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SocialD

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Everything posted by SocialD

  1. Same happened to a random smattering of our big group. They required us to put our hotels on the GTC, and much to my shock and surprise, they jacked up the partial payments. A while later we receive a nastygram from our FM about why we're using out personal cards and how it's in violation of blah blah blah. Apparently, he didn't like our responses because we were told by the boss that we're no longer allowed to reply directly to him. LOL.
  2. Our PTL will likely be a pilot once again...everyone will just laugh at them if they try to make us wear PT gear. Then they'll be assessed at the next roll call for general douchebaggery.
  3. Not true. Nothing worse than showing up to a mandatory drill thinking you're finally going to attack the great queep monster, only to see all the AF systems you need, "down for mx." VPC/Outlook/DTS we're all down last drill...apparently no one in the military works weekends. If the PFT is truly going back to the squadron, I highly doubt I'll ever wear my AF PT gear again.
  4. Imagine the ratings drop if fantasy football went away.
  5. This cost me ~$3,000 on my last 3 month trip overseas. We weren't allowed to go find our own places due to "logical/security" concerns. Would have helped make up for the massive pay cut to go fly CT from an overseas location.
  6. Bringing this thread back from the dead. Finance guy, are you still on here? Maybe others have figured out a work around? This is WAY down the list on bitches/gripes/complaints, but something I'm currently dealing with. FG or anyone know why we "must" have to have a car on our orders to be reimbursed for rental car gas? Shouldn't anyone on the TDY be able to be reimbursed w/o wasting man hours on amending orders? Since we lost the ability to blanket "variations authorized" our orders, this has become an ass pain. Inevitably we end up with a 4-ship in a car that needs gas (thanks LTs) and noone has a car on their orders. Sure pay cash and turn over the receipt, but half the time noone has cash anymore. Seems like we're unnecessarily handcuffing/creating more work for ourselves. Hell even planning who gets a rental car is a pain. Has to be a AGR or someone on AT orders only (no split AT/ST, no technician status, no half time AGRs, and no part-timers)? Why can't it just be a single fucking account labeled XXXFW rental car? I'm sure there is a valid reason somewhere, but it makes planning much more of a PITA when we have swapouts, people showing up at different times/locations (flyers vs airline, advon, etc...), and guys going in AGR/Technician/ST/AT/Part time status. In the grand scheme of things nothing major, but seems like this would be an easy way to make TDYs a little less painful. Might not even be an issue for AD types.
  7. Some of the regionals will likely pick you up without an interview. Depending on your previous quals, chances are you'll spend less than a year at one before being picked up at a major/cargo carrier. I was not out of the cockpit, but the majors weren't hiring yet and I needed total time...going to the regional is one of the best things I've ever done. Best of luck! Not sure if it's related but in the last two days, I had a few of my AD buddies (who I thought wouldn't get out) reach out to me about the ANG/Airlines. Sounds like this change to the AFI is making the rounds pretty quickly.
  8. Wait....what, No CCIP!?!?! So no BSA phase anymore? I see what this is...a plan to finally push out the old timers! Next thing you know they'll stop putting guns in jets and make it against regs to practice BFM...missiles are lasers and have a pk of 1. I jest...mostly. I agree that it's not a bad thing to reevaluate our training and look into new ideas, as long as it's for the right reasons. However, putting a 30 hour T-6 pilot in a massively power jet that is the Block-30 (w/o AGCAS) seems like a worse idea than an underpowered Block-42 (w/ AGCAS). Either way, I have faith in the IP cadre down at Kelly...lots of great dudes down there.
  9. The other FO on a recent trip was a reserve IFF guy and talked about this program. He mentioned that it emphasized LOTS of AI/sim time, so maybe 30 hours is correct... If they're willing to put a stud in a Viper after a handful of hours in a T-6, nothing would surprise me.
