Changing/Switching airframes

[LookieRookie]

8 hours ago, BashiChuni said:

or 2-5 months ago?

More of a fan of 7-77 months

[FLEA]

8 hours ago, LookieRookie said:

Edit: So is the 150 SOW/CC saying that fancy box checking does not actually make the best qualified? 

I ask because her bio makes it seem like she was a DSG at Moffett.

Her story was her SFS commander who she hired a pilot for rather than from the SFS candidates. The squadron had some issues and the pilot was a civilian cop (outside the Air Force) who had the right personality type to address said issues. Her point to the masses was that not getting hired for command doesn't necessarily mean you're incapable of wouldn't be able to do it. It just means you weren't the right person for that squadron at that time. 

[Guest PeggyDriver46]

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/07/07/heres-where-the-air-forces-pilot-shortfall-is-the-worst/

Interesting article out of AF Times. 

"The Air Force has consistently been well over-manned among 11M mobility pilots, such as those who fly the Pegasus. In 2015, mobility pilot manning was at 125 percent. As the KC-46 came online, overmanning declined, hitting 108 percent in 2019. Jacobson said the Air Force has over-produced mobility pilots in the past, and is working on re-directing some of them to other pilot categories."

 

Crossflow opening back up for fat boys to go fly other shit? 

[SurelySerious]

1 hour ago, LoveDumpster said:

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/07/07/heres-where-the-air-forces-pilot-shortfall-is-the-worst/

Interesting article out of AF Times. 

"The Air Force has consistently been well over-manned among 11M mobility pilots, such as those who fly the Pegasus. In 2015, mobility pilot manning was at 125 percent. As the KC-46 came online, overmanning declined, hitting 108 percent in 2019. Jacobson said the Air Force has over-produced mobility pilots in the past, and is working on re-directing some of them to other pilot categories."

 

Crossflow opening back up for fat boys to go fly other shit? 

Weird, because AMC doesn’t think they’re overmanned. Believe they recently said something to the effect of “AFPC pound sand we’re done footing the AETC instructor billets.”

[CharlieHotel47]

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/07/07/heres-where-the-air-forces-pilot-shortfall-is-the-worst/

Interesting article out of AF Times. 

"The Air Force has consistently been well over-manned among 11M mobility pilots, such as those who fly the Pegasus. In 2015, mobility pilot manning was at 125 percent. As the KC-46 came online, overmanning declined, hitting 108 percent in 2019. Jacobson said the Air Force has over-produced mobility pilots in the past, and is working on re-directing some of them to other pilot categories."
 
Crossflow opening back up for fat boys to go fly other shit? 

Crossflow to what? Helos or drones??? Haha but no. Yawn yawn... nothing to see here.


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[pawnman]

9 hours ago, LoveDumpster said:

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/07/07/heres-where-the-air-forces-pilot-shortfall-is-the-worst/

Interesting article out of AF Times. 

"The Air Force has consistently been well over-manned among 11M mobility pilots, such as those who fly the Pegasus. In 2015, mobility pilot manning was at 125 percent. As the KC-46 came online, overmanning declined, hitting 108 percent in 2019. Jacobson said the Air Force has over-produced mobility pilots in the past, and is working on re-directing some of them to other pilot categories."

 

Crossflow opening back up for fat boys to go fly other shit? 

Had a few come through the B-1 pipeline.  It's not like there's a magical barrier that prevents a heavy guy from learning to employ weapons.

[YoungnDumb]

19 minutes ago, pawnman said:

 It's not like there's a magical barrier that prevents a heavy guy from learning to employ weapons.

Cue the "but they didn't fly T-38's in UPT" discussion/gripe fest...

[pawnman]

52 minutes ago, YoungnDumb said:

Cue the "but they didn't fly T-38's in UPT" discussion/gripe fest...

Maybe, MAYBE, that's a valid concern for fighters...I don't know, and I don't have a strong opinion about it.

But flying T-1s may actually be better prep for the crew coordination required in a bomber.  None of the bombers are getting into high-g dogfights or flying in fingertip.

[Hawg15]

2 hours ago, YoungnDumb said:

Cue the "but they didn't fly T-38's in UPT" discussion/gripe fest...

I don’t think people would really care as long as they aren't going to fighters. T-38s don’t teach you how to be tactical, they teach you how to fly a fighter aircraft. I’d be more worried about letting the plethora of AMC Q3 everyone for dumb shit dbags into other communities than what they trained in.

