Hawg15

I’ve noticed that to be a big issue with UPT graduates. They lack confidence in their own abilities because they are rarely solo. As well as UPT teaches them to fly a syllabus, not be a pilot. They keep doing the same things that don’t work for them instead of what does because “that’s how the 3-3 says to do it.” The minute anything changes some guys will freeze up and short circuit. VFR is non existent in UPT and confuses those who only know AF flying. Ive heard IFF guys talk about how students can’t even fly the pattern. Well, the first time a student is flying the overhead pattern, or landing in general, at a different airport shouldn’t be IFF. I think students should always be in the front seat during instruments and XC and be required to do VFR patterns and visuals at foreign airports. T-1s do much better in that side of the house than 38s. We need to work more to make pilots once they have the basic aviating down. Hell, all of our student sorties are solo in the A-10 and they only get 2 EP sims before they fly. After ~20 hours of foundational instruction solos could easily be integrated more often into the UPT syllabus.

Lol “bad leadership”. Are you still in college? LTs are barely capable of leading the coffee pot and corn machines without getting lost on their way to work, regardless of where they went to school. We’re all morons for the first few years. Pretending like they know about leadership as an LT, or are a better candidate for UPT, because they went to the academy just makes people think you’re a tool. College performance =/= flying performance. Quality is decreasing because the # of flight hours has decreased. Nothing replaces experience. You can teach a monkey to fly with enough time.

I know a guy who flew ejection seat aircraft with back and neck issues like you. He went through surgeries and stuff to help mitigate the pain. They allowed him to switch over to aircraft without ejection seats and he’s still flying I wouldn’t not speak up about it for fear of an FEB/MEB. I don’t think they would boot a pilot that can fly other aircraft, and flying is most definitely not worth destroying your body.

If you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying

Yet the Air Force is fine with making people fly aircraft to the extent they are so exhausted that drugs are required, and used, to keep going. They don’t really care about lives, it’s all PR.

They’ve started forcing VR on IFF and the FTUs as well, and cutting syllabi. Eventually we’ll just have an Air Force that never flies the plane until it’s time for war. I can’t wait to be done with this disaster of an organization.

I’m not blaming instructors, it’s a problem with the whole system of UPT. I think anyone can learn to teach the 38 syllabus well, but it will take a non 11F a good amount of time to develop the skills for it. Time that isn’t available at PIT and affects a portion of the students they will have. I’m clueless on how to set someone up for success going into a U2 or MAF platform without time to learn it. It doesn’t help that it’s extremely difficult to remove students from UPT, and the syllabus has had so many cuts. The basics out of 38s are the tactical formation. That is where the issue is arising. UPT does well with instrument flying and getting from point A to B without violating yourself. Skills need to be used to not atrophy, but time on a syllabus dealing with employment is limited. IFF requires instrument approaches, and in the CAF you can always do instrument approaches for the RTB if you let flight lead know you want practice. It’s something you are responsible for maintaining. Admin and fundamentals for what? Beginning steps to employing as a weapons system. It’s air to air and range admin. Do they drop real bombs? No, but it doesn’t exist to instruct transition/instruments/formation. They work what they can into and around the syllabus. Many of the sorties require a penetration or some instrument approach. But that’s not the weak point of new graduates, that’s typically found with higher hour guys.

The point of IFF and FTU isn’t teaching the basics that UPT was supposed to spend a year teaching students. It’s employing an aircraft as a weapons system. IFF is ~15 .9 flights at Shep. Neither IFF or FTU have the sorties or time to carry the load for inept UPT instruction. They spend about 2 weeks with 6 flights to get you a form 8 and should never have to touch on that stuff again. It’s weapons and tactics from then on.

Tactical formation is the most basic fundamental of employing any MWS in combat, and something that will drain all your SA if you have to struggle with it. If you don’t hold in briefed position you won’t be able to visually look for threats, plot the target, tally the target, fence in for the proper attack, be in position for the attack geometry, and possibly affect lead’s ability to provide mutual support off target. All of which will then screw up attack timing and possibly exceed run in restrictions, weapons parameters, or just waste time while guys are getting shot on the ground. Oh, and if 3 and 4 are flying everything properly, you just screwed it up for them as well. Guys are struggling to fly tactical in IFF and coming into the CAF. B-Course doesn’t have the time or sorties to teach the basics that were covered in the year of UPT. Does it need to be an 11F teaching it? Not necessarily, but it definitely needs to be someone who doesn’t think 38s teach no relevant skills for the CAF.

They most certainly are more qualified for the 38 job. I’m not saying that someone who didn’t fly fighters can’t do the job, they obviously can and have been for a while now. However, the skills you develop in a fighter community apply much more to 38s than the heavy world. The pilots who have thousands of hours flying at 100agl in tac formations, or maneuvering air to air, while managing everything else that goes into flying a fighter will have a much easier time teaching the fighter centric aspects of UPT. Tactical formations, low level flying, single seat CRM, etc is all second nature, whereas other communities will have to spend the time it requires developing the skills to effectively fly it, and then experiencing it enough to accurately debrief what they’re doing wrong. Developing the geometry sight pictures of multiple maneuvering aircraft, and assessing what is going wrong with it, is one of the hardest parts to do well. I don’t think it should be limited to only 11F, but there is a definite return on investment if they aren’t required in the CAF. Then there’s the guys who care about instilling the douchey “fighter mindset” and all that BS that I don’t believe in.

