ClearedHot

I hear you but still...Where was the DO? Perhaps another needless soapbox rant but honestly I have thought about this incident 100 times over the past few days and how many different people failed this young man. Yes we can blame the institution...the writing has been on the wall for some time and others have alluded to it in this thread but in a haste to plug the holes in the damn the system made a conscious decision to push as many people as possible through the system. At a very senior level he was failed when the decision was made to start pushing basic skills training from the RTU to the ops unit. When I read the Viper bros were pushing defensive BFM to the unit I thought it was a joke...how can this be? As much as people celebrated Fingers (I did not for personal reasons), he let it happen. He and Mobile bought that risk and risk is never pushed right at a 1:1 ratio, it has a modifier when it comes to basic skills. Should he have been able to land at night without incident...of course but I think everyone who has read the report and knows his flying history can feel the weight of crap that was on his shoulders that night. Senior USAF leadership failed this kid in an epic fashion. The problem is systemic...and the disconnect at senior levels is STAGGERING from my point of view. Probably reason #69 why I didn't make GO but I remember being in the room when a training and conversion plan was being briefed to the MAJCOM commander. The A3 and A1 folks were tag-teaming a brief on how they were going to convert AC-130W and AC-130U crew members into the AC-130J. The training folks were doing their best and their plan had every AC-130 pilot in the command by name and how they would flow through the system....come off the battlefield and start conversion training, PCS to new base, then immediately deploy in new airplane. I knew it was a house of cards and I couldn't hold my tongue, I blurted out "what retention rate did you use in your plan." Well sir we used the historic rate of 64%. "What was the Gunship retention rate last year?" (I already knew the answer) Well uh sirrrr....it was 34%...but we have mitigation strategies form the USAF that we think will help retention. I looked directly at the A1 and asked him if he knew about the 14 gunship pilots who were up for the bonus this year and what had just happened? He just stared at me...so I turned to the MAJCOM Commander and said sir there are currently 14 AC-130U pilots up for the bonus, only one has taken it. The MAJCOM commander was very celebrated in our community, honestly until his reply I worshiped the guy and would have done anything for him...that all ended when he opened his mouth and said in front of everyone....and I quote "They will stay because they are patriots, and if they don't I WILL JUST MAKE MORE." I knew at that moment...every bullshit comment he made about people and families was a lie...and that was it, his mitigation strategy was to let decades of combat experience just walk out there door and he would fix it by making more. I didn't even invite this dude to my retirement. I can point fingers at all the senior folks but for me I want to know...where the fuck was the DO. He/She was supposed to be the last line of common sense in the storm. I had a lot of interesting jobs in my career and made it to a fairly senior level as a Wing/CC down range in combat. Of all those jobs the toughest far and away was being a DO. Yes commanders work hard to take care of people but DOs are supposed to protect people and the mission. As a DO in the WIC it was a struggle...you think going through WIC is hard...trying being an IP there for 6 years. Sprinting a marathon becomes the norm. In fact, as a DO and CC I would remind each new graduate that they had to regulate expectations when they got back to the unit...as much as they wanted to change the world they would have to do so with some finesse or risk alienating the rank and file. You would think being a DO of a WIC squadron would be easy....all graduates, all top tier, all type A...but that presented a different problem in that they would run until they fell over dead. In order to protect them I often had to make tough calls to protect them from the system and from themselves. I didn't always get it right, but damn I tried. I remember one hellish period when we were flying multiple stages of the syllabus do to support asset availability. We typically ran a CAS phase then an Interdiction phase but for two weeks we were running both phases simultaneously. As most know WIC debreifs are purposely painful and on Thursday of the second week it was 0330 and we were doing data collect on the 6th sortie in 10 days. My ADO was leading the sortie and he said "Ok, we will see the WUGs back at 0700 for the formal brief." I looked around the room and all I saw was serious fatigue in both the WUGs but more importantly my instructors. I jumped up and said STOP! "WUGs and Instructors come back at noon for the formal debrief, everyone GO HOME." The ADO was pissed and he followed me back to my office...we had a very heated conversation in my office and he certainly spoke his mind as I always encouraged them to do. I listened then said, "messaged received, go home, I will see you at noon." For two weeks most of the WUGs had been grabbing a few hours of sleep in the squadron, not wanting to waste the time it took to drive home and then back in the morning. That week I noticed about half of my instructors had done the same thing and I knew I had to step in and protect them...from themselves. I might not have been the best DO but that is how I saw my job...PROTECT my people while accomplishing the mission. Where was his DO and how in the world the DO let this kid step that night is beyond me...simply beyond me.

That was very hard to read. 1. Where was the risk management and why is it only applied to the detriment of the rank and file aviators? Seriously WTF? 2. Was anyone in leadership fired? Arm Chair QB but it seems his DO/CC failed him...as did the SOF. 3. If we can "fix" OBOGS, we can fix the ACES seat.

You mean like Callsigns...

I won't speculate but would really like to see the report. I flew in same airspace a few hours before this and the weather was fine, although it was forecast to get worse around the time of the crash with showers and such during the POTUS rally two hours later at KPNS. Standard wild witness statements ranging from "Aircraft was in a tailspin", "I could hear the engine howling as they came down", to "I could tell the pilot was trying to avoid the houses." One report said they were going to land at Foley, the crash site is 2.6 miles due west of the center of the Foley airport but they were also within the confines of the MOA above. There is an OLF in the area but it was over 7 miles west. Part of the business but always sad to lose two more souls of the .3% that raise their hand to serve this country. RIP.

