General Discussion

Anyone want to share stories of military posers they’ve run across? I’ve got some junk cars on my property that I’m cleaning out, so I called the local scrap yard, and they sent out a wrecker. The driver seemed like a nice enough guy, so I got to talking to him. According to him: He is in the Army Reserve, and is Spec Ops out of Fort Bragg. He had just got back from South Africa, hunting terrorists. He has 34 years in the military, and is a Major. He went so far as to show me a set of DCU’s he had in the front seat of his wrecker, complete with Special Forces and Ranger tabs. OK, maybe none of that is impossible, but dude, you’re a Major, a Special Opera…

Who in the enlisted catagory does a second liutenant out rank? What about first liutenant/

Read this article while snooping on Air Force Times... Consider it a learning tool for all... ********************************************** Military pension would be hard to match By Barbara H. Pietrowski - Special to the Times It's fairly easy to calculate the dollar amount of a military pension after 20 years of active service, and we know a military pension is indexed for inflation so that it goes up over time as cost-of-living increases are granted. But what is it really worth to you? One way to answer this question is to ask: "How much money would I need in a retirement nest egg to give me a monthly income instead of my military pension?" …

This would be a kick in the nut sac: https://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/11/military-budget-recommendations-retirement-cuts-111710w/ Second task force seeks to cut retired pay By Rick Maze - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Nov 17, 2010 17:01:47 EST The military retirement system is under attack from another group trying to cut federal spending, and this time they say they would make the changes apply even to current service members who have less than 15 years of service. In a report released Nov. 17, the Debt Reduction Task Force of the Bipartisan Policy Group recommends cutting military retirement costs in half by making three changes: • Instead of dra…

How long is the flight from Seattle to Japan? Will we still go to Hawaii? I've got a 0430L T/O & a 2115L Landing. THis part of my trip is tough to figure out my anti-jetlag plan. Can someone explain how this flight might work out? Any jet-lag tips are good too. I don't plan on it being too bad, but I want to be up and running the day after I arrive. BENDY

Apparently, this bill was passed in both the House and the Senate and is on the POTUS' desk. Does anyone have information how this will work? My residency is in TX and hers is ND. Will she just be able to fill out some paperwork to change that? Thanks! https://www.spousebuzz.com/blog/2009/08/military-spouse-residency-relief-act.html Military Spouse Residency Relief Act August 5, 2009|GBear Seriously, what Military Spouse normally gives two seconds of thought to the Defense Authorization Bill? Well..this year we may all want to pay a bit more attention. Sen Richard Burr (R-NC) has sponsored the Spouse Residency Provision under legislation approved July 23…

I was always curious about how much fuel the military burned. 128.3 million barrels, or $8.8 billion worth last year according to the article. And I thought $20 - $25 a tank was high. Pentagon battles high fuel costs

Please forgive this IFR civvy flyer's ignorance, but given that military aircraft must be able to operate no matter how bad the weather, how come Ramstein has become the first DoD airbase to install a CAT III ILS? (Ramstein's ILS) Does the use of a PAR service at military airfields make ILS, whether CAT I, II or III, redundant? [ 04. January 2007, 22:38: Message edited by: Toro ]

Okay...i apologize if someone is about to bust out the search function search function search function remark, but i did try and was unsuccessful. This question is one that i have never gotten an answer on because no one seems to know both sides of the story. I thought this would be good place to throw it out. What are the differences between life and lifestyle in a civilian aviation career and a military aviation career. Major points i am looking for include FINANCIAL (primary), family life, professional opportunities near the end of careers, and any other major pros and cons. In other words, if i were to ask you to tell me why i should spend the rest of my life in …

Even though the terms UAV, RPA, and their triple-gold medals and ribbons are not highly favored in these forums, there is plenty of new stuff in development that seems to have been glossed over in the world and, well, in the location where all the intelligent aviators seem to hang out: BA.net. In fact, this is probably the perfect time for us (however you choose to define the term) to look in another direction, and different "insert your own colloquial term of the minute, i.e. synergylisticaly-out-of-the-box" thinking. Rules are: there has to be pictures (SFW), it has to be somewhat-reasonably credible, and no discussion about how the technology will affect your p…

Good news, especially for you AETC folks in Texas and Vance: The Million Air FBO's at Hobby and Fayetteville Arkansas just got the military servicing/fueling contract. Although EFD is close by, swing into HOU next time you're in Houston. We went through Hobby back in Feb, and it is top shelf: good flight planning, professional line crew, free snacks/drinks,... even the crew car is a BMW 5 series. FYV probably has the same, as this is a Million Air standard. The movie theatre is impressive too. The tower guys at Hobby are great, and give you whatever they can. Hobby has 7600', and Fayetteville's 6000' of runway. You T-38 pilots are out of luck at FYV, but HOU…

WTF? How is it that this can happen? It's is beyond mild frustration and is impacting orders, PCS, retirements...Nothing better that putting all our eggs in one crappy basket! MilPDS Maintenance, 20 Oct/0600-28 Oct/0001 CDT (SECOND EXTENSION) 26 Oct/1922 CDT: The MilPDS maintenance scheduled for completion on Thursday, 27 Oct 16 has been extended to 0001 CDT (0501Z) on Friday, 28 Oct. Please remember, if you have not been identified by your component lead as a tester, please do not attempt to login to MilPDS until the validation period is over. Personnel will be notified when validation is complete and the application is ready for use. 24 Oct/1537 CDT:…

What fixed wing AF aircraft could potentially support being a static display on a runway that is 4500'x75?

For the USAFE guys (or anyone who knows) - where'd this name come from?

Just for my own discussion/knowledge sake, I've been trying to come up with the mininum runway lengths for our various AF. Do these #'s sound right? F15 - 8000' F-16 - 6000'(Forward Zone) & 8000' normal T-6A - 4000' C130 - 3000' combat and 6000' normal T-37 - ? C-17 - ?

Lost my pilot slot in ROTC on a eye technicality, going to Minot as a contracting officer. Anybody know anything about the base such as what the VOQ are like, living off base and what that is like, typical rent, wx info etc etc? Any input from those in the know would be great, thanks.

A Minot B-52 and Skywest RJ had a “near miss” which required the Skywest to maneuver abruptly. No ADS-B data is available yet to see just how close they got. https://www.newsweek.com/delta-pilot-b-52-bomber-minot-minneapolis-2101599

What's the deal with the Huey emergency landing up at Minot? Slow news time? Typically you don't read about them and no fatalities still leaves a lot to the imagination: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2013/02/ap-minot-huey-makes-emergency-landing-north-dakota-022513/

Anyone else going? Drop me a note.

Miranda Rights for Non-American terrorists Weekly Std. Article "Miranda Rights apply to terrorists, says Obama" So... I guess the question is who is really going to be paying for their lawyers if they have a right to one?

https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/22/us-japan-f16-crash-idUSBRE86L02L20120722 No word yet on the pilot.

Looks like we've got some boys missing after an attack... https://us.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/17/s...sing/index.html

where did Brabus' thread at the top go?

OK, I admit it, I work in the AMC Fuel Efficiency Office (FEO) and I was responsible for the whole Mission Index Flying (MIF) project. For a little background, I am a reservist flying for a major airline and took the job in FEO to get away from the airline for a bit in January of 2009. Originally I signed on for 9 months, but it lasted 2 yrs and 9 months...it's the military. As a commercial airline pilot I was appalled that the MAF did not use cost index algorithms in our flight planning system or in the aircraft. I was more appalled (and disappointed) when I learned that it would cost about $40-$50 Million dollars to put it into EACH fleet. No way we had the money f…

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