Scooter14

That's my understanding from our one Fixed Wing guy I went to Vance with and what the guy at the NGB told me (LtCol Barker). My Marine bud could have gone TONEs only, but found out too late. Most did Tweets, and O Flight in the 8 FTS is a good place to be. You are completely separate from the kids, no formal release, checkrides done in-house, not over at Check Flight, it's big boy all the way. Tones and -38's, you are mixed right in with everyone. No stand up shenanigans, but you fly with UPT studs, take checkrides with check flight and the lines get blurred, especially if the 22 yr old 2LT is flying better apprioaches than you are and spouting off the book knowledge better than you are. Unless you flat out don't care, you're gonna have to at least look like you know what you are doing. Plus, it's all paydays and retirement points. I wish I knew what reg this all was in. Patrick and I spoke about it, and he's gonna get some references for me (which we will share), since he's deep in the process right now. [ 06. July 2005, 22:46: Message edited by: Scooter14 ]

C'mon BigIron, swallow that blue pill, you know you wanna... You are correct, Fixed Wing Qual (FWQ) does not count against UPT slots. There are something like 12 a year, and the Reserve Components get something like 10 of them. My unit's deadline for apps was just last week, so I have been involved with getting info on the subject. Here's what I know (and think I know), and I'll tailor it to the crowd... No age limit to go to FWQ. There is an age limit to go from being a Warrant Officer (Army) to ANG/AFRC officer...35 waiverable to 40 by the time you start AMS. Once hired, your records will go to an Aeronautical Review Board and they will grant you your Air Force Wings, and cut you Rotary Wing AO's until you get back from Vance. One of three things can hapen to you once you get hired. You can go through part of Tweets/T-6's, all of T-1's and then your FTU, You can just do T-1's then FTU, or you can just go to your FTU. Your Guard unit can recommend any of these, but it is up to someone somewhere (NGB, maybe) who determines this, and this depends on your Fixed Wing time. Our first FWQ guy could have gone to T-1's only, since he was a T-34 trained jarhead, but before he found this out he was progged for Tweets, so he went with it. FWIW, Tweets are a pain in the ass, but they treat you well in the Tweet squadron at Vance...lots of former Marine Cobra guys and laid back reservists teaching you there. <edit> Hopefully Rotorhead can shed some more light on the subject. Also, I haven't looked yet, but is there a FAQ on this in here somewhere? If not, there needs to be. We reinvent the wheel every year with these flingwingers. [ 06. July 2005, 15:55: Message edited by: Scooter14 ]

Wake Island FL 350 Again, not my pic, but props to my home state. (Off of Philippe Colin's website www.philippecolin.net)

Anyone notice who's on top in the AL East?

Quonset Airshow last weekend... Not taken by me, but still a cool picture...

Or these guys... [ 27. June 2005, 14:33: Message edited by: PAB ]

I think Toro's words are good advice, but I understand what flyboyav8r is getting at. Some people make the AF a career, some do not, some join the ANG, some do not. You've got to have a plan, keep your options open, never burn any bridges, excel at everything you do, be the go-to guy in the squadron for flying related issues and don't be that guy who is talking about his airline job the day he checks in the squadron. Commit to the present and plan for the future. Flyboy, you'll have a 10 year commitment to the AF after UPT. You can expect to upgrade in 2-3 years to AC, and IP should come 6 - 18 months on the heels of that (in the heavy world). You'll have PLENTY of time for the airlines by then, so don't sweat it. [ 20. June 2005, 12:44: Message edited by: PAB ]

Nav Selection I know tht the duties of a nav have been covered on his forum, and there are a few of us (backseatdriver, me, Bergman, blkafnav) that are/were navs and encourage others who want to pursue this career field, for whatever reason. I was a happy nav, now I am a happy pilot. Some folks are not pilot qualified, so they stay happy navs. Others blame everyone and their mother that they never had the shot to be a pilot. Just the way it is, I guess.

I know Tinker's got a team, and Offutt did when I left. Omaha's a great hockey town, 3 rinks, 3 adult leagues, NCAA D1 Mavericks, USHL River City Lancers, and they are getting an AHL team as well. Grand Forks fielded a team for a while, we played them a few years ago. Scott had a team, Hanscom, Hill, that's all I can think of right now.

