LJDRVR

So my daughter *may* be headed to GK, I've already looked up the German pet requirements for them, but a quick question: Anybody have any suggestions on pet travel to Germany? I know Lufthansa has a good pet program, as does my employer. I'd love to hear any gouge or recommendations anyone might be willing to share. Leave the vehicles and purchase through the exchange? I separated from active duty before my daughter was born but she still thinks I know everything about everything so any help here is appreciated. Thanks!

I would like to point out that this isn't unprecedented. Who do you think taught Deke Slayton, Gabby Gabreski, Bob Hoover and tens of thousands of USAAC pilots to fly? Notice anything different about the IP in the middle's uniform?

The only blue-suiter calling it a safe space is some idiot PA hack. it's a diversity and inclusion reading room. Are you guys seriously suggesting that's a bad idea? “Our intention is to create an informal space for cadets and permanent party to broaden and deepen their exploration of the issues involved in diversity, inclusion and justice,” https://www.usafa.af.mil/News/News-Display/Article/2508630/exploring-big-ideas-diversity-and-inclusion-reading-room-opens-at-academy/

Good luck finding anybody. The AC on that flight is probably pushing 70-80+ depending on their age at the time, and isn't on social media telling stories about the Langley missions he flew. If he's even alive. MAC in the seventies was a smoking/drinking culture. Even if you manage to locate one of them, talking to an English journalist about a code-word mission they flew is going to be tricky. Given your accomplishments, I wouldn't count you out.

I don't mind urban living at all. When I was on close to the beach in SoCal, I could ride my bike to just about anything I wanted and was a short drive or medium run from the mountains. I'm in the suburbs of the Pacific Northwest right now. Weird choice as the kids are grown, but mostly because we wanted a new house and because my wife wanted some sense of community and support when I was at work. I'd live rural if I was single. Then it'd be me on a cot in my hangar full of airplanes. And a dog. Truthfully, all of it sounds good to me. I'd be happy anywhere. The only place I couldn't abide is Manhattan. That having been said, I love visiting it. Particularly for the bookstores and Central Park.

I vote we rename it Huggy AFB.

You are a master's class in argumentative fallacy. Your evidence of cheating is an incorrect and uneducated assumption on risk/reward? Manipulating an election on the scale required to affect the outcome would require a multiple person conspiracy to commit fraud. The fraud itself is a felony, the act of conspiracy is a separate, much more serious felony that the DOJ has a pretty good track record of obtaining long sentences for. So it is not, as you baselessly claim, "low risk." Regarding your assertion of high reward, for who? The individuals capable of attempting the crime are clerks, volunteers and minor appointed officials. "Jim, you've done a good job serving the people of Michigan as a country registrar. We appreciate the time you've taken away from your insurance sales job to help us conduct a fair and impartial election. If you'd be willing to help Joe Biden win by asking your peers to help falsify data, here's a big bag of un-laundered cash you can share. I promise I'm not a cop and promise I'm not wearing a wire." 🙄 Say, maybe the Apollo mission were faked and 9/11 was an inside job. Also, just because you're dishonest doesn't mean that other people are too. You're the anomaly. Most of us play by the rules. If you want to see the proof of this being a fair election, simply read what Trump's legal team has argued in court. No Fraud, no evidence of anything.

I have, the XL's that come along tend to include the O2 mask and are priced so high that it makes no economic sense to purchase and convert. The comm conversion (Mic, earpieces and cords) cost about $600 bucks. So if the helmet is running close to $1000 - and they are, mostly over - I'm better off just buying new at $1500. Just being a cheap bastard. It's hard enough to shell out money for the airplane, but to spend another 7-9K on chutes and helmets is painful. Can't skimp on the 'chutes, but the helmets are fair game.

Looking to nab a less expensive than new front cockpit helmet for my Stearman, if anybody has a spare sitting around they're not using. I can have the low impedance comms converted, I just need a decent helmet with a little bit of life left in it for my passengers. I know you exchange IP's at Pensacola end up with a steady stream of washout gear. (I like the -68's) Thanks!

My reading of the current AUMF is that it covers individuals and groups responsible for the 9/11 attacks and "associated forces." So I'm curious: my non-lawyer (moron pilot) reading of the language in the authorization seems to not pass muster for us attacking anything Iranian. I'm sure there are rooms of lawyers that have crafted obtuse opinions justifying this crap, but I can't see for the life of me how it isn't a violation of the warpowers act. Hopefully somebody who flunked out of law school before they went to UPT can explain it to me. Not saying this guy doesn't totally deserve what he got, but if the Iranians got off a rocket attack that purposefully targeted and killed the Chairman of the JCS, it would be an act of war, right?

