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A colleague who is F22 pilot for the Virginia ANG had honor of flying a Phantom at Eglin. He flew the aircraft we had at the reunion. Here is the F-22 pilot’s thoughts on flying the F-4: I flew your jet a couple days ago (see attached). I had a little trouble getting the engines started, so I climbed out and shoveled some more coal in the back; after that she fired right up. Ground ops were uneventful, although I couldn’t figure out why the cockpit smelled like body odor, Jack Daniels and cigars…and that was BEFORE I got in it! By the way, what’s with the no slip crap on top of the intakes, it’s like you have permanent icing conditions due to that spray on rhino truck bed liner on top of the aircraft. It’s no wonder you needed so much coal (I mean thrust) to get airborne. Take off scared the sh*t out of me. I lit the burners at brick one and 2 miles and 45 minutes later we were ready to rotate. After barely clearing the tree tops, the gear came up and I climbed away at a VERY impressive 2 degrees nose high. In case you don’t remember, “Trim” is your friend in the F-4 (pretty sure it’s also a good friend on the ground too). Once I got her up to speed and a moderate altitude, we were ready for the G-Ex. Two G-turn’s later and I’m sinking like a rock…the F-4’s energy seems to bleed like Holyfield’s ear in the Tyson fight! After the G-Ex it was time to do a little Advanced Handling Characteristics (AHC) and by “advanced handling” I mean the same crap the Wright Brothers were doing back in 1903…just trying to keep it airborne. The jet flies much like my old man’s station wagon used to drive…You turn the wheel (push the stick) a few inches and nothing happens, then all of a sudden the steering kicks in, inertia takes over, and all HELL breaks loose! You’re pretty much along for the ride at that point and only gravity has a real say in your lift vector placement. “Checking 6” was really quite easy…. because you CAN’T! Scratch that off the list of “Sh*t I need to do to keep myself alive in combat today”. Breathing, however, was surprisingly easy in the F-4 when compared to that of the F-22 (thank you Lockheed)…LOX works, who knew! I think I may have burned my legs a bit from the steam pouring out from behind the gauges. Where are my 6 mini-flat screen TV’s, I’m lost without my HD jet displays (editors note: actually, I’m an analog guy stuck in a digital world too…I really do like the “steam driven” gauges). After the AHC, I decided to take her up high and do a supersonic MACH run, and by “high” I mean “where never lark nor even eagle flew”; but not much higher, a foot or two maybe. I mean, we weren’t up there high-fiving Jesus like we do in the Raptor, but it was respectable. It only took me the width of the Gulf of Mexico to get the thing turned around while above the Mach. After the Mach run we dropped to the deck and did 600 kts at 500’; a ratllin’ and shakin’ we will go…. I though all the rivets were going to pop out. Reference previous station wagon analogy! Very quickly we were out of gas and headed home. As I brought the jet up initial, I couldn’t help but think that the boys who took this thing into combat had to have some pretty big brass you know whats! My first F-4 landing was a little rough; sub-standard really by Air Force measure… but apparently “best seen to date” according to the Navy guys. Did you know that there’s no such thing as an aerobrake in the F-4? As soon as the main gear touches down, the nose comes slamming down to the runway with all the force of a meteor hitting the earth….I guess the F-4 aerobrake technique is to dissipate energy via denting the runway. Despite an apparently “decent” landing, stopping was a whole different problem. I reached down and pulled the handle to deploy the drogue chute…at which point a large solid mass of canvas, 550 cord, metal weights and cables fell out and began bouncing down the runway; chasing me like a lost puppy and FOD’ing out the whole runway. Perfect. I mashed down on the breaks and I’m pretty sure at this point the jet just started laughing at me. Why didn’t you warn me that I needed a shuttle landing strip to get this damn thing stopped? All kidding aside, VERY COOL jet! Must have been a kick to fly back when you were in Vietnam! Just kidding!

Missing man and a buff flyover in memoriam.

HuggyU2 Agrees, a pic from his recent inprocessing after returning to active duty.