I'm from Minnesota. Hockey counts.

"My hallergies make me puke! Blah, like this puuuuuuke!" Being a ref is decent beer money as well. I was a level 1 (or whatever they call it, it's been 15 years) ref way back in high school, working mite-peewee house, and I wanted to advance but I never went further than that. Kinda wish I had. J10B, Were you ever a T-43 pilot at KRND? We had a pilot who used to ref the San Antonio Iguanas games. [ 14. June 2005, 22:02: Message edited by: PAB ]

These guys aren't wearing helmets...so what are you trying to say? I'm with you on the cup and mouthguard, though. [ 14. June 2005, 21:16: Message edited by: PAB ]

Oh, I almost forgot, a -135 to Kadena or Mildenhall would be MONEY!

KC-135R - TDY Machine! Go on week-long trips, month long trips, 67 day long trips. When you get there, unpack you bags and settle in...you ain't going anywhere for a while, this can be good, and this can be bad. Yesterday it was about 90 degrees and 69% humidity when we taxied out. We slowed down because a Cirrus was taxiing, and we gave way to the guy with the running Hobbsmeter. The exchange on Ground went something like this... "Cirrus XX, taxi to the FBO, and thank you to the tanker" us - "Anytime" Cirrus - "I see you have your windows open, doesn't that thing have Air Conditioning?" us - "A/C wasn't invented when this was built"

TONS of what-ifs. If you give it 110% and are a team player, but you hook a couple daily rides, it shoud work its way out, unless there are enough dudes doing the same who didn't hook any rides (unlikely) and the slots are limited, then it could come down to who got 100% on the Weather test and who got a 95%. It can be that close. All you can do is the best you can. When you go home after drop night, no matter what you got, if you can honestly answer "yes" to the question "Did I give it my absolute best shot?" then you should pass out happy, because as long as you keep a good attitude and work ethic, you will do even better in your next phase of training.

I KNOW that comment was not directed at me...

Yeah, to the bottom of the AL East! Go SOX!

I had a copilot (in my nav days) try to level off at 4000 ft (3000 AGL) with idle power and speedbrakes out in a -135 at about 0300 on our way back from a 12 hour OEF mission. It was the crews first one in the AOR, since we flew over commercially then sat for a week waiting for a jet that didn't have a red X on it. Instead of adding power and putting the boards down, he just kept pulling back on the yoke. It got quiet, then it started to rumble. The AC threw the throttles forward, and we all channelized on the airspeed and AOA because the WTF factor was high and we wanted the airspeed higher and the AOA lower. Finally, the speedbrakes were retracted, and the plane began to accelerate back to a comfortable airspeed after that. We landed and I went back to the tent and thought about the fact that we had just flown for 8 hours over bad guy land, and the most dangerous part of the flight occured within 20 DME of the base and I was too busy jaw jacking on the radio trying to get a parking spot from command post to realize that we were about to stall an aircraft with 20 people on board. [ 08. June 2005, 22:32: Message edited by: PAB ]

Maybe, if we all stopped adding 5 min to the end of the sortie, we could end this stupid flying hours cutback, a fraction of an hour at a time. [ 03. June 2005, 22:19: Message edited by: PAB ]

Relax, Brandy, he's actually right. Your cadre will not appreciate it if the first time they hear that BrandyTexan is looking to get an ANG commission is when the Guard unit calls your Det and says "Thanks for letting us take Brandy into our unit." Nobody likes to get the end run. We're not saying you are going to do this. You did however say that you were apprehensive about talking to the cadre. I don't know Rainman personally, but at his advanced age I think he can speak from a higher ranking point of view. I personally don't think you need to be a man, but you do need to talk to the cadre before you activate your plan, or it could backfire in a big way. As much as it sucks sometimes, you need your commander's support. This is not unique to ROTC. For me, leaving active duty was an unpopular thing to do in my last unit. Before I went ahead with my application, I explained my position to the people that mattered, so I had their full support. That made it easier on everyone, nobody was surprised, nobody had bad feelings, kumbaya.

