General Discussion

So my time has come to an end over in England unfortunately and I head back to the states in a couple weeks...hopefully the BAA has figured out wtf is up with their airport security...and I've got a question for you guys that were stationed over in USAFE in the past. I bought a "tax-free" car over here and will be taking it back with me. Is it a huge ass pain to register/title your car? I have a feeling I'm going to get stuck paying tax on it. Texas, where I'm a resident, wants 6.25% and Missouri where I'm going has all sorts of stipulations. People keep mentioning the 3-way split, wtf is that all about? Thanks. EDIT: I'm too lazy to do a search for this topic.…

Does anyone have any info on what life is like flying the C-17 active duty stationed at Elmendorf, AK? I am very interested in choosing that plane and location for my drop sheet. I’ve heard that C-17 pilots are extremely busy and gone upwards of 280 days a year at times (I know deployment cycles change all the time though). But I’ve also heard that the ops tempo at Elmendorf is lower than other bases because they do airdrop and are in PACAF. Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I would like to be home more for my first assignment until my 2 kids grow up and are a little easier to parent 😁

At the end of your commitment for flying for the Air Force, do you think it was worth it? What were some of the other career paths you considered? What was the peak experience of your career? Right now I am a premed who has a good shot of getting into med school. But I think I would always regret it if I didn't go for a UPT slot and try to fly for the military.

USAF Open to sending A-10s to Ukraine

Chasing Missile Shooters Over The Gulf Of Mexico In An F-15

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I’m looking into my options for my 3rd assignment. I’m currently a C-17 pilot with air drop experience at Elmo and Charleston. I’m looking into life as an AMLO. Does anyone have a list of available locations for AMLO or any AMLO experience that they’d like to share? Thanks!

I am facing a flight evaluation board for washing out of RTU, on of course what I feel are terms of improper syllabus implementation. If anyone has any experience or knows of anyone with any experience in dealing with a FEB please post here or contact me. Any help would be greatfully appreciated.

It looks like a possible loss of pressurization of a Cessna Citation V that was flown single pilot with his family. Two F-16’s intercepted and reportedly used flares to to attempt to contact the pilot.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202305275606 The CIA and State Department right now:

Anyone have a good copy of the subtitled Downfall video about AETC students and fix-to-fixes? My google-foo is failing me.

I’ve heard it’s possible but rare to switch to an airframe in another command. For example, switching from Air Mobility Command to Air Combat Command. I’m interested in flying fighters at some point in my aviation career: any fighter or being an instructor in the T-38 or T-7 when that comes out. But, I tracked T-1s. I’m happy and excited to fly heavies but it’s always been my dream to fly fighters for a little bit of my career at least. Would it increase my chances of switching over to a fighter if I dropped a special operations aircraft or an aircraft in Air Combat Command like the EC-130 which is switching to the E-37 soon, MC-130, HC-130, RC-135, etc? I’d also be in…

So I've searched far and wide online...anyone have a good recipe for the stuff? thanks

I’m curious about the current deployment timeline of different platforms in todays Airforce and just how long you’re gone from home in general. I’ve heard that some planes have changed their deployment schedule in the last 5-10 years. I’ve heard that some special ops communities are gone for 5-6 months and then home for 18 months, C-17s are gone TDY for almost 300 days a year, tankers are at home almost every night but work more uniform hours in the day, other aircraft do deployments for 6 months to a year at a time but are home for the next 2 years, etc. Not sure if this is true or just rumors. Please comment if you know about any of the following platforms. I w…

Asking for a friend because I am not experienced with the heavy side of the house. Trying to get a feel for how much time are units asking out there. "My current unit (heavy) wants 8 days a month. I have seen other units as little as 2 days. I am losing a ton of money with the airlines at this point (CA at a legacy) but still have a service commitment. " Thoughts?

Just got some short notice UPT dates for Laughlin. If anyone is currently there I would love to discuss the current state of UPT, ROM expectations for this winter and lodging for accompanied members. For reference I'm a guard 135 guy who will be PCSing with my wife and dogs in mid September. As a broad discussion: How many hours are students currently expecting to get during UPT (2.5?) If I hold a single engine CPL, what PIC time can I log during T-6s (Only solo time?) Any advice/study guides I should familiarize myself with prior to arrival? Thanks!

Good morning aviators. I had an idea that crossed my mind about investing in a flight sim. Items including stick, throttle, and rudder pedals (https://shop.thrustmaster.com/en_gb/t-16000m-fcs-flight-pack.html), and some kind of good reviewed/ not too expensive pc and monitor to play Microsoft Flight Simulator, and DCS. I have the money to pay for something like this, so I am not too worried about the damage, but I was looking for some input. Do you think buying, and playing a sim is worth it? ex. improving pilot skills; getting familiarity with jets that could possibly help in phase 2 & 3 of UPT (possibly practicing t-6 and t-38 maneuvers, for example formation …

Alright, we need to make a decision basically tonight about this, so any help is greatly appreciated. My wife is moving out to Tucson tomorrow. She was originally going to an apartment that I got for her up in the north part of town, with a lease ending in February, at which time we were going to either move on base anyway or possibly look around for a house to buy (expensive). Well I decided to call the housing office out there today to see what the waiting list was like, and the lady told me they have a three bedroom 1200 sf house they could give my wife TOMORROW with a copy of my orders (I'm TDY enroute for another few months). So here's my question: does anyone h…

Where is it written that we have to use the GTC while TDY? And has anyone ever gotten spoken to about using a personal credit card on the road instead?

Does anyone know if it is possible to get into Test Pilot School without an Engineering degree/background? Also, do you need to be a fighter jock to become one? Just Curious, Thanks!

I retire at the end of this year and was recently hired by DAL. I'm considering joining a reserve unit after retirement because I enjoy the flying and teaching. I've had a few people mention its a terrible idea and I will lose money big time. Anyone here in the program or ran the numbers?

I did a search and I know that there has got to be some more info on this stuff but could not find it. So I thought I would jump start this again. For those in the know, what are some of the differences and likes of the Mc and HC 130? I know that there are more differences than what just meets the eye but I can't find them. It seems to me that they do alot of the same things. Plus, any Nav specific stuff would be appreciated such a deployment rates and specific duties. Thanks Oh man I probably should have put this some where else, this new design allows a high learning curve

@argstarted the other thread about Gunships in Desert Storm and I recommended a war stories thread because I’m sure this group has some good ones. I’ll kick it off. Decmeber 2, 2014 Nangahar, Afghanistan Flying Draco out of Bagram and a raid comes down that we’re going to support and run the stack for. We weren’t doing hits every night but by dumb luck, I’d been on a few as we rolled through the schedule. As some of you know, they’re usually a bit hectic at first when the helo lands and then it’s pretty chill as they make callouts and not much would happen so that was what I expected. We brief up, get out there, get everyone checked in and ready to go. We had 2…

Quietly inserted into 10 USC 1370 (regular) and 1370a (reserve): TIG requirement for Maj is now 3 years for it to be held. It was 6 months, previously.

It was time to put away the homemade wine as I was about to enter crew rest for what would be the most memorable flight of my career. This was the third mission of the war for us. A snippet from this book https://www.amazon.com/Ghostriders-1976-1995-William-Walter-ebook/dp/B09VQWY5RP/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid&sr&fbclid=IwAR1vELr1aoqfQjbqO5BywaXVt7DDWvGiBeBh9ZuJL-V4stML3whaaGOFpAY On the evening of January 21, mission planners began tasking AC-130s identically as they did for fighters as two AC-130s were assigned to 30x30 nautical mile “kill boxes.” On this night, weather was good and both crews were advised there would be a fighte…