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Can you imagine how fully torqued Rick Rynearson is waiting for someone to knock on his door?

Just an update, girlfriend has strong chest pain/shortness of breath about a week after the fever/aches/chills ceased. Took her to the ER, and apparently it’s becoming very common in people who kick the COVID and don’t have pneumonia. The virus causes inflammation along the lung wall, and (allegedly) strikes a week or so later for some because the body is trying to repair that damage. She was prescribed muscle relaxers and she says it’s the first time she’s had a full breath in a long time. Just in case one of you guys see/experience something similar in a family or friend.

He knew he was getting fired the moment he sent that letter. Which, IMO, makes him the kind of person you'd want to be in charge.

In 2017, Texas grossed more than $264.5 billion a year in exports—more than California ($172 billion) and New York ($77.9 billion) combined. There is also a significant difference between the cost of living in California and Texas. Housing costs in Texas are 54% less than in California, while a family with kids may save over 60%. There is an 18% difference in food cost, 8% less expensive health insurance, and 14% lower spending on entertainment. But the biggest indicator is which direction people are moving. in 2018 almost 700,000 Californians moved out of that state, of which 86,000 ended up in Texas. In fact, Texas was the second most popular state for moving to in 2018, with over half a million newcomers. You could count the number of Texans moving to California on one hand. This sums it all very nicely! https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/the-truth-about-the-california-exodus/605833/ So yeah, sorry if the rest of the nation doesn't weep for California! They are responsible for their current situation, especially due to the politicians they keep re-electing. When they put illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities above the needs of their own constituents, it should be clear it's time for someone else; yet they continue to keep the same idiots year after year...

at some point we're gonna have to stand up for the constitution. "hunting down" gtfo. this is america. You wanna pull those type of stunts? fine. Declare martial law. but us "accepting" some of these "public health measures" is tearing at the fabric of our liberites.

From some minor amount of research yesterday, law allows feds and states to legally isolate sick people to prevent/minimize spread, and it allows them to quarantine those who have been exposed. For those of the populace who are not sick or there’s no probable cause to say they been exposed, it is not legal to prevent interstate travel or force quarantine. Ethicists generally don’t have a legal problem with social distancing, but they do have a problem with forced business closures that could operate semi-normally, while taking social distancing measures. So, while I hate CA and NY politics as much as I hate China, it’s anti-liberty (and illegal is most cases) to say those people can’t travel elsewhere or have to imprison themselves in a house for any amount of time (unless the two exceptions stated above). I realize there are no interstate travel bans yet, but there already are illegal quarantine measures telling people they can’t leave the house except for a couple destinations. We are absolutely starting to unravel liberty in the name of “safety,” something that has happened many times throughout history and is something that must be fought. “History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.” Nailed it.

What exactly is their current situation? Last I checked, they were running a $7B budget surplus. https://www.kcra.com/article/california-dollar7-billion-budget-surplus-legislative-analysts-office-report/29865751# Not arguing that people aren’t leaving due to high cost of living. Certainly not arguing that anyone has to agree with the politics that are seemingly (but not always/every city) prevalent there. But to suggest that the biggest economic state in the union has little to offer and should be cast aside along with its citizens is a bit disingenuous and every bit as insulting as if I were to say “the state of texas is full of deplorables who can do little but cling to their guns and bibles.....who needs those simpletons?” That kind of commentary is not helpful on either side of the red/blue divide in the best of times and borderline dangerous when the nation is in crisis like, you know, now.

