HuggyU2

Sure enough: Lt Col Driscoll was at Reno. Real great guy. Always upbeat. Oddly enough, just after this photo was taken, I went back to the Box I was hanging out in, and a gal is there with a shirt that says "baseops.net" on the front, and "UAV's Suck" on the back. It had picture of the Pred on it, but I'm hoping to see one made with an RQ-4.

Is getting medically retired an option?

First: IMPAC vs. MPACT. Noted. Secondly: ? Thirdly: we don't usually use military fields, so grabbing what we need from base ops is not usually an option. When we DO hit a military field, many only carry sectionals for their region of the country. Doesn't do me much good if I needed that sectional for my arrival to said base. Even fewer carry the Terminal Charts. Bottom line: I order them before I start the trip. "Planning" vs. "chance".

We order our squadron's Terminal Area Charts along with the Sectional Charts that we use. I didn't see these kind of charts on the NGA website, and I don't know the process for how we order them. Sorry. We require our jets to fly with the San Fran and Klamath sectionals. There's more info on those than in all the other charts combined, I think. Additionally: if we're going cross country and need Sectionals or Term Area Charts short notice, we use the squadron's MPACT card, and order them from Fallon Airmotive in Nevada. You can google their phone number. They ship out right away, and we get them within a couple of days. Saves the squadron money since we don't order a bunch of stuff that we don't use, and that gets thrown out at the expiration date.

Very few people will do this, but if you don't like the direction they are going, consider mailing a short note to SWA's leadership, and their head of marketing. Let them know what you think.

Are you looking for a date, sailor??

http://www.southwest.com/gaytravel/ Another unfortunate trend at SWA.

Loading bombs?? Relative safety???!!! There's a lot of problems I could have in an airplane that I'd be more than happy to deal with: just don't make me handle bombs. I'm raising a toast to your dad. Anyone that handles high explosives day in and day out is certainly earning their pay! Cheers.

Don't be too harsh on Altus. I spent 4 years in Del Rio,... and loved it. Absolutely a great time. It's what you make of it.

Ironic to see Jerry Driscoll's name there. A great American, indeed. When I was in the 560th at Randolph, we'd host the POW/MIA Dining-In each year, and Lt Col Driscoll was always there. You could tell he was "a leader". I saw him last year at the Reno Air Races. Ironic, since I'm heading there tomorrow morning, and my box seat is about 30 feel from his (of course, he's in the River Rats' box). I hope he's there again. I'll print this thread off and bring it to him.

I live in the Rocklin/Roseville area. It's a 40-45 minute commute. I drive north on Hwy 65 in the morning; south in the evening. Traffic isn't a problem. However, traffic going the opposite way is heinuos. If you move here, I recommend Rocklin for schools, Grass Valley/Nevada City if you must live in the mountains. Not much in Wheatland, but land values are going up; and it's only 10 minutes to the flightline from Wheatland. I wouldn't live in Wheatland if your kids are in high school. You can actually live as far out as Loomis and Auburn: there are some back roads that can keep your commute to under an hour. Very little TDY. I hear it is a 3 year assignment. Short days: seems to me those guys don't work much. I don't know for sure --- just my impression based on watching them run for their cars at 1530. Why are you considering the RQ-4?

I was airborne on a flight from Kansas City to O'Hare, as a UAL 727 flight engineer. We never got the word while airborne to secure the cockpit. When we got to O'Hare, we landed, and realized something was up: nothing was moving on the ground. Weird. We were sent to a piece of tarmac and told to park. Over the next hour or so, we got SA on the situation from various sources. At first, I thought it was a massive power failure. Then, a cryptic message came down through the ACARS (onboard data link) that made me think a nuke went off. I remember when the second tower came down, that a pax told me her brother worked in that tower. When we finally got inside, I stayed in ops a while. When I ventured out, I was one of the only people in the entire airport. You just can't imagine walking through O'Hare and not seeing anyone, except a few security folks. I spent 4 or 5 days there, and finally got onto the first airplane that went from O'Hare to San Antonio (my home at the time).

