Jump to content

Majestik Møøse

Supreme User
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,064

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    25

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Majestik Møøse

    Opinions on C-17 v KC-10 (as well as bases?)

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Majestik Møøse

    - C-17s are newer and nicer with lots of trick avionics and a HUD. KC-10s have mostly original 1977 avionics with a few upgrades and a few more coming. The C-17 is fly by wire with a lot of weird modes that seem to make guys lose their hand-flying skills a bit. Hand-flying the KC-10 is like any other traditional plane.

    - KC-10s have a very flexible mission. On a typical desert sortie, 2/3 of our ops are figured out on the fly. This gives us a lot of opportunity to use SA to make things better (or worse) in real time. We can refuel any jet in the AOR including ourselves which gives a lot of operational possibilities. C-17s fly the magenta line from point A to point B, but they sometimes get to fly it at low level with NVGs to an assault landing. Both can be fun in their own way. KC-10s fly formation on every local and on many operational missions. Operational C-17 receiver AR is really rare.

    - C-17s seem to have a harder life on the road from the outside looking in. Their fatigue level is reflected in the incidents they've had.

    - There are 2 KC-10 bases. Your follow-on assignment options will be to go to the other base or to UPT/UAV then to the other base, followed by whatever path you choose in life. I have no idea how C-17 follow-one go.

    Edit for stupid small iPhone buttons

    Apparently having "good hands" no longer matters....

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    ...If you guys are relying on TACAN approaches at civilian airports you are about to be up Shit creek...I can only imagine flying from Oceana to Miramar and having an IFE over Bum###### and Bum###### is socked in.

    I'll preemptively vouch for the Hornet pilots. They deal with this limitation virtually every time they move through the Pacific. As req'd, they'll just map the runway threshold and fly their own radar approach as low as they like; at least lower than Cat 1 ILS. Some fields like Iwakuni have radar reflectors at the threshold to help out. At a place like Wake, there's just no other option for them if the weather guessers are wrong.

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    If any of you KC-10 guys are looking for a job, you're pre-qualified... :beer:

    Screw that. I'll be damned if I ever fly on any jet that doesn't accordion fold their washcloths. Seriously, tri-folding? What am I, a farmer?

    fancytowel10.jpg

    • Upvote 1

    C2 Question - SOFs and Command Post

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    It's worse than that. ABM's are now getting SOF qualified, thus plunging both SOFs and AWACS even deeper into the murky depths of irrelevancy.

    I guess having an ABM as SOF is ok as long as they're not trying to give vectors back to the field!

    Well you both hit on the original point. SOF was always a "nice to have", not a "need to have" in AWACS, now its been dumbed down to such an extent that essentially it is only a comm relay to let the ADO's know their SQ's takeoff and land times. WX divert? complex systems EP? They are calling in the Stan/Eval chief pilot or FE.

    We tell CP (or the ADO) our TO times. If the WX is bad, we divert and tell the ADO enroute. Maybe our EPs don't get that complex. Different perspectives, I guess.

    National Air Cargo 747 Crash at Bagram

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Depending on the outcome of the investigation, this may or may not have any relevance, but here is a blog post by a former charter loadmaster. It is, if nothing else, an interesting read.

    The High Risk Job of a Military Charter Loadmaster

    I think this particular passage is extremely relevant:

    "I recall telling people about the job, and they would all ask what I studied in college to do such a thing. At first I thought they were being rude toward me, because the reality is that I was hired at the age of 25 with my only prior experience having been owning NYCAviation, which was only a small nerd site at the time. One day I’m a bouncer asking a friend to see if she could get me an interview at this charter airline, and weeks later I’m in the Middle East doing the payload math that will bring soldiers to and from war."

    Yep, that checks. Sketchy as hell. I'm sure the rest of the carriers have much more rigorous training programs.

    • Upvote 1

    DFC

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Don't forget about the five good com radios. Saw the exact same thing happen with a tanker recovering on the wing of a C-17 (gear down) several years back. DFC citation was written up by the EARS and immediately shot down by AFCENT. Surprised this made it through the wickets.

    Wait, so do they actually hand out DFCs for avionics failures? Any crew that can't join up NORDO with another jet and follow it home to an uneventful landing should have their wings taken away.

    C-5 or C-17

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    ...use all 4 radios at basically the same time, with your friends just a few thousand feet away ready to critique your every word.

    I didn't know I could brag about this, now I'll tell my buddies in the DFAC about it after every sortie. Thanks!

    Why Can’t the U.S. Military Grow Better Leaders?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Short interview with a former Air Force officer who's releasing a book entitled Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It’s Time for a Revolution. It think he's spot on in many ways.

    Some significant quotes: "In my ideal Navy, Maverick would still be flying his Tomcat. Today, he’s either working on a spreadsheet or PowerPoint in the Pentagon basement, or he’s flying a 747 out of Hong Kong as a civilian pilot for United Airlines.

    and:

    "More to the point, Ike would have been rotated out of his role as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe in 1943 to give someone else a turn."

    Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/01/21/why-cant-the-u-s-military-grow-better-leaders/#ixzz2IdOS3wm1

    More SARC briefings soon.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I just can't believe that this has all been caused by allegations in a lawsuit. The claims haven't even been vetted in court yet. Using this logic, every single female military member literally has the power to cause a lasting, historic effect on our entire service simply by spending an hour writing down any allegations they like. No evidence required, no one would dare publicly pressure them on it. Aren't these things supposed to go to court for a reason?

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/11/fed-how-airforce-blew-one-billion-dud-112612w

    A cool Billion for nothing.. though I've seen higher estimates ($3.2 Bil) on non-AF affiliated sites.

    "Johnson, who joined the program in May, listed five major causes behind the ECSS failure, including the Air Force’s lack of a master schedule, a change in acquisition strategy and infrastructure problems that slowed the speed at which the system could share data with Air Force installations."

    Cause 6: There have probably been 6-9 "Directors of System Integration" since the contract was awarded in 2006. We are terrible at managing our senior leadership. The officer development never stops. Every senior officer job is seen as a stepping stone to the next one, with no one spending more than 12 months at the same desk. Figure 3 months to learn the purpose of the office, 3 months to conference with the contractors, 3 months to compile a 50-page recommendations report (for your newly-replaced boss), and 3 months looking for a new job. Meanwhile nobody reads your report and the contractor continues stealing millions because a new Director is around the corner anyway. It's absolutely ludicrous. It's costing us billions of dollars. This is something I'm glad is being investigated by Congress. IMHO, acquisitions buffoonery (amplified by the Air Force's ridiculous HR management) is our #1 weakness.

×
×
  • Create New...