The AF is putting all of its efforts into “fixing” non-problems, while doing absolutely nothing to fix the actual problems. The actual problems: crappy QoL, excessive queep, useless non-flying 179/365 deployments, an asinine performance and promotion system, PC culture replacing aviation culture, and non-competitive pay. The AF has made only token efforts, at best, to address any of this issues that are crippling the AF. The fake problem: UPT. We don’t need a UPT overhaul. We don’t need a watered down UPT. Of course UPT could use some tinkering and updating, but you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Pilot training, IMO, is one of the few things we are getting right. So of course the AF’s “solution” is to make UPT a cluster-F and destroy the best undergrad flight program in the world, all so they can churn out hordes of chickshits to replace their best pilots. These kind of changes will only hurt retention even more and the AF will continue to hemorrhage its experienced pilots while replacing them with masses of off-brand fake pilots who will get people killed.

Sounds like sexual harassment to me.

Not saying that or implying that military pilot training is the only way to become a great pilot What I am saying is that it is PATHETIC that a military institution historically based on airpower with a 132 billion dollar budget, 12,600 pilots, 5 bases dedicated to pilot training and over 1,000 training aircraft and access to enormous amounts of data that was foretelling this problem can not figure a way out.

But we can and should have both discussions. 1. Was his sentencing and trial fair.... no. Seriously guns do not just “go off.” His negligence/stupidity led to that weapon firing same as if he was in a car randomly touching stuff and ran her over. It’s pitiful that wasn’t the standard applies. 2. Sanctuary cities and their contribution to the death of the victim. Zarate wasn’t arrested by SF.... he was in Federal Custody. SF actively extradited him to the city to stand for a 20 year old drug Warrant, they didn’t charge him, and then through policy refused to hold him so he could be returned to Federal Custody. WTFO!? How is the city, and the state not called to task for that by the media. Somehow supporters of these policies or the #resist people against all things Trump seem to be ignoring that fact entirely. If I was the families lawyer I would be naming the city, DAs office, and State in a hell of a civil case for setting the conditions which directly contributed to the victims death.

Would've killed to have flown fighters at any point from the '50s through the '80s.

Looks like there's an arrest warrant out for him for felon in possession of a firearm as well as felony immigration violations now. Had a BP agent in Tucson sector just the other day attempting to apprehend a group of 6 illegals on the west side of the Babo mountains. One of them fought with him as he was trying to cuff him up and the illegal managed to get hold of the agent's gun. Another agent there on scene shot and killed the illegal. This is the third assault on agents this past month that resulted in injury to an agent. And there was the death of the Van Horn station agent just the other week. Still dangerous as ever out there.

https://www.redstate.com/sarah-rumpf/2017/11/30/lied-kate-steinle-case/ I found this to be a good discussion of the trial and why the verdict was what it was. Found it compelling to think both A) Zarate definitely fired the weapon, yet also B) there is reasonable doubt that he committed first degree murder. And before “RIP my mentions,” I don’t think he should have been in this country and I’m not that big a fan of the idea of sanctuary cities. His immigration status isn’t really germane to the sentencing in this case re: manslaughter (what he should have been convicted of IMHO), and first degree murder.

I have consolidated a handful of the questions on this thread in case anyone wants to print them out for an interview prep. What leadership skills do you bring to the table? What is your career plan after you complete UPT? Why do you want to fly XXXXXX? How do you feel about killing someone? Explain induced drag. What’s your idea of a perfect day? Do you wear pink shirts? Do you have a fart can on your car? Have you ever met an f-15 pilot, if so did he hit on you? Favorite movie? Biggest accomplishment? Biggest failure? What did you learn from it? Explain your speeding tickets Why did you get a C in calculus? How do you deal with stress? What do you think UPT is going to be like? Have you done any research? Why do you think you should get this slot over the other candidates? What is the toughest thing you have ever done? What is your civilian job? With your civilian job, how often will you be able to fly with us? What accomplishment are you most proud of in your life and why? How do you think your civilian aviation experience will fit into UPT? What makes you think you'll be successful at UPT? How would my best friends describe me? What do I think is my biggest fault? Define the term Leadership What does it mean to me to be an officer? Tell me about a time that you had a disagreement with a peer and how you dealt with it Why do you want to be an Officer? A pilot? Which is more important and why? How do you feel about the possibility of having to shoot down a civilian airliner? If your dog was drowning and a complete stranger was drowning, who would you save if you could only save one? Who has been the most influential person in your life and why? Are there any questions for us? Why you? Tell me what leadership and integrity mean to you, and how they go together What will you do if you don't get selected? Why didn’t join the Air Force earlier? What are 3 characteristics of a good officer? Have you ever had to make a difficult decision? What else are you interested in besides flying? Loyalty vs Integrity? Why fighters? Are you applying to other units? How would you interact with other UPT classmates? Why you over the other people asked to interview?