Frank Borman had one about 3 years ago in Las Cruces, NM. I don't know if he still has it. I don't think the CAF has one anymore, though.

Yes, don't lock it. Personally, I'm done reading it, but it seems like great entertainment for a bunch of folks. Let 'em play!

You'd better think your situation over very hard, then. Expect a year to Korea, Iraq, or Afghanistan fairly early in your career,... as well as numerous TDY's. Your glass should be "half full", not "half empty".

We've got a U-2 pilot who got a single-event Air Medal back in Jan 03 for a U-2 mission over Iraq. Another guy got a single-event DFC for an event that took place around Nov '01,... not sure of the date. Whether they deserved it or not, I'm not going to engage in. However, it did happen.

Yes it is. We've learned a lot over the past 50 years, when it comes to physiology.

I met Col Kittenger about 10 years ago at lunch. I don't remember the details of any glove failure, but to answer your question: It depends. What kind of malfunction? Rapid D? If the suit fails, how big is the hole? Is the emer oxygen providing enough flow to make a difference? Just like with an "engine malfunction", there are certain levels of concern, depending on the nature of the emergency. A compressor stall doesn't concern me like an engine fire being fed by a ruptured fuel line. The same can be said with the multitude of physiological issues that crop up in the high altitude recce business.

A lifetime.

Holding your breath doesn't stop the gases in your bloodstream from boiling out if you lose cabin pressure above 63,000 feet.

I would have, too. But it turns out that it is "statute". The reason, I'm guessing is that 50 statute miles (264,000 feet), or ~80 kilometers, is the US standard for being an astronaut. The international standard, set by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) and used by everyone else, is 100 kilometers, or 328,000 feet. If you remember the Space Ship One flight a couple of years ago, that aircraft's registration was N328KF, as in 328 thousand feet, which was their goal.

Nope, note even close.

A couple more for you. Here's Napa Valley and the Grand Canyon:

If you only knew. They had those pencil holders in the old C-models "back in the day". There are some things they originally put in the cockpit, and are still there, that just make you scratch your noggin'. It's downright comical. When I was new at the whole pressure-suit-thing, I had a sortie where I dropped 5 of the 6 pencils I had in the jet. Isn't that when you'd yell "Winchester" in a fighter?? You're out of 30mm, and I'm out of pencils. The pencil is mightier than,..... nevermind. Most folks now carry those long, metal, flexible things with the claws on the end, so you can get stuff off the cockpit floor, and they work great. We're finally putting the pencil holders on the glare shield. What I'd really like is something like the A-10 saddle bags, or whatever y'all called them. The cockpit is an F-104 cockpit widened about 10" and made about 8" deeper. The yoke is a C-130 yoke. Do you Herc guys have those pencil holders? Yes, that's a Garmin. We attach one (we now use the color 296 or 396) to the left mirror with a rubber band. Works great. This is an old shot (about 3 years), and the old display on the right has been replaced with another 6x8 display, i.e. we now have three 6x8 displays. The moving map is a piece of FOD, but works for what we're using it for. The moving map I've flown with in the Cirrus is a heck of a lot nicer. Overall, though, the displays are nice. There's a small 3x3 backup display on the emergency bus that will get you back should you lose your main MFD's. It provides attitude, heading, altitude, speed, mach, and ILS/LOC capability. Overall, though, 52 years of U-2 tradition, unhampered by progress. Gotta love it.

This is sort of a big week in U-2 history. On 1 Aug 1955, the U-2 taxi test at Groom Lake (Area 51) got airborne, making it the first "unofficial" flight in the Deuce. On 4 Aug (today) 1955, the first "official" flight took place, again with Tony LeVier at the controls. Not sure, but I think 8 Aug 1955 was the " 'official' official first flight", with VIP's in attendance to witness it. Also, coincidently enough, Gary Powers died on 1 Aug 1977 in a helicopter accident. I met a few former U-2 drivers at Oshkosh last week that knew him. They said he was a real gentleman, and all spoke highly of the man. Here's a shot over NE Afghanistan.