Arkbird

Finished. At Altus for the next few months.

Your commander will probably call you. I was tdy and literally working when my commander called me and gave me the good news (2 years ago, not now so don't freak out).

I know admdelta personally and he's a good dude. He's going to be a star in whatever he goes to next just like he was in his prior career.

I will for sure! I'm actually a mid level Capt so I'm a little late to the pilot party. Previously flew MQ-9s and blew up bad dudes but I'm glad to be in the cockpit supporting everyone. Dream come true. Almost didn't make it through. Had my share of 88 and 89 rides going through but here we are. Definitely going to try to do what's right. I know I'm not going to be some general so the least I can do is help others. The guys taking everyone out of Afghanistan during the pull out (sts) are what made me want to get to UPT so I'm just glad I got the opportunity.

Thanks. This one was my drop. Feels good to finally get through and move on from here.

KCBM 24-04. Drop included standard T-1 and T-38 class as well as first Fight Bomber Fundamentals class and direct from T-6 to FTU drops. F-16 Homestead FL RC-135 Offut 3xF-16 TBD B-52 Barksdale (T-1 Grad) EA-18 Whidbey Island F-22 Langley AFB KC-135 Birmingham ANG (Active duty TFI straight from T-6, skipping T-1) C-17 Jackson MS C-130H Peoria IL 2xF-35 TBD C-17 Memphis TN F-16 Tuscon AZ C-130J Little Rock (Direct from T-6, skipping T-1) F-16 Tulsa OK C-130J Charleston WV 2xT-6 FAIP Columbs KC-135 Fairchild AFB C-17 Martinsburg WV 2xF-15E Seymour Johnson A-10 Davis Monthan B-2 Whiteman C-17 Dover C-5 San Antonio TX U-28 Hurlburt Field (Direct from T-6, skipping T-1) MC-130 Kirtland

Saw these while going through UPT recently. They belong to any of you guys? The stickers were on old projectors they were getting rid of.

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/29/1215765229/us-military-aircraft-crashes-southwestern-japan-coast

Not sure. It has its highs and lows. The program definitely weeds people out and 2.0 was a terrible syllabus so it's hard to say. Best advice is to go in with an open mind ready to learn and be humbled.

As someone who was picked up on that board, I love it. Rooting for you guys to get selected. I just finished upt today. Feels like a dream.

Lots of delays with the T-38 guys because of maintenance cancels. They all wanted to go AFSOC so a number of them put U-28 #1 on their list.

KCBM 24-03: C-17 McGuire 2x T-6 FAIP C-17 Charleston AFRC KC-135 Ohio ANG KC-135 Fairchild B-52 Barksdale (dropped from T-1s) C-17 WV ANG MC-130 Kirtland C-130 Little rock 4x U-28 Hurlburt 3x F-15J Japan

Next drop is November 9th. I'll post results for KCBM.

I just finished T-6 so I have a few more thoughts on this now. Honestly, I don't think those extra few months saved are worth it. Better to go through the entire thing in my opinion. Yes we have some knowledge and know concepts related to flying as an 18X but it's nowhere near as in depth as you'd need to have a TX transition. If you're good, you'll PA some rides anyway. If not, you can use the extra rides to get better. I do think on average we probably had better hands and knew the T-6 a little more than someone who hasn't gone though any formal flying training for the Air Force but not enough to make a TX course worth it.

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/173rd-fw-eagle-driver-becomes-the-first-ang-fighter-pilot-selected-to-be-a-thunderbird-demonstration-pilot/

Good luck!

I'm at CBM so unfortunately all I've heard is rumint as well.

From what I've seen, the Air Force doesn't care what anyone at a UPT base has to say about training unless it saves them money. See UPT 2.5 and retiring the T-1 while still keeping OBOGS related T-6 tails flying after a hypoxia event.

Unfortunately. Air Force says they don't want to keep paying to maintain the T-1 and its engines. They're still going to keep a few AMP tails around for IP currency but they're still planning to make it go sim only soonish.

Well the news (good or bad depending on how you feel about the syllabus) is that UPT is going to something similar to the old syllabus. Should be about three checkrides with one after trans, one after nav, and one after form. Mission to top off then track select and graduation a few weeks later follow by T-1s or T-38s. So there is that. Dunno if that means it's getting more rigorous or not.

Negative, just one guy in the entire drop was T-38 tracked. But there are rumors here that a 38 FAIP is gonna go heavies and a 1 guy is gonna get buffs in a trade (dual mil FAIPs with with one a 38 track and the other a 1).

KCBM 23-13 C-17 Elmendorf C-17 Travis C-17 McChord C-17 Charleston C-17 Pittsburgh (ANG) T-6 FAIP (11S follow-on) KC-135 McConnell B-52 Barksdale C-130 WY (ANG) C-130 MO (ANG) 2x C-130 Dyess 2x MC-130 Kirtland AC-130 Hurby

I'm in T-6 right now and I swear we barely talk CRM outside of the form and mission briefs before rides. This must be more of a T-1 thing because our IPs pretty much expect us to do everything in our profiles without their intervention unless we're doing something dumb or dangerous.

Guard and reserve guys are being told they have to move out of the dorms for the incoming academy studs. They can move to an on base house if there's availability or off base.

You won't be waiting as long as the new Lts. They try to prioritize guard/reserve and crossflows since we're just sitting around making money.