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Saw the news yesterday, terrible. Looking at the replay, Edwards was lucky he didn't get hurt worse; he caught the front of Marco's bike right on the chin. I've still got the race on DVR but haven't watched it yet; don't know if I will. What a shitty week in motorsports.

IMHO, if a small group of SOF guys really want to (and are able to) go somewhere and turn some really evil dudes into a pile of chum, go for it. Even if we get nothing in return but a trophy for the case. As long as it's not Leeroy Jenkins style, why not? Just call it training; instead of going to the range we can practice on actual assholes. We waste a lot more money on dumber shit than this!

Really sad to see this. He seemed like a really good dude and had 2 kids.

Could an AT-6 take off from one of those LHD ships? Prolly not but I wish somebody would try.

OK, here's something I've never really understood - why do airplanes and their parts cost so much? A brand new 172 costs $274,900. That's the base price for the cheaper model. For a design that hasn't really changed in 50 years and is partially built in Chihuahua, Mexico. The models go up exponentially from there, a Cessna 350, which looks like a fun 2-seat, low-wing plane to fly (despite not being able to go upside down) is $558,200. And then you need to rebuild the engine every 2000 hours for $20,000? The base 172 engine produces 160hp at 2xxx rpm, which is a dramatic 15hp increase over what it produced in 1958. Doesn't sound like the reliability or power has increased much at all. What gives? Is it solely down to economies of scale?

This is what I pictured after reading that:

Well there you go.

Dislike. This thread is awesome.

And why we're at it why don't we outsource all of our cargo and tanker work as well? No, seriously, why don't we?

I'm sure you've seen this already, but here it is for the rest: https://www.dynamicaviation.com/index.php/careers/current-openings/pilots/pilot-for-beechcraft-king-air-90-id475920/ Pay is $580-630 per day for both King Air and Dash 8 guys. Job description says 60-on 60-off. By "International" they probably aren't referring to the Monaco-Mallorca run.

You won't gain any experience from being enlisted that will help you as a pilot. You may be more experienced in AF bullshit, though.

Yeah, I noticed that, too. "Act in Netflix's Best Interest", just like Initech! But, according to this slideshow, it's one of their only policies dealing with day to day ethical decisions. Imagine if our Air Force gave officers even a fraction of that responsibility. Would we abuse it? I don't think it's ideal at all; in fact I think they've gone a little too far in many ways. It's definitely the opposite end of the spectrum from us and I think we could both stand to move closer toward the middle. For sure they could obviously use a little better process for ensuring that a few executives don't "crash the jet". Processes for the critical stuff, delete the rest.

Being free from binding procedures allows them to make stupid decisions as well!

The link below is to a slideshow (stay with me here) describing Netflix's corporate culture strategy. Whoever put this together has a great grasp on how inflexible bureaucracies are created. Slides 44-77 are relevant. https://www.slideshar...0&startSlide=44 There are a lot of points that parallel observations recently made about the USAF: Company starts out with focus and high performance High performance creates growth which leads to complexity and chaos Complexity is fought with procedures and regulations Too many procedures and regulations drive away talented people Everything still seems fine until the market (battlefield) changes The company is now filled with process followers that cannot adapt quickly enough to change And the best line: "Company generally grinds painfully into irrelevance" Their solution is to focus on what they're good at and continually hire better people. Better people don't need as many procedures to do their jobs well. Netflix doesn't get distracted by additional duties (my words) and they let mediocre people go. They analogize their model to that of a pro sports team constantly looking for new talent. I'm not saying the USAF should be run just like Netflix. It's a very laissez-faire company, to the extreme of not even having a vacation policy. You just leave whenever you feel like it. They've also made some pretty buffoonerous high-profile decisions lately that seem to show a lack of temperament at the top. Also, a few slides later they specifically state that their management culture is more suited to a creative company than organizations primarily concerned with preventing catastrophic error (such as crashing airplanes). We crashed a lot of jets in the past which begat today's voluminous rulebooks. That said, I think we sure as hell could at least a learn something from this kind of thinking. It seems to say that inflexible, ineffective bureaucracy is inevitable and the best way to fix it is by raising the Lowest Common Denominator. The AF may be trying to do this with the RIF but unfortunately the stratification seems to be based on who's the best at following the damn processes. Thoughts? Can we ever get out of this downward spiral of bureaucracy?

A huge portion of the shit we carry across the Pacific is people's household goods. We might as well be a moving truck. It's pretty ridiculous that sorties are generated to carry couches around. My solution to this and many other problems in the AF: stop PCSing officers every 2-3 years!

It's probably because somebody used check marks instead of Xs in the signature block. This is the kind of error that could bring down an entire flying squadron; they must want to do the whole thing over just to make sure everything is kosher. But seriously, the Vol 2s have it all, specifically Chapter 5. But I wouldn't worry about studying that stuff, it looks like you have a checkride coming up!

Is it true that initially the GAU-8 didn't have enough dispersion so they made the gun slightly less accurate? Maybe to overcome said Aiming Error, i.e. to get more of a shotgun effect? I can't remember who told me that. I ask because it's so hard to see what's going on 20K' below.

The original Fixing Broken Windows strategy was aimed at people who would otherwise be spraying graffiti and breaking windows. We don't fit into that mold.

Whoa whoa whoa, nobody said anything about shuttering the Class Six. Or the gas station for that matter. That shit saves me 5 bucks a month!

Get rid of all BXs stateside. Just pass a law that allows military and retirees to buy stuff sales tax-free.

2) How are you getting around the power issue (for those of us that do not have a power outlet)? Battery is supposed to last 10+ hrs under heavy use. Up to a month on standby. 3) How are you updating it without plugging it in to the AF Network? Same way we update ePubs. An approved, spinning hard drive for a go-between. 6) How can I find out how much it would save our squad/group/AF to stop getting paper products from NGA? Supposedly will save Travis something like $1.4 mil per year. 7) What other things are you using it for (flight planning, PUB Reader, joining the mile high club by yourself while your CO is asleep, etc)? Probably light flight planning and absolutely for a pub reader. The best thing is that people can learn to write their own programs.

Still waiting here at Travis. What they were spearheading 18 months ago seems to have gotten stuck in committee. Lesson learned for me: if I ever have a budget and an idea, just buy the stuff, THEN tell people about it.

True, but I would guess, based solely on the number of replies to the Gucci Girls thread, that Baseops readers would much rather bitch and complain about silly PR stories than applaud guys that are cooler than them! I will do both. I am none of the above but I'd love to be doing this. As a KC-10 pilot I have no chance of cross-training so I hope run across the opportunity to steal a helicopter someday. Preferably from a foreign country as part of a daring escape like in the movies. That would be more likely.

Dammit I already ran out of positive votes before I got to this post. +1

Damn airspace is more crowded up there than I thought. But seriously, I'll drink my 2 beers tonight for them and the rest.