Leaderboard

I'm not sure why there is a negative opinion of going around in the fighter community, but it's there. A few months before the Eglin mishap I was going around the final turn and ended up too high. The F-35 does not like to slow down when descending, even at idle with full "virtual speedbrake." I was aiming short of the threshold to get on the wire but it still wouldn't slow down. I took it around approaching the overrun and am very happy I did considering that I would have been in the same low AOA landing situation that occurred at Eglin and another incident that happened around the same time. Nobody I know knew at that time about the different pitch response that occurs in that situation. When I landed the tower told me to call the SOF. I said what's up and he was like "everything okay dude, you hit some wake turbulence or something?" I said "no man, I just couldn't get the jet slowed down." Taxiing back it occurred to me again how uncommon it is for a dude to go around when he calls full stop. So much so that the SOF felt he needed to check up on me to make sure I was okay. Landing is definitely an emphasis item for all F-35 pilots now, and we now have to take it around if not on speed approaching the threshold. I also fly at the airlines and have never heard the term "stabilized approached criteria" briefed in an F-16 or F-35 squadron. I remember my first approach into SNA in the 757. During the approach brief I set autobrakes to either 4 or Max, can't remember now. The captain looked at me with a half grin and said "you sure?" I was like yeah, the runway is like 5,000 feet dude. He said okay and started strapping into his seat, making sure he was pretty secure. We touched down and I almost went through the window. Apparently there was a lot of bags, phones, and other items all over the place too, but hey, better safe than sorry.

I can't speak for the fighter or F-35 specific stuff, but if go-arounds were a bean, people would have to log them. That might diminish the reluctance of folks to go around in a borderline situation, since they'd have the face-saving option of rehacking currency.

Yeah, ultimately this is a class war being disguised as a reaction to racism. The use of race as a canard to to distract these useful idiots as the corporates/globalists/etc... obliterate the working and middle classes with open borders and abusive work visa schemes while simultaneously allowing unlimited amounts of cheap goods into our country made by slave labor in China is one of our main ailments. If we had throughout our government people who realized internet monopolies, bad trade deals and massive conglomerates using media arms, lobbying firms and disinformation factories were actually the ones killing our country and crafted economic policies to combat those negative trends, those disaffected idiots would have two nickels to rub together, a decent job and a material reason to keep their shit straight, but they don't and we don't have many leaders who actually like the country they purport to represent and here we are.

In all fairness, the ATC dude is simply doing as he's trained. Military guys IFE almost at a routine rate (notice not a single word about the F-35 ejection...who's got his back besides JPRC?)...often for items that turn out to be nothing...but and it would be completely negligent for him to simply say "good luck!" A phone number pass to maintain a chain of communication may be the best he's got in that moment. As Clayton has mentioned above, he's trying his best to do what he can with what he's got. In the same right, a controller should be aware that a four engine airplane losing two engines, leaking fuel, and being on fire is not something to take lightly. I'm sincerely hoping he alerted emergency services of some kind on his own end. Still, it couldn't hurt for him and the crew to meet face-to-face and get some learning on both sides of the radio.

Technology is great but it can be a double edged sword when it allows basic flying skills to atrophy. Flying WIC sorties between the various Gunpig models it was obvious some of the crew on the "newer gunships" leaned a bit too much (IMHO), on all whiz-bang gadgets they had. As an example the U Boat had a display in the center of the dash called a Tactical Situation Map (TSM). On 99% of my flights in the UBoat, the Co-Pilots would basically stare at that display rather than look outside. Pilots also tended to spend an inordinate amount of time "inside" the airplane looking at that display. As a dinosaur flying older gunships my first action flying into the threat area was to quickly find visual ques that matched my understanding of the battle space...a road pattern, a set of lights, a river as a boundary...etc. That kept my eyes outside scanning for threats...by the way AAA does not show on the TSM. Finally I started bringing a piece of card board that I would place over the display and tell the WUG, "your TSM just failed...no what are you going to do?" I also saw this reliance in the older gunships when it came to degraded modes of fire. I won't go into all the modes but most of the crew only wanted to shoot in the mode with the most automation. I made sure to shoot a few rounds on each sortie in each mode to keep my skills sharp...often getting raised eyebrows from other members of the crew..."what are the odds that will happen in combat?" On my first combat mission in Afghanistan and several others over the years I was forced by mechanical failures to shoot in a degraded mode and on one mission I was forced to shoot with no input from the system at all...and a bad trigger that required a cadence call to the gunners who were manually pulling a lanyard to fire the 105MM and pushing a pin with a bar to shoot the 40MM....all while I was semi-imposing a manual site on a 23MM that was lighting me up. Lesson learned...use technology as much as possible but have a plan AND be prepared to degrade gracefully and still execute the mission. Old guy rant over.

