Sneedro

DING DING DING!!!! We have a winner... So glad I am out of the T-6 world. I loved my time as an IP while I did it but hearing all this nonsense, thank god that's behind me. Every day reinforces my decision to punch AD and subsequently stop flying for the AF. Too much of this insane thinking...it's frankly a surprise we aren't hurting or killing more aircrew out there. Be smart, stay safe, and don't be afraid to say no if they try to force a bad situation.

Wow...just wow...

I see the AF has jumped on the bad idea train as it passed through town. Had a buddy have an inflight electrical fire during our time as IPs in the T-6. He wasn't right until a few hours after but thought he was perfectly fine, and that was from the smoke alone in the cabin as he was on the emergency bottle. The EADI or EHSI starts smoking and you are breathing ambient cabin air? I guess the AF has tied your hands as to the inflight "fix" for that... Take some extra time to preflight that ejection seat and maybe go back to Aero Phys just for a refresher should you chose to fly...

What else am I supposed to do during cruise?

Sadly that's how I know him...

Ahhh Gen Nowland...couldn't have happened to a "nicer" guy. Feel bad for those below him, he has a tendency to take stuff out on his subordinates in my experience.

This right here is exactly what is so great about the airline world...YOU GET TO CHOOSE! While it sucks to be junior commuting to reserve (I am right there with you and feel your pain) it's a choice. You could be more senior with a line but have to add in a double commute. It's all about what you decide is the best option. I could be 40-45% from the top, live in base, and hold a line in the right seat, but the wife and I decided if any time is best to do it, now is the time to jump to the left seat and commute to reserve. Sucks at times but we have CHOSEN to chase the money. I cannot remember any time while on AD, and to an extent in the reserves other than to leave, that I was ever really given a choice.

I don't believe there is any restriction as you can be a TR and still do a points only gig on the side, and I believe you can also be AD and do one. Don't quote me on the AD part as that's what I believe I heard, I may have misunderstood though. I know that's hard to believe. However, as others have said there's plenty of work to be done with a single points only job to get your minimum each year. I finally turned in the old wings and am now a CAP points only type dude. Between Delta and my cake CAP gig I'm living the dream! Flying for Delta and limping towards retirement. Ask me in another 6yrs when I hit my 20 and punch all together if I am happier, but for now I can't think of any way to make life better.

Huh? I am at Delta and I can confirm Bergman's post as being accurate. I was based in NYC at the time my ID expired with Delta, got a pop-up reminding me it was going too and to check with the CPO on my next trip. Walked in, gave the secretary my name and old ID, she gave me my new one and said, "Have a nice day." I walked out within 30 seconds. That simple and best of all was I didn't get to ATL (or any other base where you scan your ID) and find out it was all FUBAR and not working like my typical AF experience. 30 seconds of my life as I walked to sign in...no hassle, headache, or frustration.

Haha awesome...even better. Regardless, I stand by my statement that I am not flying if the expectation is I have to fly with my mask down for OBOGS reasons. I am not so concerned about the CFS if it is pinned but the low altitude issue causing an immediate ejection is. I am far since removed from flying the T-6 and being in AETC, so maybe my thinking is more conservative these days since life is different, but seems like a lot of speeding just asking for something bad to happen...

I was a safety guy during part of my time at Vance as a T-6 IP. I saw first hand what the CFS does to masks, flight suits, and skin after it is fired (inadvertently...oops) in flight. I would fly with it down for awhile especially in the summer when it was hot, but not after seeing the results of a blown CFS. NFW I would step foot in that jet if the answer was, "Just fly with your mask down."

"Holding a line" means you have a schedule with a set of trips for the month. You know "I am flying X trip on these days, Y trip on these days, and so on" for the month. When you are on reserve you are "on call" during you reserve days so you may work, may not, or may sit short call. In the end you could work less or not at all while sitting reserve but your schedule is more up in the air and technically you are scheduled to "work" (be on call) more days during the month than a pilot holding a line. At Delta dudes holding a line typically (I'd venture to say on average though not the rule) means anywhere from 12-15 days of work during the month. If you sit reserve then you are going to be on call 17-18 days during the month. Pros and cons to both and just depends on your base, where you live, and staffing levels which one each particular person prefers (if they are senior enough to have a choice). Also there are different rules for each.

Letting management "slip" in clownish contract clauses? Hell they not only allow it they double down and try to justify how it's actually a good thing... The unions are full of guys/gals who become more interested in working for the union than actually being a pilot. Think Reps/Senators in congress... Then they become the smartest people in the room and the line swine just aren't smart enough to understand.

Ahhhh ok that was the part I was missing...I had forgotten about the west coast guys/gals couldn't drop their stuff. I agree that even at Delta, no matter how much the company throws at people some won't fly no matter what over Christmas. Money cannot buy everything! Now on the flip side, if the company offered a crisp $20 bill for any pilot who flies over Christmas there would also be some tripping over themselves trying to pick stuff up because as most know pilots are cheap...that's probably the worst part about our union, cheap pilots willing to accept anything and everything if it comes with a pay raise. Sad...hopefully you guys hold out and send a message to management and the union. Edit: Hopefully the pilots who took advantage of the glitch or whatever it was hold out until there is an agreement that any and ALL trips over the designated timeframe are 200% even for those west coasters who couldn't drop anything. Force management to come begging and throwing money at both coasts. Not that it will solve everything, I know I wouldn't be flying not matter what, but it might get some interest. Could be a painful December for AA...