In all honesty, I rather not deal in specifics. You can PM me about those if you want. Open thread, the type-specific zealots just get all umbraged and religious about their certified airplanes and things quickly devolve into ad hominems and "well, I got a guy who knows how to work on that for a discount/I got an AP hook-up for parts/337 sourcing so that's your problem if you don't" perennial two circle fights. I'm quite bored of those exchanges so I don't really dabble in it anymore. In the end it's a hobby, people can do whatever the heck they want with their money, no skin off my back. I've said my peace before about my objections to fac-built mx and inspection-authority rules in cert. planes not used for revenue. I was a big advocate of the Primary Non-Commercial category as recommended by the ARC 2013 report to Congress on the part-23 re-write. When that portion of the legislation was snuffed by the FAA, much of my enthusiasm for this hobby waned. I've begrudgingly kept my Arrow because I need the back seat and it's not eating me out of house and home. Though for full disclosure that appeasement has in itself been a result of a concerted effort on my part in minimizing my capital investment in the airplane through the years, down to airworthiness only and at the expense of cosmetics/avionics, bigly. Which is sad for the airplane, but it's a matter of principle for me at this juncture. That wouldn't be the case in the least if I were allowed to maintain, inspect and operate it like an E-AB. I almost quit the hobby last year on account of some of the more frustrating regulatory blockades over modifying/upgrading the simplest of things (headrests was the thing that blew it up for me last year), and it took the wife walking me off the proverbial ledge not to chuck the thing to a part 147 school, get the donation tax credit and walk away entirely. I try not to think too much about it these days, but it's always a bit of a rock in my shoe when looking at this ownership thing on the certified side. I'm just tired of the AP/IA/337/STC/ kiss the ring/ mother may I BS, and the associated $$$ premium.All the while the EAB guy flies overhead shooting IMC to minimums on a literal IPAD and a NAPA alternator for a 1/3 the cost. Oh and homemade headrests just to spite me :D. I digress cuz I'm ranting again. The thing with E-AB is, as much as I'd like to sponsor it, does not cater to the 4 seater XC crowd in an affordable manner. RV-10 is about the only offering of consequence and that's a non-starter for non-builders on the CAPEX front. Otherwise, I'd be there yesterday. At any rate, as to the airplane search, I'm not so much trying to "move up" as much as move "out" of certified land. The family mission keeps me tied to certified tho. But to your question, more than likely I'm looking at an RV-6A (looked at Glasairs, didn't like the seating ergonomics and volumetrics, Lancair 320/360 insurance rates were non-starters), which are in the price range, gear config and seating arrangement I'm interested in. I'm on airplane #3 so my risk aversion is much less than when I was a neophyte, so I've flirted with combining the missions (2-seater acro tourer plus Griswold's family station wagon) but unless I'm willing to find a hen's tooth acro F33C, I'm SOL. I did look at a Yak-18T for a nanosecond, but owning an M14P for the kind of turnkey lazy@ss chock the airplane and hit the beach cross country pilot I am, was just not in the cards. Plus slow and thirsty as all get out. It would have been mad ramp appeal though, pop pop popping up to the FBO behind that throaty monster lol. So yeah, depending on how I feel about doubling my fixed expenses to own two airplanes, the RV-6A is probably where I'm headed for plan B. A very distant plan C would involve getting a different certified 4 or six seater, at a very deep discount, if the market absolutely collapses this year. At that point, it would be stupid not to, for the 10 or so year ownership outlook I have before my mission downgrades to empty nest permanently and the RV becomes the staple. We'll see what the year brings market wise. Sorry for the rambling, this topic gets me fired up lol.

Uhh it is kind of a big deal to discuss readiness when it comes to such a large strategic asset.

This is just a rolling ETIC anyway you slice it.

For those looking for some good U-2 history: https://dragonladyhistory.com/ Chris knows more about the entire U-2 history than probably anyone on the planet. I met him 30 years ago when he was snooping around the U-2 squadron in England, back when I was the Bar Officer.

It's a serious subject, obviously, and there have been some high-profile cases involving airline pilots in the last few years Here's a good story on when "shit got real" in the airline industry. https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/recovery-deep-stall-180974455/

My uneducated opinion? The next event based trigger probably would be X ventilators on hand, plans to surge ICU and in-patient care (alternate locations and staffing), and rebuild our stock of PPE for medical workers. At least rebuilding the stock of PPE should allow at least outpatient surgeries/procedures to resume. However, the supply chains seem to have taken a big hit, with a lot of production happening overseas, and producing countries holding on to their production to help at home first before exporting. I've got family in the medical field. My brother (anesthesiologist), said his hospital has already gone from changing their respirator for every patient (prior to the whole COVID-19 problem) to "here's your one respirator, keep it in your locker when you go home, make it last as long as you can." And that's across the board at his hospital, not just for COVID-19 patients, and there's no approved procedure to sterilize/disinfect the respirator (since it's supposed to be a one time use item). It'd be like the AF saying "OBOGS is good, there's only a small risk of physiological incidents, so press on..." except grounding the fleet is off the table, there can be no safety stand down, and in fact, ops tempo is expected to surge for the foreseeable future, crew rest is waived, so suck it up. A nurse catching COVID-19 means they're out for 14-30 days, and each day they are out means 6-10 patients that day can't be supported (or 2-3 ICU patients). I'd imagine the number is roughly the same for doctors. So keeping them healthy (through triage, deferring care that can be deferred, and proper PPE) keeps them in the fight, not just for COVID, but for any procedure that can't be deferred. Right now, we are just delaying the big fight until we can mass our forces appropriately. However, just like in war, it doesn't really matter if we win battles now if we don't have the logistical support to sustain the fight and win the war. So hopefully we are using this time now to appropriately mass our resources and not get caught with our pants down when the fighting starts in earnest.

