas" (actually saying the word gas because he knew he wanted to full stop but was a little behind the airplane right then). And then I was directly responsible for some buffoonery at VFR entry one day when four of us solos kept breaking out at the entry point to further engage in what we liked to call "The Battle of Britain." It was fun to "go to guns" on them while hearing he RSU say "Use caution, there are four of you." So much for flight discipline. And one last one...on an IFR stereo to San Angelo (SJT) one day, I had waited a little too long to get my tasks lined up, and got handed off to SJT approach way before I was ready, and while doing the other 15 things I say to approach: "San Angelo approach, Vaca XX is uh...43 miles um, east of...San Angelo...requesting vectors to...uh, stand by." That call seemed like about 30 seconds. Then without missing a beat, my IP gets on there and apologizes to San Angelo approach and the rest of the world on UHF because his student wasn't managing his tasks properly and makes the radio call for me. He laughed at me when he unkeyed the mic and I scorned him for selling me out. I got a "Funny" overall on the sortie. [ 31. January 2005, 11:55: Message edited by: Rocker ]

Some of the fun academic subjects you'll cover in academics during phases one and two are Aerospace Physiology, Aircraft Systems 1 & 2, Flying Fundamentals, Aerodynamics, Instruments 1 & 2, Navigation, Weather, Formation, and maybe a couple of others. As the others have said, it may not be the hardest thing you've ever done, but you'd better be ready to work. It can be interesting, tedious, boring, fun, disappointing, exciting, embarrassing, tiring, and rewarding all in the same day. But regardless of what it is, it's a bunch of work. The big thing, like a lot of other things, is keeping a good attitude.

TLA - Three Letter Acronym DL - Down Low i.e. if you have some REALLY good gouge, you say "Keep it on the DL" as you give it out to your buddies. Hose - screwing someone over, particularly in the pattern or by doing something stupid or unpredictable to your wingman. G-Ex - G awareness exercise "Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T., cause if it leaks to the V.C., he could end up an M.I.A., and then we'd all be put on K.P."

Yeah, and look where they are today. I'm glad we did that research. On subject: you'll get promoted to Major up to 50% faster than your buddies if you have a matching pen and pencil set in your flightsuit. That's assuming they don't also have a matching set. I can't back that up. [ 14. December 2004, 15:01: Message edited by: Rocker ]

And if worst came to worst, you could find some beater Honda Civic or something to get around in while you're here. Bicycle is a great option and it's all downhill to work.

For UPT: They give you three flight suits, Nomex gloves, a light-weight cold weather jacket, a heavy-weight cold weather jacket, a few pairs of cold weather socks, two pairs of longjohns, leather gloves, a flashlight, a gianormous Casio watch, "mickey mouse" ear protection (that I've never seen anyone actually use), a flask, the standard-issue crappy kneeboard, helmet bag, and probably some other stuff I'm leaving out. The only thing basically everyone bought was a "Flyboys" nylon kneeboard for the In-Flight Guide. And of course you get your helmet and mask, G-suit (for T-6s), and harness, but you have to give all that stuff back. [ 07. December 2004, 16:15: Message edited by: Rocker ]

You needed a morale waiver? They just gave me a t-shirt and a coffee mug.

That is FC. Just absolutely typical. I think they sign dudes up to be officer recruiters, and then they don't teach them anything about the actual program, or anything in general, and they encourage them to suck.

Dan, check your PM.

Sure...you'd be in there with big shiny eyes asking what it's like to fly F-15s and telling him about how you hope to make it to General one day... I kid.

Max bags? Not familiar with the term... If you mean luggage in the luggage compartment, that doesn't really affect sortie duration. We usually fly a 1.3-5 here on a daily ride, carry about 3+00 hours of gas, and the longest leg I flew on a XC was a 2.1 (and got both mission complete lights right before the full stop).

Min fuel dual is 150# (200 solo), and emergency is 100.

It's 1200# over the wing, 1100# single point. We had it fueled over the wing (for insurance), reworked W&B, took off, hit "KBIX, direct, enter" and flew the blue line the whole way there at FL250. Winds were in our favor and I don't remember how long it took, but it was almost 600 miles. Due to my combat flight planning, I didn't nail down every detail, but we were both pretty surprised to have that much fuel left.

Started out here with the 12/P and it killed me. No matter how many times I went back to have it refitted, it still chewed on my nose and had to be 100% tight to get a good seal, which made me feel like I'd been punched in the face after every sortie. I got the 20/P and it's still not enjoyable, but it makes a good seal with way less pressure and stays on a lot nicer when you're G-ing it up.

At Laughlin (for T-6s anyway), there's a map up by the Supe's desk with limits on how far student cross countries can go. From here, the farthest east we can go is Pensacola, then the line kind of goes north and east up through Montgomery, AL and northern Mississippi, then around Oklahoma City, across Lubbock, down through Canon AFB, NM and around to El Paso. I did mine from here to College Station, was supposed to go to Ft. Worth Alliance but "broke down" that night (burned out landing light), so we flew to San Angelo the next afternoon to trade jets with a CT crew (IPs) and then sky hooked it to Keesler that night (and still showed up with almost 600# of gas). We then went to Ellington the next day and got weathered for two days before heading back to Del Rio. If you have to get stuck somewhere, Ellington (Houston) is a great place for that. Breaking down in College Station was pretty convenient.

eBay typically has a lot of stuff as well. And by eBay, I mean the baseops.net pilot shop.

Current XL student. These elders speak the truth about Bracketville. I know someone who received a ticket for 43 in a 40 there. I saw the ticket. Maybe they're saving up for a public water system or something. I don't know. It's just one of those crappy-ass towns with no other revenue-generating alternatives. Other points along the route are not great as well, but Bracketville is by far the worst. Regarding airlines: Delta, Southwest, American, United, and Continental all provide at least limited service out of San Antonio. And even though San Antonio will quickly become the staple for somewhere to go when you want to get out of here, you'll get tired of it, too. I would recommend College Station on a home football game weekend. "I have only yet begun to defile myself" was the quote from the weekend, I believe.