Will be interesting to see what happens to this airframe. When AFMC decided to do aerobatics during a test of one of AFSOC's new AC-130Js they broke the backbone and the $100M+ aircraft ended up as a ground trainer.

Damn, learn something new everyday thanks. BTW, your mom called it "our little secret".

Its true, you should see my Spoo shrine.

Damn, you company men sure are touchy...

You posted this at 4:18PM, then later posted a lonely picture of your jeep in the Pentagon parking lot late at night...now we know what you were really doing.

Which sets the stage for impeaching Joe should he be elected. Let's be clear, the radical elements of the DNC fele empowered and will play any game to push the pendulum as far to the left as possible. There are two gaming being played. First, at all costs remove Donald Trump. Second and more importantly, play long ball and transform this country into a socialist utopia. Notice how Quiet AOC +3 have been? If Joe wins watch them begin to leverage against Biden and Promote Harris.

As of a few hours ago the NY Post validated at least some of the emails via someone who was also on the receiving end. I have also seen reports on NY Post and Foxnews (waiting for more), that the person who confirmed the emails also confirmed the "Big Guy" is Joe Biden. Numerous other reports note that hunter always referred to his father as the "Big Guy" or "His Chariman." Personally I believe the FBI has been purposely quiet because there is an ongoing investigation. If this is indeed validated and Joe was taking money...a FAR bigger story than Watergate.

Technology is great but it can be a double edged sword when it allows basic flying skills to atrophy. Flying WIC sorties between the various Gunpig models it was obvious some of the crew on the "newer gunships" leaned a bit too much (IMHO), on all whiz-bang gadgets they had. As an example the U Boat had a display in the center of the dash called a Tactical Situation Map (TSM). On 99% of my flights in the UBoat, the Co-Pilots would basically stare at that display rather than look outside. Pilots also tended to spend an inordinate amount of time "inside" the airplane looking at that display. As a dinosaur flying older gunships my first action flying into the threat area was to quickly find visual ques that matched my understanding of the battle space...a road pattern, a set of lights, a river as a boundary...etc. That kept my eyes outside scanning for threats...by the way AAA does not show on the TSM. Finally I started bringing a piece of card board that I would place over the display and tell the WUG, "your TSM just failed...no what are you going to do?" I also saw this reliance in the older gunships when it came to degraded modes of fire. I won't go into all the modes but most of the crew only wanted to shoot in the mode with the most automation. I made sure to shoot a few rounds on each sortie in each mode to keep my skills sharp...often getting raised eyebrows from other members of the crew..."what are the odds that will happen in combat?" On my first combat mission in Afghanistan and several others over the years I was forced by mechanical failures to shoot in a degraded mode and on one mission I was forced to shoot with no input from the system at all...and a bad trigger that required a cadence call to the gunners who were manually pulling a lanyard to fire the 105MM and pushing a pin with a bar to shoot the 40MM....all while I was semi-imposing a manual site on a 23MM that was lighting me up. Lesson learned...use technology as much as possible but have a plan AND be prepared to degrade gracefully and still execute the mission. Old guy rant over.

Enough SNAP. Pull it together or move on.

It is even more surreal to visit AMARC and see your bird sitting wrapped up int he desert. I flew a lot of combat missions in a few specific tail numbers and it is a very weird feeling to see them sitting there. They brought me home through a lot of shit and now they are just waiting to be chopped up. Fewer and fewer are going to museums because of the cost to transport, restore and maintain.

And apparently good at dealing with men 31 years her senior...just ask Willie Brown.

Multiple sources reporting injuries but no fatalities.

Airborne in my plane 10 miles west of him when it happened. WX was kind of crappy with a lot of haze, an unforecast scud deck from 2500' down to 1200'. The winds were kicking this morning at 1000' I had 30 knots out of the southeast .

VA ReFi with Jon and closed last week @ 2.75. Saved me $300 a month (more gas for my plane). Only odd thing about the entire process and has nothing to do with Jon or Trident, AFTER closing but before dispersing funds the underwriter came back and wanted to do an employment verification. 3 Million people filed for unemployment in one week so I am guess the underwriters are a bit nervous. My third time dealing with Marty/Jon/Trident, call/email anytime and they answer or reply right away. I can vouch for Jon not just as a financial professional but as an AFSOC operator. Thanks gents.

A few have reached out and I am sending her Paypal privately. All funds are going to the kids 529 accounts. CH

If anyone would like to donate to Sara and the kids please reach out to me and I will pass details. She has a Paypal set up that goes to her and the kids.

I've talked to Sara and she is in the process of setting something up for the kids. I will pass along details when I have them.

It rips me apart to post this, Matmacwc flew west peacefully Christmas morning after a long fight with cancer. He bravely fought it to the end. He was truly a good man and a great fighter pilot. If your inclined to pray please pass a few on to his family. Nickle on the grass my friend. 🍺

Concur

RUMIT - ouch.

They said many of the same things about Homestead...