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First flight at United (for me) after the 9-11 halt to flying. Being a local living in base, I’m on reserve hoping to get some paid days off. The tradeoff is reserve makes it more likely I’ll get stuck with a scab since guys sick out of their trips when they know they’re flying with one. How do they know? We all got issued a book by ALPA with every scab’s name, employee #, DOH, birth date. Normally one only speaks to them when necessary and for checklist responses. Unfortunately, the 1985 strike puts many of their seniority numbers in the left seat of the 757/767. Bottom line is I wasn’t surprised that my first trip back after the attack was with scab. Yayyyy 🙄. On a related subject, while we were grounded, UAL bought a bunch of tasers and planned on equipping the flight deck of each aircraft with two of them. We received a day of training on their use, cockpit self-defense and overall security, etc. The general consensus of the experts was use of maneuvering tactics or depressurization was not valid for a variety of reasons. That was communicated to all pilots and FAs during the training. BTW, the taser thing never came to pass. I get to ops and as usual, the scab has already signed the flight plan and gone to the airplane. They hate hanging ops with the normal pilots since they are quickly identified and publicly shamed. Usually by someone (or multiples) using “clickers” like the pit bosses in Vegas calling the cocktail waitresses. As soon as a scab walks into ops, the “popping” from the clickers starts as the guy does the walk of shame to the flight plan desk. So, I head to the aircraft, do the walk around and find Napoleon sitting in his seat getting ready. 5 foot – nothing, tubby little former Thud driver with a “slick tie” (no ALPA pin). He's spun up because we have one flight to MSP, very short layover and an early go the next morning for a long day. He want’s a later van time in the morning so we don’t have to wake up as early. Whatever. He makes multiple calls to scheduling and eventually decides to take care of it at the hotel. It’s an airport hotel because of the short night so we’re on the shuttle that runs every half hour. WTF was gonna change about that hot-shot? Based on our departure time, we either get to the airport 1:15 prior (too early) or :45 prior and rush a little. “Let’s get the later 05:30 shuttle” he says as he slam-clicks and we head to bed. Next morning I’m in the lobby at 05:20. No sign of fearless leader. 05:30 and I’m holding a full van of hotel guests while I check with the front desk. “Oh, he already checked out and took the 05:00 shuttle”. YGBSM! Yup, I get to the jet and he’s already in his seat again. “05:30 shuttle? Did I misunderstand?” “Ah, I just decided to get out here early.” Says the clown who spent at least 30 minutes on multiple calls the day before trying not to get to the airport early. You’re never surprised by the shit the scabs pull. Never. Now we start with a flight to DEN and we’re turning to somewhere else. After arrival in DEN, I come up from doing the walkaround and he’s standing in first class, trying to see over the tops of the seats and brief the new batch of FAs we picked up in DEN. Since I’ve haven’t gotten to the aircraft with him and been part of this briefing yet, I stick around to listen in. Within a few minutes he begins to describe how, in the event of another 9-11 style takeover attempt, he will be depressurizing the aircraft and maneuvering it as required to “make it tough on the attackers”. The senior FA raises her hand and say, “They told us you guys weren’t going to do that.” “Oh, well it’s happening on this plane, honey. But honestly, if it gets to that point, I don’t think you’ll care because you’ll probably be dead.” My eyes get big. 😲 Holy Shit! That’s gonna go over like a fart in church. She grabs her bag, spins around and says, “Ok, I’m out of here” and heads to the phone on the jet bridge to tell scheduling she’s not flying with this clown. Little Hitler heads back up to the flight deck. All the other FAs file off the aircraft, never to be seen again. I go up, sit down and let him know – “All the FAs are gone.” 😒 “That’s their call, I really don’t care.” Great…. Long day is gonna get longer. I’m pretty pissed about his plan, so I start with: “You managed to arrive at the aircraft before me on our first two legs and brief the flight attendants without me. We’re about to fly for the third time and I’m just now finding out about this. Do you think it might have been a good idea to inform your FO that your plan was to depressurize and maneuver the aircraft contrary to all the guidance we’ve been given?” “Oh, yeah…..well, I would have told you if it came to that.” As I’m thinking, when? When we were in a “4G-negative dive” (Mav?) sucking rubber with a cabin altitude in the 30s? You’re an idiot and I can’t wait for this trip to end. A little while later, a shadow appears in the doorway of the flight deck and I turn around to see a guy in a suit, with a UAL pilot ID on his lanyard. “Hi, I’m Captain Somebody, I’m the Denver Chief Pilot. I understand we have an issue with some flight attendants?” I just point to the little guy and say, “You need to talk to him. “ Then I take a little initiative and suggest, “Maybe you two want to discuss this in private.” The Chief Pilot says, “I think that’s a great idea” and I gladly excuse myself to let them sort it out. In hindsight, it might have been fun to watch the discussion but at the time I was full. They found us some new flight attendants and the trip continues reasonably uneventfully because nothing else comes to mind. The scabs were always the ones you got completely unexpected shit from. If someone did some off the wall shit and you hadn’t bothered to check so see if they were on the list, 99% of the time, they were there.

