General Discussion

Heard today that the 6th will be losing its FID mission. Sad if it's true, very unique capability just never seemed to fit.

Didn't make the news but a AFSOC OA-1K had an engine failure that resulted in an off-runway excursion. I am told the aircraft had a chip light the day prior. Maintenance changed the oil, did an engine run and signed it off to fly. The next day the crew was taking off when the chip light illuminated, followed quickly by a low oil pressure warning and the engine seized shortly thereafter. The crew did a great job of getting it down but ran off the end of the runway...no one was hurt. The thing is a beast, looks like they could bang the dents out, wash it off, bolt a new motor on and go fly. The bigger concern is the PT-6 failure, one of the most reliab…

OffAviation topic... We had a great little snackbar with all kinds of sandwiches, cakes, candy, chips, drinks, subs, etc. It made enough money that we never got hit up for dues, never had to pitch in for going-away plaques, and had a great Christmas party last year, FREE. Last week, the AAFES boss got pissed that we were making money, and he was not. So he got legal involved....long story short, we were ordered to shut everything down. I'm sure the expenses will remain (going-away gifts, Christmas party, etc.) but the income will now be painful...dues, etc. NOW THE POINT: I know there are regs on this, and legal issues that MUST be adhered to. My question is: …

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Anyone know the formula they use to get wind drift on the wiz wheel? I'm trying to make a spread sheet to calculate the wind drift on final for some approaches we shoot a lot. I already have one that can work the timing, just want to add headings too.

It was time to put away the homemade wine as I was about to enter crew rest for what would be the most memorable flight of my career. This was the third mission of the war for us. A snippet from this book https://www.amazon.com/Ghostriders-1976-1995-William-Walter-ebook/dp/B09VQWY5RP/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid&sr&fbclid=IwAR1vELr1aoqfQjbqO5BywaXVt7DDWvGiBeBh9ZuJL-V4stML3whaaGOFpAY On the evening of January 21, mission planners began tasking AC-130s identically as they did for fighters as two AC-130s were assigned to 30x30 nautical mile “kill boxes.” On this night, weather was good and both crews were advised there would be a fighte…

From the searching I've done on this forum, I've noticed a trend. "Good family life" tends to be associated with the KC10, and "gone all the time" seems to be associated with the C17. Can anybody confirm or deny this observation? Thanks in advance.

I am currently a college student and I want to get a private pilots license before trying for a pilot slot with the ANG (since it will speed up the training process, and increase my likelihood of selection). However, due to my families recent financial situation, I will have to do it with my own money (which is lacking being the stereotypical college student). This summer I will have an Internship that will pay me a decent amount. If anyone has any tips on how to get a license on the budget of a college student, it would be very welcome!

Holy crap...as far as I can tell, this is actually a pretty damn good idea. Base gyms to be open 24/7 Summary: On commander approval, gyms will stay open 24/7, with access via CAC and security cameras in place. Surely, something or somebody will f*** this up.

Hi all. I know there is a lot archived here but am having a hard time with the new search since the site upgraded. Mainly wondering about good sources for t6 gouge that I can scrub before my class starts. In particular are boldface and ops limits up to date on the following site? https://www.t6driver.com/gouge_boldface.html The page looks like it was last updated when geocities was the hot shit but has lots of resources. Would hate to put time into something super outdated.

https://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/careers/2015/08/28/force-future-report-ash-carter-review/32476549/ Discuss

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…

Here we again, another person to say the era of fighter jets are over. I just wanna hear what the real pilots here have to say about this? https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/elon-musk-says-the-fighter-jet-era-has-passed.html

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…

Heard through the grapevine about this just now. Allegedly an Iraqi pilot in training, no word if it was dual or solo though. Hoping everyone is alright...

Just an opinion question here. Do you think MX is inadvertently torpedoing efforts to modernize and upgrade older aircraft by reporting a higher than actual mission capable rate? Not to take anything away from MX, those guys are miracle workers; however, from a bystander's perspective, it seems like it is a lot harder to pitch "we need new engines" when on paper your aircraft is reporting an 80-100% mission capable rate. The obvious retort to the request for new engines then becomes "well, if your airplane is functioning so well, why do we need to spend the money on new engines?" I have a strictly ops oriented point of view, with no real grounds in MX or acquisiti…

Has anyone tried this? Looks to be an Android equivalent of Foreflight. Is it worth a download?

I know I am cynical, but 15 years? Really? Wasn't the U-2 designed in 120 days or something? The mighty KC-135 went from proposal to test flight in 2 years. Our acquisition process is jacked up. Glad to see they're keeping at least one good-location base open for business at least.

This is a really long shot, and I apologise for the cryptic nature of it, but... Does anyone know MAC C-5 crewmembers who flew classified missions through the 1970s? Probably part of a unit whose mission included supporting AFSC and CIA. I would imagine it was a tight-knit community, but I don't know anyone who was part of it. Specifically, I am looking to speak to a crew who flew into Egypt on 21 Sept 1977. TIA

Air Force Times Link Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta will be the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War. On Thursday, President Obama spoke with Giunta, who is assigned to 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, in Vicenza, Italy, to inform him that he will be awarded the nation’s highest valor award, according to the White House. Giunta, 25, will be honored for his actions during a fierce firefight Oct. 25, 2007, in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. According to the White House announcement, when an insurgent force ambush split Giunta’s squad into two groups, he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade …

Why in the hell is a picture of Maj Gilbert’s mother in a moment of extreme grief, on the Air Force website? https://www.af.mil/news/story_media.asp?storyID=123035120 What are we trying to prove. Please tell me this is not some ploy to show the Air Force is taking losses too. These PA tools need a swift kick in the junk. Let me state for the record, if I ever buy the farm and AF.mil decides to place a picture of my parents grieving on the website, I am asking each and everyone of you to drive to the Pentagon and knock some common sense into someone. I’ve had far too many friends die trying to protect our way of life to have their sacrifice turned into a …

Please baby Jesus...bring some justice to this douche canoe.

I finally read about the conspiracy theory on this exercise, other than imposing martial law on Texas to pave the way for theft of precious bodily fluids and prepare the population for mass brainwashing, what's the big deal? OPSEC considered, is anybody here going to support this LFE? Ok, Wolverines...

Good Morning, I have been lurking here for a while. I am your typical stars in your eyes pilot select getting ready for OTS. Looking forward to flying. I am an accountant and have been in the professional world about 6 years, and no work is a 4 letter word just like Sh**. I read through the discussions here and read about some of the things you guys are going through. As someone who has a pie in the sky view of what flying would be it is a dose of reality about the lifestyle and that is healthy. Would you recommend for others to join the AF and fly? Would you do it all over again? What are some of the pitfalls that I will face as a young officer and how would you nav…

Are there any models of C-17's that have the stick located on the side instead of the center? I have heard that they are mounted on the side from several people but all of the photos that I can find show that it is in the center.