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Yeah, you're not wrong. I fall into the "I don't know shit about investing" category. But... mainly on other airline websites... I read posts where pilots get on their high horse and admonish other pilots for their "need" to have an 85 hour month. Or they bad mouth this and that, and tell us how smart they are for doing X or Y. And if it works for them, I'm happy for them. But lecturing others is poor form. Some pilots are living on the edge of their finances because they are taking care of a parent suffering from dementia... or devoting their efforts to a special needs child... or dealing with a painful and costly divorce. Some have sick spouses that require treatments that exhaust life savings. Life is tough for many people. And before someone starts pontificating on how other pilots should be saving for college and how they should be more careful with their money... then they should stop... give thanks to God that they are not in a bad situation... and simply pray that others can find a way to become financially secure. Frankly, no financial advice given on this forum is going to make a difference. As such... I will shut my fucking piehole before I offer my less-than-sage wisdom on the subject.

because you didn’t fly t-38s and get your own atis

To those Americans, known and unknown, that died while serving this country.

No shit... https://www.theblaze.com/news/radical-leftism-linked-to-narcissism-and-psychopathy

Same! Agreed with Huggy on lecturing, but I'll certainly offer my opinion to other looking in. However, I won't feel bad for their plight after they just spent the pond crossing me telling me how they've been a WB Capt since 38, showing pics of their Porsche, Seneca (and Bonanza), their 200k+ backyard pool (house near a famous beach), their apartment in AMS...then lectured me on how we should support age 67 because they "need" the next two years. These people exist!

Putin Poisoning? Belarus dictator Luakashenko in critical condition in Moscow hospital, says opposition figure "Following a closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko was swiftly transported to a Moscow hospital in critical condition."

Yes. And from my anecdotal observation there has been a marked uptick in atrophy in precision (and supervision on the IP side), as a result of the expectation bias of not form landing from them (by stipulation) anymore. Can't speak to local iterations of the 2.5 syllabi, but at PIT the new syllabus now includes a specific grade of wingman drop off, in order to force the issue of making the maneuver actionable. I.e. demonstrate proficiency in placing the flight in a position that allows the stricken wingman to transition to the single ship landing from a safe and reasonable position. On the wingman side, to demonstrate proficiency in evaluating a safe position to land and transition to a landing within CTS from the formation phase. Which is the whole point of teaching folks wing approaches. It's not an academic maneuver from where I sit. As recent as 6 months ago we brought back a nose on birdstrike with composite DC left and right (partial) bus failure. Very complicated EP to troubleshoot, electrical out in the cockpit to include PFD displays, and NORDO on top of it. Bird ripped through the upper skin right in front of the windshield, where the buses sit in the forward avionics bay. They had to do a no flap they didn't immediately know they were going to end up having to make (which made for a sporty transition, the stricken aircraft almost overshot as a result of lead not accounting for this nuance). All DC-electrical out, nordo wing approach. All those visual signals we rattle on the semi-annual test but never use, well it became a need that day. Again, wasn't a pretty execution by the crew members' own admission, but highlighted the importance of keeping this specific skillset fresh, at least for the IP cadre. I am of the opinion it would be a significant disservice to usaf aviators if we shied away from this training. Seems the AF agrees, as they didn't act to prohibit the training in the wake of the XL fatality they way they did for wing landings in the wake of the VN one. Lastly, formation (section for the brown shoes) takeoffs are to me a logistical necessity on weather days for outright mission accomplishment in no-radar land, given the programmed daily sortie volumes at the sausage maker side of the USAF. Count me also as supportive of continuing that training item.

That would make sense yeah.

I still think we should only have one trainer like before the SUPT days. Understand the desire to extend the life on the T-38 but if everyone goes to the T-7, you just assign earlier and the heavy bound folks now spend more time on XC type missions and not 4 ship and tactical formation. IMO the focus on CRM in UPT is very overrated. CRM is a great concept but if injected too early in a pilots development, it undermines some development. Of note, I’m not shitting on the T-1. Honestly, the T-1 trained guys in Draco were usually better than their 38 counterparts.

Guess Russia will just have to start administering the Belarussian state directly since their leader fell ill.

