General Discussion

Looking for the AFI (or the like) containing the definition of AF tail number formats. Any help would be appreciated! Something along the lines of this, Globemaster link or Globalsecurity.org link, but official.

Llyas Kashmiri He was a heavy hitter in S Waziristan. He seems to be the facilitator between UBL and field jihadis. There was no love lost between him and Pakistan either. Whatever, props to those who bagged him and tagged him. Hopefully there will be someone left for me to kill. EDIT: linky

Queen decorates Nepali for Afghanistan heroics Its like Call of Duty, except IRL. All kidding aside, hats off to this dude for not giving up. "I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I'd kill as many of [those fvckers] as I could before they killed me." ^^^^^^Hell yeah

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110527/NEWS/110527022/Iowa-airman-killed-in-Afghanistan?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage

Anyone care to share his most memorable experiences in mock air to air fights? This could include a simulator fight as well I think. Could be the time you took on the most challenging or most reputable opponent. Any humorous, dangerous, or accidental moments during or around training? If not your own, do you know a story of another, or perhaps a famous story from another era? Also how did a day of mock fighting go? What was your first engagement like? Did you go out with an instructor all day? Did you go up against several different people in one day or was money so tight that flight time was limited? Did you ever challenge anyone outside of your squadron?

Does the AF only use time in the AOR to determine the amount of reconstitution leave or do they use all time spent away from your home of record? I am deployed as guest help with another unit. I will have over 90 days deployed and will get another week of reconstitution if they consider time spent at the other unit (which is out of my State) as well as travel time getting to the AOR and back. Our Log Plans guy back home is telling me that they only use time in the AOR to calculate the leave while the unit I am with says they count all time away from home. Which is it and can someone point me to a specific reg?

Last Friday, with very little fan-fare, the AF's first production F-35A arrived at Edwards AFB. We should start seeing one or two delivered a month through the end of the year, even more after wards. One down, 1762 more go to (if anyone still believes that number).

Raptors grounded today over potential Onboard Oxygen Generating System issues.

Hmm....no wonder they made it 40 minutes into pakistan without being detected....

Anyone recently receive a type rating from a FSDO office by walking in with a form 8? Did the FSDO place any limitations on said type rating (specifically SIC)? Is there any printed guidance which defines what the FAA will issue?

To USAFE Fighter Pilots- Thought I'd pass this along and see what ya'll thought. I need your help. During a recent 4-star meeting, we talked about what appears to be a pending fighter pilot shortage. The AF's rated personnel management folks are projecting a 300 fighter pilot shortfall in FY13 that could grow to over 1000 by FY21. They also told us that the fighter community's bonus "take rate" is 10% lower than the rest of the rated community. Obviously, many of you are leaving, or thinking about leaving, the Air Force for other opportunities. If you've already made the decision to do so, then please accept my sincere thanks for your service and best wishes fo…

Seems odd to be speaking so late on a Sunday night!

This is a great telling of the story from Rescue's point of view, and reads much better than I'm sure the citation will. https://www.bagram.afcent.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123254042

I am trying to put together a list for an acquaintance who is selling their house near Randolph due to a job relocation. They wanted to know if there are any web sites specifically targeting military personnel looking to buy a home. I've heard of Military Homes For Sale and Military By Owner, but after that point I am out of Schlitz. Can anyone suggest any others? By the way, I've got no gouge on this particular home; but if anyone is interested I can get some contact info for ya! Thanks! M2

Got the message today around 1730L...RIF names were released to my Sq. Initial look seemed to match the VSP eligibility year groups. I did recognize names that applied for VSP. I was on the list. Didn't apply for VSP. Good luck to us all! 03' 11M

Gunmen using silenced pistols shot dead a senior Iraqi general in Baghdad on Thursday, an official said, the latest in a spate of assassinations of top military and civilian officials. The killing of Brigadier General Mohammed Alaa Jassim was the fourth of a senior Iraqi official in the past week, with at least three others having narrowly escaped death in that time. Jassim, the deputy commander of the Iraqi air force's Al-Muthanna base in central Baghdad, was in his car on a busy thoroughfare in the Ghazaliyah neighbourhood in the capital's west when he was killed, an interior ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Not a good month or two …

Article w/ Video When do we get the CVSLP again?

Glad everyone's OK. A couple Herks are going to need some TLC, however... From AFA's Daily Report: FlightGlobal: Full article/post with pictures.

Today, AFPC released the results of the RPA Crossflow Board. Our WG/CC will discuss the actual numbers with us tomorrow. But I know of at least one dude who has been released back to AMC for a move in FY12. I do know that it was only about 10% that were released out of the 500+ eligible.

pretty interesting... Full Story

https://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123252966 Looks like you'll need 300 days in an 18 mo period or 548 in 3 years. Lots of folks will already hit those numbers. Others, not so much.

I have seen a few people post graduate thesis related questionnaires on here lately and thought I might broaden my population a bit as well. Essentially, I am trying to find any correlations between types of electronic planning systems used, aircrew experience level, and time lost during flight planning. It is a quick 10 question survey (linked below) and would definitely appreciate your time and input. My apolgoies if some of the content does not apply to your respective communities. Thanks in advance! https://surveymonkey.com/s/NVQNMWN

Speaking of bullshit media headlines... First Lady Onboard Plane That Reportedly Just Misses Military Jet Really? Just misses? I love the quote burried in there "The FAA is investigating the incident. The Boeing 737 landed safely after executing the go around. The aircraft were never in any danger." Is it really that big of a deal? Obviously making the first lady's plane go around is not ideal but c'mon, this shit happens every day at multiple US airports. I guess it's sensational news when you've got other stories out there of controllers falling asleep. edit: sprrelling

NATO's Bomb Supply Is Running Short ..."Less than a month into the Libyan conflict, NATO is running short of precision bombs, highlighting the limitations of Britain, France and other European countries in sustaining even a relatively small military action over an extended period of time, according to senior NATO and U.S. officials"... Libya “has not been a very big war. If [the Europeans] would run out of these munitions this early in such a small operation, you have to wonder what kind of war they were planning on fighting,” said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank. “Maybe they were just planning on using their air force for air shows.”…

10 years ago this month (April 1-11) this happened. I work with the only AF guy on that plane (now a Capt) and he is a really cool guy. A couple of gee whiz stuff about that: The Chinese Pilot's name is Wang Wei which when pronounced sounds like wong way The pilot got a DFC for landing safely (and handing over tons of secretes to the Chinese) while the crew got AMs.