JarheadBoom

Lesson learned: Don't rely on 9mm.

So 10 months and 2000+ flight hours of planned flight test suddenly aren't needed to make a production decision. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan.

NMCI sucked pus-covered gangrenous donkey balls while I was in the other service; I haven't heard anything in the years since to indicate it's gotten any better. The green-ness of the grass on that side is an illusion. Edit: spell more gooder

Wow... Thanks for putting the time into a detailed answer; I appreciate it.

The 380HLD and MX-15 are within 1/2" of each other in height, per the datasheets on their respective websites. On the .civ side; the FLIR 380HDc is several inches shorter (specifically configured for under-nose rotary-wing installations), but I don't know if that particular model will support all the capes required for a .mil application. You'd need something with more balls than a PT6. The most powerful PT6A-series (turboprop) engine is just under 2000hp; the original Wright 3350 was cranking out a little over 2700hp. Sticking with a Pratt, a PW127-series engine is in the ~2700hp range, and other engines in the PW100 family are pushing 5000hp.

When you find yourself in a hole, STOP FUCKING DIGGING. Technique only.

Slight derail from the Germanwings discussion, but relevant (I think) to the bigger-picture discussion WRT FAA medical screening and voluntary disclosure of "attention-grabbing" medical issues: Given your recent presence with the FAA docs at OKC, what's your take on the recent dust-up re: overweight pilots and sleep apnea screening? If these guys, as you say, "get it" that more cumbersome rules/processes aren't necessarily the best answer, what the hell happened with the sleep apnea thing?

I love my job in the KC-10, but to be able to stand in the gunner's window of a CH-53E again... look back and see a cabin full of grunts, half of them puking into trash bags but still giving a thumbs-up for more "fun flying"... Goddamn I miss crewing .mil helicopters. [/thread drift]

Both points are 100% correct (in my opinion). The Corps is definitely a lifestyle choice if one intends to make a career of it: - Especially for officers, PCS moves every 3-4 years are Marine Corps policy - there is no homesteading. There's not many options for base locations - for Air Wing Marines, it's basically NC, SC, CA, AZ, or Okinawa. (There's a couple outliers, but they're not relevant to this discussion.) - Marksmanship scores and PFT/CFT scores - not Pass or Fail, but the actual scores - are on everyone's FitReps. It is unwritten-but-well-known policy that if all else is equal, the person with the higher rifle/PFT score(s) will get selected over the person with lower score(s). IIRC, the expectation was that officers would have a first-class PFT score, especially CGOs. - I know pre-9/11, the expectation was that all Marines in "the Fleet" would do at least two 6+mo. deployments per tour/enlistment. I witnessed plenty of Marines get PCA'd to enforce that, some with pretty short notice (less than a month in a few cases). I have no current info on whether that still happens or not. Pre-ISIS, I had heard rumors that the Corps was trying to get back to that standard; I have no current info on how that's going, or if it's even true. These points aren't in any particular order, other than when they popped into my head. I'll add more later if I think of it.

Written by a retired Navy female O-5... Newsflash - Growing a friggin' mustache is not disrespectful of women. Here's an idea for the ladies: Start your own harmless, one-month-out-of-the-year tradition that is exclusionary toward men. Make it your unspoken-but-visible "FUCK YOU!" to the leadership/management, just like the original intent of Mustache March. Stop acting like the powerless, spoiled children you claim you're not, and start acting like the strong professional adults you claim to be. EDIT: add quote

The next sentence of the article, after I ended my original quote: He says (or implies) classified. Who knows what he actually means... he could have been surfing Al Jazeera for all we know. My point is that Navy nuclear engineering officers - the guys who run the nuclear reactors that power the boat - don't normally get involved in Air Wing business, especially business that would likely take place in a SCIF (or what passes for a SCIF on the boat). Just doesn't add up.

I thought everybody (AD, ANG, AFRC) had "@us.af.mil" emails these days? Mine changed from "@mcguire.af.mil" 4-5 years ago, and I've been AFRC my entire AF career. I get that 500 error periodically from home (Vista/IE9); I haven't figured out any commonalities between instances. Same CAC for the past 3 years.

This guy is interesting... Those streams typically do not cross. I have a relative who was a Navy nuke officer in the early-mid '80s; he told me long ago that he (and the majority of his peers) really didn't give a shit about what went on with the Air Wing, as long as they didn't drop the mail bags during VERTREP or let the Russians blow the boat up. I can't imagine that attitude changing so drastically that nuke officers would find themselves balls-deep in the Air Wing's TTPs, to the point where one in the twilight of his career would turn away from the light at the end of the tunnel and desert over what he had seen...

Personally, I don't think so. Especially if you're dropping in during their UTA, on your own time.

Damn, that was epic.

[Homer Simpson] "WOOHOO!! Go 'Topes!" [/Homer] Sorry, that's all I've got...

