TailWind

Does anybody happen to have any good recommendations for a body shop in the Sheppard area? My car became a victim of a hit and run on base and I need to go about getting it fixed. Thanks.

Will the 38's be considered companion trainers as well?

What's the latest on the UAS schoolhouse i.e. the course they're sending non-UPT grads through? Seems like there hasn't been anything published about it since the first Beta class graduated.

I just found out recently I am a FY10 select for ENJJPT from ROTC. After talking to some friends and scrolling through the boards, it seems like it's common for guys headed to SUPT to have their class dates pushed up from their original dates. Is this typical for the ENJJPT crowd too?

It doesn't sound like it changes the dates of your training, it sounds more like it fills that gap between commissioning and EAD.

I don't wanna start any rumors to get anyone's hopes up. I'm sure what you're hearing around Luke is way more prudent than what I've read...I'm not at a UPT base either. There were a few articles last week about it on the wantscheck newsfeed, but the site doesn't let you scroll through old articles. The AF Times touched on a contingent to buy legacy fighters to ease the transition. Not sure if it was posted, most of you probably read it but in case you didn't here it is... Skepticism on Capitol Hill Despite the savings and Schwartz’s argument for a more formidable fighter force, some in Congress who have seen the briefing believe the Air Force shouldn’t put all its eggs in the JSF basket. “We’re putting an awful lot of faith in the program delivering on time that hasn’t accrued a lot of reason to give it to date,” Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, said at a May 19 hearing attended by Schwartz and Donley. Schwartz told the committee that the restructuring would “free up resources, take some risk, admittedly, in order to position ourselves to get on that manageable ramp for F-35 so that we, again, can manage fleet age, get F-35 into the fleet before the F-16s begin to [retire] in large numbers.” A contingent led by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., is pushing for the service to purchase F-15s or F-16s to ease the transition into the F-35 program. The congressional members haven’t put forth the number of legacy fighters they want to see. LoBiondo addressed specifically the massive retirements of Air National Guard aircraft by 2020. The Guard’s aging F-15s and F-16s have patrolled the skies over and around cities since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Decommissioning the 495 F-16s is scheduled to start in two years, when the oldest ones turn 30, and wrap up by 2026. “We’ve heard repeatedly, ‘Everything will be fine, we just need some more time,’” LoBiondo said at the hearing. “Well, I'm not feeling so good about that answer, don’t feel as good today as I did last week, and each day that goes by, I think we have a problem.” The Air Force’s 2010 budget includes no money for new F-15s or F-16s, although the Government Accountability Office warns that buying only F-35s will probably create a fighter gap. “Procuring large numbers of production jets while still working to deliver test jets and mature manufacturing processes does not seem prudent, and looming plans to accelerate procurement will be difficult,” said a report by the GAO released in March. In another report released May 20, the GAO estimated F-35 development could face cost overruns of $2.4 billion to $7.4 billion and additional testing could be delayed by one to three years. The day before the report’s release, at the hearing, Donley told lawmakers that keeping the F-35 on time and on budget would be a challenge. Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., wasn’t shy about letting Schwartz and Donley know that he doesn’t like cutting the fighters to pay for other Air Force needs. “That seems to be a serious balancing act,” he said. Defense analyst Philip Coyle, though, guesses the Air Force doesn’t have much choice but to follow Gates’ lead on the F-35 — and risk lost fighter capability in the acceleration process. “Secretary Gates has them scared to death, doesn’t he?” Coyle, with the Center for Defense Information, asked rhetorically.

I dunno man, congress is putting up alot of resistance to retiring those ~250 or so fighters and talking about even buying some more 16's/15's replace the one's who've reached the entire of their service length until the 35's come online and 22's reach full capacity.

I shit you not, when I was at FT, we were handed out 341's for 'Not Moving at the Speed of Excellence'. If anyone can top that in ness I will buy 5 rounds of virtual beers for the entire thread.

Wow AD guys are gettin the shaft big time. Guess that goes two ways...guard/reserve guys get in their fighter real quick, but under the circumstances who knows how much longer their units are still gonna be flying them.

What's BIT like for Guard/Reserve guys? Are they hanging around like the AD guys too waiting to go to IFF and their FTU?

6_pack.bmp

So were you awarded any air medals for that? That's like winning a grand on a scratch-off or something.

Awe inspiring to the say the least...so 50 ft AGL, hot day and the entire flight's literally flown in ground effect. So how long was the duration of the flight?

Don't listen to all these guys telling you not to major in something b/c its difficult and you'll hate it. Out of the 4 pilots selects at my det this year, I was on the only engineer. And guess what the other's form 53's looked like? They all went a little something like this...Security Forces, Logistics, Maintenance, Intel, Air Field Ops, Communications, Space & Missles. Out of all the AFSC's offered, they were able to put down these and maybe 2~3 others. Here's what mine looked like....Dev. Aero Eng'r, Dev. Astro Eng'r, Dev. Mech. Eng'r, Project Engineer, Acqusitions and Scientist. I had 20+ choices to submit. It's money in the bank. If I ever were medically DQ'd, at least I would be able to buy the Cirrus or Cessna of my choice and fly GA. Don't get me wrong, if you're cool with those first group of AFSC's then major in something easy. But if you wanna fly and have a great fall back so you can have money to fly GA, stick out the engineering thing. Disclaimer: 4 years in the program and I never seen an engineer who wasn't a douchebag get turned down for a pilot slot because of grades