FWIW, if I'm honest with myself, I would go about that in a much more kind manner. My post was sort of me flippantly regressing to the 22 year old NCO I was and how we did things in 1993. It was more an insight into how we would have handled a fellow enlisted member than it was a statement about how an officer in 2019 would or should deal with that scenario. I was raised by E-5s and E-6s that had gang tattoos from their youth in the seventies. I'm not arguing that proves efficacy, just providing some perspective about one piece of the leadership culture where I grew up. The "scared straight" gambit was often effective. I most certainly can't offer up any insight into today's USAF, I left a long time ago. Nor can I claim any experience as an officer. I'm just a former shoe clerk who now works as an airline pilot. I will say this though, you cannot allow that type of insubordination to go unchecked. You can get creative with how you choose to respond, but the E-9 in question should leave the encounter with absolutely no question in his mind that telling an officer to do something is not a tactic he'd ever employ again. Sometimes it's fun to vomit up a little bit of foolishness on the screen, thank you and Marco for keeping me honest. You are both absolutely correct.

I was an NCO and here's my perspective. If he told you take out he trash, lock his worthless ass up at attention and read him his rights under article 31. Tell him you're investigating him for insubordination. If he waives his rights and answers your questions, then you can have a respectful conversation with some give and take. He'll walk away from knowing a whole lot more about his place in the world related to who you are and what you do and what his responsibilities are. If he's dumb enough to clam up, then sweat him with an actual investigation into article 91. Get his leadership involved. Ruin his entire month. C****s like that gotta be put in their place early and made an example of if you want good order and discipline in your unit.

FIFY

I was never bothered too much by the red tape at the aero clubs. I did my instrument rating in a nicely decked out T-41. Most of the aero clubs are 141 approved, meaning you can use your GI bill. Another added bonus was the quality of the instruction. I had a retired O-6 who flew B-47's, T-39's and T-43's. He did his civilian ATP ride shooting approaches into the Johnson ranch with the Boeing. Finished up as the wing commander at Mather. Wally Miller. I can still hear his voice every time I push the thrust levers forward; "Today's the day your engine gonna quit!"

Bacevich fought in combat in Vietnam. He retired as an infantry Colonel. His son was killed in Afghanistan. Colonel Bacevich teaches history at Boston College, is devoutly Catholic and a conservative. He's wrote several well-reasoned books that do a pretty good job explaining the dangers of continued American misconduct abroad. You're the only one I see bringing up politics and Trump here.

Everything Bacevich has written should be required reading.

Nobody who's sane is suggesting the WH is pressuring individual aircrews to make specific technical stops that might somehow benefit the POTUS. The frustration is that our commander in chief hasn't divested himself from his business interests while serving us. It leaves him open to accusations of all type. Nobody expects President Trump to impoverish himself and give away his assets just for the privilege of leadership. But he should not own or control them in any way while in office. This would be analogous to your new wing commander (Colonel House) owning a real estate sales company that had a large, two page spread in the base newspaper. He also owns a country club. Your OPS group commander buys the largest property they've got for sale and a membership in the club. Later, you see his name on the O-6 list. Totally legit, right? People just want to hate on Col. House because they really liked the other candidate for Wing CC that got passed over. People had better just quit their bellyaching about Colonel House. It's all loser sour grapes. Colonel House is the best wing commander we've ever had. So what if he broke a few rules selling subordinates houses? Who gives a crap about propriety and rule of law when we're finally winning? Also, Colonel house has amended the TAFs on your weather sequence with his black sharpie, you're good to go - no alternate! Best get stepping to the jet and stop being a pussy about weather minimums, he knows what's best for us all.

Silly. We can melt civilians with incendiary bombs, but a photograph of an airplane - IN THE PAST - with a woman on it? Can't have that.

She claims she didn't say anything at the time because she “didn’t trust the system at the time.” GMAFB She sued the SecDef and went on 60 minutes. She wasn't afraid to speak up when she thought she'd been wronged. This is all about her. Just like everything she's ever done is all about her.

