katdude

So I have never met matmacwc in person. But hearing that we lost him made me cry. He was extremely kind and helpful, always answered my questions, reassured me to try again when I was ready to quit. I just got picked up as pilot on the Active duty UPT board, but I can’t stop reflecting on how great a person he was to take the time to talk to me when there was nothing in it for him. Since I can’t message him and say thank you, I am saying it out here - loud and public. If there is a soul and god, may yours rest in heaven! RIP sir!

This is sweet news!

@StopLoss123 From my experience so far, your best chance of actually getting to UPT would be with a Guard or Reserve heavy unit. Active Duty will not do an age waiver. Guard/Reserves do. Reserve/Guard fighter units will not do an age waiver. Its sad to let you down on your fighter dream, but you do have a good chance of getting to UPT before it’s too late and you are 36. Apply widely and hope for the best.

I was the one posting about being enlisted army and a doctor, so what? You are not the first person trying to be a A-hole to me.. people don't understand why I do things no one else would.. I've been through army enlisted boot camp and medic training as a doctor and have seen tons of folks trying to mess with me just because - I'm different. If you don't want to answer my question, then fvck off. Nobody's asking you to come here and give me attitude. A proctologist is a doctor too and deserves respect. You did nothing in your life that even comes close to what a doctor does so please don't tell me I should know answers to basic physics questions. Sleeping 2 hours/ night in the call room, never getting 8 hours sleep at once, yet still put a smile on my face and talk to patients in the ER at 3AM answering the most basic questions they pose, sometimes that are seemingly irrelevant and annoying. Been doing that for over 5 years at American hospitals. And here you guys are, coming after me for asking something I don't know. What makes you think you can bitcch at someone? This Airforce pilot job is a break for someone like me. As an AF pilot you sleep uninterrupted, 7 days/wk and are with your gf/wife in the end no matter how late. Even on deployments you sleep unless you're on alert. You have a life that you enjoy. Doctors in America don't. So with all due respect I suggest please mind your own business.

I had to look up what a troll means on urban dictionary. Since you seem to be obsessed with trolls may be you are one. But I am pretty sure I'm a human. You spend way too much time on the internet trying to instigate me. I suggest you focus more on real life and other more important things.

@jazzdude Thank you so much! Considering AoA makes perfect sense to me and I push the “I believe” button! Answers to 1. For flying knife edge the whole plane fuselage has to act as the airfoil and the nose be up slightly so there is a positive AoA that is maintained by the rudders. 2. Level inverted is not the same as inverted in a loop or barrel roll. Centrifugal forces have to be considered in this case. Correct me if I am wrong, but now I see how it works 🙂

This Q and A forum is for all questions, including ones that some people find stupid because they know the answer. There is no answer to this question on Wikipedia. I found some learning value in the answer @black hills tj gave, and I appreciate it. Other people lurking silently around may find it useful too. These great revelations or “Aha..” moments are how all students learn and I haven’t even been to UPT yet. I believe that’s how IPs enjoy teaching their students, and guessing from how you reacted I can tell you have never been an IP.

So the recent Seattle stolen plane crash involving Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 had inverted flight for some time. It has a symmetrical wing? Or he used the horizontal stabs to compensate? Perhaps a Cessna 172 can fly inverted too.. not gonna try it myself though lol

So, perhaps many of you folks here have flown upside down in an airplane like the T-6. We all know that the shape of a wing is what causes lift due to air on top of the wing moving faster than below the wing, which creates a pressure differential. Low pressure over the wing, high presure below the wing, inturn produces lift which balances weight. Thrust forward balances Drag backward. Now, when you fly inverted and level at the same altitude- the lift should be pointing toward the earth because the same shape of the wing is upside down. This adds to the weight. So what force is balancing upward the (weight + downward lift) that's pointing down?

Very weird/ unusual indeed. I had a green card before but wasn't a citizen. Only citizens can be officers. Now I am a citizen though. I am gonna try my luck with this Active Duty board - hopefully the stars line up finally!

Is this even for real? This seems like just in time for me! I was so much worried about how I can go active duty from reserve during UPT. Trying to be a pilot physician ultimately and I know that program is Active Duty only. Does this mean I can apply to AD directly without a waiver? I'm 30, took AFOQT and TBAS already! ..PCSM 82 and AFOQT pilot 86. However I am not already an Air Force officer but enlisted Army Reserve. Any help is appreciated.

@nsplayr Outstanding! I am 30 and I was under the impression I am a financial genius. And here you are, a financial mastermind! This is a great piece of knowledge that will help me make more $$. I was frustrated with the $5500 Roth limit. I am a fan of Roth though I used it only for last 2 years. Didn’t know about it before. I do have some debt that I got from flying my 200 hours, but going forward I will try to max out $18.5 pretax 401k then roll over my after tax contributions next year to Roth! I honestly believe if you are financially smart, you don’t need to work at all, as your money makes more money for you. **Claps hands**

@nsplayr Can you please elaborate on how to use this after tax 401k and launder it into Roth for the next year.? I max out on my Roth too and wish I can contribute more to it. Thanks!

