General Discussion

20 years ago today, on 31 Jan 1991, SPIRIT 03, an AC-130H from the 16th SOS was shot down by a MANPAD while providing close air support for Marines during the Battle of Khafji. All 14 crewmembers died. It was the single largest loss of Air Force personnel during the Gulf War. Please take a moment to remember their sacrifice... Major Paul J. Weaver - Pilot Captain Clifford Bland, Jr. - Co-Pilot Captain Dixon L. Walters - Electronic Warfare Officer Captain Arthur Galvan - Fire Control Officer Captain William D. Grimm - Navigator Senior Master Sergeant Paul G. Buege - Sensor Operator Senior Master Sergeant James B. May II, Gunner Technical Sergeant Robert K. Hod…

I saw the openings on the 365 list, and was pretty interested - anybody know someone I can talk to who is actually doing it. I've lost my contacts since leaving the T-6 awhile back... Same goes for anyone doign Kinetic Caravan...

If you know anyone who flew the T-38 and their GRANDFATHER flew the T-38, please drop me a msg. I'm looking for 2 or 3 generations of pilots in the aircraft. Sluf

Has anyone been able to get their CAC reader to work on a MAC not using a windows partition, just plain ole OS X?

Unmanned aircraft program takes on first class Hopefully they can increase the volume in the 18X pipeline enough to reduce demand and cut the non-vol 11X pulls.

Air Force’s ‘All-Seeing Eye’ Flops Vision Test It’s the one of the most revolutionary — and one of the most chilling — weapons to come out of America’s decade of conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gorgon Stare, a new “all-seeing” camera system for aerial drones, is supposed to boost U.S. surveillance by an order of magnitude, by installing a hive of nine or more cameras under the wing of an Air Force Reaper drone. Gorgon Stare-equipped Reapers are meant to watch over a “city-size” area, while also simultaneously sending video feeds to dozens of “customers” on the ground. There’s just one problem. Gorgon Stare doesn’t work as promised, at least according to the A…

5 generals mishandled $87M, comptroller says By Bruce Rolfsen brolfsen@militarytimes.com Five generals have been disciplined for mishandling $87 million and failing to meet Air Force standards. Gen. Roger Brady, Gen. Stephen Lorenz, Lt. Gen. Glenn Spears, Maj. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski and Brig. Gen. Sandra Gregory received letters of admonishment for acting inappropriately in 2005 by allowing the Air Force to over draw its fund for permanent change-of-station moves, according to Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a service spokesman. All had budget- or personnel related jobs. The Defense Department uncovered the shortage in 2006 during a routine audit. Brady and Lorenz…

Came across this link of some pictures and transcript of yesterdays launch at Vandenburg. Looking at the pictures I am wondering the pucker factor of the launch controller who had his finger on a self destruct button. Looking at the pics on the link you can see a fire at a seam on one of the external boosters and later you see a fire just above one of the engines. Hopefully there are some guys with knowledge with these monsters on this forum. https://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d352/status.html

I am running into some problems trying to see if I qualify for partial DLA. I was forced moved because of renovations from one base housing unit to another. From reading JFTR Vol 1 U-5630 Ch. 5, Part G, Para 15, it seems as though I would qualify. However, no one at my base seems to know who is suppose to fund it. They need a LOA (line of accounting?) to process the payment, but finance sends me to TMO, who sends me to housing, who sends me to Privatized housing, who sends me to finance, and the circle continues. Has anyone had an experience with this or any idea on how to help? Thanks in advance!

I am starting UPT at Columbus this October. My first choice will be C-21s. I have heard rumors that they are all going to gaurd or reserves. Any truth to that. If so when is that supposed to happen? Does Yokota still have C-21s?

Does anyone have a briefing guide for a C-130 formation brief that would be used/given by the MC. I am not talking about an AC brief or table top brief or anything like that. I am talking about the actual Formation brief given by the MC. I looked in the 3-3 and vol. 3 etc. and got nothing. I also checked the gouge section on this site to no avail. Anybody got a legit guide, gouge, know where to get one? Thanks -Barney E/H Model

I'm a UPT student hoping for T-44's. I have a wife, child, and a dog. Just wondering what the housing situation (on-base, rentals, etc.) is for AF Lt's going to Corpus for T-44 training? Thanks for any advice.