Although I am against letting them in fighters, but its because its a negative return on investment for the fighter squadron. They will be a better pilots from a basic airmanship standpoint than new guys, but not typically in the tactical flying that makes up being a fighter pilot. I’ve seen FAIPs and crosstrain guys (from non fighters) flow through and they are rarely anymore proficient than the LTs at flying outside of the basics. One of the last few classes even had a 1,000hr + FAIP get washed out for tac admin stuff. Then, once they are out in ops, the squadron has a senior capt, in some cases a maj, who is a basic, inexperienced wingman, when I need one that is an IP for all the LTs and junior Capts that will actually remain in ops for the foreseeable future who are waiting for their 2flug, 4flug, FAC, Sandy 4-1, etc. A fighter crosstrain expedites the whole upgrade process significantly and has a much smaller impact.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Hawg15

[HuggyU2]

3 hours ago, YoungnDumb said:

Cue the "but they didn't fly T-38's in UPT" discussion/gripe fest...

I can't tell you how many times pilots have told me "I didn't apply to the U-2 because I didn't fly the T-38 in UPT".  

Note: flying the T-38 in UPT is not a pre-req for the U-2.  Off the top of my head, I'd say at least half of the U-2 community went T-1's.  Read the application requirements.  

Edited July 9, 2020 by HuggyU2

[dream big]

13 hours ago, LoveDumpster said:

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/07/07/heres-where-the-air-forces-pilot-shortfall-is-the-worst/

Interesting article out of AF Times. 

"The Air Force has consistently been well over-manned among 11M mobility pilots, such as those who fly the Pegasus. In 2015, mobility pilot manning was at 125 percent. As the KC-46 came online, overmanning declined, hitting 108 percent in 2019. Jacobson said the Air Force has over-produced mobility pilots in the past, and is working on re-directing some of them to other pilot categories."

 

Crossflow opening back up for fat boys to go fly other shit? 

No shit, as a 38 guy who went through during the dark ages, I can only roll my eyes at AFPC’s incompetence at long range planning.  If the Air Force were a business it would be bankrupt. 

[YoungnDumb]

20 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

I can't tell you how many times pilots have told me "I didn't apply to the U-2 because I didn't fly the T-38 in UPT".  

Note: flying the T-38 in UPT is not a pre-req for the U-2.  Off the top of my head, I'd say at least half of the U-2 community went T-1's.  Read the application requirements.  

That's a shame that they didn't apply, I have several good friends currently flying the U-2, none of which flew 38's.  As a note, I am not saying I agree with the 38 studs should fly X argument, post was more of an eye roll expecting someone to kick off that discussion again.

[shark]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:39 PM, dream big said:

No shit, as a 38 guy who went through during the dark ages, I can only roll my eyes at AFPC’s incompetence at long range planning.  If the Air Force were a business it would be bankrupt. 

DB, you know your happier pulling 60 and 2 at 300A.  Don't lie, you ended up where you really wanted to be.

[SurlySlipper]

Graduated in 2015 and can attest to seeing 38 classes of 2-5 Americans plus a few saudis/internationals... then only 1-2 fighters per drop generally. It’s a mind F*** to hear AMC was overmanned still but then to see the CAF deficit that was building.

Edited July 10, 2020 by SurlySlipper

[herkbier]

Let’s not forget.. when the Bobs say AMC is overmanned, it’s because they lowered the crew ratios.. 

[the g-man]

Let’s not forget.. when the Bobs say AMC is overmanned, it’s because they lowered the crew ratios.. 

That’s right, don’t forget the great crew ratio lowering of late 2015-early 2016


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[ThreeHoler]

Let’s not forget.. when the Bobs say AMC is overmanned, it’s because they lowered the crew ratios.. 

They fixed the glitch.

[Guest PeggyDriver46]

The article says ISR is overmanned at 127%. Why is that so egregious?

 

I'd love to see the manning breakdown by air frame and see what the major malfunction is. 

[FLEA]

52 minutes ago, LoveDumpster said:

The article says ISR is overmanned at 127%. Why is that so egregious?

 

I'd love to see the manning breakdown by air frame and see what the major malfunction is. 

C2ISR got several bloats. The first was accepting fighter washouts without altering their UPT graduates, hence they have 2 sources of new Copilots. The second was the MC-12 sunset which dumped a couple of hundred pilots into the system without a home. 

Despite this, they believe their is an impending shortfall any day and therefore the powers that be at AFPC refuse to release anyone to crosstrain outside of 11R except very rare circumstances.

 

[EvilEagle]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:31 PM, HuggyU2 said:

I can't tell you how many times pilots have told me "I didn't apply to the U-2 because I didn't fly the T-38 in UPT".  

Note: flying the T-38 in UPT is not a pre-req for the U-2.  Off the top of my head, I'd say at least half of the U-2 community went T-1's.  Read the application requirements.  

