JarheadBoom

Caveat: I am by no means a SME on this. - If you're being discharged from the AF for mental health issues (presumably, this also means you were medically grounded by the AF medical machine), you're going to have a difficult time getting an FAA 2nd or 1st Class medical. Not necessarily impossible, but difficult... especially if you are prescribed antidepressants. I highly recommend you investigate the FAA's requirements for 2nd and 1st Class medicals, to see if a waiver is a possibility. - Operating locations - Straight from the AIA page's "Do You Qualify?" section: The way I'm reading CBP's site, AIAs are the pilots, and AEAs are the crewmembers, door kickers, and shooters.

To be fair (and serious), there are young adults out there who have never seen or touched a condom in real life. In the other service, I had a Lance Corporal who, literally, didn't know what condoms were. We took action to educate him after he announced his wife's 3rd pregnancy in as many years...

Video from "Endeavor" (Steve Senegal), the plane that hit "Hot Stuff". Again, the video description has Steve's description of what happened in his own words. ** Edit ** I posted this the same way I posted the other video. Odd that this one comes out as a link, and the previous one is the embedded video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVnRkSSN-T8

Cockpit video from Race 1 "Hot Stuff" (Thom Richard, of "Precious Metal" fame) of the Formula 1 race takeoff incident. *Edit* Read the video description for Thom's own words about the incident. Incredible. 0:27... Holy. Shit.

Damn...

I guess they didn't like my suggestion of B-21 Moneypit. Bummer.

I knew France had a dozen-ish C-135FRs, but I didn't realize they were boom-equipped... which is odd, because all their receiver-capable aircraft are drogue receivers. I don't remember if the French -135s are advertised within NATO as boom & drogue tankers, or drogue-only (BDA? MPRS? Both?) - my brief web search didn't answer the question, but someone with ATP-56 access could. France is buying A330 MRTTs to replace the -135s starting ~2018; in another brief search I couldn't find any purchase details (boom & drogue vs. drogue-only, specifically). Looks like my NATO tanker operation idea was previously thought of, and already had contracts signed with Airbus for the A330 MRTT in July of this year. Poland apparently backed out of the NATO tanker deal 3 days before contract signing with EADS, which I find interesting considering they've got some well-equipped Vipers in their fleet.

Agree that the European NATO nations ought to be contributing a hell of a lot more, if they want us to come riding to their defense if things go to shit in their backyards. A few AR orbits for the airbridge is a good start. Off the top of my head, the Dutch and the Italians are the only Europeans flying boom-equipped tankers; all the other Euro tankers are drogue-only. Works out for the USN/USMC, not so much for the USAF. Maybe a full-court press on the bigger Euro customers to buy a couple/few dozen KC-46s among them (maybe a "lite" version for the export market?), and shave a couple bills off the per-unit cost for all customers. Or, they could push Airbus to figure out how to not break the boom off their A330, for the Euro nations that don't want to buy American. Some of the smaller Euro NATO nations could go in on a few tails together, similar to the NATO C-17 operation at Papa (I have no idea whether that operation is working out or if it's a shit-show; it's just a thought).

I heard the same thing from several people, several times, over the course of 6-9 years of UTA weekend lunches. No one was ever able to provide a reference. My personal rule was: If the person saying it was OK was a section chief, CC/DO/ADO, or my AC, and was present, it was OK. Otherwise, not worth the potential asspain.

I've seen enlisted pilot applicants, in uniform on UTA weekends, hanging in the pilot shop a couple times over the years; not unusual. Coordinate with the hiring folks at Patrick ahead of time to help ensure a successful visit - you don't want to show up unannounced on a block training UTA.

If they should ask you, don't lie about it (or withhold info). If they don't ask the question, don't volunteer the info.

Because their population has no say (whether actual or perceived) in China's military spending? And if we're gonna close the seaplane gap in a cost-efficient manner, we should just buy some ShinMaywa US-2s from our Japanese friends.

I always enjoy reading your reviews. Thanks for taking the time to write them; I like hearing fresh perspectives on older guns.

Well... that is interesting. Sounds like PSA needs to step up their QA/QC game.

