Breckey

Since the daily picture thread is gone this is the next best place to put this. Looks like the Midwest is getting screwed with the latest weather system.

It's also the standard deployed day-rage altitude.

There is no minimum altitude for helicopters outside of the required lateral distance from dwellings and people. We fly at 50 feet regularly.

@ClearedHot do you have anything on the contract UHT plan? Last COA I heard was to dissolve Ft Rucker and everything go to a contract including aircraft selection. The AETC CUPT plan uses AETC aircraft, hopefully the CUHT plan will do the same. ETA: Looks like the AETC CONOPS has the RW guys not seeing a military instructor until the FTU. What could possibly go wrong?

I know that some multi-wing bases actually had an "Air Division" that was the overall headquarters and support organization for the base.

Or bases with groups/wings as tenant units and bases with multiple wings with a supporting ABW.

We won’t mind, we have the best retention after all.

Looks like the 11H bonus will remain lower than the others. Something to be said about not having a quick path to the airlines or other high paying post-AF flying options.

That was the original plan but they upgraded it to a flat top receiver, free float 10.5 barrel with a flash hider, and a 9 inch rail. It also has some weird folding pistol grip but that isn't needed when it's not in a seat kit.

They’ll never approve that. It’s just another thing to break off in a brownout landing. The Block 162 mods are finally being installed giving us the best technology of 2008 but we’ve got DAIRCM on the way so we’ve got that...

The difference is that the GAU-5/M11 are both currently sitting in the inventory and can be a quick fix. The brief I saw had a conversion price of less that $800 for the new barrel, rail, and BUIS. We spend more than that the latest gucci rain gear. Throw an M68 that's LRS probably has laying around and you have a SBR that will be as effective as anything we currently have (for 95% of the shooters) and be easier to egress with. If the SPO would ever approve those rifle racks used by the Army, we'd really be in business.

GA uses Mk318 in their SBRs and they seem happy with it. We have ACOGs on our M4s yet nobody can hit the broad side of a E Silhouette at 200m because CATM doesn’t need have the range/experience/knowledge to properly sight them in and be proficent with them. I only found one instance in the last 30 years where an Rescue helo went down IIn combat without the wingman ready to spin for the self-SAR. I think the need to reach out and touch a dude is less important than volume of fire and BZO accuracy with a red dot. We’re not that special that we need a one-off caliber and weapon.

The last rumor I heard is that the Air Force is considering going all M18 to replace the M9 instead of an M17/M18 split.

I wish that the GAU-5 SBR ASDW the F-15Es have in their seat kits are distributed more to the masses. A full size M4 in a cramped H-60 cockpit will probably be useless for anything other than a PL or forced landing, especially if the aircraft rolls. In the same vein, why are we still using the full size M9 as a sidearm when there isnt a lot of best real estate (especially when carrying M4 mags)? The Navy has all their aircrew use the M11, why does the AF and Army still use an M9?

Numerous open source videos of the MANPADS shot.

Because they're outerwear. That's no different then wearing the old nomex jacket. It has to due with STF rules for high speed ejections and getting the windblast under the pilots skirts.

The bag (green and tan) are required for ejection seat platforms so it won't go totally away. I just hope they won't prohibit it's wear for non-ejection aircraft.

Learned something new.

It was significant enough for them to release a Flash Bulletin about it.

The enlisted rates are still $150-$400. It's defined in DoD 7000.14-R Table 22-8.

Berets for Advisors Don't we already have bush hats for Air Commandos?

Those used a foil with a press type device. I just know that most of them looked like a 5 year old made them.

The Massif Elements jacket is certified safe-to-fly in all Air Force aircraft. There is a green version coming out called the CWAS that has the normal bag patch configuration and a Velcro hole for the Combat Edge vest tube.

That’s a B-50 as evidenced by the wing tank outboard of the engines.