Leaderboard

Used to bug the shit out of me when I'd walk into base ops (sergeant) and they'd auto-sir me. Brief explanation that, no, despite the bag, I'm an E-5, you can call me Sgt, shithead, whatever, just knock off the sir. Still sir this and that sir. FFS. Then I finished OTS, now immersed in my newfound Blue world, was when I finally noticed, they're all sir/ma'am-ing each other. MSgt calling A1C sir, SSgts calling each other ma'am. And also calling me sir. But since they also call the coffee pot sir, seems like much less of a courtesy extended. Its a culture of diluting the enlisted rank structure, delineation and responsibilities within enl/NCO ranks, and the enl/off relationship. A continuation of the mindset leading to a SrA stopping a Capt for ________ infraction, and if the Capt does not accept the correction on the spot, the SrA tells their Shirt, etc, etc. My opinion, from the perspective of having been proud to be addressed as Sgt, because it meant something, and I knew early on that if I ever poked a finger in a Marine Captain's chest, I would pull back a bloody stump, regardless of what clownery he was wearing. But that's where I grew up, I guess.

In other news, AFSOC adds 40 GS positions to headquarters staff.

No more saluting. It demeaning to the Enlisted, or as some say "Educationally Challenged."

I keep finding uses for this...

We received a briefing this morning on this, and I think it did a lot to dispel some of the complaints voiced in this thread. For the last month, an OT&E team has been flying sorties breathing ambient air and undergoing endless medical analysis before and after each flight, NASA has been involved sampling cockpit and mask air quality, and maintenance has been tearing down OBOGS to try and find a source of the issue. Below are some of the highlights from that briefing. 1) Only TCTO compliant aircraft will be flown with OBOGS operational as normal. Breathing cockpit air was not approved by AETC nor recommended by the OT&E team. To answer those who wondered why this was such a big deal when other aircraft fly unpressurized without oxygen, it is an FAA airworthiness certificate issue. Without the OBOGS, the T-6 would not be considered airworthy by the FAA without an amendment. 2) The TCTOs are a "millimeter by millimeter" (their words) inspection of the OBOGS from the engine air inlet all the way to the mask. It replaces parts to make the system as close to factory new as possible. 3) This is not the end. No causal factor was found, but the OT&E unanimously agreed that returning the OBOGS to a factory new state made them comfortable flying the jet. Flying is still volunteer only at PIT. 4) The top six of the T-6 SPO were fired due to mismanagement of the program and a fly-to-fail mentality. The zeolite bed maintenance interval has been aggressively reduced from 4,500 to 700 hours, and the new SPO is re-evaluating other fly-to-fail parts on the T-6 to possibly set replacement intervals. 19 AF is also using this debacle to highlight the ISS and EFIS issues. 5) The future: The team considers this only the beginning and are still trying to drill down to a single cause. From what the briefer said though, the OBOGS on all of the jets inspected were absolutely horrendous (kinked lines, valves stuck in the open position, evidence of water in the lines, general dirt and gunk, etc), and 79% failed the inspection, so there might not be one silver bullet. The incident T-6s are all still impounded, but an Edwards AFB test team will begin inspecting those independently and in parallel so the two teams can compare notes. Honestly, I was pretty impressed with what the team has been doing this last month. There were a lot of really smart people helping with this, to include a NASA test engineer who has made a career out of OBOGS issues. It also received visibility all the way up to the VPOTUS. My biggest misgiving is that they never found a single causal factor, but I am not surprised given the fact that the entire system was basically never inspected since the plane left the factory. I think the 19 AF initially fumbled at the beginning of this grounding a month ago, but since then a lot of good things have happened to make up for it.

Ahhh, AETC cross countries. When I was a FLT/CC we were forced to go each class for a weekend, don't know if they still do it. Even the best students fell apart flying around Dallas or Los Angeles airspace, shoot I've seen instructors melt in Los Angles. There were a few classes I pushed pretty hard before cross country on purpose, it only left us 4 sorties for the cross country, so of course I'd double turn to Vegas on Friday then double turn home on Sunday, put a little vacation in the middle of UPT. This could be a thread all its own.

Ok the bros are 2 navs from a buff squadron in Guam. They are currently in the middle of an exercise and it’s already tomorrow their time. So that makes sense why they and their commanders know already. They’ll let me know more if they get anything else. Sorry doesn’t put our hearts at ease. At least we know the list is out

Completely invalid and caustic attitude. You don’t justify unnecessary risk by saying “Well, some people choose to do dangerous shit anyways. So this should be fine.” You sound like leaders trying to tell everyone to overlook their shitty leadership by saying “well, Marines in Nam’ had it harder than you guys, so don’t complain”. It’s lazy and it’s no excuse for crappy decision-making or leadership. No, you don’t love flying more than pilots without unsafe attitudes. As a pilot, you should have enough maturity and judgment to override your enjoyment of flying, when presented with undue risk.

Nose goes.

Nothing... except for really good Airshows, with a Monday return.

I've had no issues with it. In regards to your AFTP day, your squadron's RA needs to contact FM and have them load the day to your squadron's account before you can certify it. It's typically a 2 minute fix.

Also, no more rank. Aren’t we all equals as Airpersons?