Quite likely The pointy nose are getting a new jet (eventually) and could have had one earlier (T-50) but don't forget the crew aircraft bound students, if the Navy can figure out how to get a new multi engine trainer we can too.. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005839/en/Textron-Aviation-Special-Missions-Beechcraft-King-Air-260-chosen-as-new-U.S.-Navy-Multi-Engine-Training-System-METS I'll be a broken record for that lurking person on this thread that can make this happen... Students bound for crew based platforms following track select: X more hours in the T-6 focusing on cross country and experience in new fields and mission planning (I think they already do this with UPT Next) Establish training contract with civilian flight company for initial ME training, 15 hours. Travel to Flight Safety, get initial type training in Beech KA 260, academics and sims, no type check but basic prof check at end observed by USAF, 6 weeks should cover it with slop. 50 hour multi engine flight training program

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BK1UF8Ff-Pw

Cheers to that! Well said. And on that note, have a great holiday weekend fellas.

UPT still does barrel rolls in close trail

Sounds like a sporty day. Glad everyone made it down safely! Agree on all parts. Small anecdote, and not nearly as dramatic as the story you just told, but I’m an inexperienced CAF guy and have done 4 “real-world” form approaches in the past 12 months alone for various EPs. Multiple times thru Wx and once thru Wx at night. Similar to the crew member in your story, the first time I had to do it outside of a training environment wasn’t the prettiest. It was enough of a wake up call personally that I’ve made it a point to be a little cleaner on those end of sortie BD checks as well as flying up initial as that’s usually the extent of my fingertip flying these days. Glad it’s still in the syllabus. It would suck to do a form approach for the first time “real world”.

Worst advice in the thread 😂🤣. I would say about 1/3 are terrible with finances, 1/3 are fine, but missing many opportunities, and 1/3 are good with money. There is no connection between career success and financial responsibility. The number of junior and senior pilots having actual panic attacks in Apr-Oct 2020 over the potential for reduced earnings was a real eye opener. Most pilots cannot get a non-airline job that would replace their airline income. Plan accordingly, and be intimately familiar with your LTD policy.

The PMP engine "upgrade" was a self-inflicted wound by the AF. They spent millions to marginally improve TOLD, only to give y'all an engine that isn't as reliable, and a get that flies an ASD of about .1 shorter than the A-model. Millions... and probably over a billion... of dollars (along with more millions wasted on the new ejection seat) that could have been utilized by an Air Force to accelerate their procurement of an advanced trainer. They've poured good money after bad rather than do what needed to be done by 2010. The Video Data Transfer System (and new speed brake position indicator) was over $50,000,000 just by itself. Are you shitting me? At least they are "celebrating" their accomplishment. https://www.jbsa.mil/News/News/Article/1065812/program-office-celebrates-t-38c-mod-completion/ Unforgiving in the T/O and LDG phase? Haha. Have you read the approach/landing accident reports from the CAF over the last few years? You're the CAF. If you don't want the UPT folks teaching it, then as "the customer", your demand to KIO this syllabus event is valid and I'm glad you got your way. However, did formation landings magically become useless to the CAF at the exact same time as the first formation landing fatality? Or was CAF leadership allowing the UPT syllabus to waste millions of dollars and hours that would have been useful elsewhere? This whole evolution points to a continued lack of focus on the real issues by so many that were "in charge". I know this shocks many of you. And while formation landings may be unnecessary for the pointy-nosed types, don't conflate banning them as a safety issue. For those of us outside of the UPT and fighter environment that find formation landings useful, we didn't appreciate ACC / USAF killing them for everyone. Not everything revolves around what is done in the F-35. I love the T-38. It was and is an amazing aircraft. But it should have been replaced by now. There are second-rate air forces flying with a better advanced trainer than we have. And that's embarrassing.

Depends entirely on one’s priorities. There are certainly opportunities to make more money. Those opportunities will vary airline to airline as every contract is different. Every airline will have a guarantee that ensures you will be paid for a certain number of hours even if you fly less. Best advice I can give: plan to live at or under guarantee. If you make more, bonus! Invest it, send your kids to a good college, buy an expensive toy, whatever. But always be able to pay your bills on guarantee alone. This industry is cyclical and downturns tend to take people by surprise (they shouldn’t).

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/james-phillip-fleming/ Drink a beer for this dude!!!

Honestly, same. You can use CPTS portal to hold finance accountable and it’s very effective. No more stories about losing paperwork, digging through email traffic, or recounting phone calls with nameless airmen. You can see who worked on your issue and when, down the minute. It’s all right there with all the data you need to back it up. Nowhere for finance to hide anymore, so maybe this one should be in the “right with the AF” thread. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No Tumi bag? GTFO, hard pass.

https://youtu.be/yg06B46VVys