First, you aren't far behind anyone. Any current USAF pilot you've ever met has had to get their degree first and you've got to focus on that right now. Secondly, if you are trying to go active duty, I would join AFROTC ASAP if that is your goal. Once you have passed your sophomore year it becomes much more difficult to commision soon after graduation. As long as you are medically qualified and a pretty good student that is easily the most surefire way (in the current climate) to go. Finally, like Bigred said in the first comment, there is an age limit for flying in the USAF that comes much sooner than your medical career age limit. If you want to find what you really are passionate about, the flying has to be the first thing you try.

We have a few doing that out here at Shaw. They make corn and help out with various odd jobs around the squadron then head off to chase USC girls by 1400 if its a long day.

Here's a crazy idea... What if, they were attached out to units and were a slightly useful addition to said squadron while being around operational stuff. A new and crazy idea, I know.

OMG that sounds amazing. Best 10 months of my life was casual.

ATCer here. I'm a Tower guy, so explaining what Center/Tracon dudes do can be difficult because 1) it wasn't me and 2) the equipment and rules they use are very different (even from each other). As absurd as this guy with the phone seems, keep in context the terrain surrounding the area, and the locations of radar antennae and radio transmitter/receivers - for Centers they're optimized for talking to people in the flight levels above 10k, and around terrain (which there's lots of in that area) you lose line-of-sight and radar contact/comms very quickly below those altitudes. Assuming the aircraft is semi-controllable, which it obviously was, and someone on a multi-crew aircraft is able to maintain communications, passing along a phone number while you can is a prudent move and it wasn't just so the mishap aircraft could cancel IFR on the ground. There's lots of info needed and it's likely that was rapidly going to be the only way to communicate with the Center, who can pass around useful stuff like Lat/Longs and other crucial info for emergency response and not just rely on eyewitnesses calling 911. Also do J-models have integrated Sat Phones, like the C-17's Aero-I? Also where this occurred is just beyond the eastern fringes of the servicing approach, SoCal Tracon (SCT), and at the lower levels of Los Angeles Center (ZLA). SCT in the area is really set up to work the Palm Springs TRSA and to feed/sequence the satellite airports in the area (Bermuda Dunes and Thermal), and there's a basic ATC procedure of not forcing radio frequency changes on emergency aircraft unless better handling will result. Someone in an emergency descent from the low twenties or teens (not sure where MC-130s do their A/R) isn't a whole lot of time to work with beyond an emergency point out as you blow through someone else's airspace. Finally the LiveATC tape was edited so not all the comms are there. Anyway consider the limfacs, don't just look at it as quibbling. Very very happy there was such a happy end result. America!

Is there a “just fly like a regular jet” mode?

Hey Guys, So I just read that the Florida guard stood up a brand new unit flying the Osprey. Is there anyone on here that’s in the unit, or know anything about them? I’m a guard herk driver interested in learning more about that unit and the mission. feel free to DM me, or drop a comment below if you’re so inclined.

There is no way to answer this question. For me, I dropped a lucrative career to go active duty and I'm glad I did. I know others that hated it. You will have to think it through. Asking "is it worth it for YOU" is unanswerable by anyone but YOU.

Or.....you go with the simple answer: Media outlets of all stripes air the stories that draw more viewers, and there is a LOT of money in that. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/355372/cable-tv-news-networks-grow-31-in-prime-time-ad-r.html

To clarify, the HMD (the helmet video, which also produces the “HUD” when looking straight ahead) is not primary certified, just like almost every other fighter HUD (to my knowledge). We also have a vHUD (HUD representation on the panel display) and an EFI that are certified. So technically we should crosscheck those, and I do at least for the initial part of the approach (everything match? Good, tx to HUD). That said, every fighter pilot uses their HUD when flying approaches, landing, etc. Why would I choose to have my “head in my lap” when I can be monitoring outside looking for the runway environment whilst flying the approach (the single seat difference). The IFR discussion of HUDs doesn’t have anything to do with this mishap; it was the jacked up attitude display that he fixated on, not invalid approach data. Also, I’m not sure why HUDs aren’t certified...I’ve flown 99% of my landings and approaches in my 2k hours using the HUD, with no issues.

Because these people living their lives quietly really are the problem... /s https://www.theblaze.com/news/blm-riots-wauwatosa-wisconsin-alvin-cole

Sometimes, one just needs a carriage return. On a separate note, "unfornicate" is not a real word, but passes muster here, as we like alternate ways of saying things.

Yeah... The whole "he was asking for it" by driving a "drug dealer" car is a bit much. If drug dealers suddenly discover the amazing heated and ventilated seats, near silent road noise, and two panel panoramic sunroof of the Hyundai Sonata, am I supposed change cars to protect myself from unjustified police intervention? America absolutely, positively has a problem with police brutality and general policing philosophy. An analysis of the evidence suggests that this problem is not due to race, but the complex relationships in America between crime, race, poverty, and the history of racism make it easy to blame skin color. But changing the automotive tastes of law-abiding citizens is not the answer.

