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From an October 2024 article: The cynic in me suspects that Smith didn't like something about what he saw during his visit to Del Pizzo's unit (VMX-1), and the F-35 crash was the most expeditious way to get rid of him. Some GO's are petty and vindictive like that. Hope Del Pizzo goes on to greater things.

As it turns out, Infantry officers should not be in command of aviators. Who knew?!?

I’m also curious about active-duty HC-130 gouge if anyone can provide.

If you actually watch the video or read the story you'll know the Commandant would not even give him the courtesy of a meeting...he asked. By all counts an excellent dude and if you watch the video and listen to all his saw and sensed as he made his decision to eject, hard to imagine anyone one of us not doing the exact same thing...F the REMF Commandant.

Dude should have told his commandant, "I made an F35 disappear... I think I could Houdini a man." "Abracadabra!" Also, if his callsign wasn't the word above, huge miss.

fat tony and slife should have been fired LONG ago. the damage they caused is immense.

You knew Fat Tony wasn't going to leave without going scorched earth one last time, truly a sorry excuse for a human. And, a FULL payout of his contract so it is not for cause....it is simply for pushing back on Blubber Bauernfeind. Air Force removes athletic director Nathan Pine over clash with superintendent

The rest of the story... He was cleared and went on to assume senior command as an O-6 only to have the Commandant (a non-pilot), change his mind and remove him from command months later. Sickening but our F'd up system.

While probably not a large % of the pilot pool, the public has no idea how many of these 60+ CAs are way past their prime and it’s the FO that is the saving grace getting them to their destination safely. The trapped errors by the FO “mafia” (while anecdotal for me and my airline friends), is very alarming. Yet, nothing happens, the company won’t do shit, and these boomer pilots will continue to argue their “experience” is necessary. Concur with the GA guys, actually never had a bad older CA who was into outside flying.

Rog, just another idea from moi, I’m not adamant about it per se but in this particular case I see a reason for it. I argue for it as I see it along with a revitalized training fleet as part of what I call strong pilot culture. Just from the outside, it seems to be eroding a bit.

Usually right after they pranged on the landing. There is something pathologically narcissistic about the Boomer's interaction with the world. It feels far moreso than previous generations when they got to that age. Instead of giving back to their families and communities and helping guide and uplift the next generation, they've chosen to move to 55+ communities where they're blowing the generational wealth they accumulated as well as the Social Security benefits they voted for themselves. As if they didn't get enough out of life and they deserve more right before they die. It's gross. I still fly with a few of these guys and they are almost universally on the edge of unsafe as pilots. There are the odd few who still fly little planes, and those guys tend to be a lot sharper than their cohort. Unfortunately they are few and far between.

@Lord Ratner Yep, the LEPF/67 crowd is another prime example.

In favor of CSOs from across the 12X career field getting increased opportunity for UPT slots for direct B-21 assignments (not just BAF CSOs), with a significantly reduced ADSC for the UPT training. Not in favor of a specialized (ie streamlined / reduced) training program for awarding of said pilot wings. AFGSC will likely have a different perspective in that - big AF shouldn’t cave to that pressure. Efficiencies will be gained in B-21 IQT BCE syllabus production and bomb squadron absorption requirements down stream. Those timeline efficiencies should not be directed in how the AF creates pilots, even given the previous rated experience these folks will have.

I’m sure they would have an ADSC from UPT, as to UPT I believe it’s a one shot deal in the AF at least for performance problems if removed from training

Will these CSOs have a pilot training commitment? Won't they leave the USAF after their initial commitment like their pilot peers do? I know a Mudhen WSO who washed out of UPT. Would he be able to try to become a pilot again?

40 hours?

I see the justification for a stand alone program as these cso/wso’s are being recruited specifically for the -21, UPT is already very busy and this program would help justify a companion trainer program for that platform. I imagine the recruitment for this will be as you said high speed low drag guys and an opportunity to go to an elite assignment with a unique training pipeline will only increase the pool of applicants, giving them the picks of the litter. There’s a cohort of guys / gals that for whatever reason didn’t get a pilot slot at their commissioning source but went wherever, this second shot with a direct path to the -21 I think would motivate a lot of people to work hard, compete and bring a strong candidate to them.

Not sure why the B-21 needs it's own UPT program. Why not just continue to send (high speed) prior-rated people to UPT like normal and then drop airframes from?

B-21s will have 2 pilots and CSO/WSOs recruited will be retrained as pilots https://www.twz.com/air/usaf-decides-against-flying-b-21-raiders-with-just-one-pilot Could / should they be trained as pilots in a stand alone program? This program (in my mind) would also serve as the companion proficiency trainer for the crew force. Probably not at all Raider bases but one or two (pilot training for the B-21) Civ ratings (PPL, AMEL, INSTM) then a mil course, maybe 75 hours, or so. Throughput would be manageable methinks, IPs rotating from the B-21 line for two year stints.

Okay, so no longer the largest generation. Interesting. But I'm pretty sure they're still the largest voting block, as far as actual participants go: From AI Baby Boomers cast the largest number of votes in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Using standard Pew generation ranges and the Census Bureau’s single-year age data, the estimated totals were: Generation Approx. voters Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964) 47.2 million Generation X (1965–1980) 39.8 million Millennials (1981–1996) 37.8 million Generation Z, voting-age members (1997–2006) 19.2 million Silent Generation and older 10.3 million

Are you in the airlines yet? You should hear what these guys say when they get close to 65 and start arguing for no retirement age. They make it sound like the actual hard part of the job is remembering where ops is or which taxiway they usually cross you across the runway at. Not reaction time and hand/eye coordination.... Obviously experience is important, but after ~10 years of experience it's no longer the save-your-ass knowledge that accumulate, it's layover trivia and ancestor worship.

Never.

Add a sandwich maker attachment and Hoover would be vacuuming up big bucks.