A toast to all who helped find and pop this son of a bitch. 🥃 Well done all!

Good video Clark— thanks for posting. It’s nice to see actual experts discussing the big issues instead of some computer-voice-overs created by DCS gamers claiming to be credible sources of information. One major item missing from the discussion, as always though, is actual A-10 expertise and experience. Here are my thoughts on the video, for what it’s worth… this discussion and a couple bucks will get you a halfway decent cup of coffee… this is gonna be a long read, so you might as well grab a cup of joe before settling in… Carrol and Herzinger hit on a key concept in the discussion of transferring ANY aircraft to Ukraine— the proficiency and ability to sustain the assets logistically. Even if we’re discussing F-16s, which fit the billet of multi-role needs of that nation, comes with a hefty price tag in terms of ground-based requirements. They jokingly refer to a HAZMAT program to deal with the hydrazine, to which the Ukrainians would probably scoff, but those are long-term, very real considerations. Do they have fuel trucks that can hook up to these fighters? What munitions are you giving them? How many crew chiefs and specs are you sending to get trained in the US? ANY transfer of aircraft in terms of hardware of this caliber will not produce an immediate effect on the battlefield, and in fact, as I mentioned briefly, can very well be a net DRAIN on their forces as they try to sustain something that is 100% foreign to them. Multi-role works best for smaller air forces— they HAVE to live in that realm. Hell, multi-role is a cornerstone of our programs, but I don’t believe that EVERY aircraft needs to be born and employed under that mantra. We have that luxury as a force that we can have specialization— though the budgeteers might disagree, we as an American Air Force have that ability whereas others do not. You could say the same for our approach to CSAR— we have the luxury and budget to dedicate such forces to the mission. “Give us an aircraft solution similar to the HIMARS.” That’s just not going to happen with western equipment for the reasons listed above and in their presentation. Now, back to the A-10. These guys are qualified experts in their field— Carrol world-renowned. But not in the A-10. If you think that MANPADs make brick walls and close off airspace to A-10s, then you’re not familiar with the Hog’s current suite of defensive systems, tactics, or weapons availability. If you throw out pics of KC’s battle-damaged A-10 and say that this proves the A-10’snvulnerabilities, then you don’t know the context of that situation. Anyone know how many passes that formation made prior to that hit? 5. Down the same ‘chute, same angle, while carrying 4x Mk-82s. Well that doesn’t sound smart now does it? It’s what they had to do. US forces were pinned down across the river by Iraqi forces under a bridge escarpment, and the only way to hit those Iraqi’s was to come in at a relatively low angle, from one direction, multiple times trying to get gun and rocket passes under the bridge with effective effects based on that battlefield terrain. A-10 defensive systems were not automatic at that time, and they became predictable due to the requirements of the troops on the ground. That hit aligns pretty well with the historical averages going back to Desert Storm— no A-10 has ever been hit on its first pass, and it’s usually around that fifth or sixth attack in the same area that gets them. The jet wasn’t carrying precision munitions that might have allowed for more standoff at that time either— they were A-10As, and precision engagement wouldn’t start for a few more years. The point is, in every discussion about hits that the A-10 has taken over the years, there’s A LOT of context required. The experiences over the Republican Guard in 1991 come up often in this realm, but without getting into that right now, the