ClearedHot

The first Helo...wow! Firefighters.mp4

Except for the Eagle guys, they clear out all the crew chiefs.

I wish I could give more context...soon as my work situation is about to change. I've had to bite my lip in the past and not stab this Black Shoe Navy turd in the throat with my butter knife. He went on and on at a dinner one night trying to tell me how Hellfire Missiles work. In short - he questions why the F-18 as the tanker had to cross the beach. And if they did cross the beach why no modes and codes. He says their system will not physically will not fire if the target had the right modes and codes.

I work with a retired Navy SWO who worked on said cruisers. He places the blame ENTIRELY on the F-18 Drivers.

News reporting this morning at least one of the fires was started by an arsonist...he is an illegal and had a hand made FLAMETHROWER. Several local residnets detained him after witnessing him starting a fire. ICE has a detainer on him, California is not expected to honor the ICE request.

Some of the aerial firefighting videos are WILD. I've seen one video (maybe someone with better Google Fu than me can find it), of what looks like a H-60 dropping water as he rolls off sideways down a hill. Those folks have giant stones flying in high winds, high terrain and limited visibility. Amazing to watch. In other California fire fighting news, Canada sent two CL 415 Super Scoopers (I bet they are fun to fly), but one is out of service because some clown flew a drone in the restricted airspace and they hit it.

Link up in Tally this year? Beers on me.

He already had it, ulnar collateral ligament repair before Christmas, they said it was successful. I think he wants to be a top 3 pick and wants another chance to prove himself after the surgery. Also, Cam Ward has moved in front of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter and will likely be the overall #1 pick going to the Titans.

When they use them. Crazy story below - BLUF - Someone steals a judge's weed eater. Search Warrant issues and cops assault a house in the middle of the night...one slight issue, they assault the WRONG house and kill the home owner. Cops delay calling it in and build their cover story. Agency had body cams but the police chief ordered the program ended so there is no video. Community is outraged but nothing has happened as the cops are still "investigating themselves." Someone on the inside knows it was dirty and has leaked calls with the judge. I don't want to think this stuff still happens in 2025, but it does.

I'll vomit if they win. Not a giant Texas fan but Hook Em! Break break...not convinced Carson is the answer but Mario can work the portal. Beck's girlfriend goes to UM so I guess that didn't hurt.

I did cringe at a meme on another forum..."Hey look, California finally went red".

Indeed...I think that sent some shockwaves through the capitals of multiple countries. To say the Chinese control the Panama Canal is incorrect. However, like everywhere else China is expanding their influence through investment, and coercion. Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings manages two ports at the canal's entrances AND Chinese firms are funding construction of a new bridge over the canal to the tune of over $1 billion. I think his comments are a more a reflection of the YUGE cost increases to use the canal and the impact to U.s> warship transits. A very long and complicated story of drought, reserved slots and auctions on said spots that no one wants to read but in short they are DOUBLING their rates in 2025. With 72% of all Panama Canal traffic feeding in to the U.S. Trade and economic system, Trump is right to say it is impacting us more that other countries and with prices doubling that seems a bit unfair especially when we built the canal. Greenland...that is a Crazy Ivan, I would have thought that was more of an issue during the cold war. I am sure many of the aviators on this forum have flown through and gotten gas in Greenland, we have never been denied access. My biggest concern from the bluster is the second order effects...does that give Xi Jinping ground to stand on with regard to taking back Taiwan?

Several major problems they have been trying to resolve for years, two with the engine, one with the rotor blades. 1. There is an issue with cracking around the engine exhaust, for years Boeing blamed Rolls Royce and of course Rolls Royce blamed Boeing. 2. Dust ingestion degraded engine performance faster than originally anticipated. Part of the problem is the type of dust encountered in the middle East and Africa. I believe they have tried twice to redesign the inertial separator. They reduced the engine wash interval and implemented a FDAC temperature increase in an attempt to reduce build up. The CV-22 has TOLD like any other airplane but obviously they don't have V speeds, instead they rely on performance measurements that tell how much power and performance you have at current temp, weight and power production. One of those is OGE which simplified defines your climb performance on one engine. 3. Rotor blade wear and tear. Again the type of dust encountered is far more abrasive than the designers thought it would be, at once point blade replacement interval was down to 100 hours. On the subject of the rotor bladed important to note the rotor width is not optimized aerodynamically. The Marines controlled the airframe design and a driving requirement was the ability to fold it up and fit it on a boat. As a result the rotor diameter is smaller than it should be to get the most out of the engines. I only have a little over 200 hours flying the CV so I am far from an expert but I enjoyed it and when it works it is a game changer. One of the funnest things we did in Africa was set 60 nacelle and fly low along some of the smugglers routes in Ethiopia. At 60 nacelle you can comfortably fly 50' at 100-150 knots and it was rock solid, like driving an old caddy down the highway. The smugglers would see us, bail out of their trucks and jump in the ditch as we blazed overheard.

