Springer

Crap Huggy, wanted to drive over and see ya but crashed and burned on my bicycle and now have a new hip. Since you don't know what I look like was going to give you crap about your little "girly bird" plane, those large "bombs" under the wing and your orange "Test Pilot" flt suit before introducing myself. You did wear the scarf right? I know all the retired Dragonfly dudes are glad you made it and represented them so well. Many thanks!

Can you put this guy on your No Fly List with the Guard like you can with the airlines?

Huggy's A-37 demo at Hill AFB, starts at 1:34. Makes for an excellent flying display.

Well stated. As I have said before, my brother in-law was the A320 CA king of hustle, ie Green Slips and Rolling Thunder at DAL. Can't tell you how many times he missed his wife's Thanksgiving dinners and the crap he was willing to put himself through for a high paying trip. In his last 9 mths (2021) on LTS was pulling in $40K+/mth due to the accumulation effect of the above.

Congrats on a great quality of life add! I f*&king hate DH. It's the small sh*t that makes the difference as I went for quality of life over dollars. We had great A320 trips, Japan to Saipan I wanted to fly but had to DH over on the Whale. Guarantee first class over (per contract >12 hrs) but coming back to US in coach due to tailwinds and always full flights. Sadly, never did them.

THIS^^ Could not hold CA until my 13th year. Never holding WB CA was not the end of the world. I cruised along in my career flying decent trips with seniority, lived where I wanted and commuted 1200 miles. Worked in the worst of times pay/BK wise but managed to retire long before 65 after being hired at 35. Don't be like my Deltoid Bro-in-law thinking you have to fly every Green Slip available to age 65. Enjoy the ride and don't make it harder than it has to be.

This is a bummer: American Latest to Halt Pilot Hiring The Fort Worth-based carrier said on Thursday that it would pause pilot hiring through the end of the year. American says it plans to cease pilot hiring for the remainder of 2024. In a memo to conditionally-hired pilots on Thursday, the airline said all new hire classes would be paused through the end of the year as it evaluates ‘commercial and talent needs.’ The carrier joins a growing list of major airlines pumping the brakes on recruitment after a record-setting period of pilot hiring. Both Delta and United have substantially scaled back their pilot hiring outlooks this year. Southwest stopped hiring new aviators altogether. In an April briefing, American’s Vice President of Flight Operations Russ Moore initially said the carrier would only pause hiring during peak summer and winter holiday months. He added that it plans to hire roughly 1,000 fewer new aviators this year. “In fact, we hired and trained more pilots in 2023 than we have in the history of this airline, and we did it efficiently enough that we were actually a bit ahead of where we needed to be for the summer of 2024,” Moore shared during the briefing. “This allowed us to transition from a ‘hire and train as many as you can’ approach to a more traditional approach, which in and of itself reduced our hiring targets for 2024.” Among the reasons for the hiring slowdown are aircraft delivery delays at Boeing, Moore said. American is currently awaiting the delivery of 787-9 Dreamliner and 737 MAX jets from the embattled manufacturer. “As part of our previously announced capacity adjustments, we are temporarily pausing new pilot class start dates for September, October and November. This decision allows us to optimize our capacity and tailor our talent growth plans to best serve the current needs of our airline,” the carrier said in a statement Thursday evening. Last year, American hired around 2,300 pilots, according to data from FAPA. Even with the pause, Moore noted that up to 850 of the airline’s pilots retire annually over the next five years. Editor’s Note: This story was updated on June 20, 2024 at 7:26 p.m. ET to add a statement from American.

Dunno, would fly my Van's RV-4 one day and a DC-10 the next day to Europe.😄

Ditch the orange flight suit, carry a grease pencil and wear the "gay" scarf I sent you. The kids will love it! I should send you my A-37 model sitting in the closet. You could auction it off for gas money.

Thanks Huggy, this is really sad news. I had never heard of him until a few years ago when I ran into him of all places, on a bike trail in Tucson. Saw a guy with a U-2/SR-71 on his cap and stop to chat with him for about 20 minutes. Knew some people I knew, (Ed Yeilding) and he remembered you when I brought your name up. I believe he owned a Lancair 320 and had a recent automobile? accident. Sadly he will be missed.