Slife the Knife?

"I know without a doubt that the T-6 nation is fired up and ready to get back in the air!” - Gen Dohetry yeah T-6 NATION!!! whoot!!! get out there and fly that bitch!

Im trying to pull more from the guys i heard that were told from their commanders such as how many slots were awarded for UPT. As soon as I know more I’ll post.

22k is the average I'm seeing. Anything less than 20k still has that new plane smell.

We have a sheet we fill out before we step, give it to the Sup who reviews it and checks on certain items like personal factors (making sure you've compartmentalized accordingly/are good to go). If a higher up signature is needed then the Sup grabs the appropriate party. Now in my time in AETC I have never had a CC sign off if I wasn't willing to go. The ones I dealt with when my ORM hit that high were very much along the lines of "Is it a personal thing and/or are you physically/mentally/whatever okay to go?" If the answer was "Yes I'm good, my ORM is high due to wx/mx/trip turn/etc)," they were good signing it. The once or twice where I wasn't okay to go, the Sup caught it and sat my a$$ down and then had some pointed words about my pushing too hard when I wasn't okay too. Now all of this may be different than what has occurred the last few months (reference Vance 7 days ops in January), but that's at least been my experience in AETC thus far.

Will leadership be the first ones to fly the aircraft that passed the TCTO's? I mean, they're pilots, right? They're leaders, so I'd imagine they'd never put their subordinates in a safety laden hazard due to their drive to get the timeline back on track.

We start flying tomorrow at Vance with eleven planes. Eleven. Because those are the only aircraft that passed both TCTOs which scrubbed the OBOGS and the emergency oxygen systems nose to tail. We're not flying on ambient air (yet) because testing, airworthiness review/certification, etc. is still ongoing. Will we eventually fly in that configuration? Maybe, but not without the procedures & training necessary to mitigate the risks involved. I just don't buy the argument that the Air Force is "rubber stamping" this one to produce more pilots. Are they motivated to get these planes back in the air and start flying student sorties again? Of course, that's their primary mission! I'd question their leadership if they weren't searching for any and every solution to end this stand down. But we've had the capability (i.e. the hardware & proof of concept) to fly while breathing ambient air for weeks now. If this was a knee-jerk reaction to get planes back in the air, we'd already be flying. I agree that Vance leaned too far forward in January, trying to "catch up" to the timeline. Hindsight is 20/20. I also think that this time it's being done right. So far. Only time can tell if that will continue.

They must just not be very patriotic. Or, at least, that's what some doofus in AF management once said.

The mayor has lost control.

Can you ride that motorcycle home without a helmet or safety equipment? Or without taking a motorcycle safety course on a recurring basis despite being licensed by a state? Even if your personal risk acceptance level says you're okay riding without a helmet or additional training? No, because the AF has set a level of risk it's willing to accept. Keeping with the motorcycle analogy, the T-6 OBOGS fix is the AF essentially saying "ride with this cracked helmet, it should be good enough and we, AETC HQ, accept responsibility for the increased risk. The chances of you falling off your bike and needing the helmet to protect your nugget is slim anyways, so get out there and ride. If you don't want to ride under those conditions, you'll be labelled a non-team-player and there will be negative repercussions on your career. "

I don't have a dog in this fight. However, the above sounds like "Normalization of Deviance." Lots of stuff out there on the web. From one link: https://pressblog.uchicago.edu/2016/01/07/the-normalization-of-deviance.html The sociologist Diane Vaughan coined the phrase the normalization of deviance to describe a cultural drift in which circumstances classified as “not okay” are slowly reclassified as “okay.” In the case of the Challenger space-shuttle disaster—the subject of a landmark study by Vaughan—damage to the crucial O‑rings had been observed after previous shuttle launches. Each observed instance of damage, she found, was followed by a sequence “in which the technical deviation of the [O‑rings] from performance predictions was redefined as an acceptable risk.” Repeated over time, this behavior became routinized into what organizational psychologists call a “script.” Engineers and managers “developed a definition of the situation that allowed them to carry on as if nothing was wrong.” To clarify: They were not merely acting as if nothing was wrong. They believed it, bringing to mind Orwell’s concept of doublethink, the method by which a bureaucracy conceals evil not only from the public but from itself.

Sounds like we have a volunteer to fly the T-6 in its current configuration. He ain’t scared of no CFS burns to the face or high altitude ejections with no O2. He doesn’t mind breathing in acrid smoke and fumes. Dude I’m sure we could get you orders soon and we need the help. Sack up. Great line by the way. You sure you’re not leadership?

FIFY

Meh, washing them out is a big improvement to the timeline. I successfully invited a few people to try a new line of work at the SUPT and RTU level, the paperwork sucks, but its do-able.

wasn't keflavik the base in red storm rising that got hit by the long range russian bombers? what a great book. rip tom clancy

This Onion headline seems similar to the the current situation in Syria.

who doesn't love some 7-party FUBAR'd proxy war this time of year? *cue Louis Armstrong What a Wonderful World tune*

Actually I keep being down voted trolled for trying to help. So ill just wish you all the best and let the guys crunching numbers and odds constantly fill you in lol. Best wishes to all