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A small part of why I love the Viper...

Your CC is a tool and one of the reasons we have a retention problem.

Unbelievable. The fact of the matter is that those officers did earn it, through dedicated service over their career. For that reason alone, they merit recognition. That year group simply did not have their records compete at a board. Even though one of my guys and I knew he would make it, I still took the time to call and congratulate him. Making any rank is not insignificant. That “commander” needs to know it is and has always been about the people, without which, the AF cannot execute its mission.

I remember being a new 130 CP and talking on the radio while the other guy flew. If anything unusual happened, the pilot spent time telling me what to say then I’d say it. To me it’s CRM degrading. Anyway, when I was a 130 IP I liked to have the PF talk. Every CP seemed to prefer it, and we’d stay engaged by swapping legs. When I went to fly something more tactical, the standard was PF talks because there’s a lot for the PNF to do. It makes sense if the PNF is busy. Understand it’s a standard in many communities and been done that way forever. Not sure those are good reasons to continue, so I was curious what the advantage is to that method. Sounds like “keeps the CP awake” is it?

Fixed that for you. Really sad read and hopefully isn't indicative of the culture in the AF these days WRT flying and maintaining our aging fleet. Not getting into details here so see your safety shop to get the skinny. Interested to see what the AIB will determine as well.

22 Aug it will be awarded, fuck the Seals. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-award-medal-honor-4/

It actually shows your commander is completely ignorant on what actually happened with that board and that's disappointing. However, not surprised given how terrible of a job HAF did in communicating what was actually happening with that board, regardless he's still a tool. Hope he doesnt feel that way when AFPC shifts the promotion rates like they do every year to ensure we promote enough people to fill the demand.

So PRFs or no PRFs for the P0418D line of the AF majors board? On a side note, my CC was like I'm not congratulating these dudes from the last board. They didn't earn their rank. I busted out in laughter and I've grown to accept we are changing as a force. Let me know how it shakes out after I retire in 2 years. #NotMyProblem

This appears to be a fairly "mil-centric" discussion. So, as someone who has only flown crew aircraft on the civilian side, I'm finding what seems to be a PF talking on the radio preference a surprise. Maybe there's some mil specific situations that are driving this we airline guys don't deal with. But, just flying A to B? If we threw an equal number of airline guys into this thread, you'd be hard pressed to find any of them who would want the PF talking during normal ops. So, I'll just throw this out for the sake of discussion and another viewpoint. I'd vote PF does not talk on the radio. If the PM (that's "pilot monitoring" - i.e. PNF in airline speak) isn't talking on the radio, what's he doing? I think it does help him stay engaged and also tends to force some dialogue on items like wx deviations, climb/descent requests or any other changes to the status quo. A PF who also has the radios is probably more likely to make a unilateral decision and request a course of action with ATC while not conferring with his PM which is going to degrade CRM. As the PF, asking the other guy to request a descent or some other routine request is really not that inconvenient. A non-normal or emergency situation, is about the only time you'll see airline guys having one pilot do the flying and talking. It's very common in the airline world to give the radios and the aircraft to the FO while the Captain does some battle management, runs checklists, confers and gathers info from various sources and evaluates options. He then presents the options to the FO for his input, makes a decision and depending on the circumstances, maybe take the a/c for landing or continue to monitor while taking the radios back from the FO.

pilot flying pilot talking. it's the way god intended.

I think if you’re flying you should talk on the radio. I’m curious why people teach/practice the other way.

It has to do with trip dropping. If a trip is green, you can drop it off your schedule. If it's red, you can't (but you can still trade it). Apparently things are red a lot more following the December debacle where everything was flagged green erroneously, so everyone dumped their Christmas trips. I wasn't working here at the time though

You're old enough to drink, you're on this forum, and you didn't know tankers were AMC. Much to learn have you. I recommend less output and more input.