discussion needs to start with the question, “Why were A-10s operating in that environment at that time that led to those losses?” It’s a great story that adds so much more to the understanding of what led to those hits. William Smallwood does a great compilation in his book, “Warthog—Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War.” A stat you don’t see thrown around often— did you know that we lost just as many F-16s as A-10s during Ops Desert Shield and Desert Storm? Which brings me to the point of the SU-25s getting their “asses handed to them,” so why would anyone want something similar? I haven’t seen the numbers lately, but during the first three months of the war, SU-25 loss rates were comparable to all other fast-movers. If you classify the Frog as its own entity vs all other fighters, you’ll see that more traditional fighters were lost than -25s. Personally, since such a distinction is made between the Frog and all other fighters in terms of survivability, I think this is a fair comparison that proves that the Frog is being lost at a slightly lower rate than other, faster fighters. I also am not impressed by the tactics, training, or the apparent lack of effective equipment on the Frogs for that matter. If you read up on the SU-25SM (Russia’s “best” Frog), you’ll see that it boasts some pretty impressive equipment— on paper, it looks like it’s on par with US gear. But videos of Frogs in action shows that either this equipment (such as automatic counter measures) either doesn’t work, or the pilots don’t operate them correctly. So I think that it’s a natural attempt, but ultimately incorrect comparison between the battlefield employment of SU-25s to A-10Cs. The quote that the A-10 was “deemed unsurvivable in the 1980s” just shows the lack of familiarity with what upgrades have been done to the jet since then. I honestly think that many of the “pundits” commenting on the A-10 think that all she does is employ the same tactics, with the same suites and weapons as she did in 1984. While we’re still VERY good at those tactics, the envelope, effectiveness, and survivability has grown exponentially since then. If you want an interesting read, check out Douglas Campbell’s book, “The A-10 and the Close Air Support Debate.” There are passages and quotes in there from the 1980s that I swore were date-stamped 2013 the last time we had this discussion. Carrol makes the point that you can’t have an air threat and do CAS— I agree. In fact, that’s written in the JPUB. I do NOT agree that you need a limited MANPAD or even SAM threat, particularly when you’re talking about what would REALISTICALLY be associated with front-line units in a CAS fight. Carrol and Herzinger both hint at the cynical nature of this original discussion— a desperate long-ball to try to affect a final solution on the A-10. That knife kind of cuts both ways when you’re offering it to someone else, and you kind of get caught talking out of both sides of your mouth. “Hey, this jet isn’t good enough for us, but I think it’s just what YOU need in the same fight that I just said it wouldn’t be able to fight!” WTF? Let me close with this (the old man will stop yelling at clouds for the day). There are a lot of people with a lot of opinions about the A-10 who don’t have the familiarity with what the airframe can actually do. I’m reminded of a story from about ten years ago when a VERY senior civilian DoD member who was actively advocating for the divestiture of the A-10 was given a tour by one of the Hog units. Upon learning about the defensive capabilities of the Hog, this VERY senior civilian was shocked—this person had no idea about what upgrades and capabilities the aircraft actually possessed. And yet here that person was repeatedly professing the lack of survivability of the aircraft, advocating for a solution without being given the full information. We just shook our heads then as we do now. If you know, you know.

