General Discussion

"The OTA will be for a five-year technology demonstration of an airship with three weeks' endurance, a 2,500lb payload with 16kW of power, and an operating altitude of 25,000ft, 80kt dash speed and 20kt station-keeping speed. The payload will include EO/IR sensors, SAR/GMTI radar and Sigint, plus communications relay." There's few things that should be unmanned. This is one of them. I was most surprised by the "20kt station-keeping." Somebody is optimistic about winds aloft! All that endurance could get us great intel as our Gucci ISR/EW systems drift into hostile areas... On the upside, probably not a terrible idea if a non-retard puts together the requiremen…

I'm sitting hear on Christmas morning continuing with the "What do I do with my life" discussion. Lately I have had alot of heartburn with the Air Force and I can't figure out how to make my remaing 5 years of service commitment work for me. For instance, by no means am I the first person to complain about SOS and a masters degree. I have completely swallowed the blue pill and conceded to the fact that I have to do SOS in correspondence in order to be competitive to attend in residence. But what I'll do now is make sure that I do it only on the Air Force time. If that means that I spend 2 hours in front of my computer instead of putting up briefing boards, reviewing …

I was just curious for the guys who have an engineering degree/ or pursuing and engineering degree. Specifically aerospace/aeronautical I'm interested in the above: What exactly are they? What classes are involved? Experiences you had? What you thought? I'm wanting to give myself options once I graduate to possibly going into test flying. And after that possibly becoming an astronaut. But i don't want to set a trap for myself and get bad grades because before trying to become a test pilot/astronaut I have to get accepted for UPT. And I'm not even sure whether I would like the course or not, I think it looks real interesting. Any suggestions that you could…

Colonel Robert L. Howard, age 70 and believed to be the most-decorated living American before his death, passed away Wednesday from pancreatic cancer in Waco, TX. Here's to him! Biography: Colonel Bob Howard is a native of Alabama, with his home record San Antonio, Texas. He entered military service on July 20, 1956 and was medically retired on September 30, 1992. He received a direct appointment from Master Sergeant to First Lieutenant in December 1969. His thirty six years of military service included over 33 years on airborne status. He participated in two movies concerning airborne and special operations missions, both featuring John Wayne. He made …

When in a cell, when does lead pass the AA Tacan to 2? Us heavy guys don't see a cell often, but lately I've been on several locals where we have. Everyone seems to be passing the AA at different times. Couldn't find it in any tanker manuals. Just curious.

I've lived OCONUS collectively for over five years now and I just found out about these discounted APO/FPO flat rate boxes. It's (nearly) too late for this Christmas, but the USPS offers Flat Rate boxes for shipping to APO/FPO that are a couple bucks cheaper than normal flat rate large boxes (11.95 vs 13.95). For those stationed overseas who have relatives sending them stuff, let them know about these. Your folks may be able to get the boxes from their local post office, but they can also order them online (in packs of 10 or 25) and there are no shipping costs to order them. The link to USPS is here, but you can get them through a number of other sites (like stamps.c…

Heard through the grapevine, bean counters want to take away our access to Jeppesen approach plates! Tell you what; the Jeppesen African charts sure beat FLIP, hands down! What gives?

Ok, so me and a few other cadets are going to Tyndall over spring break for some F-15 rides but we don't have anywhere to stay yet. Does anyone have any past experience going there and remember where they stayed? Everywhere we are looking so far is ridiculously priced, so let me know if anyone has any ideas

Has anyone else heard of this happening yet? Just got word that PT shirts are now required to be tucked in at all times, including during PT (which is absolutely ridiculous!). Who makes these rules?

White House aides insisted F-22 be removed from Obama speech venue When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources, White House aides demanded the plane be changed to an older F-15 fighter because they didn't want Obama speaking in front of the F-22, a controversial program he fought hard to end. "White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form," one source close to the unit relayed. Stephen Lee, a public affairs officer at …

https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533700,00.html

Anyone heard anything out of the Corona? We have heard that the PAD for the new nuke paradigm has already been written and the conference was pretty much just an informational meeting. What about AFCyber?