Not going after Swizzle, just offering my remarks/unasked for thoughts. In the end all I really want to know is this- What are wings worth? If it's just joining the AF at the right time, then fine, but I used to think it was something more, like, maybe actually being a (sort of) competent pilot.

I don't understand. If you can't harass someone when you're naked in a sauna, when can you? All of my favorite documentaries start out this way.

Well, there you go. So, justice served then? While stricter immigration laws/enforcement might well have prevented the incident, that wasn’t the purview of the case. Seems there was insufficient evidence to convict. Perhaps the verdict will spur some more informed discussion on our immigration policy. While I generally support a more liberal policy, I’m willing to say that this individual probably shouldn’t have been roaming around the streets of San Francisco freely. Maybe dems would be willing do discuss some stricter deportation enforcement in exchange for say republican support for a better migrant work policy that allows hardworking, law abiding people to be in the country legally and long term. The sad reality though is that the verdict will push people on both sides further into their respective corners.

I was initially surprised as well. After reading some details the waters are a bit muddy on this one. Apparently Steinle’s death was the result of a ricochet. Sounds like prosecutors were overzealous and went after murder charges in addition to involuntary manslaughter. I can understand not convicting on the murder charges (which would still have been plenty controversial), but not sure why an involuntary manslaughter charge wouldn’t have stuck easily. Maybe someone with some legal expertise can chime in.

Wasn't sure to put this here or the WTF thread... http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/11/30/jury-reaches-verdict-in-steinle-murder-trial/ Unfortunately I wasn't too schocked...it just further shows the decline of our culture/values, especially in places like San Fran and Cali. I've seen more outrage from the left for killing a gorilla in a zoo or lion in Africa...

As stated by my copilot, while climbing out the other night over Doha, Qatar, a sprawling city of well over a million people, located a distant 16-19 miles from base yet might as well be millions of miles away to the average crew dog: "We aren't deployed. The Air Force just hates us." Truth.

This sounds like one big opportunity for LockMartNorthropBoeing to sell a bunch of expensive gold-plated technology. You know, the kind of high-tech gee whiz shit that kinda sorta works...sometimes........

Confirmed, Mardon is closing. Don’t know about existing orders

The problem is not about production, it is CLEARLY a retention issue. If the AF produced 2,000 pilots next year, they would still be massively foooked. Look at the timeline, after a year of UPT (maybe less with the insane ideas floating around), Survival School, IFF, RTU...best case you get a crap ton of green barely qualified folks in 22-24 months from start date. How long to get them MR, seasoned...or would you just start throwing them into the fight like Kamikaze pilots in WWII. Retention is the issue up and down the timeline, you need seasoned folks to stay around at warfighters, instructors, and LEADERS.

The IRS doesn't play games with shitty customer service.

When everyone is the tip of the spear, you realize you are fighting with a frisbee.

Interesting that only 1 of the many basis flying the T6 is having major OBOGS issues (to my knowledge). Though majority of the Laughlin T6 fleet was grounded this week for other reasons.

I understand di1630's point, and it has merit. That said, it's still important to be prepared for the other things that could flare up outside of our current conflicts, regardless of how many years it has been since X happened or what our opinions are of the probability the NoDAKs will cross the line this Friday night, 5 min before curfew starts ("which one of you is least drunk?") Would it be nice if guys knew more 9-level shit about bombs or were slightly better at X (i.e. the stuff we're doing right now)...sure it would, but until I see continuous, rampant fuckery downrange (not just isolated fuckups) or we're starting to lose the war due to aircrew inability to perform, I think we're doing alright with balancing current war with preparedness for potential threats that exceed ISIS, Taliban, etc. Last point, if you seriously think we are investing way too much effort/money into "other/possible war" stuff, you are woefully uninformed about what's out there. We'd be fools to not do what we're doing right now, at least in a general sense (there are million things that could be done better, but the big picture approach/understanding and prioritization of the threat is not necessarily wrong).