I live in the PNW. There are Californians moving everywhere, and have been, however continue your state-based xenophobia. You also left out that in 2019 there were 37,810 Texans that moved to California, which was the second most behind Washington state. If you did your research, you'd know the north-central and north east part of California is historically Republican. Before you respond with some Boomer'esqe "libtard" insult, I'm born and raised in Wyoming. Which I would argue is more conservative than Texas. Also, with your comparison of exports, which you conveniently didn't respond with a GDP comparison (which Texas is second to California by a $1.2 trillion difference), Texas had $330 billion in exports in 2019. About $106 billion of it was oil. We'll see how well that much they lead in exports due to the price of oil currently being $20 per barrel. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/data/tx.html https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/04/691145-californians-left-last-year-what-state-did-they-go-to/

Quick update everyone. 1. The 112th FS just sent out an email saying they are delaying a month or two due to the Covid outbreak. 2. I spoke briefly with a pilot at the 121st in DC. They are in the same boat and pushing it back but he said he was pretty certain they are not cancelling it so nothing to do but hurry up and wait for now.

I have a theory that mutual prosperity (for most) was the glue holding this whole thing together. When we lose that, the suspicion, blame, finger-pointing, and devolution into tribalism will threaten to tear the country apart.

I built my RV-10, so I have the Repairman’s certificate. With that said, anyone can do maintenance on any EAB aircraft like a RV. You only need an A&P for the Condition Inspection if you don’t have the Repairman’s certificate. mine has been flying for seven years. Oil changes and brake pads have been my primary maintenance expense. Mine has been pretty maintenance free.

I owned a Cherokee for 15 years that we flew all over the country until I had to sell for an OCONUS PCS. My only advice is to don’t overbuy, especially if you are going certified. If 90% of your flying is going to be for fun in the local area, save yourself the $ and heartache of having a turbocharger, retract, etc. For the other 10% of your flying, pack some extra coffee and cookies for the times when you are bucking a headwind at 120 knots and enjoy the ride. Fast is awesome, but there are some great things to see in America down low and slow. If you need to go fast with only two seats, buy a RV and don’t look back.

So April 30 is the new date.. I feel like we are setting ourselves up for failure and/or disappointment. I learned once upon a time that event/phased based operations are more effective than time based operations.. I’m relatively certain there are more than a few DLOs to that effect.. so.. What is the event based trigger (expected to occur on April 30th) Trump/Fauci/whoever is looking for so we can ease restrictions? And.. what do those eased restrictions/guidelines look like? I assume they have a plan, right? 😉

Austin isn't Texas. If you did a little research, you would find that a lot of its residents are California transplants who are trying to ruin this great state as badly as they did their old one. In fact, they exemplify why Texans don't like Californians moving here! Any state that continues to re-elects Pelosi, Schiff, Waters and the rest of that bunch gets what they deserve.

Amazing how bunched up your panties are. I don’t often see it that bad.

https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-run-down/us-military-putting-troops-at-risk-coronavirus

What it means for the recently separated officers who did not join the SELRES/PIRR: You are most likely* in the IRR if you: 1. Volunteered for it (ie obtained a reserve commission--requires positive action to be scrolled) 2. Are required to be in the IRR by reason of unfulfilled Military Service Obligation (< 8 years total service) or because you received separation pay (which requires at least 3 yrs IRR service). 3. Otherwise have a reserve commission in the ready reserve (i.e. you have not resigned your reserve commission, nor was your commission revoked (eg by twice failure of selection for promotion), nor did you transfer to the retired reserve). Retirees are not in the ready reserve, so this order does not affect them. * I say most likely because that is what is supposed to happen. But I have witnessed on at least 2 occasions where AFPC failed to place separating people in the IRR, even though they were required to do so by law. BLAB: If you separated at the end of your UPT commitment, you are most likely not in the IRR. If you want to be sure you can check Milconnect. You'll need a DS logon, though.

