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If the USAF can train a pilot out of a person they had to CONVINCE at the USAFA to go to UPT because they met min quals, then the USAF can train up someone motivated to be there. People all up in arms because it’s not how it “always was”

Saw Top Gun: Maverick today. Solid A- approaching A for an entertaining movie. Enough of the looking back to tie it in, but good enough to stand alone. Amazing what a haircut and a 'stache can do to an actor's appearance. Rooster/baby Goose was spitting image of the deceased RIO in the film, but nothing like him in real life. Some minor quibbles, but overall a good flying and entertaining movie. Kick ass music to go with the flying. On the bittersweet side, I watched the original in the theater when it came out. I was newly commissioned, awaiting active duty start. I was also newly married to the A-model wife. Naive and motivated, I couldn't wait to join (even on the non-flying side) "we few, we happy few" of the 1986 Air Force. It was gonna be all doing a meaningful job with the bros and drinking at the O'Club. Watching it today was the opposite bookend. Much older, fatter, balder, and with the B-model, I recognized the military as being more the drone admiral's vision than that of the bros. Sigh... And back then, Kelly McGillis' Charlie would've been the choice. Today, the Jennifer Connolly/Penny would be the age/looks choice. Good movie.

This should just become the entire hypocrisy thread... My favorite hypocrisy of the day from yesterday is the DUI arrest of Nancy Pelosi's husband. Despite lawyers and multiple freedom of information requests good ole California is refusing to release his booking photo, the bodycam video from the officers involved and any records whatsoever related to the arrest. If it was a member of the GOP it would have been pushed out to every network as breaking news.

I agree, but neither is a bunch of civilian CFI’s.

I was in UPT when TopGun premiered. We were just finishing up Tweets and heading over to the -38 side. A bunch of us went to see it at the on,y movie theater in Columbus MS. We all thought it was hokey and corny, but good fun. Shortly after, a tidal wave of women entered my life due to their admiration of that hokey, corny movie. Who was I to complain. Outside of being a real Tomcat Driver, it was as good as it gets. So as goofy as the original was, the great memories it conjures up will always have a place in my heart. I thought the new one was way better, more realistic ( to a degree) and I liked how they tied in the original cast and storyline in the new one. I will see it again with my pilot Son, and soon to be F-18 software engineer Nephew. BTW, you are on crack if you think Kelly McGillis, on her best day , is in the same league as Jennifer Connelly!

This If they’re going to be “just as good” as FAIPs because they’re doing the exact same training, then why not make more FAIPs? Oh wait…they already did that a few years ago. And good luck training a civilian to the same standard as a FAIP when the civilian can only work 40 hours a week. Oh, and who is going to train these civilians?—it’s not like UPT has open seats not being filled and that PIT isn’t running 2+ months behind.

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You should worry because it represents the continuation of the AF's failure to handle retention. It's great if you're an aspiring CAIP, and I agree, they'll be fully capable of teaching the syllabus. But if you're in the uniform, you should be quite convinced at this point that it will only get worse from here, because no one in charge is seemingly capable of wrapping their head around retention. Making your life better will *always* be the last, and least acceptable option.

When I attended UPT in 1986, the “Little Kitchen” was only the single yellow trailer, no Additions. Now with the new additions it’s suitable for Mississippi Weddings and other events!

The White House just announced the President's nominations for the next USSTRATCOM/CC, USAFE/CC, and AFSOC/CC. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3056641/general-officer-announcements/

That seems like a pretty good idea to me. Send new pilots to PIT and let them work as a GS FAIP and a traditional guardsman in their ANG/Res unit.

Add another in the “same here” category. CFI’d for 5 years during the lost decade. Probably would’ve jumped at this gig for free. I know times are different now with airlines hiring anyone who has looked at an airplane before, but I’m betting they’ll get plenty of applicants. If nothing else those who get hired will at least get to wear a real flight suit to watch Top Gun 2 instead of their Skywest uniforms - somebody showed me an instagram of that actually happening. Still need to clean my vomit off my shoes.

I fail to see the benefit of this. So you’re gonna put someone through 1.5 years of training for a 3 year contract ? The pay isn’t much less than a FAIP and then you can have that body for 10 years. For a staffing issue this is a terrible idea. But is anyone actually surprised? The incompetence from “leadership” continues. The “different pot of money” argument is dumb and a cop out.

I hope this happens… https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/31162-why-is-australia-returning-to-a-70-year-old-seaplane?fbclid=IwAR3IHepbMggYO1S0Yq-eS9B7_HR8CuREdBNbBDs4bvOciv1VeE9IunxbMWw Company website on vaporware (as of now) revived Albatross G-111T — Amphibian Aerospace Industries (amphibaircraft.com) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will add, from my corner of the IFS world, IPs with military experience still tend to do better with instructing and relating to the students than straight civilian experience instructors. The absolute best (besides previous mil pilots) are the former CSOs, WSOs, NFOs, etc... that understand the nuances of briefing and debriefing appropriately, but even the former mil non-rated instructors understand better how formal training works in a military environment. That's not to say the civilians don't do well, but you can see students respond differently when they are dealing with a former mil IP vs civilian only. My one question is why has the Air Force not just made GS-12 or 13 T-6 IP positions that's open to hire anyone? Yeah that's not amazing pay and it would be hard to compete with the airlines, but certainly there are some guys who don't want to do the airlines that would be interested in being a T-6 IP after their time on active duty? Heck, I'm 400 hours short of heading to the regionals right now and I would gladly jump into a GS position T-6 job over going to the regionals. Haven't there been a couple of RFIs put out for contractor T-6's as well? What happened with those?