Alright... I'll come out of retirement for this one... been watching the discussion for awhile now, so I guess it's time to weigh in. Be careful where you get your sources from-- the "anonymous Hog Driver" quoted by The Aviationist in the 1945 article is a long-time F-16 pilot who only recently converted to the A-10... and is a big advocate of a particular unit converting back to Vipers in the near future. The discussion of the gun seems shocking to anyone who's never flown the A-10... ermahgerd.... you mean it's not good against armor in the face? As Paul Harvey so eloquently put it... and now, for the rest of the story... The study referenced here and many other places is based on the LAVP (lot acceptance verification program) that began in 1975. The study was written in 1979, but the bulk of LAVP occurred between 1978 and 1980. Why does that matter? Because the systems on board the A-10 at that time were DRASTICALLY different than what is on the aircraft now. The aircraft at that time were non-LASTE (Low Altitude Safety and Targeting Enhancement), meaning that the pilots essentially employed iron sights without the benefit of PAC (precision attitude control, which essentially ”locks” the primary flight controls to hold the pipper on the aimpoint and get better bullet density). In other words, the system has gotten BETTER over the years. MUCH better. Some quotes from the test: “Only 93 passes were made in high-rate due to restrictions; and all passes after November 1979 were further limited to low-rate, 1 second bursts. Although not ideal for bullet density, all ammunition fired for LAVP was pure API, not combat mix.” In other words, the results were limited by the test parameters of the time. Even given those constraints, “Of first importance, all the Pk’s were HIGHER than expected; and the low-angle were comparable to the high angle.” A final key note relates to the non-LASTE nature of the test: ”hits usually did not occur after the 25th round fired.” That’s a situation that has been rectified with modern upgrades to the airframe. As the text follows, “ LASTE enables burst length and density to INCREASE through the use of a constantly computed impact point (CCIP) and PAC“. In other words, the gun was good back then, it’s even better now. For the "shocking" part... ALL Hog Drivers are taught that we don't shoot tanks in the face if we can avoid it-- that's where the machines are designed to be the most effective in terms of armor, so naturally we train to hit them from the side, top, or rear. You don't always get that option in combat, so M or F kills are just as acceptable-- any EFFECT that degrades the enemy's ability to fight is a positive step in combat. If you think that Pk of 1.0 is widespread, you're watching too many movies and not spending enough time in the vault. Here's another kicker: the gun isn't the first choice against armor for many Hog Drivers. Gasp! The maverick missile, which was designed simultaneously with the A-X program as a PRIMARY munition for the new A-X, provides much better effects, some standoff, and precision capability. Given the right circumstances and approval, the Hog can sling six of those, rifling three on a single pass. Think about that-- a PLATOON or armor, completely wiped out by a single Hog on two passes. A 4 ship can render a battalion of armor combat non-effective on 2 passes with that loadout, and we haven't even gone to the gun yet. Now, back to the original discussion of the thread. Could the A-10 survive and be effective in Ukraine? Absolutely. In American hands, in the American way of major combat ops. Turns out, the Hog community has been training side by side with every aspect of the USAF in major exercises for the last 40 years. If the Hog was truly an unsurvivable liability as proven in every Red Flag and ME (now WSINT) vul, you bet your ass that Corporate Blue would have trotted those stats out immediately. I can recall many a RF vul thinking to myself as a Sandy One... "gawddamn... I'd have my hands full after this round..." ... and none of them were Hogs. Our way of fighting is an overwhelming, integrated approach to these kind of operations. Hogs might be slower, so we launch first, land last, and often times can make it happen without siphoning off tanker gas that the other guys need. If you haven't read many of the open-source articles written by some Hog Drivers that occasionally pop up, then you may not be familiar with the applications currently being explored out west-- adding SDB (16 per jet), MALD, and potentially JASSM to the Hog makes it an incredible support asset that makes 5th Gen even more lethal-- freeing them up to do their thing while the swine saturates the battlefield. And the kicker is that even once the Hog launches all that "new" stuff, depending on the loadout, she still has enough weapons to engage up to 20 targets. Each. Now, if you send the Hogs into a fight alone, with less-than-optimum weapons, without SA, without SEAD (neither side has dedicated SEAD/DEAD assets), without effective tactics (both sides are, shall we say, less than impressive), and without training (how long does it take to train up ANY pilot to this level of warfare), then the results will be predictable. And I'll throw it out here since it's been floated on other sites: you send the Ukrainians ANY of our fighters, give them minimal time to get fam'd with it, maybe don't provide them the best weapons we have, and the results will be the same-- disaster. Tactics, training, and operational integration are key to major combat ops. They don't have it, so it really doesn't matter WHAT weapon you put in their inventory.

