contraildash

I may have been a CT...but better than that I was a bus driver. Best job I had in college by far...got me out of formations...march-ins (because standing in the middle of the street for hours waiting for the band to set up was soooo much fun)...got paid to watch home football games...and then there was the best route: Excel....right up and down University Oaks a.k.a. sorority row. Good times.

Prime example: Colonel Bud Day a.k.a. American Bad@ss Read his book and the book written about him. Absolutely amazing man.

Oh we had a 'dust bunny zoo' according to our pissheads at one point. Oh those were the days... Back at my FT, back in '00 at Lackland, I said I was "bored" at one point. I really was. After that, anytime anyone in my flight got a 341, so did I. Then during ultimate frisbee, I was getting really tired of some douche constantly calling "point of order..his shoelaces are not tucked it" that I supposedly yelled out "you've got to be f'ckin kidding me"...I thought I was just thinking about saying it. :) That equated into 341's anytime I spoke the rest of the day....I also had to stand and salute the rest of the game. Needless to say, I spent my entire Sundays working off 341s...lots of PT and cleaning up the barber shop.

I dunno, we weren't there....maybe he had killer bees in the cockpit. ;)

Screwed this one up nicely... Piper Aztec Runway Overrun

I'm sure the attendance average at regular season NHL games is significantly higher than at MLB games. For the life of me I could never figure out why they have baseball games in the early afternoon during the work week. 80% of the stands are empty! Nor the need for 164 games in a season (or whatever it is). If anyone became jaded with the NHL it was the major networks and with only Versus carrying games (or some local networks) it's almost impossible for the fans that do want to watch, actually watch. I know a ton of dudes that have bought the NHL online thing and hook up their computers to their TV so they can watch games. I think it'll come back with time, but it won't be fast enough.

First goal was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay weak, the go ahead goal was the product of some hard work, and they got lucky with the last one too, although I have to give some big ups to Abdelkader for his SA on the puck...catching it...and getting it on net. I was impressed with that one. Pulling for the Pens. Can't stand Detroit.

The Marines lost a Cobra crew this past month out in California. I have a old friend that flies Phrogs out there...knew the dudes pretty well. AH-1W Crash :beer:

Y'all can say what you want...but... He's in the Guard...that's like saying 'no offense'...it's in the Geneva conventions!!! Big ups for the flying with a broken neck!!! And for the patch!

Got the Tone up above 400 once. Just once. Nothing special.

Bellows is awesome. We stayed there as a kid, bungalow by the beach.

Well they did say "virtually" so that makes it ok like "no offense..but"

Yup...two. Lots of C-17 from what I remember. VN (up for correction) T-1 a bunch of C-17s KC-10 to McGuire T-1 FAIP UAV to Creech? C-130 to Pope (reserve) E-6 Tinker (Navy) although I was pulling for the submarine.... T-38 F-15C NSA U-28 T-38 FAIP T-6 FAIP UAV to Creech

It should be more like those "what if firefighters ran the world" commercials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6DORwBzuA

So how come we can buy PC-12s (U-28s), MC-12s, and other random stuff without any big competition, or whiny A$$ corporations (insert any of the CSAR-X or Tanker-X competitors here) and get the planes to the warfighters quickly, yet this other stuff gets so damn political? Why cant the military (legally) say "hey we want this" and that be the end of it? I'm confused as to why some things go right through, but others don't.

You are correct on all counts. Age is the first killer here. I got into the AF a few years before their age cutoff, if I wanted to transfer to the USCG I'd need to do it before turning 35. You also have to have a certain number of rated military hours either fixed wing or rotary wing (UPT hours don't count either). Fixed wing transfers aren't allowed to go rotary wing as far as I know. But for a civilian over the age of 30, chances are slim to none.

Good choice on Peterson. I lived in C-Springs for just over four years before I got in the Air Force and I loved every minute of it. If you like to do anything outdoors, it's the place to live.

I second her biased opinion...Benicia is awesome. My mom and sister live there, a block from the water (right by 9th street park). There's a good lil Mexican restaurant downtown. I enjoy going out there, it's quiet and relaxing. Concord and Walnut Creek are fun times, I've stumbled out of Crogans and Tiki Toms more than my fair share. Antioch and Pittsburg are slightly ghetto.