  10. That's a tough question to answer. At Delta, being able to drop trips is highly dependent upon the staffing in your particular category (Base/plane/seat)...which can change drastically in a years time. When I first started on the 73, I couldn't drop a thing and had to hope for someone to take it off my line. As time when on, staffing improved and trip drops were more prevalent, but not always an option. On the WB I'm on, we are overstaffed so I can drop at my leisure. Also, WB reserves tend to spend A LOT of time at home. Even in one of our busiest months (June), I only went to work 6 days. The other thing WB provides is generally more pay for days gone. Ex....on the NB a 3-day generally pays 15:45 (though they're slowly creeping up), whereas on a WB they're generally closer to 17-19. Next month I have two 3-days that pay 26:10 a piece. I don't even think we have 4 days on the NB that pay 26 hours. My two cents...If you want to make the most amount of money per days worked, look at SWA or get on a long-haul widebody as soon as possible. That said, having flown the 737, I can't imagine having to fly it for the rest of my career... Even at just shy of 6 foot, it's pretty damn uncomfortable. However, it's hard to deny the flexibility of a single plane fleet provides for the pilots, not to mention what they can make per day worked.
  11. I'll always tell my friends that if they live in a city that a particular airline has a major base then go there. If you're going to commute, go to FedEx, for many of the reasons in Robots post. DH's on each end are awesome and amazing for QOL of a commuter. Hopefully you guys never cave to PBS because many of those trips could dry up as PBS is an efficiency machine! Other than that, the worry about dealing with pax is severely overblown by cargo guys. My interaction with pax is limited to seeing them as I walk back to the bunk for my break. When I was on a NB, it was limited to saying goodbye for 5 minutes as I checked out for hotties...unless it was the last leg of the day/trip, then I'm gone at break set! If we ever have issues with one, either the FAs take care of it or we call the cops/a company specialist. Shut the door and surf the interwebs while it's going down. No doubt, there is no shortage of innovation, it's the regulation that moves at a snails pace. Fuck, we've been trying to get a tactical arrival into our base (fairly close to a class b) and you'd think we're trying to restructure the entire arrival/departure corridor of ATL or DFW. 5 years laters, we've made little progress due to bureaucracy. Hell we were told, just trying to lower a MOA below 6k would take 6-9 years of environmental studies/bureaucracy. Ever hear of NextGen? What Hacker said! Companies won't spend shit on technology unless it's guaranteed to save them money. Heck I've been told that our former CEO wouldn't invest in something unless it could pay itself back in 12 months or less. They settled on shitty ass Surfaces (that were terrible) until they were forced to go to iPads due to Jeppesen saying they wouldn't support the surface anymore (at least that's the rumor). If anything, where I see this start to take hold is in long haul ops. 4-pilot crews dropping to 3, and 3 pilot crews dropping to 2. I mean today the only radio call I made from 20 West to 50 west was an SELCAL check...the rest was just bsing with the other guy. Would I want to do it single pilot....no f'n way! Like many things, it's super easy, until it isn't... Honestly this is one of the things that I could see unifying every pilot and every union (ALPA/Teamsters/APA/SWAPA/etc...). Could you imagine every airline and every cargo carrier going on strike at once? I honestly think that would happen, if companies tried to go single pilot. I'm in my early-mid 30s and I'm really not worried about single-pilot/no-pilot ops.
  12. While there are many months that I take full advantage of this, realize that not all airlines have this capability. Even at Delta, your category needs to be staffed properly (enough reserves), or someone willing to take your trips, for you to just drop trips. I think both AAL/UAL have a limits on what you can drop down to...50 hours maybe? I think at UPS someone has to take the trip from your line. That said, I've dropped my entire schedule every month this summer and picked up what trips I wanted. I've even already dropped my entire August schedule. This wasn't always an option on the 73, though I could almost always get rid of a trip or two. DI360....if noone has told you about options other than flying for an airline, there are a decent amount of opportunities out there. Admittedly, you have to live in base for them to be a great deal, but there are lots of jobs that will keep you home almost every night. Assistant chief pilots, duty pilot, sim instructor, project pilot, etc... We have dudes in all of these positions with as low as 2 years on property. Unlike other airlines, our duty pilot (think super SOF) is a FO position...whereas I believe UAL it's a Captain. You'll work more days than the average line pilot, but most are home every night, minus maybe a 2 or 3 day trip every month. Unfortunately for Delta, the majority of them are in ATL, so hopefully you like humidity, waffles house and sweet tea. On the upside, they all pay extremely well. Either way, best of luck finding what you're looking for.
