General Discussion

Wall Street Journal December 6, 2010 Pg. 1 China Clones, Sells Russian Fighter Jets By Jeremy Page ZHUHAI, China—A year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a cash-strapped Kremlin began selling China a chunk of its vast military arsenal, including the pride of the Russian air force, the Sukhoi-27 fighter jet. For the next 15 years, Russia was China's biggest arms supplier, providing $20 billion to $30 billion of fighters, destroyers, submarines, tanks and missiles. It even sold Beijing a license to make the Su-27 fighter jet—with imported Russian parts. Today, Russia's military bonanza is over, and China's is just beginning. After decades of import…

Trying to find the call sign of LtCol. Robert L. Wright (ret) who was the Operations Officer for the F-15 test squadron at Edwards in the late 80's, early 90's. He also flew F-4's before going to TPS. Any help anyone can give would garner you many internet beers! Edit: More information

Looking for the AFI (or the like) containing the definition of AF tail number formats. Any help would be appreciated! Something along the lines of this, Globemaster link or Globalsecurity.org link, but official.

Just an invite for all Rotorheads to enjoy the launch issue of our new mil helo mag. Digital edition is online for everyone to read. Cleared HOT - Issue 1

Interesting story on Fox... https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/general-reportedly-said-was-pressured-to-change-testimony-on-white-house-backed/ I don't know much about General Shelton but I have been following the lightsquared issue for a while now and it sure seems that have been able to fast track through the FCC despite the frequency proximity to GPS and power of their network vs. the GPS signal.

Morning All, Making this easy for everyone. We have just launched the new VIP area for our new website Kia Kaha Media where we have downloadable PDF files for HeliOps (Civil helo ops) and Cleared HOT (Military helo ops), as well as our other magazines such as P1 (Motor Racing). Anyone here who would like access to the VIP area just do the following: Click on https://www.kiakahamedia.com At the very top right there is a button titled VIP Login, click on that. Then on the right hand side it takes about 30 seconds to fill in the form. We then approve you and you can log in to the VIP area and download all the mags. Once you have access to the VIP area there its g…

https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/arrested-alleged-plot-smuggle-us-military-tech-china/story?id=16210937#.T5jtmu0Rvzk

Cobras, Hogs, Hercs, Silver Star, husband, father, grandfather, friend & patriot - see you on the other side brother. "Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils." - John Stark

Does anyone have a copy of the final report? I've tried to download it from https://www.f-35atrainingeis.com/EisDocument.html but it's going super slow and wont complete

I can't find this posted before so here is the skinny. Veterans Day offers a reminder of the service and sacrifice of America’s military personnel. AOPA is honoring the service of active-duty military members by offering them a complimentary one-year membership in the association. AOPA announced the offer in May as part of an effort to reach out to members of the military and support their flying goals. The association offers resources for pilots of all stripes, whether they fly recreationally or for the military. If you know someone in the military who would enjoy an AOPA membership, please share the offer. https://www.discoveraopa.org/aopamilitaryaopapilotmagad…

https://www.askthepilot.com/concorde-story/ Interesting read and to see the error chain. And why it's relevant: "LAST WEEK, A FRENCH APPEALS COURT overturned a manslaughter conviction against Continental Airlines for its role in the crash of an Air France Concorde outside Paris twelve years ago.

According to the River Rats, Ed passed 30 Jan. His wife requests privacy. Cheers to one of the greats. (Also posted in the bar. My bad)

This should end well.

No idea how many former MC-12 drivers are out there, but there is a Bremont order going out soon. Its open to all former MC-12 aircrew. It's an ALT1-Z with a custom face for $2850. Half down will be due when placing the order (probably 30-45 days). Half will be due upon build completion (4-6.9 months). They are down to 2 designs and will have a final vote in the next couple of weeks. PM me if you want more info.

A few questions regarding the FAC-A qualification Is there a course or qualification in the AF that a non-fighter qualified pilot can attend? Will a pilot have to be tied to a traditional FAC-A airframe (A-10, F-16, etc...)? Is there a way a pilot from another airframe can become qualified to operate as a FAC-A i.e. AC/MC/HC-130, HH-60, CV-22, etc...?

Has anyone heard of the Alsalam Aircraft Company? They have offered me a position as an ISR King Air 350 Instructor Pilot for the Royal Saudi Air Force with a pretty good total compensation package north of $250K a year. I would love to hear what anyone knows about the company, working with the RSAF & living in the Kingdom with a wife & 4 small children. Please feel free to PM me if you do not want to post on an open forum. Thanks!

Not sure how many folks visit the Aviation Medicine section, so I am including a link here to maximize visibility. Please go to and read. Cap-10

Searched the ATP thread and the site and didn't come up with any gouge/opinions on ALL ATP in Houston/David Wayne Hooks. Don't know if they just started or what. Anyone out there used them recently? Don't want tol just going in cold, but not a lot of driving options in south Texas.

This is a good article on what happened to all those Dornier's that used to fly for the regionals: https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/check-out-the-us-department-of-state-air-wings-shadowy-1634123990

Perhaps a relatively minor victory in the grand scheme, but a major win in terms of tactical application/integration of airpower in a challenging urban environment. https://www.wsj.com/articles/kurdish-forces-declare-complete-victory-in-kobani-1422362163 In case you haven't been following the news, the U.S. has been striking ISIS positions in the city on a daily basis since October. I'm not sure why the brass, especially in the USAF, aren't trumpeting this one... Too preoccupied with SAPR down days and providing dissertations on the fast track to promotion?

Some excellent weather, and an awesome video. Please get in touch if you were the aircrew today as I know there are some great images from the flights that I can get to you. Should be able to tie up with the aircraft in the video too, if you know approx times or obviously callsigns (I believe it was Shift, Rico and Brew flights). Great Work 48th FW I'll happilly make the 6 hour round trip to film/photograph you guys again, so feel free to offer any headsup in return for hopefully some great images for the squadron bar

Just a repost from FighterSweep.com. Pretty cool though, brings a whole new meaning to "MultiRole Fighter". https://fightersweep.com/1620/south-carolina-guard-f-16s-help-rescue-boaters/

Very interesting talk from a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. 35 minutes of where we're at in terms of cyber security + 20 minutes of Q&A.

https://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2015/05/21/fighter-aces-awarded-congressional-gold-medal/27702791/ I went to DC for this, and ended up flying two Navy Aces to the event. It was an incredible 3 days. The stories were fantastic. And a few of them stayed in the bar late with me. Every penny of my bar tab was well spent.

I will be in the Mach Loop this friday, taking photos - drop me a pm if required https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexlovell2011/ Alex