I suppose I can tell my story now... BITD (pre-9/11) in the other service, I was part of a crew doing a CH-53E static display at a hotel, for a national-level veterans service organization's annual fundraiser weekend. We flew in Saturday morning and landed in the back parking lot of the hotel, folded it, towed it around to the front parking lot, and spread it back out for the static. In the afternoon we did the fold n' tow routine back to the back parking lot for secure parking overnight, cleaned up, and joined the party. There were nearly a dozen Medal of Honor recipients in town for this event, along with CMC, the USMC Silent Drill Platoon and the USMC Color Guard, and the booze was flowing like rainwater. The stories that I remember hearing in that hotel bar were incredible (hindsight note - when in the presence of this much history, don't push it up so hard that you can't remember some of the stories later. The regret that comes later, leaves a mark on the soul that's not easily removed...); the kind of stories you literally read about in military history books, being told by the very people who made that history. Myself and the other two enlisted aircrew swine have MoH recipients buying us drinks, businessmen in the same hotel for their own agendas getting caught up in the fun and buying us drinks, drinks showing up at tables with no clue how they got there. I don't think I have ever consumed that much alcohol, before or since. At some point in the evening after the official dog & pony show was completed, some Silent Drill Platoon asshat who keeps shoving his way into conversations he wasn't invited into, decides that a coin check is warranted at the table I was at with one of my crew, one of the artillery guys in town with their M198 static, a couple LAV guys with their LAV static, and Sergeant Major Jon Cavaiani. Half a dozen shitfaced jarheads slam coins on the table and make (in)appropriate jarhead noises... and then a Medal of Honor is placed on the table. Silence in our little corner of the bar. One of the former Marines who raises a ton of money locally for this organization and several others, and insists that everyone call him "Wags", looks over at us from his spot at the bar, sees the table, and yells over the rest of the bar's noise, "Jesus Christ, Jon! You carry that thing everywhere??" SGM Cavaiani laughs, yells back "You're damn right, Daddy Wags!", stands up, and yells for the bartender to pour another round for all of us. Eventually I remember that I need to crew the helicopter (conveniently parked in the hotel's back parking lot) that is doing a flyover at the golf outing the next day, and I need to extract myself from the festivities and get some sleep. I vaguely remember doing "the pinball" down several hallways, an elevator, and at least one stairwell before I make it to my room. Through some miracle, I have the presence of mind to clean myself up, put a clean flightsuit on, pack my stuff (including the trash bags from the room), and set a wake-up call before I pass out on the bed. Sunday morning comes and I am functional, but barely. The rest of the crew isn't much better except one pilot, who didn't do the afterparty with us and is bright and cheery, and will obviously be doing all the flying. We kick the tires and light the fires with a fair-sized audience of people who have come to see our departure, after questioning us the day before on exactly how we got a CH-53E in a hotel parking lot. Pulling the gear & aux tank pins with the exhausts blasting on me nearly set me off, but I managed to keep it together on the ground. We lift and blast a quick turn around the hotel property about 100' AGL, and at this point I realize that I'm not gonna make it. Before we fired up I had put one of the room trash bags in an empty .50cal can and seat-belted it to the troopseat next to me, and I put my improvised puke bucket to good use. As we press to the golf course 5min away for the flyover, I'm rapidly filling the bag/can with dinner, God only knows how much booze, and breakfast. As we're blasting over the golf course at 100'-ish AGL and who knows how many knots, I'm frantically tying off a full trash/puke bag and getting the other one ready to receive the next wave, which is already on the way. 1/2hr later we're approaching the home 'drome, the second bag is nearly full, and I've decided the 20mm can of tiedown chains will be the next receptacle if I continue puking. Descending short final I have one last round of retching, and finally feel semi-confident that I won't be spewing uncontrollably any longer. Walking in after securing and post-flighting the aircraft, one of the puke bags breaks within tossing distance of the dumpster, and douses my lower leg and boot. Rest in Peace, Daddy Wags. Rest in Peace, Sergeant Major Cavaiani.

After living in Irvine for a few years in the mid-'90s, knowing a few people that went to UCI, and experiencing some of the negative attitudes towards the Marine Corps' presence in/around Irvine... that's not surprising at all.

Not quite. Cessna added those inspection requirements to their maintenance manuals, so they're not optional. I get your point, and yes, she is definitely talking out of her ass. However, inspecting & maintaining, for example, a Cirrus SR22 is a lot different than inspecting & maintaining a Ryan PT-22. A mechanic who knows SR22s inside & out isn't necessarily going to know about any "special emphasis required" areas to inspect on a PT-22, even though he's 100% legal to work on both airplanes.

MARSOC Marine awarded Silver Star

It's an FAA initiative from the early 2000s to, basically, get operators looking closer at their older aircraft. AC120-84 lays out some specific inspections for >9-seat multiengine Part 135 operators, and all Part 121 operators. Cessna added additional inspections to their 100 and 200-series aircraft manufactured between 1946 and 1986 (i.e. the vast majority of them). AOPA has also published some recommendations for inspecting and maintaining older GA aircraft.

Engine definitely not turning at time of impact - the visible blade of the (wood) prop doesn't look cracked/splintered/broken at all. I hope that doesn't mean the tank was empty.

Working fine for me. WinVista, IE9.

Dislike the subject, but that is an awesome pic. Kinda surprised by the panel gaps evident in this shot, especially the AR probe door, given the little bit I know about LO construction/maintenance techniques... EDIT: Hmmm... be right back. There's a big black helicopter hovering over my backyard, and some guys with guns fastroping out of it. Gonna go see if they need help or