General Discussion

I just finished Scott O'Grady's book Return With Honor, and wanted gain some perspective. I've heard two conflicting stories. One, makes it sound like he made some mistakes and sort of screwed the pooch. The other makes it sound as though the missile was a complete surprise to both O'Grady and his flgiht lead, and fate wasn't on his side that day. Any thoughts, especially from the more senior folks out there who were active when all this occurred?? [ 25. April 2004, 14:54: Message edited by: MEH9030 ]

I feel like I am getting screwed by the Air Force. I am AFROTC and was awarded a navigator slot as a alternate in Novermber of 2004. 5 days later I was given a pilot slot. In January 05 I went to Brooks. On the 10th of this month, I was told I was DQd from pilot because of my eyes, but I was given a waiver for navigator. However, no navigator slots are available at this time. Because of this, and the timing of it all, I have been slated to be a missile/munitions maintenance officer, but I have not been given a base. They said that I may get a nav slot back if one becomes available prior to commissioning (14 May 05), but if not, I have to take the missile/munitions …

https://www.ehowa.com/showmovie.shtm...=birdstrike.wmv Interesting piece of HUD footage, looks like maybe a T-45 at CRP. IP does a great job of handling the IFE, remaining calm while the stud starts to stress, transfering control to unload the front seater so they can focus on a re-light, making a timely decision to unass the jet and even gets a call off to the tower first. Bonus points for the use of "jeepers" as an expletive. Nice solid piece of aviating. Hope those guys didn't get hurt. [ 29. July 2005, 18:29: Message edited by: LJDRVR ]

Does anyone know anything about civilian contract aviation postions (preferably pilot but I'd be interested in avionics-that's my major) with the military (or its contractors)? I'm asking because I might have a medical condition that would prevent me from becoming a military pilot (or nav), but I could still get a 1st class medical- no problem. I know a lot of these jobs require previous military experience- I have none. I've always been very interested in military aviation and I'm just trying the see if I can be still involoved and do what I enjoy. Thanks!

Hello, I am a CSO student and I want to be an EWO. I would like to get as much information as possible about being an EWO/air crew on the RC-135 and B-52. Thanks for the help

Hey guys I've got a question for you about where a guard fighter guy should go for UPT. I know it probably doesn't matter too much in the long run, but here's my question. Currently I have dates for ENJJPT in June, but today I was told that if I want to go sooner they'll look for dates at other bases before June. Any reason why I should hold out and go to ENJJPT or should I take anything between now and June at Vance, Laughlin or Columbus? Thanks guys.......

Do students get any time off for holidays to go home such as Thanksgiving or Christmas?? If so how long do these last. Just curious and thanks for the help.

Apologies in advance for the anal question. Hit the back button on your browser now if you have a life. When the T-Birds pilots do their robotic dancing to the jet, up the ladder and then into the jet, they momentarily stand on the seat. My question is: on the two occasions I have flown in the back of the F-16, I've been told never to stand on the seat. Looking around the ramp it's clear it's not just because I am a fat bastard that I've been told that, because everyone else has to do the contortionist’s entry and exit from the Viper 'pit, too. So, how come the T-Birds can do it? Incidentally, the only reason I was ever given was that the F-16's ACES II has a fibreg…

I've heard of some sweet assignments flying C-12's for the State Department in Africa and South America. I know about the remotes to Korea, but that is not what I am interested in. I searched the AFPC website, but found nothing. Anyone know where I can get some gouge, or any good people to talk to?

So my fiance and myself (OK, mostly me) are wondering when the heck we'll find out what his orders are for after he commissions? He got a pilot slot last March, goes for his flight physical the last week of August and will graduate and commission June 10, 2007. When do ROTC guys typicaly find out the when and where for their first base? Is there a typical order of what they do (ie. ASBC, then IFS, then UPT?) Does anyone know the typical wait for UPT right now? We're hoping to get married 3 weeks after he commissions - so I was just wondering what anyone else knew. Thanks!

Just a quick question: Without going into classified information, at any given equivalent air-to-air configuration, would I be right to assume that an F-15C can outturn an F-16D at a given low speed and altitude? According to the USAF Fact Sheets (lol), The Eagle allegedly has a higher thrust-to-weight ratio 1.12/1.30 compared to the Block 30 Viper's .0898/1.012 (depending on powerplant) and lower wingloading (only 83%) than the Viper (Block 30, at least). I assume these figures are for an equivalent configuration, and I'm assuming they're not skewed. So if someone with some aeronautical knowledge could tell me if higher t/w and lower wingloading necessarily tra…

I apologize in advance if this is in a thread somewhere else already. I tried searching, but apparently the words "air force" (go figure) and "one" are pretty common on this site...If there's another thread already, I'll gladly take this there. I was wondering what kind of an assignment working Air Force One is. I would imagine is a pretty prestigious one, and probably also a small group of people, which when combined, make it mighty tricky to get into. Anyone BTDT? Probably some great stories and would make a great book.