So, she's a diehard supporter of the "grab-em-by-the-pussy boss, to include voting for Brett Kavenaugh, because you know, that crazy bitch obviously made it all up. 😒 But now she's a victim that deserves to be believed because it really did happen to her? Unlike Kavenaugh's accuser, with her seat in Congress, she won't have to hide, move and deal with death threats. What a total piece of shit. Unless she names the person, I don't believe a word that comes out of her mouth.

Sorry to hear that, Brother. Wrap your brain around the concept that she will get half of everything you ever earned while you were together. If you're able to come out better, then it's all gravy. Do everything you can to remain civil and professional with her. Never let your kids hear you say anything bad about her. Ever. Not once. As strange as this sounds, moving forward your relationship with her, and it's failure are none of their business. No matter how badly she may behave, she's their Mom. If you can sit down at the kitchen table with her and put it all on a legal pad, you'll save yourself a lot of angst and attorney fees. If you can "give in" to certain things she wants in order to facilitate a quick agreement in return for certain things you want, it's worth every penny. People will give you advice like: "Roll in on that cunt and fight her tooth and nail!" Ask those people to compare what they think they "won" in court financially to what it cost to litigate it. It isn't worth it. Moving forward, your relationship with her is going to be jointly parenting your kids. That relationship will be healthier for the kids if the two of you can agree to act like adults ad settle as amicably and quickly as possible. Now; You. You're a pro. Compartmentalize like a MF and work your way through indoc and IOE. When you get a chance, take some time for yourself. Nonrev to Hawaii and put it all out of your mind for a few days. Exercise is your friend - the more the better. At some point in all of this process, you'll have come far enough and gotten past the anger enough to look at what happened a little more objectively. When that happens, the single most important thing you can do is forgive her and yourself for what happened. Let it fucking go. You're also about to re-learn who your real friends are. Lean on those folks. Bigtime. Don't medicate with booze or food. That's it. The day you have to tell your children is the worst day of your life. Everyday after that will be just a little bit better. Good luck, chum. Those of us who've been through this are rooting for you. Hell, you can at least call yourself a real airline pilot now!

That was pretty kick ass. I got to meet Dave Groark years ago in Mesquite Texas, while waiting for a student. He was nice enough to give me the fifty cent tour of his T-6. I saw his name painted on the side. "Dave Groark? I was just re-reading my copy of Going Downtown the other day! You wouldn't happen to be that Captain Dave Groark from the 355th TAC fighter wing, now would you? He smiled and admitted he was. I asked him if Jack Broughton was the exceptional leader he appeared to be. Not really a legit question, the record speaks for itself. "I'd follow him straight to hell today if he asked me." Was the reply. Those dudes are BAMFs

To answer your question Huggy, it's a left over from older, non-digital autopilots whose failure mode out of NAV wasn't a CWS mode, but HDG. At your current employer on the Boeings, it has a little to do with class II nav, where some very specific things are done with the heading bug passing a fix. Many of the Captains you fly with come from the larger jets where maybe the heading bug fixation is a bit of a vestigial remnant of oceanic flying. Maybe. (Guppy drivers are required to do the same thing, compliance is pretty low.) Center it up, or leave it alone - both sound awesome to me. No wrong answer. Here's what's concerning: no PM should touch a damn thing on your MCP when you're flying and the automation is engaged, except the altitude knob. If you're flying and some Captain reaches over and centers up your heading bug, you should remind them that you're flying, the autopilot is on, and would they please not touch your heading bug. It's easy for me to say this wearing four stripes, but the behavior you're describing (Them grabbing your heading bug) is a violation of SOP and should be called out every time it happens. As the HF folks say, what you practice or permit, you promote. Glad to see you're back! I'm totally bummed I missed flying with you when I was SFO based. We'll have to figure something out.

You can't hide shit. The risk reward equation is untenable. You'll get caught. The judge will spank you badly. Be as reasonable and compromising as possible. If you can work through the details without the need to be right, if you can let her dump on you a little bit if that's what helps her get past things, then set aside your ego and let her. My ex and I wrote up the details of our divorce on a legal pad one afternoon at my house before the kids got off the bus. There were a couple of little things where I felt like I could of done better, but there is no amount of money in the world worth the aggravation. I know still have a friendly relationship with her and the kids have done better for it. Whatever gains I might have eked out would have been totally eaten by attorney fees. My kids never hearing anything bad about their mother come out of my lips? Priceless. Money? You'll make more.

Nope. My fiance is a member and teaches for the LAUSD. Contrary to the popular trope, they're toothless. If an administrator wants you gone, pack your bags. That he already has baggage from the past makes it that much easier.