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That picture causes tinnitus.

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.

So let me get this straight, 20 million illegal immigrants coming into the country is better than a small number of constitutional violations that are being resolved in the courts? That's the math. I don't work in the Congress, so I don't get to pick a made-up third option where the border is closed and there are no violations of constitutional rights. I have a choice between a candidate that made everything worse, dramatically, and a candidate who single-handedly reduced illegal immigration to near zero, while fucking up in some edge cases. That's pretty easy math to me. No one is denying the constitutional violations, though I suspect you would view far more of the deportation activity as a violation than I would. But even if I agreed with you on every single case, the alternative was a slow rolling catastrophe for my country and the country my children will inherit. Caveats are part of living in the real world. I will be very black and white in this point. If this is a literal statement, then you are a hack. And while I could put together a rather extensive list of individual things he has done that are quite easy for me or any other conservative-minded person to support, and I can even make a smaller list of things that any fair-minded liberal would support, if you can't do that on your own, then you are simply beyond any position that is worth engaging with. In that case, TDS is a fair label.

As I expected…

Sorry about the FB link https://www.facebook.com/reel/1331132237948069

I am a weather geek and always wondered what it would be like to be a Hurricane Hunter. For those who followed Hurricane Melissa which is the third strongest hurricane on record (892MB and still intensifying at landfall), the NOAA and USAFR Hurricane Hunters had a constant presence as the storm built and hit Jamaica and Cuba. USAFR flies a fleet of 10 WC-130Js and NOAA operates two PC-3's. One of the P-3s (named Kermit), was flying a mission during the rapid intensification. As they departed the eye and flew into the eyewall they encountered what looks to me like extreme turbulence. Ultimately they elected to depart the storm because of the turbulence ..something that rarely happens. Video below shows what must have been a tense ride. Note the engineer working the throttles...or trying to while getting tossed around. AQP1zLdnXrSgI_2_OBE_F0hhLxJeGO4jFK1eae_iKwtS_ust8aU-GrgMjUvsO9FJVYVRDFgG7Q7fe2AYKxCS-1egSOsuHaBH7rl8OO9TGvWqRQ.mp4

Too much effort is spent justifying upholding the law. Just call them criminals and keep arresting them. The people who don't want us to follow the laws are never going to be convinced no matter how many high-level whatevers you catch, and the people who are already supporters are just going to be turned off if you're caught in a lie. There's never going to be an administration in the history of the country that loses an election for upholding immigration laws. Plenty have lost elections for over-promising and under-delivering.

Good a place as any for this.... Time to cut down on uniform flair? https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/overdue-for-de-norkification-of-our

No, the A-37 sounds like a T-38. it doesn't make the dog whistle of the T-37's J-69. The J-85 in the Super Tweet puts out as much in Mil as a T-38A puts out in Max.

You PCS first before going to IPT. My buddy is a T6 instructor out at Laughlin and I was talking with him yesterday and he said the kids that went to IPT aren’t back yet. Indicating it’s a PCS first.

Yeah, absolutely. I did the IFT replacement at the Air Force academy when they had gotten rid of IFT (or whatever the program was pre-2006). It was like half of a PPL course, taught by civilians, and had basically no standards. I learned practically nothing. Then it was over 2 years before I started upt, so I had long since brain dumped everything from that course. The T-6 is perfectly suitable to be the first airplane and Air Force pilot touches. Edit: agreed with the above however, 45 hours would be wholly insufficient. 100 hours is probably The Sweet spot before going to an intermediate or advanced trainer. If we're going to transition back to everybody flies the T-38 (replacement) then we probably need more like 150 hours in something like the T-6. At least back when I was a FAIP, The limited t38 slots meant that only your best students were going to it, so you could get away with much less training.

I put Columbus Laughlin Vance. Don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere Enid with a wife and kiddos. My wife doesn’t want to be in Texas because she thinks the cartel will kidnap us close to the border lol

REMINDER: the PSDM is Controlled Unclassified Information. it is not authorized for distribution on non-AF networks or to individuals who cannot be confirmed DoD personnel.

I'm digging the engineer's hat!! 🫡🫡🫡 And Kermit's bouncing all over the place! 😮😮😮

Quibbling. They DEA actually arrested 617 suspected cartel members across the U.S. between 25–29 August 2025, that number (171) was in New England only. That operation also led to the seizure of large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, counterfeit pills, firearms and millions in cash. DEA officials may have described these as “high-level arrests” and part of a broader effort to dismantle the cartel. I don't give a fuck about how these criminals are described, as long as they are concentrating on removing these individuals from our society, they can call them the Easter Bunny! And of course Massachusetts law enforcement officials will try to downplay the fact that these cartel narcotics networks are operating almost unabated in their state!