No, the F-35 HMD has NOT BEEN endorsed as a primary flight reference (PFR) for IFR flight. AFFSA looked at it years ago but efforts to endorse it stopped for unknown reasons and no further efforts to endorse it have been made.

Seems like something has got you riled up. You can find slackers and ROAD (retired on active duty) types of every political ideology, so I don’t see where you’re going in your rant about liberals and racism. Thanks for your service, glad you have other things to worry about now

The fly is Pence’s one black friend.

I love Marbula E. Searching what this was gave me a good chuckle.

So like I thought...I'm very close to the bottom. But...better to be the last Lt Col promoted than the first Maj to be passed over. I'll take what I can get.

Here’s my informed viewpoint: - There are no excuses about corona, family stuff, etc...AIB/SIBs love to list everything, including which brand of knock-off cheerios he ate at breakfast, so don’t read too much into things of that nature. The AIB overemphasized these things/people are reading too much into them. - The RC is a breakdown in crosscheck from ~FAF and in. It is standard to use speedhold, it is not standard to keep speedhold on for landing. Normally you discontinue use of speedhold at some point prior to landing, but he was distracted by his fucked up HMD (e.g. “HUD”) and he lost crosscheck of his airspeed/fact speedhold was still engaged. He did in fact transfer to a visual approach (i.e. “no HUD”), just as many of you have lamented him for “not doing,” but the downfall was dropping AOA out of his crosscheck. Had he cross checked, he would have realized he was fast and made the appropriate correction. There is some negative transfer from the Strike Eagle that contributed to the above problem; but might be SE Priv...don’t know. - The “HUD” issue: It sometimes gets fucked and displays invalid attitude information...so yeah, think about the main attitude reference you look at being out of whack at night, flying an approach over the black hole of the bay. It’s pretty disorienting. There are other options and you can ignore it, so not an excuse, but it is not just a “millennial” thing. Trust me, I grew up on no datalink/helmet/9M only/visual formation (including takeoff/landings...yay!); also still use a 1:50 map in CAS and am more efficient/accurate than all those young guys trying to keep everything digital on their displays. So I get it. But, the first time I saw this shit in the TX, coupled with LM’s flippant attitude towards it, sent me ballistic. I honestly can’t believe we haven’t crashed more jets due to this problem. It’s a massive safety of flight issue, yet who knows when/if ever it’ll be fixed. If someone dies with one of these things as a CF, I hope LM gets sued for billions. - Nobody knew about the portion of control laws he got into, except a few folks at LM holding their cards close...literally not written in T.O.s, etc. Another “go fuck yourself LM” thing. When he landed and immediately realized what was going on, the jet did not act like he thought it would; his control inputs were normal/as any of us would have done in the same situation. He was unable to go around due to the jet essentially ignoring what he wanted. So, while he could have avoided this situation by the earlier cross check discussion above, its ludicrous the jet would not react properly to your control inputs at such a critical phase of flight. Checks in the mail how this might be changed in future S/W drops. For now, at least the community knows this can happen, and frankly it was only a matter of time before some guy in the CAF unintentionally played test pilot and lost. Huge foul on this not being a warning in the T.O.s or something to that effect. Bottom line that every pilot can take away: This was not so much an over reliance on technology as it was a distraction that led to fixation, and a break down of basic instrument crosscheck (at night, with no peripheral vision). Establish solid habit patterns that will keep your instrument crosscheck from breaking down, while actively ensuring you do not fixate on a problem and drop the rest of the crosscheck. Remember the guys who were trying to change a light bulb and crashed in the Everglades, or just about every pilot who has CFIT’d? This loss of SA due to basic speed/altitude/position crosscheck breakdown is the the type of thing that has caused tens of thousands of aviation accidents at this point. It is agnostic to airframe and every single one of us is capable of distraction leading to bad/no crosscheck. God knows I’ve been in countless situations where I “broke the chain” in my own cockpit far too late for comfort, but here I am, wiser and alive. So many times it could have been the other way around in a matter of seconds. So, I took something from this mishap, and it wasn’t “fucking SNAPs and their reliance on Gucci shit!”

We got 200+ casuals sitting out here at Columbus...many without even a hint of an UPT start date. Most will be casuals for their entire O-1 career

END 20-24 /20-25 F-15E x 3 F-15C F-15SA x 2 U-28 T-38C F-35 x 2 F-22

We should be focusing on the mission that UNITES us, not the race baiting academic trash that divides us. Diversity is not strength, unity is strength. And we’re strongest when diverse people have unity of purpose in defending our nation together, executing the mission, and crushing our enemies.

There have already been programs to get sharp enlisted dudes through pilot training. It is called commissioning.