My humble appreciation for those deployed and were supposed to come home soon. Nothing is a bigger kick in the morale junk than to be extended at the last minute. Sorry, dudes/dudettes.

Per the SECNAV... And... https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=112537 To summarize, he had better choices...

Everyone here is freaking out about shit you can’t control! Yes shit will be delay, you won’t graduate on time and you will miss that deadline you had to make it to xyz airline. One thing I know for sure now that I am in is that the needs of the Air Force wont change. We still need pilots. We still need manning! I see it every day where I am at. Both fighters and heavies. So relax and work on those packages. Interviews will happen maybe not right away but they will happen. I just finished interviewing a guy via Skype! So relax! Shit will be rolling! Trust me we need you!

Some interesting patches for sale. https://pizzastrike.bigcartel.com/ Especially the ANG and AFR ones.

Yup, non-airline employers wipe their rear with USERRA. I went through that fork 12 years ago, and chose the full time route in the Reserves. Never looked back. I have a plethora of co-workers and acquaintances with similar experience. It's not worth the trouble to me, considering I don't want to work for someone I have to sue in order to work for in the first place. The fact is that aircrew jobs in the ARC are designed to be compatible with large-department employers like the airlines, where you're one of thousands and won't generally be missed while pursuing mil duty. Small employers are anathema to aircrew work imo. What sucks for you is the waiting due to covid et al. When I was in your shoes I was fortunate to go from my crappy broke graduate school existence right into OTS and a steady paycheck. Though I troughed through a portion of the Lost Decade, I generally haven't gone without a paycheck thanks to the military. I owe my ability to start a family on this job, and look with pride back at the time where I chose to stop tilting at the windmills and vacate the pedestrian job market for full time reserves. No one size fits all answer for sure, but for me it wasn't worth the trouble getting on the userra crusade in calvinist right-to-get-fired America. I'm in a much better financial and career position by focusing on being an full time AF pilot. Good luck to ya.

Would you describe AFNET or VPN as unbridled success stories?....

Reminds me of an old joke.....

All, Just a general info note, but with so many people out of work due to the COVID situation, food banks are getting overwhelmed by the vast increase in unemployed people needing food. Most of the regulars on here (including me) are pretty lucky to have stable government employment/paychecks. Great way to help out your local community is donating to your local food bank if you’re able.

Well in standard pentagon tradition, the one who goes against the machine gets removed from command https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/navy-expected-relieve-captain-who-raised-alarm-about-covid-19-n1175351 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

These next 2-4 weeks will be interesting to watch (I hope I'm not saying that again next month). Some projections have the US topping out somewhere towards the end of April, but that assumes full social distancing. I'm obviously an old man now because I want to kick all of the spring breakers in the ass who are ignoring the social distancing requirements.

Geico is way cheaper. USAA is run by cucks now.

That seems to be the challenge with this, not enough testing combined with a long incubation period where one could be infected/contagious before feeling sick and getting tested, which leads to the disease spreading. As for being smart about it, it's why we can't have nice things. Lots of people out there aren't. Why not throw a block party? It's you're right to do what you want. I'm in a locked down state (NJ). Still allowed to go out and run, leave the house, etc. But pretty much asked to avoid going out of you don't have to, and to not gather in large groups. If the general public voluntarily stays in and minimizes going out except for essentials, we won't need heavy handed laws or executive orders to force it. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

Damn. Unreal. Chilling... USS Teddy Roosevelt "urgently asking" for help. https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6821571/TR-COVID-19-Assistance-Request.pdf 7. Conclusion. Decisive action is required. Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed US. nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure. A portion of the crew (approximately 10%) would have to stay aboard to run the reactor plant, sanitize the ship, ensure security, and provide for contingency response to emergencies. This is a necessary risk. It will enable the carrier and air wing to get back underway as quickly as possible while ensuring the health and safety of our Sailors. Keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board the TR is an unnecessary risk and breaks faith with those Sailors entrusted to our care. There are challenges associated with securing individualized lodging for our crew. This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do. We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to pr0perly take care of our most trusted asset our Sailors. Request all available resources to ?nd NAVADMIN and CDC compliant quarantine rooms for my entire crew as soon as possible.