Great, I'll tell our SOF at my AMC-gained ANG base that he can go home now. I'm sure our OG will be happy to hear that he doesn't need a SOF. Oh, I'll tell the SOF at Offutt that he doesn't have to sit out on the ramp for 12 hours a day in his beat down shitty air conditioner Ford Explorer (like I did about 100 times) anymore either. Or maybe the RC-135 is only a single seat airplane. I guess I wouldn't know, I don't quite have the experience of the UPT student informing us of all these important ACC facts. [ 04. June 2005, 12:55: Message edited by: PAB ]

Unfortunately, it's basically scores. We had a guy who, in my (herbivore) opinion, would have made an outstanding fighter pilot. Unfortunately, he also got a slow start. By Formation he was kicking ass, but the damage had been done. We only had 4 T-38 slots, so needless to say he went to Tones. He's now kicking ass as a Tweet FAIP. Of our 4 Talons, three had advanced flight ratings, but one had the minimum 40 hours of IFT (which is what they give you these days) and he got a Strike Eagle and cleaned up the awards for the -38 side at graduation. Same thing (having the decision made for them) happened to a couple guys in my unit who came to us from Guard fighter units. I guess today you have to be in the top 50% of the Tweet class to advance to T-38's. This determination needs to be made six weeks prior to your track select, so even if you smoke your Instrument check and fly formation like it's your job, you're doomed to a life of enroute cell unless you rocked in Contact. I finished somewhere in the top third out of Tweets, but if you took my flying scores exclusively and left out academics and commanders ranking I was bottom half. My Final Contact check was atrocious, I didn't know you could get so many downgrades on a sheet of paper and still pass, although they said I did the best Cuban Eight they had ever seen (a skill that will serve me well, I'm sure) so, there is no way I would have gotten a -38, Active or Guard. [ 29. May 2005, 08:40: Message edited by: PAB ]

According to my -3 (KC-135 A/R Procedures (Tanker)), the KC-10's have the APX-78. We don't use the APN-69 anymore, our new Radar can't see it, and we don't transmit anymore. With the Mode 3 tagging, it's a moot point for us. Some guys I've refueled will incorporate it in with their 15 min call...BarneyXX, FL 200, 29.92, On time, squawking 6723. We'll accept MARSA, plug you into the TCAS and be on our way down track to pick you up. [ 26. May 2005, 19:16: Message edited by: PAB ]

We go to TA in our Prep for Contact checklist. As for our APN-69 beacon, as they fail they pull and collar the circuit breakers, so we are no longer using a 3 digit beacon code. In fact, the first two steps of the checklist used to be 1. Radios-Monitor and 2 APN-69 Beacon-Operate (both were to be accomplished no later than 30 min prior to the ARCT), but now step 2 simply says (deleted) What is this other beacon you're talking about? Is it a KC-10 specific thing, or is it something my jet automatically does, because I have no reference to it other than our receiver info of our -3 says you have an APX-105. I know we don't turn anything special on for a RZ with you guys, unless I'm missing something (entirely possible)

Pacer is some sort of name for avionics related stuff, I've seen it before (PACER Coin, PACER CLASSIC was some sort fo T-38 thing, etc). CRAG stands for Compass, Radar And GPS. People pronounce it "Craig", but it's spelled CRAG. From the Altus workbook: The PACER CRAG program involves the integration of a number of maor avionics systems into the KC-135 fleet. The MAjor subsystems include: -Compass replacement system -FMS -MFD systems -color wx radar -E-TCAS -EGPWS -FSAS -RVSM Almost all of the KC-135's, even the E models have it now. I don't know of any straight up tankers that don't have the mod. RCs have a different mod, the OC's are Pacer CRAG, don't know anything past that. We can tag a squawk with our E-TCAS. All the white diamonds will be floating around out there, but yours will be blue, in a little box with your Mode 3 code underneath it. So when we're up over Halifax at 0330 so you guys can get home and get a little lovin before the kids get home from school, we're just trying to make it easier on everyone. ;) I'll pass the word around that you guys don't need it. I'm actually surprised you don't have that capability being as new as you are. Any FRED drivers out there, can you tag a Mode 3? [ 26. May 2005, 14:14: Message edited by: PAB ]