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norskman

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Posts posted by norskman

    Pilot Shortage Deepens, USAF is SCREWED.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 2/17/2018 at 11:13 AM, Hodor said:

    The CSAR/Helo numbers look good now, but there are a huge number of guys getting out now at the end of their ADSCs or 100% set on doing it. Many are leaving to do jobs totally not flying related. A few are using the Rotary to Airline route, but they're older dudes that had 20 years in already. 

    I can't begin to imagine what will happen when the contractors totally take over SUPT-H. Without having USAF dudes there to balance out the old contractors its gunna get weird. UPT by just sim instructors. 

     

    Upping the flow of new dudes is going to do F all. We can't even train the Co-pilots we get now. Moody is a great case study. Brand new Lts are getting 45-60 hrs a year, getting passed around to guard units for any experience they can scrape up, or deploying with other RQS's.  Have you ever seen a bitter Lt? Its like the Ghost of Christmas Future. The iron to fly them isnt there. More importantly the SMAs aren't there. Their retention is a whole other topic. 

    This, dude totally agree. 3 class A mishaps in the last four years. 2 being CFITs. Basic airmanship is lacking. Not going to get better any time soon. It doesn’t help when we think a flight lead is super experienced when he has a whopping 500 total hours and throw him in  the IPUG syllabus only becuase he’s next in line. 

    Contract only UPT will only continue to inflict pain on the ops squadrons. Basic Instrument proficiency will suck without T-6 interface. Cross flow opportunities for the new pups from the proposed syllabus will dwindle. I fear for the road ahead. Where’s some good news for the USAF RW community?

    CSAR to AFSOC? What do the customers think?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 10/20/2017 at 5:42 AM, ClearedHot said:

    Sadly the CSAR O-6's will never listen because they have Stockhom Syndrome and still believe their ACC puppet masters will do the right thing.

     

    SHACK. 

    On 10/20/2017 at 11:05 PM, ClearedHot said:

    Again it was about accomplishing the mission not stealing $ for CV-22's.  It takes a LONG time to go deep in a 60...

    AGAIN, SHACK. Bottom line, this decision should boil down to one question and that is what is the best way to accomplish mission of CSAR? As a -60 dude, it pains me to agree with you about aircraft capes, but you're absolutely correct with regard to the V-22. Additionally, the way AFSOC does business with regard to force structuring will be a plus in the long term (in the near term it will suck for the dudes that are currently on the fast track though...sorry bros). Overall, I'm hoping for the AFSCOC transition to occur.

    • Like 1

    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 6/9/2017 at 10:46 AM, busdriver said:

    I've been out of the shiny penny club for awhile now.  I only went to staff because I was literally the only person in the Air Force who could fill that billet, at that time.  I escaped and I work well over 40 hours a week, and the chance of me commanding a flying squadron is essentially zero.  I put in the time I do in the hope that I can make even a small difference to nudge my little corner of the AF in a better direction.  

    Maybe I'm just too stupid to know better, maybe staff made me appreciate the small victories, I don't know.  I do know that perspectives change with time and experience, and I'll get to re-qual "soon," life is good.

    How long have you been away from the RQS squadron for? Life is significantly different post-OEF....

    Track Selects and Assignment Nights

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, SPAWNmaster said:

    SUPT-H is already a thing. I'm there now. Do you mean UPT straight to Rucker for rotary guys (skip T6)? If so then yes, we heard recently it's being discussed seriously, timeline within the next year or possibly sooner if they pull the trigger. But being aware of the capacity constraints here at the squadron I'm not sure how realistic it would be for us to fulfill that mandate. The primary contractor who hires our civilian IPs and runs the academics is scrambling to figure out how they might do it and there are lots of concerns from the Air Force side (including having to buy new TH's, what to do with students with no baseline airsense or instrument training from T6, etc).

    We were briefed this is the new COA being implemented at our ops unit. What's the consensus at the 23rd? I assume more iron and  flesh? AD or contractors bearing the brunt? 

    Track Selects and Assignment Nights

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On September 23, 2016 at 6:49 PM, Razor666 said:

    You cannot have the latter flying these planes because you need to have an aggressive 38 like attitude to fly through a SAM MEZ knowing that you will get shot at and you will most likely get hit (no one is out maneuvering a SAM at 2.0 G), but need to drop bombs on target on time.  

     

    Slow your roll. Tracking 38s in UPT doesn't give you automatic tactical credibility. You begin to learn the necessary skills and attitude in your first ops unit as a young pup picking the brains of the old dudes whenever you can. 

    How do you feel about your airframe and mission?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1.  Ops Tempo/Deployment

          2.  Lifestyle/ Family Stability

          3. Community morale

          4. Advancements & Future of the airframe

          5. Preferred PCS locations 

    HHH-60Gs

    11. Depends on the squadron. Currently deployed to a few locations worldwide.

    22. Depends on the base, deployment tasking, etc... Certain bases have better travel opportunities due to their locations, (Kadena and Lakenheath)

      3. The Hawk is getting old, thus she flies less and breaks more. The young pups are flying less and less every year and it's not getting better. It's really killing morale at the bro level when the copilots fly ~4-8 hrs a month when there in dire need of experience. The mission is rewarding overall, yet Big Blue seems to still not know the proper use of its rotary-wing assets, which is frustrating considering it has employed helicopters for 50+ years. Lot of hurry up-and-wait, with knee jerk reactions in the midst.

       4. We are supposed to get the HH-60W (modified MH-60M) in FY19, I'll believe it when I see her rotors turning on a ramp somewhere.

       5. Lakenheath, Kadena, Tuscon, Nellis, Moody (in that order).

    3

    • Upvote 2

    FAIP Q&A

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hoping to revive this topic if there are any FAIPs out there now.  My question is, could I track helos, do my Phase 3, come back to FAIP T-6 at Vance and then head to my first duty station as a helo driver?  I know this would be a round-a-bout way to get there, but looking at family complications as well. 

    Thanks!

    No, you can faip at rucker though in the TH-1

    Track Selects and Assignment Nights

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The only reason the AF started making their rotor wing pilots in the early 90's go through fixed wing phase 2 was to get higher numbers going through Tweets, to make the case for more T-6's.  I think Hacker or someone discussed this years ago.  It's actually silly to make rotor wing pilots spend the first 5-6 months in T-6's, to then learn a completely different kind of flying for the remaining phase 3.  

    I have to agree. The saving grace is those dudes who develop the desire to live the helo low life during phase 2, and I speak from experience. A corrective action would be to add additional low level sorties to the phase 2 syllabus, 2 is not enough. It is appropriate considering the amount of airframes that fly low operationally. 

    Replacement to the T-38

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So they'll have 18 months of UPT? Not to mention 8 months of KIKR. The LPA will barely exist anymore.

    With the rapid increase of popularity for helos in UPT, an argument could be made for the option of a "straight-in" to Rucker similar to the UHT program that existed in the 80's. Yes, much basic airmanship and general aviation knowledge (more specifically, instruments and formation) was attained in the T-6, but nothing the 23rd couldn't compensate for with an extended program in the TH. But like everything else, I'm sure 11Hs will be an afterthought in the UPT planning process.

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