General Discussion

Reno Air Races Crash It's been a rough time on the air show circuit lately...

https://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/09/21/starr-air-force-hero.cnn?hpt=hp_c2

Some crazy shenanigans been going on within the last few days... STORY --- PK...

Interesting story on Fox... https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/general-reportedly-said-was-pressured-to-change-testimony-on-white-house-backed/ I don't know much about General Shelton but I have been following the lightsquared issue for a while now and it sure seems that have been able to fast track through the FCC despite the frequency proximity to GPS and power of their network vs. the GPS signal.

I flew my form 8 and got everything but 2 patterns due to an EP. Landed, did the ground eval got commendable and they tell me they want me to complete the entire checkride again because i didn't get the patterns. Isn't that double jeopardy? I've already completed form 8 events on a form 8 check evaluated by an FE and last I checked an EP does not void a checkride. Shouldn't I just have to get the patterns? Anyone know the reg that deals with checkrides, not the vol 2.

We recently had the "Rainbow" deployment schedule shoved down out throats. All the tanker units had this vs. the AEF buckets put to a vote. The vote was 9 to 8 in favor with two units not showing up to vote. The new schedule is 1 1/2 crews, 1-2 planes, and 1 staff for the forseable future in the desert. I understand that about 6 months ago, the active duty stopped allowing guardsmen to volunteer for deployments. It looks like this was to get units hungry enough to vote this in. It barely worked because the economy is bad and many needed this "jobs program". Can anyone tell me when, exactly, guardsmen were stopped from being allowed to deploy? I'm contacting my ele…

Just wanted to share this: SQUALENE CONFIRMED IN ANTHRAX VACCINE AFTER NUMEROUS PENTAGON DENIALS Representative Jack Metcalf of the State of Washington revealed in a report Thursday that the FDA found squalene in the anthrax vaccine being forced upon the U.S. military on pain of court martial and/or dishonorable discharge. The FDA confirmed the presence of squalene in the anthrax vaccine by using a more sensitive test than one used by the Pentagon. Squalene is NOT an FDA-approved substance and its consequences on health are unknown. As a vaccine booster ingredient, it is thought to increase immunity, but its use has been denied time and again by the Pentagon. Con…

My husband is currently training at Corpus Christi and will be selecting his aircraft soon. Neither one of us have heard much about the EC but we would like to live in Tuscon. We don't want to choose an aircraft strictly based on location though. My question is does anyone here know much about this aircraft and lifestyle? He would really like to get into a special ops plane eventually. Would this hurt his chances later on if he got an EC now? Thanks in advance for entertaining questions from a newbie.

Hey Everyone, I am currently in AFROTC and will be commissioning on 16 Dec 2011, my Entrance into active duty is on 17 Dec 2011. I am being stationed at Whiting Field NAS. I have a few questions and I was hoping someone can answer some of these: -I will be moving with my wife and 8 month old son to Whiting Field, where is the best place to live? -Have they fully transitioned from T-34's to T-6's? -What is the training environment like? -How many AF students per class? -Are there any AF IP's? Any other information would be helpful. Thank you!

Report: Jamming Device Forces Emergency Landing of U.S. Military Plane in Pacific Exercise

I'm wondering what kind of holster people use for concealed carry while wearing a flight suit. The squadron issued me a cheap nylon shoulder holster but it's not comfortable in any way. I noticed a lot of guys have bought their own shoulder holsters to wear under the bag. I've looked at the Galco Jackass system, which I like because its modular, so I can get different holster components for my personal pistols and swap them out. So what do you guys use? What features should I look for?

So I returned from my deployment to see the McConnell BX under renovations. I really wouldn't be saying anything except that it was under renovations when I left. They are adding a food court, GNC, and who knows that else in the BX. Guess my thoughts are: 1) Considering they have the space to build a new and better BX, and it would have been cheaper (yes, go figure that one out), why wouldn't they go with that plan instead of renovations. 2) If you are doing renovations to an already sad and pretty pathetic BX, wouldn't you want to make it somewhat BIGGER than what was originally there? For those that have been to or at this location, I would like to hear your t…

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

My IP approached me today about going to Vegas for cross country. I'm hoping to get him to fly into McCarren and stay on or near the strip. Does anyone know of any great deals in vegas for lodging. The last thing I want to do is stay at Nellis.

I've been surfing some GA websites lately and wondered about the cost of ownershi, maintenance, and operation cost for a few different airplanes. Anyone with any experience out there? Specifically, I'm talking about Bellanca Decathalon and/or Citabria, Christen Eagle II, and the various Pitts models. Any other good aerobatic GA airplanes I'm leaving out? How about the Van's RV-series?

Dozens of U.S. Troops Killed in Afghan Chopper Attack Also in the WSJ: Afghan Chopper Crash Kills 31 U.S. Troops, 7 Afghans

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.

All Female KC-10 Mission

Libyan Rebels Are Flying Their Own Minidrone

Interesting demo. And it seems India will get at least 150 of them...

Looks like the Red Arrows has an accident near Bournemouth today. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3764622/Red-Arrow-crash-at-air-show.html

AT-6 dry lake bed Why is it that the following gear looks to me far less scary? But then again, what do I know?...

PCAS reaches first design review ...The programme will use an unmanned A-10 Thunderbolt II or ‘Warthog’ for the demonstration in 2015... ...It is understood that DARPA is considering four munitions including the JDAM, Laser Maverick, 2.75-in rocket and gun...

Oh no! The old baseops.net access to the Airfield Suitability Reports has been yanked (I know they'e been warning us for a while but I was hoping it wouldn't happen). Now we have to get GDSS2 accounts to get to the Giant reports. As a red-headed step child C130 rescue unit in ACC, we rely heavily on the Giant reports for CONUS planning. Any of you AMC bubbas feel like helping a sister out with the odds of/procedures for requesting a GDSS2 account? I'd appreciate it a ton.

Anyone seen these yet? I saw a couple comm Nazis wearing them on Blues Monday.