It depends on the community. Ours is definitely paying for the flying skills. We have people that can't even get released for the AFPC mail robot offers...CAG to AUAB, for example. We've been told, point blank, that the only way to leave the FTU is to work a one-for-one trade with an ops unit. There is zero chance to get to a staff unless you get picked up for school. It's great if you legitimately only care about flying, but we've seen that the promotion rates for our community, and for 12B in particular, are behind the USAF average and the average in AFGSC.

I think I went a 3-4 month stretch once without having a night landing. It just all all depends on the lines you bid.

I'll always tell my friends that if they live in a city that a particular airline has a major base then go there. If you're going to commute, go to FedEx, for many of the reasons in Robots post. DH's on each end are awesome and amazing for QOL of a commuter. Hopefully you guys never cave to PBS because many of those trips could dry up as PBS is an efficiency machine! Other than that, the worry about dealing with pax is severely overblown by cargo guys. My interaction with pax is limited to seeing them as I walk back to the bunk for my break. When I was on a NB, it was limited to saying goodbye for 5 minutes as I checked out for hotties...unless it was the last leg of the day/trip, then I'm gone at break set! If we ever have issues with one, either the FAs take care of it or we call the cops/a company specialist. Shut the door and surf the interwebs while it's going down. No doubt, there is no shortage of innovation, it's the regulation that moves at a snails pace. Fuck, we've been trying to get a tactical arrival into our base (fairly close to a class b) and you'd think we're trying to restructure the entire arrival/departure corridor of ATL or DFW. 5 years laters, we've made little progress due to bureaucracy. Hell we were told, just trying to lower a MOA below 6k would take 6-9 years of environmental studies/bureaucracy. Ever hear of NextGen? What Hacker said! Companies won't spend shit on technology unless it's guaranteed to save them money. Heck I've been told that our former CEO wouldn't invest in something unless it could pay itself back in 12 months or less. They settled on shitty ass Surfaces (that were terrible) until they were forced to go to iPads due to Jeppesen saying they wouldn't support the surface anymore (at least that's the rumor). If anything, where I see this start to take hold is in long haul ops. 4-pilot crews dropping to 3, and 3 pilot crews dropping to 2. I mean today the only radio call I made from 20 West to 50 west was an SELCAL check...the rest was just bsing with the other guy. Would I want to do it single pilot....no f'n way! Like many things, it's super easy, until it isn't... Honestly this is one of the things that I could see unifying every pilot and every union (ALPA/Teamsters/APA/SWAPA/etc...). Could you imagine every airline and every cargo carrier going on strike at once? I honestly think that would happen, if companies tried to go single pilot. I'm in my early-mid 30s and I'm really not worried about single-pilot/no-pilot ops.

Everyone rants about wanting a fly only track then complains when AMC gives them a fly only track.

You should give that speech to FSS too

Shack. If you're on a team but don't know or care how the rest of the team functions and what their strengths and weaknesses are, how you can help them, and how you can not hinder them, then you shouldn't be a part of the team. A dialed in tanker dude with the SA to listen in on the right frequency can anticipate how a fight, engagement, or event is going, and then coordinate and place his asset where it's needed before he's asked to do so, thereby empowering the receivers to focus on more important things. Quite frankly, the rest of the force doesn't care how well you're able to keep your airplane alive. We care about your ability to anticipate the need for your effect, and insert yourself appropriately so that the rest of the team can function better. I know that because I'm a herk dude. No one cares how well I defend my airplane against an SA-blah. They care that I know how and when to effectively integrate what I bring to the fight without placing undue burden on the rest of the team. Know how to carry your own weight and deliver your effect to the highest standard expected by your user. It is never someone else's job to figure out how you should be doing yours.

We probably need a KC-46 first.

My drivers license expires when I’m 65. You can get non-DL state ID that never expires. It’s not rocket surgery.

My mother works as a nurse in nursing home/hospice care. Every resident she has regardless of age or level of infirm status has an ID. They have to in order to pay or have access Medicare benefits. Jesus the level of contortions people will go to the explain why it’s ok to not have any form of identification yet exercise an action as big a deal as voting is ridiculous.

Glad to see MOB's jet get the Syrian flag on it. I figured someone with rank my find it "offensive", and stop that from happening.