Sometimes cheap can be more fun! I'm picking up a Rock Island TM22 (in reality, built by Derya Arms in Türkiye and rebranded by RIA) tomorrow that's about half the MSRP with only 5 rounds through it! Yea, it looks like (and is) a cheap .22 AR-wannabe; but reports are it's a decent plinker (with the right ammo!) and you can never have too many of those! I figured since I scored 2K rounds of .223/5.56 over the weekend at a great price ($500), I have credit to spend on another toy! Range report to follow...

Hey all, What I’m about to share, take with a very large grain of salt. I have a friend who applied and their commander was actually on the board this year and just based on a conversation we were having, although the government is shutdown, results are still being processed and potentially at final adjudication. Final adjudication means that the selection list is making its way up the chain for final approval before being released by AFPC. To me it would make no sense that the Air Force would leave a board like this up to soley gov civilians to process. There had to have been a contingency plan in place. But again, after over a decade in the Air Force, I can maybe count on one how many things have been done that makes sense lol. However, with this news and my friend actually being stationed at Randolph extremely close to AFPC, I am hopeful for results in the coming weeks.

Thanks for the -135 write up...I can see it was a handful especially after it was reengined. Ha, let me know if you are flying a squirrely tail dragger at 76. Fighter (RF-4C) was easy to fly/formate/land after the lightweight -38 in UPT. Employing it was a different matter. Have a lot of time in the B-727 (same cockpit as -135). Still one of my favorites to have flown. How did you get 3 flights in the U-2? I applied to the SR-71 and the most I got was a ride in the chase car during a launch. At least Huggy let me peek in the cockpit of the U-2 at OSH. WRT UPT we had a class of approx 50 with not that many SIE's or washouts. We were one of the first classes that implemented the bottom 10% rule with a mix of a/c because of SAC complaints. Hard to believe we can't come up with a better training a/c after 50+ years with the -38.

Dibs.

U-2, as far as I know. I only flew it three times, but holy shit, it's... different. On the KC it was the combination of low engines, fast approach speeds, and the cable driven ailerons and elevators delaying all the inputs. Then you had a huge hydraulic rudder that would throw the plane around much faster than the cable driven surfaces. It had so much inertia that if you didn't pull the power at the right point, you couldn't slow down. If I remember correctly we went to idle at 200-300 feet for the flaps 30 (engine out) approach when heavy. I also can't compare it to the fighters that were around in your day, because they only keep the planes, not the pilots in the museums 😂🤣. I suspect some of those rocket ships with stubby little wings were an absolute monster to fly, but everything we have now is so much more advanced. The difference between the U2 and the kc-135 was not close, I don't want to make it sound like the kc-135 was unmanageable. After all, many of the world pilot training students flew it just fine. But when I talked to pilots who had flown both fighter aircraft and the kc-135, the raw stick and rudder of the kc-135 was more to manage. It was just really sloppy. You made up for it with probably the easiest combat mission in the AF. I taught many many KC135 pilots that were barely able to fly the plane, much less handle a more complicated mission. Honestly the biggest argument I have in support of the kc-135 being harder to land than a fighter is that the fighters weren't doing touch and gos when I was in. That blew my mind. There's no way you could get proficient at flying the kc-135 without doing pattern only flights. But you also have the better pilot factor to deal with, for whatever that equalizes.

I was A FAIP and instructed in the T-38 from 85-88 at Columbus. Most loses in a UPT class occurred in the T-37 with a wash out rate around 30%, IIRC. We would usually lose 2 or 3 students in the T-38 in the contract or instrument phase. I don't remember anyone washed out in the formation phase. There was a change in the syllabus after a mid-air during a 4 ship rejoin. Those going to heavies got more nav and instrument rides and the guys going to fighters did more 4 ship. Worst class I saw in the 38 was when the AF decided to push more students through and limited wash outs. We had a class come to us in the T-38 that lost students in the T-37 for medical or SIE but not much else. It was a blood bath and we washed out half the class.

Damn man those are great scores… sorry to hear. I read on another year’s thread that someone from the board will reach out to you if you’re next in line should a spot come open. I don’t think they release the rankings but I’m sure they have alternates listed 1 - n. In terms of spots opening up, main example I heard of was a few selectees getting accepted into reserve flying units turning down their active duty spot. MFS-N could be another way but with most people having the stamped FC1 already a MFS-N failure seems pretty unlikely.