That's funny to hear.  When I was in UPT 100 years ago, all the guys that didn't get 38's but wanted to be fighter pilots said "my new plan is to volunteer for the U-2 to get 38 qual'd then cross train to fighters".  

 

Even as a 2LT I thought that sounded like a lot of what-if's, maybe's and certainly a bunch of work just to get a shot at it.  Maybe those guys shouldn't have gotten a 24U on their contact check in tweets.  (actual numbers from a friend of mine who told me this was his plan).  I've always told guys that we need good people everywhere.  I truly believe that, you need to be able to trust the tanker to be on time (haha), the cargo dudes to get our crap to theater, the chopper dudes to come get your ass in bad guy land if need be, the bomber guys to put themselves through 20+ hour sorties to lay down major hate and the fighter guys to pull G's and kill stuff when we're given the chance, etc, etc, etc.  Many of us didn't get what we thought we wanted; in many of those cases it turned out great anyway.  

 

One thing that has always struck me funny are the guys that put 38 training on a pedestal as if it's this huge obstacle and once you have flown the 38 for a few months that makes you a shoe-in fighter pilot.  The 38 was a pain in the ass to fly when I was a 2LT but it wasn't because it was difficult, it was because I was a 2LT.  It's underpowered, under-winged and old as shit but it's what we all flew so there's some commonality there.  Many guys that have rushed our unit have talked about how they are "sure they can get through the 38 program now" as a Captain or Major after flying some other MDS.  It must be a different optic from the T-1 trained side.  (at least for some people)   I dunno.  My major hangup with old guys/gals learning new stuff is that we all learn better when we are young.  After we're taught "the way" of our first MDS, we consider that gospel (for the most part) and anything else we think as non-standard.  It's a natural way of thinking but puts you behind the curve when you have all those built-up walls to tear down.  In my experience with re-trained fighter pilots; it's a tougher road than most think it will be and it's almost always the things they never thought would be hard that end up being the nail in the coffin of those that don't make it.  Before everyone goes ape-$h!t, some do and become awesome fighter pilots.  

[jice]

22 minutes ago, EvilEagle said:

That's funny to hear.  When I was in UPT 100 years ago, all the guys that didn't get 38's but wanted to be fighter pilots said "my new plan is to volunteer for the U-2 to get 38 qual'd then cross train to fighters".  

That thought process is still happening; the bros did a good job of weeding it out at the interviews.  Any U-2 pilot worth a sh1t is a proud UCD-wearing recce professional, not somebody looking to use it as a stepping stone.

Edited July 16, 2020 by jice
Capitalizing “U-2;” how dare I!

[Pete71]

Hello! I was just wondering... Could a C-130 USAF pilot previously trained under SUPT (Navy T-44) be switched to a heavy bomber (e. g. B-52)?

Regards!

[Sua Sponte]

4 hours ago, EvilEagle said:

My major hangup with old guys/gals learning new stuff is that we all learn better when we are young.   

Disagree to a degree. Both my brother and I became Boom Operators after being SSgts in non-flying career fields and did well in initial qual. I graduated college at 37, summa cum laude, and currently have a 4.0 GPA in a competitive grad program that's different than my undergrad. When I taught at the -135 FTU usually older students caught on faster than younger students. Friend of mine who spent years in the oil industry is a 3L in law school and said those that state how horrible/difficult law school is are usually those 22-24 year olds whom came from their undergrad and have no real world experience other than being a college student. I can only attribute the fact being older usually means you just have more life experiences, more working experience, possible better work ethic, etc. Does that mean there aren't young people who learn fast and older people who don't? Of course not, but YMMV.

[EvilEagle]

6 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

Disagree to a degree. ..., but YMMV.

Fair enough.  How about this:  in the 19 years I've been a fighter pilot, I've seen exactly 4 cross-trained guys that became good fighter pilots.  Many more were good guys, good friends of mine and great to have a beer with; but not good fighter pilots.  Maybe it's the difference in fighter vs tanker?  (the guys in other fighter communities I've discussed this with have similar experiences).    

 

I'm no scientist but I'm pretty sure there are studies saying that we learn better when we are younger.

https://www.mempowered.com/aging/why-learning-harder-we-get-older

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6172048.stm

But hey... YMMV

[EvilEagle]

11 hours ago, jice said:

That thought process is still happening; the bros did a good job of weeding it out at the interviews.  Any U-2 pilot worth a sh1t is a proud UCD-wearing recce professional, not somebody looking to use it as a stepping stone.

Glad to hear it!  As well it should be; we need good people everywhere.  Part of being good IMHO is to believe in the mission.