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Possibly unpopular take here but if the CC literally said “yeah, go have fun” after some guy said “let me go rip it around for a bit, it’ll be fine”, he’s an idiot. Those maneuvers are well within the capability of any Eagle Driver and the airplane but a demo is a very specific skill and a lot more too it than plugging the AB and going for it.

Yup. Big difference between doing it out on the range or MOA versus doing it within 1/4 mile of a couple thousand people watching on the flightline.

Unfortunately, we’ve got the same limp hammers around FD, too, like this tub-o-shit. I’ve run into a couple out in the wild, both AF and FDNY, while drinking, which usually leads me down the rabbit hole. I like letting them build their shit diorama and then asking them about some mundane details that anyone that’s actually spent a little time in job either knows, yet the “heroes” always seem to “forget.” Minor things that were part of regular life or rite of passage in either job that any one of us experienced, yet most of these shitbirds wouldn’t know or think to research. How was formal/standup/shotgun? Let’s talk about a random SERE factoid? When’s recurring boldface due? Tell me about your UPT base. What’s dispatch’s number? Where are medicals and when? What’s this random 10-xx radio code mean? Tell me about chauffeur school? On and on. There are so many minutiae that we all deal with (in any job) that can usually weed out the Officer Doofies/Paul Blarts of the world. Harder to weed out the ones that were in, but embellish their accomplishments, but they tend to be less brazen with folks in and only use their stories to wow outsiders. They usually know you’d probably have heard of them rescuing Col Masters with Chappie or fighting Axe in a warehouse fire.

Never flown Eagles either, and my experience in fighting them consists solely of popping flares and praying, but as a fatty driver formerly based at JBER for a long time, pushing it up during a demo is a sore subject for me. As everyone knows, C-17 pilots have famously fvcked it up many times over the last 30 years. Multiple gear-up landings, multiple departures from the end of the runway, accidently landing at Peter O. Knight instead of MacDill, the four engine flameout in Pakistan... not to mention the missions involving actual battle damage like the crew that took a SAM up the ass in Baghdad in 2003. Some amount of incidents are more or less inevitable after flying thousands and thousands of sorties over the course of decades, but obviously some of these risks are exacerbated by putting young crews in tight spots. Of course, that's ultimately the CC's call, and risk is a fact of life in the military and aviation, especially in combat. But you know what? Every single one of those guys made it home. After almost five million flight hours across the program, our only hull loss remains the 2010 crash at JBER, where some of our most experienced crew members (an EP, two IPs, and an EL) pushed it up a little too hard at about 850' AGL during airshow practice and put a jet in the dirt. Now every year on July 28, the AD and ANG C-17 squadrons at Elmo go out into the woods and sit around this clearing where there used to be trees, drinking and remembering four of our friends. I'm glad we do it, but I wish we didn't have to. Full disclosure, I didn't watch the whole video that got posted, but I bet I know what it looks like - it's probably freaking awesome. I was just out at Oshkosh this summer because I love a good airshow... who doesn't? But there's a different calculus and a different set of risks in decision making when one is trying to put on a good show. I can absolutely think of times in my past where someone was watching who I wanted to impress, and I pushed it a little too far and probably made some decisions that I shouldn't have. No doubt the guy/gal flying this show is a great stick and a damn good pilot. But if we're going to take arguably unnecessary risks in peacetime, we've got to take reasonable measures to mitigate that risk when possible. I've never been a demo pilot, so I don't know what proportion of the AF demo regs are well-thought out vs. pointless bureaucracy, but I do know that the answer isn't to just ignore them all and do nothing, and if that's what happened here, I've got no problem with sacking the person responsible for providing that oversight.

Not to mention that there were several times during that "demo" that he appeared raggedy edge of departing the jet (I've never flown an Eagle, just fought them). It looked badass and I loved it...we'd all love to do that, but if you're not a demo pilot, I can't imagine you'd think this would end well for all involved.

There are pretty strict rules defining “aerial demonstrations”, “flybys” and airshows with demo teams. No surprise someone got canned over this. Not saying it’s not cool or that it’s dangerous, just blatantly prohibited. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Sims are superior for training in many ways but you can’t replicate the “skin in the game”for deconfliction, maneuvering in IMC etc. I take many risks in the sim I wouldn’t while in the MOA. A companion trainer could bridge the gap. No its not 100%, but if I could get even 50% value at 5% of the cost, it’s still a win. I’ve flown trainers with built in simulation and was very impressed. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I never talked to CQ, don't really care for him after having served under him as the WIC Commandant. I don't think Kelly fit the model you outlined above...I know Sparky, Francis and Baba didn't. Scorpions CERTAINLY enabled integration...you've never seen the set up. Maybe I am a dinosaur, if you prefer a sim over being in the air have at it. Sim (especially the new ones), always have a place, but I will always choose to be in the air.

Maybe we're just super conservative now, but that looked like a pretty normal airshow profile from the ones I was at a decade ago.

If the U-28 really does retire in a few years, take those, rip out all the fancy stuff, and spread them around as a companion instrument trainer. Or a weekend XC machine that can fit several Yeti’s full of lobster…

This is why I’ve kept my own logbook, never trusted a 1C further than I could throw them! Plus the notes section of my logbook makes for nice memories and reflection .

Joe Milton and the Vols really underperformed in that game. They have a more talented team but fell flat on their face. Colorado vs Colorado State...man. CSU had so many opportunities to win that game. Colorado is soooo overrated, holy crap. They've got some good individual talent, but they don't have the depth at the DL or talent at the LB positions to beat really good teams without having to score 40 points. Additionally, they don't have the beef to hold up all year. Look at the difference between their players and Alabama. In a couple years of training and growth, look out. Also, the media is doing the classic thing where they are simping like crazy to the whole Sanders family to watch them fall apart and then ask if their whole schtick is a distraction. The perfect example was talking about Shedeur Sanders having all this poise and catching him on camera poking a CSU DL in the eyes while they're saying it. Or his insistence on being in the middle of everything and starting all kinds of shit with the other team. They're going to lose eventually and I think that loss will be pretty ugly. Everyone will dogpile on when it happens which really sucks.

I was on FB this morning and for some ungodly reason they showed a post from the Gator Nation page recommending I join the group 🤮. The post included a long group of posts claiming the Gators are the #1 team in the nation, obviously the fan base needs a random urinalysis.

Correct. I forwarded to our resident AFSOC Stolen Valor hunter and he is on the case. Thus far there is no record of Robert or Roberta.

This has so many red flags I am surprised some of you are not trying to date it.