PC-12: Pilatus, AFSOC, Cannon U-28: Pilatus, AFSOC, Hurlburt MC-12: King Air, ACC, TBD (fingers crossed for Beale!) The AF has done a wonderfully confusing job in the designation department on these new aircraft.

"the almost-fighter" haha that's cute

The three times I've tried to could we could have landed, but there was no way we'd get off the ground. (C-310 and a C-172RG) So I've flown over it a few times, once we even saw a AH-64 there...that really surprised me. I figured a '47 would have no problems getting up there, I guess the '64 just flew the valleys and passes up either from Carson or Alamosa (Army high altitude training center). I've always enjoyed flying into places like Aspen or Animas air park in Durango. Animas was a fun time...did it in a KA-200.

They need 'em, considering the retirement of the '53s and the slow pace at which the '22s are coming online. However, I've only found articles concerning the Army buying HH-60Ms and nothing on the USAF..... From Rotor & Wing (this is from 2004): The first two UH-60M prototypes with broad-chord composite main rotors, T700-GE-701D engines and integrated avionics are flying. Even with no immediate increase in allowable gross weight, the UH-60M promises a significant payload-range improvement over early Black Hawks. The Army estimates the UH-60M will carry about 1,000 lb. more than the UH-60A and around 470 lb. more than the UH-60L in hot and high conditions. Improved performance will be appreciated in the heavier Medevac aircraft. "The Afghanistan scenarios are going to be better supported with the additional power in the M," said Smart at AMCOM. The UH-60M will also receive a Hamilton Sundstrand dual digital flight control computer that borrows heavily from Seahawk hardware and architecture. The new computer with advanced flight control laws will provide better stability and an automatic hover hold function especially useful for hoist rescues at night. The medical Mission Equipment Package specification for the HH-60M has been approved. Though Air Methods is not yet under contract for the M-Model, medical interior design work is underway with feedback from Medevac users. Crashworthy Martin Baker attendant seats have already been qualified on the HH-60L and a fixed medical cabinet has given way to a modular medical storage bag. An advanced medical oxygen system will double pressure and volume to meet medical protocols for trauma patients. Changes to make the tilting/elevating litter support system and cabin lighting more maintainable are under study. The HH-60M is also expected to provide an even better communications capability. The AN/ARC-222 multiband radio in the HH-60L already covers some low-frequency civil bands, but according to Smart, "What we really need is a multiband radio that covers everything up to 960 MHz." The interim solution must also be military specified and qualified. Eventually, the Joint Tactical Radio System will cover the full range of frequencies for military and civil communications. The Digital Battlefield gave the HH-60L a requirement for the Improved Data Modem. The IDM, or Blue Force Tracker, on the HH-60M may someday transmit patient information to waiting hospitals en-route. The UH-60M was initially to use a modest digital cockpit integrated by Sikorsky based on experience with Black Hawks outfitted for the Turkish Land Forces. The cancellation of the Comanche armed reconnaissance helicopter has suddenly funded common cockpits for the CH-47F and UH-60M. The Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) developed for Special Operations helicopters will also give the HH-60M an integrated crew station readily supported in the broader Army fleet. The CAAS common cockpit has five 6X8 inch multifunction displays. Primary flight symbology, thermal and radar imagery, digital maps and aircraft systems information can be posted on any display, and each portrait panel can be split to maximize and customize information. The Army expects avionics suites for the UH-60M and HH-60M will be identical except for the flir on the Medevac helicopter. Cockpit design is complete; and with further refinement, the MH-60M will give the Army Medical Department a fast, powerful ambulance for mercy missions to come.

Yeah I had heard no "ELT" was activated after the crash...slim hopes...condolences go out to his family. It's been a bad friday...my classmate here was roommates with the stud killed in the T-34 crash in AL friday. It was the last flight before that guy got his wings.... A toast to the three lost this friday....may three glasses be broken in their honor.

That area was part of an aerial survey job I did two years ago...very rugged and isolated. We based out of KDVT, but flew the missions for that area out of Wickenburg. I have photos of '16s flying around us as we flew our survey lines...it was pretty damn cool. This really hit home as my bro is at Luke...but not in the same squadron as the accident pilot/aircraft. I can honestly say that for the first time I was worried for my kid bro...this stuff isn't forgiving. And yet here I am wanting nothing more than to be doing the same thing a year from now.