1/4-28 x 3/4" (fine thread, or NF) is the correct screw size for an AR-15 pistol grip. Before doing anything further to the lower, I suggest you drop by your local hardware/home improvement store and pick up a known 1/4-28 screw, to verify whether the lower or the supplied screw is the problem. I'd be much more inclined to believe the grip screw supplied with your LPK is wrong, before I believe that a CNC-machined, batch-produced, AR-15 lower receiver forging was drilled & tapped incorrectly by the machine (which would also mean that every lower in that run would be drilled & tapped incorrectly as well). If the lower actually is threaded incorrectly, it's not difficult to tap an already-drilled hole. What could be problematic is if the existing hole was drilled & tapped to, say, 1/4-20 (coarse thread, or NC). That hole can be re-tapped to 1/4-28, but the resulting fine threads will be incomplete and significantly weaker, due to all the material the coarse tap removed from the original hole diameter. In this situation, you could get lucky if PSA doesn't thread the grip screw hole full-depth (not all manufacturers do; I don't know whether PSA is one or not). If the hole isn't tapped full-length, you can run a 1/4-28 tap all the way through the hole, use a 1/4-28 x 1" screw, and have 1/4" of fully-formed threads in the hole for the longer screw to grab. If the lower is drilled to a significantly smaller diameter than 0.257" (correct drill size for 1/4-28 tap), it will need to be re-drilled before tapping. As already noted, be damn careful and proceed slowly, with lots of lube, if you decide to tap it yourself. A broken tap is a much bigger problem.

If you're on Facebook, the group "Round Engines Forever!" has a lot of knowledgeable folks on board, who currently own/operate radials for both work and pleasure. It's a private group and they actively weed out idiots, so the signal/noise ratio is favorable; you might find some resources there. That lot of T-28s on Platinum has apparently been for sale for at least a decade (I learned this from the above-referenced FB group). I don't recall seeing an explanation for why they haven't sold, but there's got to be a good reason why no one in the warbird resto business has snapped this lot up, if for nothing else than salvageable parts and engine/prop cores.

Logged in to BODN to post that same link. It was good to read that the chip lights turned out to be normal new engine/new gearbox behavior (I'm used to this in the helicopter world, but wasn't sure if that same behavior was prevalent in the round engine realm as well). I also read at warbirdinformationexchange.com that one of the biggest challenges to getting Doc flying regularly is a lack of qualified flight engineers. Part of Doc's Operating Limitations from the FAA is that she is required to have an FAA-certificated FE on board for all flights... and as of mid-'16 (I think) when the post was written, there were only TWO B-29 - qualified, FAA-certificated FEs in the world. FIFI's Ops Limits are apparently different; she is not required to have an FAA-certificated FE, just a FE-trained and designated crewmember. If I had an FE ticket, I'd be figuring out how to fit crewing Doc into my life...

I never saw one in the KC-10 world, Active or Reserve. 8 years in the jet as a Reservist. Disclaimer: I don't know if there's a tanker WIC/KC-10 WIC.

Somebody with deep pockets definitely needs to step up to the plate. A (relatively) small charity just doesn't have the long-term fundraising horsepower to maintain a complex aircraft with four round motors, even when things are running smoothly. Kermit Weeks is definitely out - he's already stated in his FB feed that despite his involvement with getting Hawaii Mars to OSH this year, he's not in a financial position to buy and operate it, so Doc would be out of the running as well. Maybe the Collings Foundation would be interested. OR, a large corporate sponsor. I abhor the idea of Doc being done over in, for example, Red Bull's colors (the thought of it makes me vomit internally), but if the alternative is being parked forever after a handful of flights, after all that work to get her airworthy... maybe it's not quite as unpalatable.

Doc has the same "hybrid" 3350s that Fifi now has. So, 3 chip lights... ouch. Hopefully it was a wiring issue. Otherwise, Doc's Friends are gonna have to start yet another fundraiser.

Fuck all the fuckin' fuckers.

Off-topic trivia - I was part of the crew that used to do the big inspections & heavy maintenance on the USPP 412s. 412PP (Eagle 2) once had a chunk of my flesh in her RH pitot tube; that was not a good day at work.

I keep reading rumors (not from CAF or Doc's Friends) about a chip light during the flight, which apparently was originally scheduled for 40-45min. I have no idea whether this is true or not, but if it is, it's a potentially huge setback.