What are the rules of drinking alcohol in the military when you are a pilot? Are you allowed to drink the night before if you have an AM flight the next day?

@hindsight2020 Me being in the Army Reserve for 3 years now - All I heard was that the Air Force indeed has the hottest women. And agree that hot chicks in an infantry squad or special ops squad will somewhat jeopardize the mission. Not because the chick in question in unable to carry out the mission; but because the dudes are "worried" about the safety of that chick during the mission. Agree, personal life should be kept personal. That banging should happen out side of work in a hotel room, not in and around work area. But you know there's always these people that get a kick out of doing these things where they are not supposed to do it. That's the adrenaline in them giving them a high. Of course they have to suffer the consequences if they get caught. @BashiChuni and @LookieRookie For downvoting what I said, please note I did mention that "As long as their personal relationships are not affecting their military competency" And obviously they are not competent if they are "banging your professional life at work when explicitly told not too"

I like this discussion. I feel like love and sexual relationships are a personal issue. Serving in the military is a professional thing. It is unfair to punish someone for their actions in their personal life. Just because people are married doesn't mean they love each other. Not all men can stay in love with one woman for the rest of their life. As long as their personal relationships are not affecting their military competency, I think military personnel should not be punished. But what do I know?

It seems the general consensus here is that it is not worth it. I'll follow that advice. And thanks @SPAWNmaster for pointing me to the AETC T-6 flying manual 11-248.

We know UPT is stressful. But it is stressful likely because the students are learning new stuff and have never done it before. I believe some of the stress can be taken off if you have prior training that is similar and therefore can perform well on rides. It is easy to do something that you have already done before. I am interested to fly formation, low level flying, maneuvers, tactics, etc with a private instructor and a private aircraft in order to prepare better for UPT. I live in New York city, and if anyone who is/was a fighter/aerobatic pilot and lives in the area is interested to teach few lessons, I am willing to pay out of pocket. Please PM me if anyone is interested. Thank you!

@Hopefulflyer389 thanks for that info! Age is not on my side so I want to get to UPT asap. Their board is next year and perhaps UPT in 2020. If I am not selected by other boards by then I will apply for it. @matmacwc Yes I would love to talk to an active duty pilot physician to know more. PM on its way. Thank you!

I am so glad I found this forum. So much insight from experienced current pilots. Very helpful. Thank you @brabus ! So I will stick to my current path of trying to go to UPT with a Reserve heavy unit and be a civ doc. I love the T-1s too and landing a C17 or KC10 absolutely is a great achievement. I don’t like Heli or turboprop track as much. In case a Reserve Viper unit agrees to pick me up later on based on UPT performance, I’ll make the switch. Given the uncertainty with AD and not being able to choose assignments, I agree I have to research about the Pilot Physican program heavily and how much flying they actually get to do before going active. Perhaps I would ultimately just stay in the Reserve, especially if there is no limit to what Reservists can do vs. AD

@brabus Thanks for the perspective.. Being able to choose your assignments and not being forced is something I deeply value. Agree that with the current opstempo you can get enough Reserve points for retirement pretty soon. However I am in a unique situation, as I am a physician on the civilian side. And Pilot-Physician program is Active Duty only. So basically I can either stay in the Reserve as pilot and work at civilian hospital in free time (have to manage two jobs but potentially make more $$) or I can get it all under one roof and be Active Duty Pilot Physician (be more stable but potentially less $$). I have an inclination towards fighters but considering my age (30) I would be happy just to go to UPT and fly anything. Most Pilot Physicians get their hands on fighters so going active in UPT might help me too? Lots of uncertainty and dilemma - I don’t know what can be done, but for now at least I am trying to join the Air Force Pilot club interviewing for Reserve UPT pilot slot. (Of course I need an age waiver) @matmacwc That’s my situation, appreciate any thoughts. @FLEA Action is what you seek, I understand you don’t have to be AD to see more action. But perhaps covert ops at Area 51 would be delegated more to AD..

@FLEA Reasons may include - A strong desire to serve in Active Duty but not being otherwise eligible due to age. - Opportunities available to Active Duty pilots that may not be available to Reserve/ Guard Pilots. - Desire to have a full time job that pays retirement benefits that pays right after 20 years of service - Desire to have frequent PCS and actually live in different parts of the world. And perhaps many other reasons I can’t think of. Has anyone seen this happen?

Has anyone ever heard of pilots switching to Active duty from Reserve during UPT? Especially is such a thing possible if the dude is over age 30 and got a waiver to get to UPT? As Active Duty doesn’t do age waivers, potentially older dudes can finally end up in Active Duty if such a thing as joining the Reserve/Guard first and then transferring over is possible..

@MilitaryToFinance Interesting thoughts. So book value is more relevant in manufacturing/ tangible businesses. Agree it is hard to estimate the true current value of a business such as Nvidia or FB. I just want to exclude the speculative future growth story that is factored into the price and estimate true current value. So when we buy something, we know that we aren’t overpaying.

I love your answer! Indeed, the new particles have more speed due to the added velocity of the spaceship. Thanks! @ihtfp06 I am completely fine being stupid in order to find an answer to something that I don’t know.