We've already gotten pressed that "this has high visibility" due to "national story" and we need to figure out how to modify the network to share our fingerprint database, other info. Little late now...

So you're point is that just because the illegal crossers will look for another avenue of illegal entry after they find the usual route too difficult or impossible after being fortified / secured then we should not even try it? That is the point of strategic fencing, to force them to only have very difficult avenues to attempt with low probability of success and/or high likelihood of capture during the attempted illegal crossing. Of course they will try something else, for every move there is a counter-move. And it will not be trillions of dollars, not even REMOTELY close to that. Besides which, you can pick your poison for how much illegal aliens cost the United States in direct cost and indirect costs and it dwarfs the cost of a reasonable security system on the border. Crime and illegal aliens in the U.S. From 1980 to 1999, the number of illegal aliens in federal and state prisons grew from 9,000 to 68,000. Today, criminal aliens account for about 30% of the inmates in federal prisons and 15-25% in many local jails. Incarceration costs to the taxpayers were estimated by the Justice Department in 2002 to be $891 million for federal prison inmates and $624 million for inmates in state prisons. That's just to house them at our expense after they committed some crime, just about 1.5 billion. The Israeli security fence system cost about 430 million for about 135 miles, just assuming you kept out only 50% of the would be convicts you could recoup your build out costs for building 6 135-mile sections of security systems in about 3.5 years and you have the benefit of having those prison beds available for some homegrown criminals who need a longer stay in the big house. The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers. Amnesty would provide unlawful households with access to over 80 means-tested welfare programs, Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare. The fiscal deficit for each household would soar. In 2011 there were about 320,000 apprehensions for illegally crossing into the USA, even if you only deterred 50% of them and assuming a them to be a head of household situation you would save on average per year in government benefit programs approximately 1.6 billion, just about enough to pay for the above six sections of 135-mile border security system and then every year you would have enough to maintain and man it. Last point, why do we (being the United States of America) have to change because someone from a foreign country doesn't like an aspect of our society, that is a legal system that somehow 1,000,000 people managed to use legally in 2012 and they somehow can't? I guess some people don't have to file their income taxes because they find the form confusing and cumbersome... The burden is on the immigrant to use our system rather than the US bending for them. No apologies for who we are or how we live, if they don't like it, figure it out somewhere else.

I assume you meant billion and not trillion. But if you think border fences in the right place can't solve illegal immigration / illegal border crossings tell that to Israel and San Diego. San Diego Fence Provides Lessons in Border Control From the article: Before the fence was built, all that separated that stretch of Mexico from California was a single strand of cable that demarcated the international border. ... Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double — and in some places, triple — fencing. Does the fence stop all illegal crossings? No but it dramatically curtails it and forces illegal crossings out into difficult terrain where it would be easier to catch or deter them, that area would be heavily patrolled by a new CBP / NG mission. Another little gem about border fences: Does a Border Fence Work? Check Out the Dramatic Change After Israel Put One Up For $377 million (probably the true cost of one F-35) they put up a 143 mile security system (fences, cameras, lights, patrol roads) and cut illegal crossings by +99%. I am not advocating for a 2000 mile fence system across the entire border, that is unnecessary. But what is needed is strategic fencing in adjoining urban areas, along major highways leaving from the border between international and internal checkpoints, manpower to secure those areas and the resources to patrol the wilderness areas. Are we ever going to stop all illegal immigration? No, of course not but if we reduce it to a trickle then you could have a much better debate and then action / reform on the nexus of border security, immigration policy, policy on illegal immigrants in the USA and work visas for foreign workers / illegal employment of illegal aliens. The debate never moves forward because one side (correctly with the historical evidence of inaction following the 1986 amnesty of President Reagan) knows that if they concede anything the other side will NEVER secure the border or enforce immigration laws, they will allow in more illegal aliens, try to legalize them and get them to vote thus ensuring the other side's political demise.

We started planting lawn darts regularly when they started flying them... /rimshot