I wouldn’t call close formation and ET3 “fundamental flying skills”…and I’m pretty sure they don’t teach this in IFT. A civilian IP can definitely learn/be able to teach it, but it will take much more training since they’ve never seen it in UPT. Oh, and here’s a data point: Some T-1 trained FAIPs have gone through CRs at T-6 PIT (and some have even washed out) for lack of formation flying abilities due to the cuts in UPT. As far as being a military officer, UPT is centered around flight instruction based on the foundation of military bearing, integrity, etc. If this wasn’t necessary, then mil cap wouldn’t be a thing. It’s not to say that 23 year old civilian pilots can’t also have these qualities, but there’s no training program to weed those people out who aren’t a good fit. Just think about people you’ve met who said they’ve wanted to be a military pilot but just didn’t have the qualities we seek in a military officer…there’s a reason why we’re different. Also, unless they rewrite the rules, you can’t work a civilian more than 40 hours a week without permission, compensation, etc. This changes the ball game quite a bit. Rucker, Kirtland, and other programs have had civilian/contractor flight instructors, but I’m pretty sure the vast majority have been very experienced military pilots in the past, and their instruction has been more/less limited to contact/instrument flying…they leave the formation and other stuff to the mil IPs. That all being said, my biggest concern is with the comments on this page who think this will make a better IP than those graduating from PIT…and across the board, I just don’t see it. Do you agree with Jice that these young civilian CFIs with 50 hours of C172 IP time will be better than a UPT graduate going to PIT to be a FAIP?

Let’s not forget all the Dems pushing for additional gun control laws while failing to enforce those already on the books.

First off, you won't be a civilian contractor. You'll be a civilian employee to the government. Big difference in that you won't be beholden to contact renegotiations and other instability. Govt civilian has it's pluses and minuses. It will be interesting to see how they manage these people as the civilian structure is much different from the military structure to include performance, feedback and removal from positions. Will you be shit on as a civilian? This is a complicated question. Will you get work the mil guys don't want to do? Depends on how they write the position. Will you be respected by students and other IPs? You'll definitely have an uphill battle to earn respect as an IP. You'll be missing the "been there done that" of the military in general. I would imagine students will avoid going to these guys for mentoring and insight as they will not be relevant for military flying outside the few T-6 hours gained at PIT. That said, if you can be humble and do the job for what it is, you'll probably have a great time doing something your peers won't be able to do. No reason to pass on it if your motivation is purely for the flying experience. As for bailing for the guard, I haven't seen a civilian position come with a commitment and I don't know if that's even legal. If you don't have a contract, you can pack your bags at any point.

Can't speak to the guard slot, but if you wanna fly, and this is a chance, take the opportunity! F*ck what people think of contractors flying and take advantage of the opportunity.

Are they going to send these guys through full UPT, followed by full PIT? If so, they’re no different than FAIPs, so maybe this is OK. But my cynicism says the AF won’t do that and they’ll get some corner-cutting training and be a “half-FAIP,” making this one of the dumbest ideas I’ve seen.

GS-9s? Good luck. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Hang on to your hats. Civilian CFIIs in T-38s, er, T-7s, are next. Y'all just thought a heavy guy teaching 38s would signal the end of the world. 😆

Gasp. The forbidden maneuver. Don’t you know that F2F’es are not legal anymore?

Who's going to teach anyone a fix-to-fix?! This isn't really surprising. The DoD contracts everything to civilians.

When someone lands at Kunsan at 8am and just popped a go pill 30 min prior, what do you expect them to do, not drink soju and beer!? That’s crazy talk.

Never believe a progressive when they say “nobody wants to take your guns away”…because that’s exactly what they want to do.

Agree to completely disagree.

Not a fair comparison my dude. Mav is not dumb, he could quickly see what Charlie was becoming, a tired old hag who spent more time on her career and let her looks quickly fade. Sure she had the smarts, maybe Mav was intimated by that...maybe she could have even showed how smart she was by appearing on various aviation shows (ala Dr Rebecca Grant). She is probably somewhere high up in the pentagon right now and people who don't know Charlie probably say "that dude is squared away." Charlie chose her career over Mav. Enter Patty Benjamin, sure she was underage and an admiral's daughter when her and Mav first meet...but she kept her looks and she owns a fighter bar...so she's the winner in my book.

gross, guess the rumor was true...good luck to my AFSOC bros! you're gonna need it