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Took my wife to the shooting range in Conecuh Alabama yesterday, as we were wrapping up we had a very unexpected flyover. I thought it might be @Hacker in FiFi but after checking the schedule online I am guessing it was Doc returning home after cancelling the rest of their season for an engine change in Panama City. Must have been a sight to see the sky filled with these beautiful birds. The sound was incredible.

All things being equal, I'd rather have the gas.

Engines are numbered left to right... for those unaware like I was at one point. Brabus... In the Viper or F-35, that would be "#1".

a bit generous referring to them as people 😁

Agreed Huggy, the ACE program was awesome for us -135 and -52 copilots. I ended up with over 400 hours of tweet time while a CO at Plattsburgh. Used Csquared (the off days right after alert week - for you youngsters) as an opportunity to cruise down South for a few days with 3 hops each day. We’d leave out on Wednesday right off alert and return Sunday evening by 6pm. Any controlled airport with a military fuel contract and at least 5,000 feet of runway was good to go. Smyrna, TN used to give a small bottle of Jack for each 100 gallons of fuel. The Squadron bar keep was happy every time i flew through there. The furthest I flew out of Plattsburgh on a tweet trip was to NM and back. A few others to Homestead, FL and back. Great flying experience and tons of fun to boot. A few of us even got formation qualed and flew a few out and back formation trips too. I’m still shocked how many of my fellow CO’s didn’t take full advantage of the program. I was able to fill empty flight slots/schedules tons of times just by being willing and available to fly. One year I flew 2 “guest” flights with our 2 tanker squadron commanders.

Blytheville AFB. "Hooterville". Forgot all about that place. It was one of the ~13 bases that had B-52s and KC-135's when I graduated UPT. They had Tweets too, for the old ACE Program... which Gen Loh killed, in what I'd call a not-well-thought out decision.

I had a 50/50 shot…put it all on black!

I've gotta go dig in my tubs of ol' USAF shit to find my "WSO Hater Union" card I was once presented at a roll call. Looks like I have others to pass that along to here. Wish I could remember the occasion for which I was awarded it.

They have been hosting NATA Formation Clinics out there for several years. An old SAC base with huge runways, lots of ramp space, and tons of clear airspace around it is a particularly good place to have 'em. The runway is long enough that a couple of years ago a formation of T-6s took off, lead had an engine loss of power at about 150' AGL with the gear up, and he was still able to get the gear down and land in the remaining runway. IMG_3978 2_E614E742-A9FD-4ADE-AE7D-726FC77310F9.mp4

At the recommendation of Boeing, both UPS AND Purple have grounded their MD-11's.

The WSO mafia is stronger than I thought.

The only applicability of “democratic” in that sense is they were all stupid enough to vote for it via a democratic process, and ironically that currently valid democratic process would soon disappear entirely if their ill-informed plan actually played out fully.

Trump and Hegseth have signaled potential obstacles to post service employment...we shall see if it happens. I was an SVP at a company and they sent me to the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC for a senior executive leadership development program. While I was there I met a lady who newly hired to be our company CIA account VP. Her name sounded familiar so I googled her and discovered she was one of the 51 that signed the Russia Intel Memo about the Hunter Biden Latptop. I was absolutely stunned, does anyone bother to check these things? Trump was elected and he revoked her security clearance, she was gone the next day.

Access is all that matters, which might come back to bite them in the long run.

Today, a good friend and I flew formation. It was the first time in 34 years that two A-37's flew in formation in North America. Took them from Boise to St George VFR. And yes... it was a blast.