  13. It's going on in ACC as well. At least one Guard fighter squadron has had an AD O-6 as a WG/CC in the last several years.
  14. May - 13 days June - 6 days July - 9 days August - 12 days (I'll likely drop my entire schedule and pick up trips on days I actually want to work. So maybe drop that to 9 days). All for between 13-18k Gross, not including 401k/PS/Per diem. Before my last trip I hadn't actually gone to work in 21 days, without taking a day of vacation (to include all of July 4th week off). If you can sit short call from home, WB reserve is where it's at! I'll caveat this with the fact that Jul & Aug are actual lines and not reserve. Another caveat is that my June/July schedules would reflect more days of work, but that's because of deadhead days that I deviate from and stay home. For example, today I'm getting paid to sit at home...my trip doesn't sign in until 1830 tomorrow at JFK, so I'll just DH over there tomorrow afternoon. Also, I don't have a wife or kids so I don't mind going on trips here and there. Spending a few hours sipping wine at the base of the Acropolis or Pantheon isn't a terrible way to spend a day "working." That said, I spend more of my time in Amsterdam, which also doesn't suck. Delta 4 yr WB
  15. Un. Fucking. Believable! Although, I'm not sure why this surprises me. What a fucking dumpster fire! Did you send AFRC/CV an e-mail saying thanks for making your retirement decision easy? Best of luck in the next chapter.
  16. I LOL'd I guess I could have pointed to this when my CC asked if I had any interest in leadership above FLT/CC , and I actually laughed out loud. The court system in the military is the epitome of shoot, then aim! Then even when proven innocent, they may put out a retraction at the bottom left of the bag page of the base newsletter...career still ruined. In my last aircraft upgrade, I had a sim partner (another FO) that left a fast track in the Navy (20+ years) because 3 of 5 of his buddies were fired for shit that was completely out of their control...mostly within a year or so of assuming command. Right now the rest of his buddies are probably on ship somewhere, dodging sexual assault cases and hoping to make it through the next assignment to get that bird/star....meanwhile he just finished another Rome layover after having 2 weeks without going to work.
  17. Might as well. You have chicks out there trying to use Tinder as a legit dating site! "...if you're just looking to hook up, swipe left!" Go to match if you're not down!
  18. --Do you have coords for that? I don't have any of those points in my system. Also, unable for gas. --Sigh, cleared direct... I may be off on this, but I don't think MTF is an airline guy. Though he may still have to "sell insurance" if the economy tanks.
  19. Don't worry, the network will be down enough...
  20. If not, you'll likely be promoted to Major ASAP after transferring into the ANG. This can depend on the state as some states make all their Captains ROPMA, which I will never understand...talk about fucking your people over.
  21. Huggy, were those orders exempt from your 5 year USERRA clock? My last two deployments (TSP...ie NOT contingency orders), we got to pick between the blue pill or red pill. Blue pill = USERRA exemption, but no early retirement credit. Red pill = NOT USERRA exempt, but you get early retirement credit. No worries though, there is a bill being proposed to change the blue pill to allow for early retirement credit, which they've been saying for the 4 years. So...checks in the mail!
  22. T-0/1/2/3 are great and all, but people up the chain have to actually be willing to waive it. On a recent "deployment" we sent up multiple reasonable waiver requests. All but one was denied by our parent command over 4 countries away. Bottom line, someone in the chain has to be willing to assume some risk (even if it is minuscule), which in our case, they clearly were not. I guess you can't be having those potential black marks on your way up the chain.
  23. This is pretty much my plan of attack with my GTC. I don't put anything on it that isn't reimbursable. If it's not paid, I just let it ride, and attach any late fees to the voucher. Eventually you will show up on someones list and questions will be asked. It usually gets fixed pretty quickly. No fuckin way I'm paying 3k of my own money because of their incompetence. So now I have a GTC that is cutoff and late fees are piling up (which I just add to my voucher). Funny part is finance tried threatening me by saying I wouldn't be able to go TDY since my GTC was about to be cutoff.
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