DeHavilland

I'll second the pitch for American Flyers. I have used them 3 times now to renew my CFI with their on one course. I paid the one time $125 and they let me on their site every 2 years to renew it. I also have paid the few extra $ for them to process the paperwork.

As was already said, even when you have the license, you better be careful driving in Europe if you have never done it before. The signs are different and at least in Germany, most of the locals follow the rules. Watch out in the left lane as that is where the speed demons are. Never ever pass on the right and turn signals are not optional.

Thanks. I had found those with google. Lots of stuff there. The BS flag sounds great.

Can anyone PM me any more information about this course, the workbook and website etc? Also, how does it compare to an FAA TERPS course I have heard about in the past?

The show is good, the crowds incredible. Expect pointed questions about your aircraft and lots of picture taking from the British airplane nuts. Some of those folks live and breath the stuff. More than one wanted my operators manual. The party at the end is pretty wild. Stay out of range of the flying bread rolls. We were bused to our hotel at the end of each day. It was a Hilton but about an hour away.

I just got some new passports for myself and my family, so I will try and answer this. I have 2 Official Passports (brown covers). Some "countries" don't want to see an exit or entry stamp from certain "other" countries. Check the FCG to see the countries. I do alot of traveling, so I make sure I am showing the right passport when entering or exiting certain countries. It was no big deal to justify two. It is not a status thing. It is to avoid problems at your sometimes less than friendly border control station. These passports are only to be used on offical travel so says the stamp in the back of the passport. I also have a blue "personal" passport that I use when on vacation. It is not as overstamped as my official, but other than showing that I am an American citizen, it does not ID me as connected to the Gov't (haircut?). Depending on where you are in the world, be ready to show an ID card though when outside the US and using the personal passport. The ID card shows you are are a SOFA person and not some dude just trying to coming into their country and get on their welfare rolls. The personal tourist passport comes out of your pocket. The tourist passport also helps with OPSEC. I do know guys that have traveled for 3 years on only a tourist passport both on official and personal travels. I personally would not want to chance that. A border agent with an attitude is the worst. I was a crew member when a pax wanted to go to the bathroom on a stopover. Instead of going to the bathroom we always used, he went into the terminal. When he tried coming out through customs, he was stopped for over an hour, while we cajoled the agents to release the pax and promised to never let it happen again.

I just pulled my commander to the side this week to tell him his comments on a report were a bit inflated and that mine were more factually based. Adjectives are good, but I make sure I can back them up. Most importantly - Glad the guys got out. The ejection seat comment is superior!

Except for a short hop it will usually always be cheaper to burn fuel going faster than to pay for the higher hours on the airframe that add up by going slower with the power pulled back. Of course there are different colors of money paying for fuel vs. mx. However, no matter what color the money is, it makes little sense to spend more while thinking you are saving.

I was getting a new ID card last week and speaking to the lady at the desk. Her husband is an E6, on his third Army deployment (that's 15 months now) to the dirt, she works full time, has 2 young kids and is taking college courses. I walked away thanking her and her husband for the sacrifices they are making. Without a doubt, her sacrifices are nothing compared to the deployed SM's, but are noteworthy nonetheless. I have been the recipient of the free lunch by strangers and will gladly return it. Doing something "real" besides a bumper sticker does stay with you a lot longer.

Finance Guy - Thanks for the answers and here is another scenario for you. While I am tax free every month, I don't get the HFP/IDP and taxes back until the following month. IE fly into a CZTE on 1 June, I still pay taxes and don't see the extra pay on Junes LES. It always shows up on Julys LES as a tax refund and the extra pay. While deployed to a CZ, this was not the case. It is just how it goes when flying from Livingroom AFB to a CZTE every month. At the moment Finance and I need to have discussion as they are missing 3 months of my tax free. Getting that back should be pretty simple by showing them the paperwork that they signed accepting my paperwork. My question is are the LES "computers" tied into the TSP "computers"? Because I am tax free for 12 months of each year, my TSP YTD Deductions and Exempt amounts should be the same. The are not and the differences are from the 3 months of missing tax free time which shows up as an amount in the Deferred column. So, when they fix the missing 3 months of CZTE, will it automatically update the correct amounts on the YTD and Exempt columns? I can only hope it will be that easy. It will certainly be up to me to keep the TSP straight when I start drawing money out to make sure they keep the exempt amounts correct.

Finance Guy- This is good stuff which generates a further 2 questions on my part. I am in a location which requires me to fly into a CZTE/HFP/IDP area a few times a month. The super advantage is that I do this from home station so I rarely have to RON in these locations. As such every month I am tax free. I never really paid attention/understood the "Tax Exempt LV Bal" thing on my LES as I am tax free every month and am always taking my leave in a tax free month. So, do I understand this correctly in a hypothetical situation that I have say 20 days of tax exempt leave balance. As I PCS, I take a 20 day leave starting on the 1st day following the last month that I was tax free. So, a 20 day pro-rata share of that months base pay is tax free? On a related matter, my TSP shows an amount "exempt". This amount will remain tax exempt as opposed to "deferred" for the life of the investment correct?

