General Discussion

https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/are-the-f-15-eagles-days-numbered https://fightersweep.com/7388/air-force-considering-retirement-f-15cd-models-mid-2020s/ Real curious what insight the experienced crowd has to these articles and any idea if it's even feasible or just another cage rattle like the efforts to retire the Hog. TLDR: General tells HASC today that big blue can replace 15's with Vipers.

Dudes, Am I dense or do Air Force squadrons not make cruise videos like the Navy and Marine Corps? Akin to something like what the Pukin Dogs' released -

https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2017/03/14/news/military-plane-crashes-near-airport/151388.html NOK pending A toast...

Just a thought that popped up in my head with the AF being short on pilots and all. I mean, they already have the reserve units at UPT bases which helps but I'm sure there are plenty of qualified pilots out there who wouldn't mind being a civilian flight instructor for T-6s.

I hope this is a joke, but wouldn't be surprised if it isn't. https://www.jqpublicblog.com/so-much-for-wingman-culture-pentagon-ignores-federal-travel-regulation-steals-from-airmen/

Did a search but it didn't turn up anything specific for this... I'm in the NCR on a non-flying assignment (school). I got an email from the servicing HARM office at Andrews saying my physical would soon expire and that I would begin losing flight pay. The email was sent on the day my physical expired, which of course didn't leave me any time to get a new physical. I made the earliest possible appointment at my servicing flight med clinic (JBAB), which is in late Feb. Andrews HARM told me I will lose flight pay for the duration of time I am "disqualified" (about 3 weeks). They said there is no waiver process or really anything that can be done to avoid losin…

Does anyone else feel stabbed in the back by this? Instead of fixing the problems that make people want to get out, he wants to make it harder for his pilots to get hired by the airlines? What a low blow...or am I reading this wrong?

So, I did a quick search (sorry if it wasn't in-depth enough)...but there are apparently two-year, accompanied positions opening in Guam for B-1 folks. I'm curious what info the forum has regarding Guam. Is this something I should jump on immediately, avoid like the plague, or something in between? I'm married, with an 11-year-old. I've only been in flying positions, both in the line squadron and the FTU, my whole career. I'm told the Andersen assignment is also flying, but I also know B-1s will only be there for a small time during the two years this assignment would span.

Getting ready for a DITY to UPT, and I've come across several regs over government travel. There's a bit of ambiguity and overlap between them, so I wanted some clarification. Mostly, what's the difference between the JTR and JFTR? Both title pages say "for uniformed servicemembers," even though the JTR also says "and DOD civilian employees." Is there a primary reference that Finance and TMO uses for active duty travel? Are there any other regs you'd recommend skimming through for getting the most $$ out of a DITY? Thanks.

https://www.tehachapinews.com/news/edwards-air-force-base-pilot-dies-in-san-antonio-crash/article_bd4f2c2c-e423-11e6-aad2-0bf8c6e8a090.html To SWAB

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-freezes-hiring-of-federal-workers/2017/01/23/f14d8180-e190-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.576b451a82de He says specifically that the military is exempted from this, but the reach of that exemption isn't clear. Does anybody know how this will affect civilian positions in military units?

https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/trump-secaf-heather-wilson-nominated President Trump intends to nominate Heather Wilson, a former New Mexico representative and a graduate of the Air Force Academy, to be the next Air Force secretary. Wilson is now president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota, a position she has held since 2013. "Heather Wilson is going to make an outstanding secretary of the Air Force," Trump said in a statement Monday announcing his planned nomination. "Her distinguished military service, high level of knowledge, and success in so many different fields gives me great confidence that she will le…

Over the past couple of days, A3 has hosted a webinar called the "Fighter Enterprise Redesign." I've been unable to attend. Can anyone provide a summary of what information was passed out? Thanks, V-man

Met him back in the early 2000s at Oshkosh, great man who lived a full life.

For communities with EFBs, and who fly with them at night on NVGs: 1. Do you have an NVIS-compatible filter for your EFB? 2. If so, who made it/where was it procured? Looking for an NVIS filter film/glass of some sort for iPad minis that won't negate the touch screen capes. I assume there's already a govt-approved solution out there, so please share what you know.

We are looking to do an unfunded request for 150-200 new headsets. Does anyone have any recency of experience with the process? Units that issue them do y'all have a good contact I could talk to? Thanks!

Hey folks. So I'm headed to UPT pretty soon and in the meantime I'm trying to plan ahead for the future. I'm an engineer by trade and for the last 10 years have been working in an office. I have no desire to have a full time office/desk gig ever in the future again, and I'm working on getting into some independent consulting (out of my house) on the side after training when I'm not doing Air Force stuff all the time. Just curious what other small businesses traditional reservists/guardsmen have to work on in their free time. I have seen a number of realtors and flight instructors, but I'm curious to see what else people have done or are doing and how successful its been. …

Hey guys, after a little break from Baseops, was checking back in with you all to see what stuff I need to be aware of. Are there issues out there you think I need to know about or concerns, etc? Im not going to engage in debates or complaints about votes I have taken, but was curious if there is anything I need to be aware of. I'm still flying in the guard so I know about many of them, but wanted to see what was up Feel free to PM if youd rather, cant guarantee Ill be on often but Ill take a look occasionally. Hope everyone is doing well.

B-52 lost an engine over North Dakota. Being reported as literally losing the engine. Engine falls from B-52 bomber over North Dakota Edit - Sounds more like an uncontained failure.

https://www.kens5.com/mb/news/local/plane-crash-reported-in-mckinney/381002833 Lt Col (Ret) Gregory "Spanky" Barber, a U-2 pilot, and C4C Tim Barber died when their aircraft was struck by another allegedly doing aerobatics immediately after takeoff.

I'm skeptical this will happen or if there is really a need but there is a good bit of research going into this... https://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161220-the-aerial-tankers-that-helped-shrink-the-globe https://www.google.com/patents/US20030136874 https://www.range-unlimited.com/ https://theconversation.com/in-flight-refuelling-for-airliners-will-see-non-stop-services-shrink-the-globe-39931 Reading this and thinking about my own time flying the mighty 135, the only way I could see this happening and being profitable/logistically sensible is if you could synchronize the tankers and receivers by a reciprocative schedule/flight plan or rendezvous .…

Does anyone know the convention that the USAF uses in its B-courses? I can't find any regulation or any other document that dictates how it is decided. For example 16-EBG at Luke or 15-BBH at Holloman. They aren't always the same even at the same base. Does anyone know what or how the letters are decided? Thank you for your time! Redshift

NSA is also a sinking ship... https://www.cyberscoop.com/nsa-morale-down-keith-alexander-mike-rogers/