I have about 1800 hours in the -135, around 100 IP so take this assessment from there. The -135 was a challenge to land and do OEI (outboard) training / landing OEI once all trimmed up was not bad, landed one 3 engine once, it was not a huge deal, a thing but not bad either. The challenge in landing was speed control and the effect of N1 inconsistency between engines on approach. The CFM 56 on the R models I flew had a poor man’s engine control called Power Management Control (PMC) there were multiple versions of them for CFM 56s and they controlled N1 above certain power settings, it is a system really meant to prevent overboost in climb but on approach they could be inconsistent and make the tanker’s speed control and pitch up/down kind of a bear. The cross wind landing technique was not the easiest to learn either as you have IIRC 18 inches (sts) from pod to pavement with only 4 degrees allowed in the wing low flare position. Most IPs taught an aileron pop technique with a flatter flare for strong x-winds (15+ knots). There were also challenges in proper sight picture as the dash and instruments were all slightly placed off from the original -80 bird, the plane due to the large changes in GW and fuel movement had a range of CGs to get used to, a 22 CG -135 is responsive and stable a 32 CG -135 is tail heavy and likes roll a bit, etc… All in all, a good plane but from a different era with challenges in the pattern but obviously learnable Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Travis AFB Aero Club has a TB-20. I went out there 4-5 years ago and rented it with an instructor just to try it out. Enjoyed it. Maybe a good option for you to go sample it. https://www.travisaeroclub.com/our-fleet

I also saw this somewhere on X, so I just went to this site and pulled up the same METAR I’ll need to see some legit reporting/posts before I believe it. https://metar-taf.com/metar/KATL.20251102.1652

Anyone care to comment on the stupidity of coaching contracts? IMO, no taxpayer funds should be used. That's what TV deals, tickets, sports betting kickbacks, etc are for.

Wait until you get to formation and you realize that you completely skipped this in RIQ. Formation will humble you real quick.

I'd have to look at the slides again but I'm pretty sure eventually when UPT goes to a single aircraft model (T-7) there's different syllabi after track select depending on which type you track ie Heavy guys wouldn't be flying events like 4 ship form. IIRC after track select Heavy students basically go direct to the FTU. Edit to add: if you have a .mil email PM me and I can send you the placemat slide explaining the current plan.

The Gators got screwed....that was totally a catch. I was pulling for them!

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Congrats! Your package looked good. Glad the board could see that.

400 FPM passing through 35k…that is crazy. I’m impressed.

Just got notified! UPT Select! 99 Pilot 98 PCSM 320 flight hours PPL/Instrument/Commercial/MultiEngine/Certified Flight Instructor. #1 at squadron/group and 1/19 wing Strat ! First time applying. 11 years in the military. Prior enlisted maintainer/ Prior Flight Engineer/ Current RPA Pilot.

Just got notified, UPT select! 96 Pilot 92 PCSM, PPL, second time applying and LOR from Wg/CC in non rated AFSC. Good luck gents!!

Congratulations! I’m waiting to hear. I’m on the west coast and so our day is just getting started

@M2 I’ve got the M&P 15/22 and that is a great little plinker. If that RIA 22 is half as good as the 15/22 that should be a fun little toy.

But... does it have a built-in crew ladder?

Kudos Huggy for taking him. I chatted with him prior. He was really looking forward to going. Thanks from all of us.

Like I said....Take what I said with a huge grain of salt. I am hoping what I heard was right and I hope this government shutdown doesn't delay the results

Yeah, I'm sorry!! At SGU, I took Hank Hoffman flying: 205 combat missions in the A-37 and a TPS graduate Neat guy! Still knew and flew the jet really well!

Anyone can do garage beer. Now shower beer, that's a different level. Pic brought to you by The BrewDog Hotel in Columbus. Yes, I've stayed there.

This is pretty typical of the majority of progressives…unless they’re in an echo chamber where they can, at best, regurgitate talking points, they don’t want engage in substantive debate or explain their positions past the point of emotions. Even Bill Maher, who is anything but a conservative, called out the high profile types on the left because so many refuse to go on his show. He also then said that those on the right will at least show up. “And these are people, all people, I voted for,” the “Real Time” host continued. “Think about that: they’re afraid to come on the show of a guy who voted for them. The Republicans? They show up, and when they do, they take their beating like a man.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/bill-maher-slams-high-profile-194828481.html

That sign better end up in a squadron bar

I've got 0.4 dual in a Ford Tri-Motor. Thanks EAA! Nice left leg workout with the p-factor 😂 IMG_6026.mov