General Discussion

Search and rescue effort underway for missing aircraft Posted 1/28/2013 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs 1/28/2013 - AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- Search efforts are underway after Aviano Air Base lost contact with one of its F-16 fighter jets at approximately 8 p.m. this evening. The aircraft was performing a training mission over the Adriatic Sea with one person on board. The pilot's condition is unknown at this time. More information will be released as it becomes available.

Does anybody have a T-38 Dash 1 from prior to 2008? I'm looking for the before takeoff portion of the checklist to compare against the current checklist. If you have a copy and can scan that portion, please PM me.

I've been wondering when I would hit the triggers for my command wings and higher aviator pay. A simple google search showed that the wings come at at 15 years as a rated pilot and the pay at more than 14 years since my first flight. Simple enough. However, I was DNIF for 14 months and seperated for 21 months before joining the guard. ARMS is telling me that the non-flying months due to my DNIF and seperation don't count towards the gates and I am not elibile for the pay and wings for a while longer. Everything I've read reinforces the gates I've listed above and don't mention non-flying months counting against me. I've never heard of a non-flying staff tour delayi…

Story here. From the article:

https://www.wtsp.com/news/article/292243/8/Staff-Sgt-Emily-Clayburn-killed-in-accident-at-MacDill-Air-Force-Base Anybody hear about this? This poor girl was from my area. My base Honor Guard tended to her remains and she was buried today.

Short interview with a former Air Force officer who's releasing a book entitled Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It’s Time for a Revolution. It think he's spot on in many ways. Some significant quotes: "In my ideal Navy, Maverick would still be flying his Tomcat. Today, he’s either working on a spreadsheet or PowerPoint in the Pentagon basement, or he’s flying a 747 out of Hong Kong as a civilian pilot for United Airlines. and: "More to the point, Ike would have been rotated out of his role as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe in 1943 to give someone else a turn." Read more: https://nation.time.com/2013/01/21/why-cant-th…

Is it possible to go from the ANG as an Air Battle Manager to Active Duty Air Force? I know AD Air Force has something called the prior service program, but does it work the same for Officers also? Any recruiters or with knowledge thereof can shed light on this?

Many of these topics have been discussed here piecemeal before, but my Google-fu has failed to turn up any dedicated thread. I know we have many retirees & separatees (current or imminent), so hopefully this thread will be value-added. So, I've dropped my papers--I get promoted to "Mister" on 1 July. So far, the retirement outprocessing stuff has been a lot like a PCS, just more painful. I think I've got my brain wrapped around most of it so far, with a couple of glaring exceptions. I'm hoping some of the ORFs who have gone before me can help me work out the best answer(s) for myself & my wife. Particulars: retiring as an O-5 with 21 yrs, 8 mos; marri…

I would like to know the difference between Air Force rated officers vs. their non-rated counterparts. I've heard being rated gives you opportunities for command and such, as opposed to being non-rated. Does being rated unlocks things non-rated officers don't have access to? What are the benefits of being rated? Please be thorough with your responses.

I coulda SWORE there was a thread on this topic already, but TFSF is coming up dry. Anyway, They've started digging in Burma, and the initial look isn't so good. I'm hoping they find something, but even IF there were airplanes buried out there, we all know how well the jungle tends to treat metal.

" Air Force Announces KC-46A Candidate Bases The Air Force announced today Altus Air Force Base, Okla., and McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., as candidate bases for the KC-46A formal training unit (FTU). Altus Air Force Base, Okla.; Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.; Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.; and McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., are candidate bases for the first active-duty led KC-46A main operating base (MOB). Forbes Air Guard Station, Kan.; Joint-Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; Pease Air Guard Station, N.H.; Pittsburgh International Airport Air Guard Station, Pa.; and Rickenbacker Air Guard Station, Ohio, are candidate bases for the fir…

Not. Good. FAA orders 787 grounding until battery problem fixed

Rumor- we are down to less than a handful of the traditional fly-away deployment ORIs. Maybe they are going virtual/telecon? Discuss/Confirm?

In case you've made it to this board, you find a growing number of military docs frustrated by interruptions in training, long deployments, in between dealing with the machine and all its paperwork/PME/AAD (this is not a typo, BTZ LT Col requires an AAD not your MD) and nurse commanders who scream and yell and throw clip boards. I invite you to peruse: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=72

https://www.aopa.org/...&WT.mc_sect=gan

https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/11/mali-rebels-idUSL5E9CB4H420130111

I've heard the term used by Marines meaning "Person Other than Grunt." Urban dictionary said it also means "Permanently On the Ground" for AF, Navy and Army aviation. For you flyers, how accurate is that statement?

https://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/07/16394159-first-thoughts-hagel-a-man-without-a-party?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1 Thoughts? I think this isn't a bad move for the Sec Def. A lot of people say he is too tough on Israel and not tough enough on Iran but the truth will come out in the confirmation hearings and I would bet he gets confirmed.

I'm not too sure here but it seems like there is more to this... I have a couple theories but both are about as stupid as this whole story. https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/viewart/20130103/NEWS02/301030015/Mom-Boy-didn-t-steal-plane-crash JASPER — A teen pilot killed along with two friends in an Alabama plane crash had his own key to the aircraft and had flown it many times, his mother said Wednesday, denying authorities’ assertion that the plane had been taken without permission. Sherrie Smith said her 17-year-old son Jordan Smith was the one flying the plane that went down in the Alabama woods Tuesday night. The Federal Aviation Administration …

Sounds like the pilot got out safe https://www.cbs47.tv/...CWiGM_vGDA.cspx

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/27/gen-norman-schwarzkopf-who-led-coalition-forces-in-persian-gulf-war-dies/ Him Him.

I've been thinking that a large, upcoming problem will be the downsizing of the Military with a weak economy. Expectations are a million folks in the next few years will transfer from Military life to Civilian life. Here's one of the efforts to help with education/housing/jobs, etc. https://www.gotyour6.org/ It's spearheaded by the entertainment industry- not normally our biggest supporters. Good on them though. I do find the comment on helping our service members return to be "assets" rather than "liabilities" offensive.

https://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3afd132b93-a775-4e88-bcd8-8a8067cafc0a And will be relying on us for gas.

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.

I'm trying to write a couple LOEs and it's been a while. I've gone on e-publishing and can't seem to find the AF Form 77. Has it been replaced by something else? Is there any other way to write a letter of evaluation?