FourFans

I've seen some wild things at European airshows. Romania specifically was the most recent. I've never seen so many extended turn circles go straight through the crowd. The one that surprised me the most was Solo Turk. I've known that team to be highly professional, but the amount of opportunities for the show I saw to go horrifically wrong made me question that reputation...not to mention the number of close calls with the other local demos that should never have happened with a proper air boss. Of course to the crowd 'it's all part of the show' as I just shook my head and kept my family moving away from show center.

Dibs!

If that's the case, I am at a loss to understand why we didn't just buy the G17 and G19 and be done with it. It's a 9mm pistol that 99% of the time will never be used.

Sounds to me like the military took a high quality product, demanded it be changed to suit the idiocy of some of our members who should never touch a gun in the first place, then were surprised that the product doesn't function like the OTS product. SiG makes excellent firearms. So does Glock. We should have just picked an OTS product and bought it outright instead demanding it have an extra safety, which is what I understood happened. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Done. I'm currently on long-haul international and do the round the world in a week trips routinely. 9+30 with only two guys in a pax carrier wearing a uniform the whole time and not able to use the restroom without an assist is brutal no matter how you skin it.

Yeah, but I've heard the JSDAF's booms are smaller and easier to get into the hole.

Hey look, SIG is having a sale...https://www.sigsauer.com/

Did anyone else make it through the Gavin Newsom interview on the Shawn Ryan's podcast? He sounds smooth enough with manipulating stats and talking points that I could envision the DNC getting behind him in 2028. He sounds like a guy who legitimately believes his own press and rhetoric, so a politician through and through. I personally don't think he or Trump are fit to lead, but it was amazing how much love and hate he threw at the current president. Curious to hear thoughts.

Well. This is the WTF thread. So...Lord Ratner as the next Democratic nominee? He's demonstrated all the appropriate debating skills.

Wow. That's a 9+30 flight. That's brutal for 2 dudes.

Except you actually saying that.

The one bit of info I'm still curious to hear is where the IRO was throughout this whole sequence.

Fair enough, allow me to amend my statement: Clearly he's not an airlift pilot. I know many tanker pilot that I like. I also know for a fact that airlift and tanker mentalities are distinctly different. They both go push hard to hack missions, but they hack very different missions with very different users. Airlift pilots (my perspective being as a 20 year C-130 guy) interface daily with all ages, all ranks, and most services. We get to taste the how and why of pretty much every corner of the military with few exceptions. That allows the opportunity to gain a broad perspective. Granted not all of us take that opportunity, but it's there nonetheless. From an airlifter's perspective, our community was screwed over by more than one tanker pilot commander trying to run airlift units like tanker units...(which incidentally was the only time I ever experienced an open ranks inspection after basic, thanks two tanker O-6's who's names I shall not repeat, but I digress)...which has left a long-standing scar tissue in the memory of many a herk driver. In the end I said what I said. Ratner sounds like he thinks his perspective as a pilot is one we all share, when in fact it is not. It's been a trend these past few days over several threads: The air India crash was caused by a bad FO, then pilots should shut down motors in response to events they can't even physically see, now pilots need to understand the importance of discipline because we live in a bubble and don't understand the rest of the military. Wrong on all fronts. Three times is a trend.

Obviously you're not a mobility pilot. You sound more like an eagle driver who's only interaction with E's was when you yelled at your crew chief. Another swing and a miss. Many AF pilots are intimately familiar with actively leading 18 year-old aircrew, maintainers, and support troops. Talk to any AC who's taking crewed aircraft on a 3 week trip or any major who's been a detco for weeks on end. Your experience is not everyone else's. Maybe come out of your echo chamber. I've worked indepth with many marines. They agree: Open ranks inspections are worthless outside of boot camp. They pursue discipline in far more functional and useful ways.

...or just continue being a spaz...your call