For confusion, I just have to look at many of the approaches in Europe. There was one in Pakistan that was just insane. You are doing some cloverleaf patterns passing back and forth over the station while avoiding some restricted airspace. I'll try to find it to post here.

I just bought a Canon Rebel XTI and am very happy with it. It is my first digital camera. Like it has been said though, the lense that came with the kit was generic and nothing to get excited about and I am looking to upgrade to a better lense.

I was at Incirlik about a month ago and some Turkish F-4's were taking off. I was holding short, but still opened my vent window to hear the sound of them rolling. I was right at their rotate point, so it looked pretty cool. Nice to see them still in use by someone.

Looking for some insight on flying ops on the African continent. Maybe some C21 guys out of ETAR have something or anyone else. PM me.

Of all the things that need to be addressed, I can't see how this could make the top 1000. There is a war going on and guys are yelling the merits of whether your flap is on or off. There was a helicopter that went down in Afghanistan today and 8 hero's were killed. I doubt a pen flap had anything to do with it, so maybe, just maybe we should save the keystrokes for stuff that matters like the fallen comrades and the 14 that were injured.

Seems there might have been be some improprierty taking place at the Air Force Academy. News of such is coming across the web.

The CRJ picture is being called an uncontained engine failure by the NTSB. No mention yet of a balloon encounted causing it. If you are on the ground in the Denver area, they do say they are looking for pieces. http://ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2007/070131.htm

About a month ago I was on the ramp at Naples with a pretty good wind blowing. The other pilot and I were amazed to see a horse shaped ballon "galloping" through the air. Based on the distance it was about 10' across as it came across the active at app. 300' and went over the tower and ramp.

Put this into the “I can’t believe it column”. This week I was coming back from Souda Bay when at FL410 and just entering Swiss airspace, I noticed an aircraft approaching us from the opposite direction, slightly higher and offset to the left of our track. I took a quick glance at the TCAS which showed no traffic. I looked back up to see that the “traffic” was going to pass pretty darn close. The old adage if it does not appear to be moving it is very close and about to hit you came to play, when I realized I was looking at a weather balloon. It was about 4 feet in diameter and had a cord maybe 15 feet long with an instrument package attached to it. It passed approximately 50’ above us and 100’ off our wingtip. I did get the other pilot to quickly see it, so it was not just me seeing some reflection off of swamp gas back lit by the sun with Venus in alignment. Based on our FMS it was moving East at 56 knots with the upper wind. Big sky little balloon theory is great until you share that little piece of the sky. Anyone else ever seen one up close like this?

Greenville, SC Local-Speaking to a navy guy/acft, "I didn't know we had any navy here." Pilot-"Well, actually we are just an advance party for the carrier USS Nimitz. We are bringing up the river (more of a local creek) to get new seat covers put on it." Local-Oh, OK...

After landing my Army helicopter at my Dads farm in WV (Yes, times have changed)- Cooter-After seeing the engine cowling open, asks, how many cylinders in dat dar engine? Me-Cooter,(reverting back to native twang)dat dar is a gas turbinnnne engine dat runs on jet fuel. At the time I also got to do a display at my former High School. Now that was cool. Totally dumbfounded when at an airshow in NC, a 14 year old girl starts explaining the intricate workings and operating characteristics of the mounted IR jammer to her girlfriends! Neighbor at the BOQ is at the Dayton Airshow when some local walks up to him and says he has a nephew in the Army (yeah, like we all know every pilot!). Turns out the guy was my uncle. The plane watchers in England are fanatics and will ask for anything you will give them from your acft. One practically begged for my Citation operators manual. Several times we were asked to remove ourselves and our display board to the side so they could take an uncluttered picture. My favorite is to go with my kids and preload them with questions for the aircrew, like what's your max tire speed, min speed for icing, max speed for full flaps etc. Most of us are ready for Cooters questions and not an EP recital. We should all remember that a decent answer through often clenched teeth or a patch goes along way to some kid with nothing but a dream. At one time most all of us were on the other side of that rope separating us from the crowd.

Hydro, I just got braces on my teeth yesterday and was in great pain from the laughter while trying to relate to my wife your list. Every item was 100% dead on correct.

The savings opportunities today are great. Not many folks on this board probably had investments when the market tanked in 1987. I knew a guy that luckily was several years from a 20 yr. retirement that was pretty much financially drained from that event. If you are just getting started, read the advice from others and look at the links. Pick something you are comfortable with and whatever you do, start investing now. With a decent return, that will do more to help your money grow than virtually anything else you can do except maybe rob a bank. Everything you can read will show you the huge advantage of starting early in life to increase your savings. Give till it hurts in some type of Roth IRA, and use the TSP too. If you deploy, take all that extra cash they are paying you, the tax free earnings being earned and the base pay you are saving because you are in Krakizstan and give till it hurts some more to the 10% savings program the gov't offers. That is a guaranteed 10% return. Tell me anyone who offers such a guaranteed return. Bottom line-Pick something and start today. You will thank yourself later in life!!

Love the P-cola area and was wondering just what flight instructing jobs (military) there are there and what type airframe are used and who the contractors are. Any hiring minimums too. Thanks