Originally saw this here. Here's the text from a related story that was easier to copy and paste: The website to the commission and its actual report isn't loading correctly, but the link to it is here.

https://www.baseops.net/jeppesen/ Just noticed that link on the main page... What's the deal with this, how is baseops involved? (the link on the main page points to a baseops site, not a jep site). Also noticed that milplanner link... Jep getting more friendly with the DoD?

I'm a few weeks away from receiving my UPT assignment and have found out we have the opportunity to put down a preference for our FTU location after IFF. I've been unable to find anyone at my squadron who's spent any time at the Guard FTU in Klamath Falls, and was hoping I could get some first hand information from some of the guys on this board. Is that part of Oregon a nice place to live for the 6-9 months you'll be there? How does it compare to the "Redneck Riviera" that is Panama City? Appreciate the info.

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors. Air Force Col. James E. Dennany, 34, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Maj. Robert L. Tucci, 27, of Detroit, will be buried as a group Jan. 14, in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery. On Nov. 12, 1969, Dennany and Tucci were flying the number three aircraft of three F-4Ds escorting an AC-130 gunship on a night strike mission over Laos. After the gunship attacked six trucks and set two of them on fire, th…

New show on Discovery, starts Fri 14 Jan--I've got my DVR set. Trailers look interesting.

Fellow pilots, Cranium's up & FYI: New charting specification should appear in the NTAP soon: Here's a sneak peak (attachment). Also, "Taxi into Position and Hold" is going away, to be replaced by "Line up and Wait" even here in the CONUS. Link below to new rules on use of LUAW. FAA Notice Fly safe! Graphic Notice for MTA_Final.pdf

https://www.switched.com/2010/12/27/navy-pilots-flew-helicopters-into-lake-tahoe-for-facebook-pictur/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYExH8hpgXI&feature=player_embedded

On September 3rd, 1951, a strike force of U.S. Navy Grumman F-9 Panthers was going in to hit the railroad freight yards at Wonson, North Korea. The formation was from VF-51, the "Screaming Eagles," staging from the aircraft carrier USS Essex. While over the target area, one of the aircraft, tail number 125122, was struck by anti-aircraft artillery fire and lost elevator control. The pilot, a 21 year old NROTC aviation cadet, managed to nurse his crippled aircraft back across friendly lines, then, unable to land, ejected from the aircraft near a friendly air base. He then parachuted to earth safely and without injury, though certainly shook up for the ordeal. …

Hello Everyone! The Warfighter's Edge (WEdge) Team at USAFA has taken ownership of Mark Jacobson's Google Earth Pilot software. . . it's now called the WEdge Viewer and the BETA is available to you. Just send me an email. . .Email me Check out our website at www.wedge.hpc.mil. We've got a slew of certified and accredited software applications built by Warfighters for Warfighters. We've already made many enhancements to Mark's original software. By end of CY 2010, we hope to release an upgraded version of the WEdge Viewer that increases DAFIF rendering times tenfold (through the use of a spatially enabled database). The software is GOTS (government-off-the-shelf) …

Do any of you T-38 pilots have any recent experience landing at civilian fields in SoCal, as far as getting an airstart? How about Palm Springs? I know SBD, Chino, Van Nuys, and Long Beach are good to go.

So, the new BAH rates for 2011 came out (STS) today. I'm moving to Clovis in a few months and guess what, the BAH for my paygrade dropped by $70 from CY10-CY11. The strange thing about that is house prices in Clovis have skyrocketed since the AFSOC takeover (almost double vs a few years ago in Clovis). So a similar house in Clovis to the one I'm in will cost $500 more per month than the one I'm currently in and I'm going to lose $300 per month in BAH. :bash:

My grandfather enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the late 30s, and then he spent most of the War in the South Pacific as a nav and pilot on 17s and as an IP on 29s in Mississippi (to the best of my knowledge). Well, he died in 2003 and left all his medals and ribbons to me. However, my grandmother (his wife), just passed away last week, finally putting me in possession of said medals and ribbons. My question is: how do I found out what each one is for? He stayed in the service for years and years as a reservist after the War ended, so I can't figure out which decorations belong to which time period. I'm assuming there's a website out there that would have all of these thi…