AZwildcat

Yeah I think that makes the most sense and that's what units are going to do. ACC's guidance is they will be individually issued to aircrew for "security" reasons, but the way i see it you get issued a spare at the ops desk, it's yours for an hour, then you turn it back in. Simple. Get this...T-38A is getting ADS-B out by way of a new IFF system. Integral part of ADS-B out is the jet knowing where it is, so there will a GPS receiver installed in the nose. What does it do for you? Nothing. Raytheon proprietary, can't tap into it, won't tell you where you are, can't use it for navigation...because it wasn't in the contract. But hey you'll have ADS-B out so everyone except you will know where you are. Fantastic. Yeah but that won't happen. A polished turd is better than a turd at this point. Randolph developed a pretty good model for an integrated checklist/in-flight guide PDF with touch buttons to navigate around. Pay a civilian to update it for you every time a change comes out, easy enough. That said, paper checklists aren't going to die nearly as soon as FLIP. The U-2 has an EFA for the pilot's checklists built in to the avionics processor. Looks like the instruction manual for the Oregon Trail video game. Probably worse actually. It's a human factors dumpster fire. To get to the next page you press the "up" rocker button and not the "down" rocker button...why? Because engineers built it and in their minds, you go up in page number so that should be the up button. I guess no one asked a pilot.

Getting a bunch of knuckle dragging aviators to update one iPad is hard enough, let alone two. I understand the need for redundancy in case one overheats but makes way more sense to check out a spare from the ops desk. I still don't understand why the SPO has to approve iPads unless it's actually plugging in to the jet. ACC had a nice thing going with the Acronis app for pubs, but that's been shut down due to "security concerns" from what I understand. There's too many cooks in the kitchen on this, and it's only going to get worse as they try to make a one size fits all solution.

Aero App sucks...and NGA wonders why ForeFlight is far and away their number one app on the NGA app store. DOD just needs to pay ForeFlight to make a Mil version of their app and put in all the features we want.

ForeFlight already has Jepp integration for approach plates and other Jepp products. You have to work with Jepp to get your subscription synced up to ForeFlight, not sure on costs but we're actually going that way soon, so I can find out. Our unit paid for ForeFlight accounts. ForeFlight is authorized in ACC but the unit has to foot the bill. NGA cheaped out and dumped the free subscriptions, although you can still go through the NGA app store to get it.

Fuck.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/17/politics/navy-aircrew-obscene-skywriting/index.html Navy "Air Boss" Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker issued a sharp rebuke of the crew's actions and emphasized the service's commitment to "foster an environment of dignity and respect." .... "Sophomoric and immature antics of a sexual nature have no place in Naval aviation today," Shoemaker said in a written statement. ...."The Navy holds its aircrew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable, of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable," a statement from the Navy air station said. How do you say that with a straight face? Picasso...Rembrandt...Van Gough...Sky Dong. That's one for the ages. You win this round Navy.

Just don't mention it to a certain someone...

Good stuff, thanks. Yeah the bro-level iPads are nice for all those reasons, it's useful in and out of the cockpit. The amount of restriction and micro-management on EFBs is crazy. No-one locks up the paper flip at night. It's on me to make sure I have what I need for the flight. No guarantees that someone didn't rip out all the approach plates out of the book to some airport for his GA flying. The distrust of electronics is just endemic of the older generation, and those are the people in leadership roles that have to be convinced.

It's basically all or nothing. So to clarify we have our bro-level home grown iPads that we're currently flying with in a "PGU" role but those don't eliminate paper. In order to eliminate paper we have to fly with iPads that are configured via ACC's server (and completely locked down) per the ACC FCIF. We might be able to do a waiver request to just carry 1 of the ACC iPads and use our local Beale iPads as a backup.

So ACC recently stood up it's own EFB program. Just slightly late to the party I suppose. I wanted to revive the discussion and see what other units are up to these days, especially other CAF folks who are starting to fly with iPads. Here's some questions to throw out in no particular order: - iPad issuing: Is anyone issuing out iPads at the step desk before flight? They were starting to do that in AETC last I saw. When you're flying solo in a fighter/trainer/U-2/etc, ACC is requiring us to carry two iPads for redundancy. Hauling around two iPads that are locked down to the point of just barely being useful seems like a pain, issuing them from the ops desk before flight, or at least a spare seems more reasonable. - Charging/mounting solutions: In the T-38 I've started flying with a battery back in my kneeboard so I can keep it charged on cross country flights. Any air frames successfully get a power supply installed in the jet? We've looked at building adapters to plug into the map light, but no fielded solutions yet. Same story on mounting solutions. I think most fighter types are going to be relegated to using it as a kneeboard, due to limited cockpit space, but accessories like the Stratus GPS receiver really deserve they're own integrated mounting solution. We've been using the suction cup mounts that come with the Stratus but they fall off all the time and don't do well pulling Gs. Hell even Velcro to the glareshield would be better. - Mobile Device Management / IT support: Anyone have IT support to help them out or is it all bro-level additional duties assigned to the one guy in your unit who likes to nerd out? I've seen mostly the latter. We're trying to get a contractor/GS position to help out on that front. - Classified Use: Anyone out there successfully using iPads in classified roles? I imagine AFSOC guys have some experience with this. The goal is to have moving map functionality as well as e-reader function. What about ForeFlight? Seems like it would be possible to use it in a standalone device but you'd just need a way to side load the licensing info to the app. FF already has a feature to side load all the nav data and pubs. Also, I've heard about ATAK tablets being used in flight but I think that's an Android platform.

"2, I'd rather burn than hear your voice." -Rainman

Latest computer modeling of NK vs USA/ROK in full-scale conventional war:

China doesn't want to deal with the ensuing refugee problem

That's gonna help pilot retention...

This. Just realize the Air Force owns you for 10 years following pilot training. Big Blue can't even figure out what they're doing with personnel 10 months from now. Lecturing UPT studs about the evils of separating and going to the airlines is ridiculous. Just smile and nod and carry on with life, it's not your problem right now. You're just a captive audience for others to hear themselves talk to. Focus on the flying and enjoy, you're the future of the service.

Doesn't necessarily make it any less meaningful. The message is good and a breath of fresh air from the usual BS. Huggy's right, it's a great time for the community, lot's of good things happening now and in the near future.

You're mom said the same thing last night... I should get back to work...these 5 hour days are grueling!

Good question, plus I don't know if that video was initial T/O or a touch and go or what the weight was. By comparison, a T-38C with the PMP mod only puts out about 6.6K lbs of thrust in full AB at sea level. (A model is slightly less, about 5.8K lbs). If you've ever tried to do a respectable AB climb in the 38 it takes a long ass time to accelerate, even light weight. Anyway, I'm assuming the T-X is going to have a better thrust to weight, which will be nice. It sure as sh*t won't be worse. T-38 is about .65, and by comparison, the interwebs says the T-50 is .95.