People use EFBs in flight for more than just checking ILS approach plates?

The way UPT classes work has changed over the last year. There’s many more classes per year with smaller numbers per class.

Why would you ruin GA by involving the Air Force bureaucracy? 1-800-wxbrief “hey bro I’m flying a plane from here to there, thanks.” I still pretty much never do that seeing as I stick with VFR.

You call that overshooting final? Hold my beer. I’m pretty sure I’ve lined up with Tucson off the perch at DMA. Shit happens. Debrief and move on. I’m sure some senior politician, I mean leadership, who can’t even remember where the battery switch is on his bare min flights to keep flight pay, will try and crucify these guys.

The hawg community demands high standards, and is laid back as long as you attempt to better yourself and achieve those standards. You aren’t always expected to meet them, but you are expected to put in the effort. If you don’t you won’t be having a pleasant experience. Incompetence gets people killed and is treated harshly. Sometimes people need disciplining. That isn’t habitual yelling or power tripping, nor is it toxic. It’s typically not needed. It doesn’t go straight to that point, there’s a progression that starts as a friendly checking up on them, but it can be an effective tool if needed. I have had my fair share of being an idiot and having a not so pleasant experience with the DO, or my flight lead. That’s part of learning. I would rather deal with the tough love than be in a command that threatens careers and throws around paper work like it’s their job, I’ve experienced that as well. I’m sure you’ve never yelled at your children before. Also, I don’t know her and haven’t interacted with her, but yelling doesn’t inherently make something, the oh so common buzz word, “toxic.” This shit is killing the Air Force. We’re an organization who’s sole purpose is killing. Cursing, drinking, and yelling, isn’t okay nowadays but sending 18 year olds into a “war” that started before they were born with no goal is.

You must not be a pilot or have experience with leading an organization if yelling at someone is the defining point of a toxic environment. It’s extremely common in every other branch of service. Some people need the tough love of being yelled at every now and then. Obviously not constantly, but it has a time and a place. And the fact that this whole thing involved civilians and not military members is telling. I doubt there would be any IG investigations going on if the Air Force didn’t try and replace every job with a contractor that can’t be fired, being paid 3x more than a service member, who has no clue or experience with military culture. I would bet money she had to deal with a lot of incompetent civilians who know she can’t do anything about it.

Yeah, I couldn’t imagine flying around in a tiny 737 for 10 hours. Must be real uncomfortable lol

They aren’t by themselves, how the overall SARTF is employed what makes them effective. The casevac missions of Afghanistan and OEF are nothing like real PR. The rescue guys actually didn’t want to go with another -60, it was forced on them. Also, the last thing we need is mission dilution, lack of comms, and fighting with another majcom over rescue resources who are geared towards the ACC/regular ground mission. It’s already hard enough to get the ball rolling on things when people are in need.

AFSOC certainly doesn’t. They aren’t ACC and that’s not their job.

And CSAR is something that should always be receiving part of this finite money to keep it healthy. There isn’t much that holds a higher priority over isolated personnel. Cutting funding to it is pretty disgraceful for a country constantly reassuring its service men and women that it will do anything within its power to recover them. We exist to serve the guys on the ground. But we have a bunch of disconnected careerist politicians that need more government contract money for their district or another star on their shoulder. So let’s spend tons of money on armed T-6s that can barely kill a Toyota Hilux before rearming and unneeded MC-130 terrain following radar instead. Hopefully the insurgents don’t get to them first when they have to punch out of that light attack aircraft in the middle of nowhere.

AFSOC is good at what it does operating in a low threat environment, but they’d be useless for CSAR in a near-peer war. ACs, MCs, Ospreys, U-28s, etc will all be a burning wreckage trying to get anywhere near an environment where fighters are being lost once the SAMs and AAMs start flying. AFSOC would ruin the RQS. A jack of all trades and master of none isn’t what you want trying to do a specialized mission. The reason our CSAR is so competent is because they don’t try and train to a plethora of mission sets, nor should they. The AF way of doing PR is much better than other branches, and the fact that training for the worst day of some dude’s life is their sole purpose is a major reason. Find one of the Navy exchanges and talk to them about the difference between the two. Also, look at some of the dumb shit the army has accomplished trying to recover people in Afghanistan. Everything from crashing their helicopters to unknowingly leaving individuals behind. AF CSAR hasn’t lost relevancy to people doing the job. The morons allocating funds who don’t see value in it because no one is currently dying or punching out is the issue.

Does anyone have any SA on the possibility of switching airframes from a fighter to a non-ACC heavy without a medical DQ for ejection seats? Is there any chance, especially with the current climate and mysteries of how AFPC works, it could happen?

Was helmet art ever really an Air Force thing? The Navy has always seemed to be the one into the heritage of aircraft and helmet designs. I do think it’d be cool to have a badass squadron aircraft or more than a gray helmet.

My favorite part about the Army “developing” the OCP pattern is how they took it from the copyrighted Multicam design so they wouldn’t have to pay more, but they’re the government so they do what they want.