Windshield on my wife's car, took ten minutes to file the claim and schedule the replacement through them. Which reminds me, I had a broken windshield on my Range Rover while I was still with USAA. Filed the claim and they sent a dude out to replace it. The guy immediately tells me USAA went cheap and sent an aftermarket window that was a lot cheaper and some of my options probably wouldn't work. He also said in Florida I had the right to OEM and all I had to do was decline which I did on the spot. He was back a week later with the OEM windshield. USAA sucks!

He does and has been saying same since long before the woke stuff. He was SWAT for years and works in a location that has a LOT of protests. For years he taught how to deal with and control protests. He told me stories about protesters chaining themselves, pouring cement, interlock devices that would almost require the police to amputate someone's arm to defeat. For the past ten years he training focus has shifted to community policing and incident response. Much like aviators he believes training and repetition are the key. It's a free country and we don't have to agree. Dude swore an oath to the Constitution like the rest of us and he has his beliefs. We may disagree and get angry but that is when speech is the most free. Why he has latched on to me after all these years is beyond me. I never had dealings with him on active duty and was not involved with his case. Anytime he reached out I was nothing but nice and actually understood some of his motivations...oh well.

Civil Rights Lawyer is good as well. I should have included Audit the Audit - https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit They include all the relevant case law.

I wanted to believe the numbers were small but man there are a LOT of videos out there. The First Amendment Auditing Community shined a big spotlight on how many cops don't understand our basic rights. As a dude who swore an oath to the Constitution I'm appalled at some of the stuff that is out there. For the record, my brother in law is a chief of police for a large department and we talk about it a lot. He graduated from the FBI academy and as a side gig has been doing all sorts of contract training at departments around the country. He has watched many of the videos with me and is just as appalled. His comments always fall back to two things: 1. A lack of training and 2. Contempt of Cop. It is even worse when you mix the two together. For those that want to know more I highly recommend a youtube channel run by Jeff Gray. He is one of the OG auditors and does not have the caustic insulting approach many of the others have. He rarely insults the officers...on occasion when they clearly push him over the line. Jeff's standard procedure is to stand on public property, usually the steps of city hall, with a sign that says God Bless the Homeless Vets. I've lost track of how many times he has been arrested for holding that sign. He works with a couple of non-profits and tries to hold these department/cities accountable. He donates most of the settlements to charities including homeless shelters. His channel is below. https://www.youtube.com/@HONORYOUROATH/videos

I flew it and really enjoyed the platform. However, as mentioned there was tremendous turmoil in the community even before the latest crash. AFSOC parked part of the fleet, maintenance issues impacted available flying hours, and a host of other issues had a big impact on how much you could actually fly and thus upgrades/career progression. I expect the turmoil to continue and while it is a cool airframe and fun to fly, I would avoid until things settle.

I stayed single and did well. Fortunately BQZip's mom drove to Del Rio on the weekends to keep my currency up.

I find it interesting how few people recognize the Chinese situation from the Chinese perspective. All too many folks think the Chinese are acting like expansionist trying to conquer the world starting with Taiwan. While they do want to be a great power and their actions in Africa, South and Central America are more expansionist, when it comes to Taiwan they a completely different motivation and one you might actually agree with if we put it in U.S. terms. Imagine if there was a big civil war in the united states and you kicked the other side's ass and chased them all the way to California. With the help of another peer nation the surviving army got on boats and airplanes and took over Hawaii. Would we view Hawaii as anything other than U.S. territory? Would we be upset if the peer nation signed a defense of Hawaii pact with the invaders? In simple terms that is what happened and why they want Taiwan back.

I am just an internet troll but if I were POTUS I would keep the pressure on for a bit longer. If we go all stop and Russia gets to keep all the land gains Putin can declare victory. Access tot he Black Sea is one of the keys to a prosperous and self-sustaining Ukraine. Losing the Crimea was a big hit, Putin has pushed hard at Kherson and everything around the Tendrivs'ka Gulf because it lets him hold all sea-born Ukraine trade at risk...he effectively controls the black sea. If Ukraine gives up other land but gets some of the coast back then we have good grounds to end it. Putin is feeling the pain, I would keep the pressure on until he is willing to give up more.