Hacker

Having two people in the cockpit can sometimes mean that there are two very different SA levels. While the vast majority of the time a 'pitter is able to enhance the SA of the pilot, with one wrong word they can also take it all away in an instant.

I've been in just such a situation, threat reacting off a SAM while in the terminal phase of guiding in an LGB. Happened in OIF, April 03. Be happy to show you the video some time...of the target getting shacked. BTW, your comm example is yet another indication of your ignorance on the issue. Anything you've experienced with two pilots in the airplane *does not* parallel what it is like to fly with a WSO. Totally different ballgame that is simultaneously the F-15E's biggest strength *and* its Achilles Heel.

Curious...how much time do you have in 2-seat fighters? Yeah...that's about how qualified you are to judge what it's like to fly in one. All you know is what some other Viper driver has told you about it, and what you remember from having IPs sitting behind you in UPT and IFF. Sorry, bro, but flying with a WSO is nothing like flying with an IP in your back seat. And, as to capabilities, let's talk about flying low and employing LGBs. I'm interested to hear how many F-16s are doing that, and what their hit rate is. (Hint: They're not, and back when they did their hit rate was less than 20%.)

Mission is the *only* reason you should use to determine which fighter to go to. Everything else, quite honestly, is basically the same between the airframes. As nice as the "My First Viper Ride" story was, it could have been written about damn near any fighter.

What's the deal with 'Howdy'?

What's more important than any of this, is that when you're a Lieutenant... NOBODY GIVES A F*CK WHERE YOU GOT YOUR COMMISSION! Except, of course, the USAFA guys, who can't let it go and, even later in life as socially dysfunctional O-4s, still ask, "Oh, what squadron were you in" to other Zoomies.

Why not? In case they were not aware that the USAF's job was to kill people and break sh*t, they need to be indoctrinated. Never can understand people who get offended by sex, drinking, and bad language, when our job is centered around killing. People with some bizarre moral heirarchies.

So, did anyone give him an ID card?? Wanker....

Here are a couple low-res "camera phone" shots of the T-3s rotting away at Hondo, taken in August '05.

Sorry, Toro, but your observation of the numbers at SJ doesn't reflect the actual statistic...we're talking about *rates* here and not physical numbers of how many people are at each base. Let's do your same # of O-5 WSOs and # of O-5 Maintenance Officers comparison at any base where there are aircraft without Navs, and there would be a different picture. It's a crappy way to make a comparison. The actual historical promotion data is available on the AFPC website (http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/demographi...eportsearch.asp). Some quick number crunching of promotion rates from 1989 to 2004 revealed: Major: Navigators, 85.0%, Mission Support 82.3% Lt Col: Navigators 60.5%, Mission Support 66.3% Col: Navigators 33.7%, Mission Support 45.0% So, looks to me that statistically JLoweCSU's Commander is correct.

This simple advice is that it's WAY too early to think about that. It will become pretty obvious after you actually start flying in the UPT environment what you can handle and what you like.

I was given a ticket in Tex-ass back when I was in tech school at Sheppard when I was a Lieutenant. Like many of you, I offered my military ID along with my driver's license -- my reasoning was a little different, though, because my Washington State license was a military license, with an expiration date of "90 days after discharge." I was offering my mil ID as proof that I was in the military. The officer didn't see it that way, and gave me some lip about did I think I was going to get off easy just because I was flashing my military ID?? When he gave me the ticket, the Tejas DPS guy said "Here's your ID back LIEUTENANT" in the snottiest tone I've ever heard from the po-lice. Maybe I should get one of those black stickers with the blue stripe...the "free pass to speed" sticker. <not>

I'm trying to figure out how an A-10 guy has a good comprehension of target RCS and side lobe energy! :D

Sounds like a reason to just pay the damn ticket and get it over with.

No, I don't think so. The article says, in essence, 'yeah, there are rumors that the Typhoon saw the Raptor...but it didn't, and if it did, it was because it was operating in the ATC config'.

Gee, ya think? More expensive to get flown around in and dispensed from a '135 or a '10 than just getting pumped out of a tank?

FWIW, I went back and looked at the web page that I created in 1998 discussing the process for applying to UPT. This is what I wrote pertaining to vision requirements -- copied directly from the AFI (at the time): - Normal color vision for both pilots and navigators - Distant vision - pilots uncorrected to 20/50 and navigators 20/200 but corrected to 20/20 - Near vision - pilots uncorrected to 20/20; navigators 20/40 but corrected to 20/20 - Refraction, accommodation and astigmatism requirements have had no corrective eye surgery (i.e. RK surgery) [ 23. September 2005, 06:01: Message edited by: Hacker ]

Good story, but can't say I agree with this part. There was still plenty of *****ing about reflective belts, flight suit sleeves being rolled up, floppy hats, friday patches, singing 'offensive' songs at the Wagon Wheel, f*cking in the bomb shelters, p*ssing in piddle packs in the tents, etc, even while there was a full-on shooting war going on. There is more than enough BS in the Air Force to go around even when we're supposedly 'doing the real mission'.

I think the boldface was something like: ASS - KISS GOODBYE

M=1.6 at 1000' AGL in a F-15E-220 across the Tonopah Test Range on 28 March 2001. Part of a Nuclear WSEP, verified by Sandia Nat'l Labs and Department of Energy. I think that it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 680 KCAS IIRC. For you F-15E guys who might wonder how the f*ck I was able to get a -220 Strike Pig (with a B61 hanging on LC2) up to that speed...let's just say that the speed run began at FL350 in Pahute Mesa all ready well over the Mach, and was achieved via a .8 AOA unloaded descent down to the deck. After hitting 1.6, the speed was decaying by the second after leveling off. It was slowing so quickly that I actually thought I had missed the desired speed for the drop, but the radar cameras verified the speed. EDIT: Photo added... [ 13. September 2005, 16:29: Message edited by: Hacker ]

Where in 36-2903 does it say that?

The "indicated" AS that is displayed in the HUD can either be Cal, True, or Ground.

There's no rule on it...there's not even an accepted theory as to the history of it. Personally, I don't care if someone does it or not...so long as they can perform when they get to the jet. There's nothing more retarded than looking like a fighter pilot but not being able to act like one when it counts. [ 10. September 2005, 05:46: Message edited by: Hacker ]

I dunno, this part cleared that question up for me: Reference also the thread from a few weeks ago discussing current UPT washout rates, which are reportedly in the 1-3% range in FY05.

I personally don't see a problem with it. Don't know how other services are, but the USAF is unbelievably overtly-Christian, and has been since the day I enlisted. If we're going to practice religious tolerance, then it's time to start practicing it instead of just paying it lip service.