When did Delta buy a Dreamliner?! Damn, now I need to go update my bid preferences... Only messing with you

As a Delta guy I don't know anymore about the AA Christmas fiasco other than I had a good laugh at management's expense when I heard about it. So, while I give props to the pilots for doing what they did, if that is the agreement with management, how do they still cover the trips? I mean, if it's "designated trip" and pays 2x ok I can see that getting picked up. If it isn't 2x pay, why aren't guys saying thanks but no thanks still leaving them uncovered? I heard a lot of dudes/dudettes dropped their entire month so I am sure some of it has to do with people not wanting to go a month no pay maybe, but still how does that agreement force pilots to cover the trip? Am I missing something? Ok, back to watching Delta implode over a little snow and power outage (ok a big power outage)!

I look at it this way...my airline job is a pretty cushy job even during the busiest parts of the year or when I get a crappy schedule. It isn't a hard job... Do I want to give that up to go back to AD for 8hr days, 5 days a week, less pay, and some unknown TDY's or god forbid a deployment? That's an easy answer, NO F-ING WAY! What does the AF have to offer me to get me interested: queep, CC's who care about their rank and future promotions, low morale, and a never ending supply of extra duties outside the purvey of my job? I haven't even looked at the money aspect because I left AD primarily due to how miserable it had become. Flying was great but when I wasn't flying life just got tiring in the AF and was only getting worse. The POTUS himself could come out and say "All additional duties are hereby gone". Nothing would change because every CC (be it SQ, OG, or WG) is going to still assign them with some BS excuse because in the end it looks good on them and their OPRs. It's sad but that's the reality. Now add in all that along with less money. My profit sharing check last year was in the ballpark of $20K and that was with 3 months of MIL Leave due to a deployment along with a significant amount of other time lost preparing for said deployment and trying to fly to stay current throughout the year. The carrot they hold is the retirement aspect and bonuses...I will get my reserve retirement when I hit my 20 and will collect when I reach appropriate age. In the meantime I will far exceed what the military can offer in terms of pay and bonuses at my airline all for less work. Returning to AD for 3yrs isn't going to be enough to get me a full AD retirement. Therefore the insignificant amount of "points" that will be added to my retirement (in my personal opinion) isn't enough to entice me to return to AD and take a break from the airlines. I can build my retirement savings far bigger in the airlines than I can with a few extra points for far more work and the typical hassle of AD. Just my personal opinion of course...to each their own. Either way I hope it remains voluntary and no one is "forced" to return if they don't want too. For those who chose to return, good on them and best of luck!

I had a couple of things show up damaged once before. One was a trash can so badly smashed it could no longer stand up and had pieces falling off of it. Guy brings it inside and says to me (as he lays it down putting multiple pieces on the pile), "Was it like this when you shipped it?" You can't make this shit up... Another damaged item I took countless pics of (before and after), found the place online where I bought it, and added the website and link for it in my claim. They countered with a 1/5th offer saying they found it somewhere else cheaper. It wasn't even close to the same item (not even in the same universe)... Took me numerous calls and more pictures because they couldn't understand how the item they found was any different. Finally they offered me their final offer which was slightly more but still insulting and nowhere near what it took to replace my damaged good. Few days later I get the request for a survey. GLADLY filled that one out with my thoughts and experience, and of course when I clicked submit it said it was unable to submit. Tried many more times over the next few weeks and got the same thing every time...coincidence? I called them up after not being able to leave a review, was essentially ignored, I called them crooks and that was that. Didn't help at all but I felt better.

Cry and scream about the Russians hacking yet let this clown go free and say "he's been punished enough". I don't care what he says, between Hillary and now this, this is a dangerous precedent... So why is he/she special enough to get almost 3 decades of his sentence commuted and not this guy? http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/08/19/sailor-gets-year-prison-taking-photos-nuclear-sub.html

They're gonna need to narrow down which write-up they are talking about... Seriously though, was this before or after the boom fell off?

Gents, it's March. He's out at the Deid making sure all mustaches are within regs.

Thanks for info. I was looking for where the application stuff was at but with no luck. Is there anywhere I could start a better search for that type of stuff or is it something you just have to wait for the AMS robot to send out? I saw an AMS email many many months back but haven't seen one since.

Anyone have any info or a link that talks about the minimum requirements for guys to go fly the E-4B? Thanks for any help

I completely agree with you as far as people having a chip on their shoulder. I am part of a great squadron and any of the guys who fit that mold are pretty good about keeping it to themselves. Not to say that we dont have them, but they dont treat studs who want a T-38 differently because of it. If I found out one of my IPs was doing that, there would be hell to pay. We are in the business of developing these young guys and gals into the next generation of warfighters, and I personally feel it is my job to give every stud the best possibility to get what they want out of T-6s.

Are you fucking kidding me, we are offended because we couldnt get a fighter? I know it may be hard to believe based on your vast flying experience, but not all IP's wanted a fighter. Yes some did and didnt get one, but that doesnt mean they are going to take it out on the studs. Those dudes are still good guys however. What we take offense to is someone showing up like "billy badass" who thinks he/she is owed a fighter spot. I could care less what my students want to fly. Tell me straight up when I ask and I will help you get there, but dont blow smoke up my ass hoping for better grades because we will see right through that. So what can you do? Study, work with your bros, and ask questions! Too many studs are afraid to ask IPs questions. That is what we are there for so ask. I guarantee if you show a good work ethic and are studying, we will go out of our way to help you out.