Missed the date but 4 mths ago sold patio furniture to a former TUS ANG F-16 instructor and said they were underway with the Ukraine students making the transition. First Ukrainian Pilots Graduate US F-16 Training (airandspaceforces.com)

Great photo, mine is in Germany's Baumholder Track. Had to tap burner to hold position with the high AOA. '97 had the best director lights.

I don't remember the airspeed but we did the standard tanker rejoins in the AAR track like the Phantom and had no problems staying with the tanker. I gave all my Dragonfly stuff to Huggy so he might know. All ours had the AAR equipment when we received the planes from the Guard/Reserve (that was a first) and put the O-2A's in the Boneyard. For the younger guys, in the late '70's there were massive AF DOS's as the airlines were hiring...think deregulation. But then almost overnight all the airlines began furloughing ('81) and the AF wanted us back. We could almost write our own orders...I didn't want to go back to Recce and thought the OA-37 at DMAFB would be cool. I was right and after a 4 year commitment, went back to the airlines.

Yes, from both the -135 & KC-10. Only USAF a/c at the time ('80's) that did probe/drogue, fun but challenging. Once plugged you had to offset the a/c left or right to put a "S" bend in the hose to keep from disconnecting. Early on we were getting poor connections with massive hose leaks. On one flt with a student the leak was so bad we went IFR...he pulled back without realigning. When we disconnected the hose aligned with the right intake pouring fuel into the engine, flaming it out. Down we went. Huggy has connections...bet he can get tanker support for his trip to OSH. I can be his IP, no charge. Navy F18 doing the same offset:

Thinking around 690 nm as I flew regularly with WG/CC between DMAFB and Bergstrom (Austin) with 4 drop tanks. Never flew it in any other configuration. Carries more external fuel than internal. Flew non stop New Orleans to Honduras (see pic) but we AAR'd on the way. Huggy is going to love the plane. I felt comfortable in it after one flight. When down to internal fuel it would fly up it's own a$$hole. Closed patterns were basically Immelmanns. UPT grads were getting FAC (OA-37/OV-10) assignments with a guaranteed fighter afterwards. Guy in pic went to F-15's, retired DAL CA now. Good looking guy on the right flew RF-4C's prior. What's an IR/VR route? 🙂 Fun times back then.

Great work Huggy...lookin' like a real A-37 now:

The Sheriff sets the tone for his department. In incidents like this, he should be the first to go. Not unlike in the military, seems at every base I was at when there was an accident, the sq/cc or wg/cc was replaced.

Tons of YouTube flying channels but this Navy/Marine guy, Growler Jams, has one of the better ones with his calm narrations:

Here is what is being said: - The pilot was not a new hire - This incident happened weeks ago - This pilot helped trap the errors on the flight in question. The entire crew discussed it after landing. They all left on good terms. - The pilot discussed their day later with a friend. - The friend, without permission from the pilot and without their knowledge, called the FAA hotline. - The pilot’s name, picture, and other personal info has been shared across multiple airlines.

After being paid to fly, some of us will pay to fly.

Thanks, I use a broker as well but has kept me with the same company the last 9 years. I'll go self insure (cept liability) if need be. Did it with an experiemental I had a hundred years ago when the airlines paid nothing and were going to crap. Same airline (NERD guy). All changed when the airline did away with long downtown layovers during BK. I remember leaving MSP for one of those in SFO (when it was great) and looking at my FO saying, "This is no longer fun." I really feel for all you flying domestic. Always had one long layover and took my wife-to-be on many. We did it on the airline's dime and had fun. Still travel in retirement to Europe for the ambiance we can't find in the US but stay away from crowds and tourist. No kids so we can blow the wad. Seems like I spent a quarter of my life in AMS. Hated it....slept when I got in (no augmentation back then), cocktails at 5, dinner at 6, in bed by 9, wide awake at 1am. Don't even nonrev thru there if I can help it.

I have heard the same but has not happened in my case. Renewed last week and it went up an additional $150 for my acro taildragger. I turn 75 next month. When the age went from 60 to 65 never dreamed most would go to 65 let alone 67. Having said that I left at 59 and have never looked back. If you are not flying international, I can't imagine what a layover is like in our crappy cities today.

Only 12 in your class? I think we started with 50.

Wasn't USAA Bank fined $140 million a couple of years ago?

This is what was great about the mighty Phantom's "Rotate for Dummies". You started the TO roll with full aft stick and let the a/c decide when to rotate.