It's just this kind of thinking and can-do spirit that got us through the Great Depression, Dubya-dubya two, and now the Black Death...

Archive.org is making all of its books available without a waitlist right now, they have a shitload of aviation and mil history titles. Ex: Forever Flying by Bob Hoover https://archive.org/details/foreverflying00rabo You can "borrow" and then download to read in Adobe Digital Editions app

I’ve had nothing but good things to say about Vanguard for all my investments. I moved everything from USAA about 4-5 years ago based on Vanguard’s low fee scheme compared to USAA. Highly recommend vanguard.

So long as you keep that purchase of Hos under 10 it’s party time!! Unlike the quote/guidance from Full Metal Jacket, don’t bang the ones that cough.

There's a balance between individual liberties and the needs of a functioning society. Generally, you have the full right to pursue life/liberty/happiness, so long as you aren't infringing on the right of others to pursue life/liberty/happiness. A lot of the measures being implemented now for covid-19 are similar to the measures implemented during 1918 Spanish flu. So there's already precedent, and we've gotten through it. Also, the laws allowing quarantine are already on the books, and have been for almost a century. What seems to be different is that long distance travel was much harder than it is now. People aren't staying home if they are sick, which is spreading the disease much faster. On one hand, the right to individual liberty says that an infected/contagious person should be able to do whatever they want. On the other hand, an infected/contagious person spreading disease negatively impacts the right to life and happiness of other people if they are given the disease. So where is the balance? Where should the line be drawn to balance individual liberties against the liberty/life of others?

You’re so right! We are number one at hyperbole. Easily the best in history. Nobody has us beat. We make the most, the best hyperbole of any nation ever.

History doesn’t give much reason for optimism. Trail of Tears, NY Draft Riots, Wounded Knee (understand that many would consider this one a battle in a war), forcible Bonus Army dispersement, Japanese Internment in WW2, Kent State shooting etc. probably some I can’t think of off the top of my head. FWIW, I think it’s pretty sad that, unlike the national unity following 9-11, there’s undercurrents of resentment towards some of the states that are currently hardest hit by this pandemic. My wife’s a nurse dealing with this shit, nobody in her clinic asks what state a patient claims residency in when they come in coughing their lungs out, they just treat them. I’m truly hoping that we as a country come out of this stronger and maybe in the short term a little more unified. Every time I think that I’m also reminded of a prior Sq/CC I had who’d always say “hope is not a tactic”.

After reading that, I agree and disagree. I agree that the military should be abiding by the CDC recommendations and not instituting large gatherings of personnel. What I disagree with is that the military should just hide inside for a few weeks and let this thing blow over. I think this has really shown the micromanagement culture and lack of empowerment to subordinates. To me, this is the ultimate case of giving clear intent from the top down the chain and trusting those down the chain to carry it out. Hell, we could even profit from a crisis here and practice dislocated nodes and communication is a less than ideal environment.

Yeah, fuck California and it’s fifth largest economy in the world. We don’t need those fuckin’ libs. We’re way better off without all the trade that comes through their ports. We certainly don’t need their winter vegetables in our grocery stores (who wants avacados anyway?). Hollywood is a liberal, corrupt industry that we really don’t make any money off exporting right? And the tourism industry there is overrated......it can’t be bringing in much cash. I’ve got an idea. Let’s just split the country into blue and red. How’s that saying go? United we.....tear ourselves apart?

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=fedex+pilot+careers

Even Texas, a state that allegedly prides itself on upholding civil liberties, has said they intend to make surprise visits to people who are known to have traveled from New York, just to make sure they are adhering to the rules. “Unannounced visits” https://www.dps.texas.gov/director_staff/media_and_communications/pr/2020/0327a To me, some of the erosion of civil liberties during this crisis is alarming. We’re teetering on the edge of going past smart compromise to flatten the curve, to just straight fear.

Posted on Facebook... Facebook_video__198827428077863.mp4

Sua, sorry to hear it. The pain isn’t good, but the big thing to watch for is increasing shortness of breath, as that could mean pneumonia is starting. The doc here has had my girlfriend take a deep breath and exhale while counting down from 50. Eventually she’ll run out of air and stop counting. Do that once a day, and she’ll be able to keep a log of if it’s getting worse.