Hacker

Last night on TV I heard some former gymnast commentators mentioning this "twisties" thing, and it sounded to me a lot like vertigo/leans or one of the other somatogravic/somatogyral illusions. Things that to us feel very real and can be highly disorienting (even to the point of physical sickness) when we experience them. Obviously in the aviation community we take that stuff very seriously....that gave me a little different take on her decision to step down. That being said, the *real* problem is that she is being deified in the media for quitting, and that's just another indicator that culturally we are disincentivizing merit and promoting victimhood.

I've had both pilot and WSO Commanders, and there were good and bad out of both camps. I consider it a good thing that there are some who I'd really have to sit down and stretch my brain to remember if they were front seaters or back seaters. That being said, I remember being at SOS and having one of those "senior leader seminars" with my flight. The guy who led the seminar for my flight was one of the original CROs, a big burly dude who was emphatic that any "leader" could command any unit, regardless of specialty. I offered that such a thing would not work in a fighter unit, to which he scoffed and told me I just wasn't evolved enough in my thinking about leadership to understand that I was wrong. I said, "in my community, our Squadron Commander generally is the lead pilot of the first formation to cross into badguy territory on the first night of the war. How are you going to inspire your warriors if on the first night of the war you're sending them into the IADS while you're going to watch them all take off into the night, then stay behind in the office and watch it on CNN?" His only response was, "that's not a fair question."

Just as a pile-on to the previous post on this, my two close friends from the fighter world who have been doing RPA contractor gigs for the last 5+ years are both having to tighten their belts as re-bidding has steadily reduced pay year over year. One of them -- a retired O-4 who has been riding the contractor gravy train -- is having to sell his house in Vegas and move into an apartment because he's worried his job is going to go away entirely and he's going to be left holding the bag with a big mortgage.

Yes, combat ORM is a skill that takes a lot of time to develop and requires actual experiences (e.g. it can't be taught in a classroom), just like airmanship and judgment. But just like airmanship and judgment, combat ORM it does not require intentionally violating rules or doing something unsafe to see and understand where those boundaries are. Generally the boundaries of the black and white are gently touched during peacetime training, and it is only in no-shit combat ops (and with that combat ORM already seasoned) that you can "live in the gray area" to get the mission done. I say that as someone who had the special opportunity to wear my blues and describe my operating in the gray area to a board of rated officers.

Sure did not used to be that way. I'm fortunate that in my first AF gig as a 21A1 MX Officer I had a CMSgt who grabbed me by my scrawny neck and showed me the ways of the AF. Certainly not like the soy boy E-9s hunting for hurt feelings and missing glow belts by the time I was ready to retire.

It is a video, so that's probably not going to tell you what you want to know. Short version: - Interview process is now a video screening interview, followed by a single-day in-person interview in Atlanta. - No more Job Knowledge Test - During the single-day interview, there will be a panel interview, the MMPI assessment, and the psychiatrist session.

Apparently they're not interested in high AOA maneuvering with that thing.

There are several stories of essentially this happening at FedEx, although at purple it had nothing to do with anyone getting lost, it stems from that system bids are (and historically have been) very infrequent compared to nearly every other 121 airline. Sometimes it is every 9 months, or a year, or every 18 months. This leads to quite long training cycles. Thus, when a fleet is being eliminated (like what has happened with the 727 and DC-10), the training cycle for pilots does not flow perfectly with the rate at which airframes are being put into the boneyard. Thus, after the last airframes were flown into Victorville, the last crew holdouts on those airframes had sometimes quite long waits for their training slots in their new aircraft. There are stories of guys sitting for a year or more, getting monthly guarantee to sit at home and wait for their training class date.

I want to do the least amount of work for the most pay in the shortest time period. I don't understand the desire to do the "most amount of work" if the pay for less work over the same period is the same.

Honest question: why is this ("density") an attractive attribute? I completely understand the attraction to commutable schedules, as well as having schedules which both maximize pay and time off simultaneously. However, "density" implies a lot of work in a short period of time. Personally, I want to do as little as possible for as much pay as possible in a given unit of time. I want to maximize my credit-hour density, and not my actual work density. In other words, let's say we're talking about a 5-day stretch that is worth 35 hours of pay. Credit being equal between the two, I'd rather do four (or three!) flights with three long layovers in that 5-day stretch than 4 legs per day with 4 short layovers. My point is, "density" of work in and of itself isn't a measure of how to maximize the combination of pay and time off simultaneously. System form, trip rigs, min guarantees, etc, are what really determine this over the simple math of how many legs per day you're completing.

That is the best management logic for not giving a great paying contract that I've ever read.

17 years to the month later. Nice.

Here's hoping some of that huge Rogan audience decides to buy copies.

I did a stint at CPZ, too, after I retired non-current and had a great time yanking gear and hanging out with the 20-something Capts and FAs as an ol' 40-something dude. I enjoyed every day except payday; made under $17,000 my first year. Most importantly, learned a ton about 121 operations that made the leap to the majors much easier than it would have been directly from Big Blue's loving arms.

I never bought into this new-agey idea that profanity is somehow not professional. It is just one of the tools in the professional's toolbox. One that can be highly effective. What is unprofessional is when that tool is improperly used, and unfortunately it often is.

Clearly you/her and I have very different definitions of "taking care of our airmen."

Ya gotta admit, though, his FB post that started it was pretty damn funny.

When you see people blame "the cancer in AF leadership" for the retention debacle, this is one of the cornerstones of that cancer. At some point in the last 20 years, it became fashionable for commanders to be as "tough" on mistakes made by their subordinates as possible, in a combination of showing they're "no tolerance" or whatever and in an attempt to never allow themselves to be questioned by their superiors about a decision they made. CYA, essentially. Which, obviously, is a 180-degree turn from where AF leaders once were, mentoring and protecting their subordinates and being screens for them. I laugh at the fact that on DD175s, we used to put "on file" in that personnel part of the flight plan, partly in an attempt to protect our own AF pilots against adverse FAA action should they make a mistake. Today, I'm sure Commanders are practically eager to facilitate their pilots getting FAA violations so they never get accused of trying to cover something up under their command.

My violence is "principled", and your violence is "terrorism". Protest should make people uncomfortable....unless those people are elected representatives of the people, in which case it is illegal.

Hate to say it, but if you want to talk about "fundamentals", just about all the major passenger airline stocks that have been artificially kept aloft for the last 10 months are kind of short on "fundamentals" as well. Trying to play that card to somehow make the Gamestop and AMC price increases invalid is thoroughly intellectually dishonest.

Yep...and all of the failing banks and investment houses that were bailed out with taxpayer money in 2008 were also not based on anything fundamental. Still gets back to manipulation being okay for a certain group of people, but not okay for others.

I think this will be the fuze that really kicks off the next hiring spree -- not just at DAL, but industry-wide due to numerous places offering or incentivizing early retirements during COVID. There's a lot of pent-up demand that is hiding under COVID fears and governmental restrictions. What remains to be seen is if how rapidly that demand is allowed to translate into ticket sales.

Sweetness was also the CC of the 435th when you were in Valdosta in '05, wasn't he?

I love how these rumors are born and bred. For one, Rick actually *won* his case where he objected to what he found to be an unconstitutional order to kill an American citizen, and was reprised against by his local chain of command for that objection. Second, he just retired....not any "retirement in lieu of" or any of those shenanigans, but a regular ol' retirement. IIRC it might have been a couple years less than 20, when they were offering early retirements 5-ish years ago. Dude had/has his issues, but wasn't kicked out.