For once I'm not let down by Air Force decision making.

You might get a new guy. https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/3112446/

Nothing yet on my end

Talk to your reserve sq/cc back home about options; anything on here is conjecture and may or may not be applicable to your situation today.

Sounds like U-28 replacement will be the AT-802. Great choice!

Stoned to death with hard compound tires? 🤣

There's no guarantee of anything. I think generally you'd be sent to the IRR (technically in the reserves, but you don't show up, ever, or get paid) until your two year commissioning service commitment is done. I've heard of people being reclassed to other career fields but that's highly dependent on what leadership thinks of you and what the Air Force needs at the time. Why reclass a disgruntled failure pilot when they could pick a deserving prior-E?

I'm in a similar situation, I'm turning 33 soon and have rushed and applied for the last year or so. I was able to land a few interviews with heavies. I'll be frank, it's really hard with the age limit. Most of the boards I applied for have an age limit much lower than 33 (esp fighters) and I'll apply anyways just to get rejected. You say you want to fly only fighters? That's a tough battle, there will be hundreds of applicants for 1-2 pilot slots. After a certain point I don't even think they care about all your flight hours and ratings, one board I was at picked a person who had 60 hours and there were airline pilots at the interviews. There will probably be more applicants in the future due to the Top Gun effect. From my experience with the age limit, I will most likely stop applying when I turn 33 or maybe keep applying to the ones I got interviews with and enjoyed their culture. I don't want to discourage you but it's going to be tough and you'll need an age waiver at this point. I say just take the AFOQT/TBAS, build up a good package and shoot it out. Go rush some squadrons and get to know the crew and their mission. Apply till the last no. Good luck.

Over/under of Ferrari firing their strategists during the break? Seems Merc has finally got their shit together. And glad they let things happen organically at the end vs imposing team orders.

B5 currently, soon to be followed by Donkey Punch Pox. Heard that one will be a real pain in the ass!

According to DAL’s chief health officer (impressive med background), the new strain is weaker than the traditional flu. So yeah, everyone move on with life and stop buying into the bullshit.

I don’t know man, how many threads on Baseops lately have devolved into garbage political pissing matches. Was kinda nice to have one dedicated to other funny shit.

Our country is where it is because Mandy votes.

She'll claim they made rude comments to her. I see the reason they put in a pinch runner.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but like I said, I've got a few.......... Okay – quick one from way back at United in early 2001. 757/767 Captain at United with whom I’m flying a 4-day trip. The guy doesn’t wear an undershirt, has brought one shirt for the whole trip and by day 2 he reeks. At one point, we’re turning between flights and waiting for the pax to start boarding. One of the F/As standing in the flight deck doorway says, “Oh my, we may need to get this lav serviced before we go, it stinks”. I look at her while doing the sideways eyes toward the flight deck and tell her, “It ain’t the bathroom”. I finally have to ask him to use the hotel laundry service before the next day. Max altitude on a 767 is 43,100 (WTF? I dunno – ask Boeing) We’re light and cruising on the last hour of our BOS-SFO transcon at FL400. Captain Stinky decides he wants to explore the edges of the envelope since he’s never been above our current altitude. “Hey, see if center will give us a block altitude from FL410-430. I want to see how this thing handles the max altitude.” “Really? I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be just like it is here at FL400” (Let’s not do dumb things – K?) “Yeah, go ahead and ask them” Of course, I gotta put in a little dig just to make sure everyone else knows this is stupid…… “Center, United 123, the captain would like a block altitude from FL410 to FL430.” “United 123, unable” Oh, that’s too bad. Would have been so much fun. 🙄 On another turn, he pulls out a no-shit photo album with real pictures that had to be developed from film in an old-fashioned camera. More shit for some of you to google when you’re done learning about Jim Croce. In the magic photo album, he has a bunch of nudes that he’s apparently taken over the years. Tasteful, playboy nudes (no Hustler baloney spread shots) but still pretty weird. Again, not one to turn down a porn (sort of) invite, I take a look. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know who these women were or why they had agreed to this, so I just left that question unasked. But this album is the most important part of the story because it plays another part the next day. This is pre-9-11 and one of the reasonably young, fairly hot F/As comes up to visit for a while during cruise. We’re just shooting the shit when the Captain’s SA low light comes on and he reaches for “the book”. He swings it out of his pubs kit into view and my heart stops. Slow motion…..”Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!” 😧 In horror, I’m thinking “Please God no……… I like my new job………you clown, WTF are you doing.” I’m giving him the “cut” sign across my neck and wishing I was somewhere else when actually starts opening it up while saying…… “Hey, I’ve got a photo album with some nudes that I’ve shot, do you want to take a look?” Now, I can’t say that part of me wasn’t curious to see if she’d be into it. I guess that was the part of me that wasn’t worried about my multi-million-dollar airline career crumbling to dust at my feet. Maybe this is how the book started in the first place back when he was flying DC-8s, FAs were stewardesses and all hot, everyone dressed up to fly and meals were served on fine china. 🤷‍♂️ Luckily, she just gives a little smile and says, “Oh, that’s okay – probably not something that I’d be too interested in, thanks anyway.” But that was her cue to leave, never to return. Thanks, dumbass.

I’ll keep stirring the pot because the comments are good Ward Carrol plus guest are not on board, don’t think anyone really is but again the discussion is good Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dollar's are money, and where do they come from?