Everything posted by busdriver
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Good military/aviation books
Read This Keep in mind it was written in 1989.
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New Texan Paint Scheme?
From what I gather, the gist of this crap is to save a bit of money by painting everything gray. If that's really the case and this actually saves some cash then ok by me. If this is some attempt to make UPT into some tactical something or other that we all know it isn't then it is dumber than shit.
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CV-22 Osprey info
anyone have actual experience with the program? Would it be feasible to remove the wing swivel hardware later in a future block mod and install pressurization equipment?
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CSAR-X
dmeg, just imagine how much gas we'd be sucking ifthe AF buys the chubby cheeks conformal aux tanks..... come on you know they will, hell we'd be carrying a fleet of armored buggies and about 50 pjs on every sortie if we got the 47
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Struggling Snacko...
Make the squadron spouses club the technical owners of the snacko fund. Problem solved.
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DLA
Go talk to a finance guru on base, however I think it depends on your statis at your det. After I graduated from the Zoo, I was PCS'd to the academy for close to a year, versus being casual? The gist being I got DLA when I finally moved to my UPT base, where as those who went straight there did not. Clear as mud?
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Mustache
I remember a Sijan quote from "Into the Mouth of the Cat." Something like: Grow your mustache and protest the war at home.
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Ejecting
Right on Hydro, kinda like planned ditching in a helo, the AC gets to ride the bird into the water.
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"Extender"- KC-10 Rap Group
Actually, I do know mister Ace_Pilot, and I did think it was funny. Probably because he is not even close to the "pimp" rapper.
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New Uniforms
The best part about the two piece flight suit is not completely undressing to take drop a deuce. It also has extra pockets that are nice if you're not wearing a g-suit. I haven't deployed when it's hot yet, but soon will. I'm sure I'm gonna love taking off the top, assuming the higher ups don't get pissed and make us get rid of them.
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Awaiting Pilot Training (APT) Flights
It can help with UPT if you ask. We had a guy wash out of my UPT class at moody, he ended up getting a shit load of backseat rides in IFF 38's. Since he knew he was going to end up a WSO, the IFF instructors started him early, teaching him about what makes a good WSO.
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Good military/aviation books
Flying Through Midnight Story about a C-123 flying FAC over the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
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New Uniforms
If we're gonna change up the uniform, can we lose the gay ass powder blue shirts?
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Pilot watches
I got issued the basic old shitty G-Shock at Moody, but lost it within a year. The thing is, it kept time like non-other; as in I was never off more than a second the entire time I owned it(never reset it). I currently own a cheap POS timex since I don't really care anymore since I tend to use the clock in the aircraft and GPS time on the off occasion I have to use timed holding, for dead reckoning I have an egg timer type clock attached to my knee board. [ 09. May 2006, 22:19: Message edited by: busdriver ]
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Peterson AFB/Colorado Springs info
I lived on the north end of town and it still only took about 15-20 to get to peterson, with powers open all the way now, it's very easy to get to either base. As was said, there are some very nice places off powers. Also there's some nice and inexpensive homes very close to Peterson, I lived on Lewis lane for awhile, and found the neighborhood to be very cool. We had a neighbor who would ride his dirt bike over to bullshit with us and another who's kid would hide in the bush to watch us wrench on our bikes.
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Combat Time
The best combat pilots are the ones who can think on their feet. As was mentioned earlier, post UPT most people can handle their aircraft competently. High SA and the ability to quickly adjust to a changing situation are very important.
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Late to Rate
I've found flight time has almost equal importance to age. So the guys who went through UPT late in life, lack experience but make up for it in maturity. So the old prior types may not have quite the same level of hands, they have much better judgement.
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Quick Stop in helos
cracking throttles in the N model is in my opinion the result of a poor governor. If the rotor spins away from the engines in the 60, the engines will just idle for you. The setup is such that the 701 aircraft respond very well to collective inputs and they spin up fast, the 700 birds require a bit of a "wakeup" meaning you give a little collective pull before you actually need it to get the motors spinning.
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Survival Gear
CWO Durant... As for what I carry? I use a camel back as my PSK, so obviously water. I'll throw some power bars or something similar in there (incidentally, don't eat lots without water, you get more dehydrated). IR chem sticks (probably 20 or so). I put my extra ammo in there, and a big ass knife as well as the IFAK they issue us (improved first aid kit). That's pretty much it, I figure if I go down, and I'm lucky/skilled enough to walk away, I won't be going far as the guys in back will most likely be messed up and we'll be staying there doing point defense until someone comes to the rescue (ala Takur Ghar).
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Military Squeezed at the Pump
Helodude, this fuel conservation nonsense doesn't really apply to us as 60 drivers. Fours hours training for just over 4k of gas is probably the cheapist operational aircraft in the inventory.
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Strike Navs to Buff
Why would a FAIP get to leave the school house as an AC? While you may have great air sense, you don't know the mission at all.
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Survival Gear
we always joked that the course of fire for the M9 should include a section where you run away from the target and shoot over your shoulder.
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Struggling Snacko...
here's another idea, when you have that burger burn charge some small amount from everyone to eat, two or three bucks isn't that much but would probably pay for the damn thing. We had a problem about a year ago with people taking IOUs, basically they didn't have the cash on them so they figured they'd pay later, and of course forgot. Basically we announced that the snack bar was closed until we got our money, less than a day later all our dough was back. Figure out were all the money is going and decide what the snacko is really responsible for paying for. Set up a seperate beer fund for the keg.
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Lifestyle of Helicopter Pilots
We haven't actually made the switch to ACC yet, but I doubt it'll change things too much as far as homestation.
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Lifestyle of Helicopter Pilots
Flight time comes and goes, when I first joined my unit, co pilots were getting the bare minimum of flight time. I was lucky to get one flight a month. This past summer a new co in my squad got upset that he was only getting two flights a week, after a good deal TDY that gave him several hundred hours. That being said, you can probably expect about 200 hours a year. Generally, it takes about two years to upgrade to aircraft commander.