General Discussion

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!

Received this little doozy, and I thought we had a pilot shortage.... From: ######### 147 ARS/DO Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2013 11:17 AM To: 171 ARW/Operations Group Subject: Hat/Uniform wear HI All, We have been reminding you about uniform wear and hats in the parking lot over the last few weeks, but it has officially hit its limit. The Wing/CC was eating out at a local restaurant and saw another member of the Ops Group not wearing their hat when they should have been. This seems like a small issue, but it has gotten out of hand. If we truly believe we are the best KC-135 unit we need to show it on and off the base. Effective immediately if you are…

Found this online; cannot confirm validity, but it sounds like something that should be on DuffelBlog. Edit: I found this online and I'm relaying it over here to see what your reactions and input is. This is NOT written by me,

Was curious if any folks on here have any experience with the E-4. I'm a tanker guy right now and wanted to know if there is a recommended "path" to the E-4. I'm assuming it's super competitive, but is there any other information out there? Thanks

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/11/05/hagel-says-cuts-to-pay-and-benefits-are-needed.html Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Tuesday that troops and their families will be asked to sacrifice on pay and benefits to preserve readiness in an era of tighter budgets. Hagel listed politically-charged changes to compensation and personnel policy as one of his top six priorities in reforming the military following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the department gears up to meet new challenges. "This may be the most difficult" to achieve among his six priorities, Hagel said of proposals to trim pay increases, overhaul TRICARE and review retirement benefit…

Anyone, especially you heavy drivers, know a good place to find a large flight bag to carry pubs in?? So far I am on bag number 2 that I am returning because it is not as large as the description made it seem. Thanks for the help.

Article found on November 1 Drudge Report: https://www.wnd.com/2013/10/top-generals-obama-is-purging-the-military/ “There is no doubt he (Obama) is intent on emasculating the military and will fire anyone who disagrees with him” over such issues as “homosexuals, women in foxholes, the Obama sequester,” Brady told WND.They are purging everyone, and if you want to keep your job, just keep your mouth shut,” one source told WND. Not only are military service members being demoralized and the ranks’ overall readiness being reduced by the Obama administration’s purge of key leaders, colonels – those lined up in rank to replace outgoing generals – are quietly taking …

I'm currently at a well known undisclosed location close to the AG. All of the chow halls do ethnic food nights on any given day of the week; Monday=Taco Bar, Tuesday=Gyros, Friday=Pasta, etc... At the chow hall closest to ops someone has put up a white board welcoming people to the chow hall and then letting people know the menu of the day. No problem except recently there are drawings to accompany the ethnic menu nights. Taco Monday has included a Speedy Gonzalez and a luchadore mask. Italian Friday had Mario and Luigi with the words "you'sa welcoma to our-a Pasta night-a" and just yesterday the Curry bar had a picture of the Taj Mahal with the classic Apu/7-11 …

This is pretty cool... https://www.startribune.com/local/230375891.html SUPERIOR, Wis. — Two planes carrying skydivers collided in midair Saturday evening in far northwest Wisconsin, but no major injuries were reported. Mike Robinson, an instructor and safety adviser for Skydive Superior, said he and 10 others escaped relatively unharmed after one plane crashed into the other during what he said was a common tandem formation. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said the collision occurred about 6 p.m. at about 12,000 feet. Robinson said he and four others were preparing to jump from the lead plane with the trailing plane hit their craf…

At my last unit, if we wanted to read a safety report, the safety shop printed them out with the caveat to personally hand them back later that day or the next day for accountability. I just in processed to a new unit and they flat out refused to even pull it up saying we had to have a "need to know" which is determined by Wing Safety to the squadrons, and then there will be a mass brief to the squadron. This strikes me as odd... I pulled up 91-204 and got this: This the new norm or an AETC FTU "perk" ?

This is why Finance is always closed for "training" apparently… Unbelievable! https://www.vance.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123368125 Senior Air Force leaders have made clear that sexual harassment and sexual assault have no place in today's Air Force. One local commander decided to go beyond briefings and PowerPoint slides and try to catch her people doing the right thing. "I wanted to see if anyone in my unit would say something about a questionable photo in the work place," said Mazza. She picked the lieutenant's desk because she thought an airman would be easier to approach than the new officer in the organization. It needed to be a challenge for her people…

Not good at all. https://www.kvoa.com/news/21-air-national-guardsman-indicted/

This week I received an e-mail from my base's EO office: EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFICE. Leadership opportunity available; EO is seeking 5 project officers for the following committees: Martin Luther King Day / Jan 2014, African American Heritage Month / February 2014, Women's History Month / March 2014, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month / May 2014 and Pride Month / June 2014. To be considered, a completed nomination form with supervisor endorsement should be delivered to the EO Office, "Pride Month" corresponds to Gay Pride or LGBT Pride Month, which happens in June. This seems a little ridiculous. Anyone want to volunteer? Great OPR bull…

Anybody have first hand experience with a reputable car shop in/around Tucson? My wife is driving our older car across the country next week so I went to change the brakes/rotors and found that one of the retaining screws on her front drivers side rotor was sheared off inside the spindle. Trying to get a reasonable priced repair in a short timeframe.

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...?

Does anybody know about how to get MS Office through the Air Force for cheep...like 25 bucks?? I've heard you can do it, just don't know how...yes I did a search.

Wanted to share the official press release and donation link (from the Nevada National Guard facebook page) MSgt. Michael Landsberry of the 152d AW, NV ANG Aerial Port Flight. Hero. Left behind a wife and 2 kids. Godspeed High Roller. Him, Him https://www.nv.ngb.army.mil/nvng/index.cfm/public-affairs/news-releases/teacher-airman-landsberry-remembered-as-hero1/ https://www.nevadafund.org/

Thoughts and prayers. https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/23/us/vintage-plane-crashes-texas/index.html I almost went for a ride this past weekend when I was in Galveston visiting the wife's family.

Say goodbye to Manas: https://www.stripes.com/news/kyrgyzstan-bill-likely-to-end-us-use-of-air-base-at-manas-1.226777

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/no-injuries-as-c-130-makes-hard-landing-in-afghanistan-1.221629 *sigh* Can't wait to see what caused this.

Decent article about the decade-long camouflage uniform screw up that has seemed to plague every service but the Marines.

It seems that Air Force aviation is more competitive than Naval aviation. Is this true? Why do most people choose to go Air Force? Is it because the have a bigger selection of planes? Or do they just dislike the idea of being stuck in a ship in the middle of the ocean?

Is anyone flying this fiscal year? I'm in a bubble here at USAFA and all I know is that we're not flying (gliders, jump, powered) because of the shutdown. Today (most) of our civilians came back to work but no one knows when we will fly again.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/23/vietnam-era-fliers-buried-side-by-side-at-arlington/ Major James Sizemore and his navigator Major Howard Andre were found in Laos last year and were recently buried in Arlington. Unfortunately due to sequestration and being the end of the fiscal year the USAF said they couldn't provided a flyover. Thankfully pilots from the non-profit Warrior Flight Team stepped in and provided not one but two flyovers the second in an A-26; the same plane Sizemore and Andre flew into Laos 44 years ago. No one could come up with 4 hours to support this? I spent 30+ flight hours last week flying "medievac" missions for retired dudes with spr…

Guys, I'm a C-130J pilot (Iraqi air force), we recently bought and started flying these birds. As we are progressing we started to be aware of more issues in the aircraft. One of which is the digimap. I'm wondering if it's possible to create a map format using TASM and what format would that be? or do we have to have a contract with a third party i.e honeywell? the second is updating CNI-MU navdata, how? where from? I appreciate any inputs, Thanks,