Anyone know exactly the weight of a SOS training report and its weight on an O4 board? I know if you get top 1/3 or DG it reflects that, but are the rest of them canned or what? I have consistant strats throughout most of my OPRs as well as the other required crap, so I would assume combat time, deployments, strats, awards, decs etc would hold more weight than the SOS training report?

I want to port our paper ORM worksheet into the digital world and dont have a lot of coding skills. Looking for a single product that allows pilots to quickly complete ORM with a database back-end for safety data analysis. Anybody currently use this process in their unit or have files they could send me to poach from?

The Army had a policy for an additional 3 years, you could select your branch. In this case, aviation in attending flight school as a Commission Officer. While in AF SUPT in being so YOUNG to the AF, would YOU volunteer an additional 3 years for a certain aircraft selection? The AF would get an additional 3 years out of you without spending one thin dime in bonus money. Remember, you're young and your dreams await you.

Good morning all, Board results were just announced and I was one of the unfortunate ones that didn’t make it. Had about 24hrs to soak up this information and I think it’s time for me to start thinking about what’s going to happen next in my life. Here’s some info about my career so far. Commissioned 2015 and went to a non-rated career field. In 2019 I decided to apply for the Late-to-rate boards and got picked up as an early Captain. Currently in a flying unit flying the best MAF aircraft out there (IYKYK). A basic AC with about 1000 total time (UPT/Current MWS). I had an assignment to be an instructor for UPT leaving for PIT in a couple of months, bu…

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hegseth-orders-historic-reduction-general-officers-military Thoughts on the dismal future for my fellow GO/FOs? - General C.

From War on the Rocks: https://warontherocks.com/2019/04/air-force-manned-reconnaissance-at-a-crossroads/ From the article: The world today isn’t the Cold War world of yesterday, and Cold War requirements should not justify acquisition of new assets for tomorrow’s military needs. The RC-135’s innocence has long been compromised as it has evolved from its original peacetime role into a valuable combat asset, but both missions must be performed in the future. No single replacement solution can meet both of these disparate operational requirements. The U.S. Air Force must look beyond its obsession with warfighting to identify and procure a second manned big-wi…

Where did helmet art go? Post images here to develope a collection.

Snowbirds jet down around an hour ago it seems. The video is awful to watch , doesn’t look like chutes had time to deploy.

I am on the path to a good and rewarding career, but for the past year I have been debating dropping everything I am doing and try to get hired by a unit. Had a talk with a couple of fighter pilots and told me that it is only worth it if I can't see myself doing anything else. The adult me says that I should stick with the medical field career I am pursing, save up for an aerobatics plane and go cloud surfing when I want, and I would also have the time to do other things, travel, go camping, just do nothing. But the 20 year old me says tomorrow is never promised, why not go cloud surfing in the best aircrafts ever created and get paid for it, travel, drop some bombs…

Have you guys in the CAF experienced positive results from the 8's and 9's in your organization? My experience was that if they never showed up to work at all a better decision would've been made that day. That's from the squadron all the way up to the MAJCOM. I spent a 3rd of my career on Army bases and while there were some worthless E-9s, some of them were pretty damn helpful at accomplishing the mission. I personally never met one E-8 or E-9 in the AF whose pay fairly equated to what they contributed. Not questioning the MAF or support folks because an immediate flaming about how valuable senior NCOs are would ensue. I saw it at SOS. And at ACSC. A long ti…

We invested a shitload of money in a shithole, and "Surprise!"... we get kicked out. Again. How badly is this Admin gonna keep screwing up? It appears we operate(d) two bases there. The linchpin of the U.S. military’s archipelago of bases in North and West Africa, Air Base 201 consists of a 6,200-foot runway (composed of 1.1 million square feet of asphalt), aprons, taxiways, massive aircraft hangars, multistory living quarters, roads, utilities, munitions storage, and an aircraft rescue and firefighting station, all within a 25-kilometer “base security zone.” U.S. troops eat in a 13,000-square-foot dining facility, work out in a gym, play on …

Interesting design...Hella big!