Time to do more with less, folks! (Pretty soon we'll be doing everything with nothing) https://www.military.com/news/article/af-to-jettison-3700-airmen.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl My comments on the article WTF? We can't manage an extra 4000 people spread across the world? That's like more people at each base!?! As usual, the Air Force solution is to reduce the number of experienced, active duty experts in their fields while continuing recruiting efforts in the same manner. So we realized there was an experience gap and plussed up our forces. We have new missions in addition to the old ones...so we are cutting forces?!? Where's the logic in that?!?!

Air Force jet crashes north of Edwards AFB CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (AP) — A military jet has crashed north of Edwards Air Force base in Southern California. Kern County fire spokesman Sean Collins says the Talon T-38 went down about 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Mojave Desert. Collins says he has no immediate information on the crew. A T-38 can carry two people. Lets hope they got out.

Edited, duplicate info

What are those numbers forward of the horizontal stabilizer in the B-52 for?

I heard a rumor the other day that the AF is looking at hiring prior active duty pilots back on to active duty. Apparently mother AF has paid too many dudes to get out and is now a ton of pilots short (1k). Any other rumors out there? If so...what are your options (UAV, UAV, or UAV). I know they have done it in the past (2003)....even gave guys the bonus to come back in. Some of them got pretty sweet assignments. Could get intresting. Anyone in the know?

Dear Aviation & History Enthusiasts, My father - Flight Captain Erich Warsitz - is remembered as the first person to fly an aircraft under turbojet power, the Heinkel He 178, on August 27, 1939 and also the first to fly an aircraft under liquid-fueled rocket power, the Heinkel He 176, on June 20 the same year, setting two milestones in aviation history. Late in 1936 he was seconded by the RLM (Reich Air Ministry) to Wernher von Braun and Ernst Heinkel, because he had been recognized as one of the most experienced test-pilots of the time, and because he also had an extraordinary fund of technical knowledge. Little is known of this pioneer period because of the st…

Can anyone share the procedure used to attain a type rating. Can an MPD C-130 co-pilot get one? My last qual check ride was a year ago, and I'm my next check ride is due in MAR 2010. Do I still qualify for a type rating with the FAA?

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6917297.ece A little more backup down the tubes "She didn't believe me" She said "If you are really the Base Commander take that blue reflector belt off and wrap it around your weasel and wave it at me" "So, what'd you do Sir?" " well Sarge, all I had was red"

All, What's the largest aircraft in an air-to-air kill. I'm pretty sure it's the B-52D (2 kills in Vietnam during Operation Linebacker II), however I can't find a reference for whether it is the largest aircraft with an A-A kill. Any help would be appreciated.

Just got a new update to TIMS a few weeks ago and now students can't view opted or un-submitted gradesheets. This is definately a change, and hurts mission planning a little bit. Has anyone experienced this, or found a good workaround? For example, when we start a new block, we can't see what we're opted for. Thanks Lt Winslow @ CAFB

Word on the street is there are TWO new varieties of PT shorts out there. The first kind is the marathon shorts which are shorter and lighter, and those are confirmed to exist. The other kind I've heard about (but have yet to see in person) are supposedly a longer pair with POCKETS. Does such a new PTU short exist, and if so, is it worth me dropping some coin on it before I head back the the Deid in another month?

December 12, 2005 Fresh squad, fresh wings Special operations unit takes on intratheater mission in new plane https://www.airforcetimes.com/print.php?f=0...PER-1383079.php By Bruce Rolfsen Times staff writer A new special operations squadron is in the air and with a new plane. The 319th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is flying a one-of-a-kind airplane for the Air Force, the U-28A, a militarized version of the civilian Pilatus PC-12. The squadron’s primary mission is intratheater transport of small numbers of special operations troops and gear, said the unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Michael D’Argenio. The decision by the Air Force…

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…