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Duck

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Posts posted by Duck

    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    From a friends FB post - "I just want to fly airplanes. Why do they make that so ing hard?"
    Long story short, my buddy flys Hercs. Was selected to be a T-38 IP at Sheppard.  He went through ENJJPT during the "drones are as good as fighters" days.  Didn't do as well as he'd liked, but got to fly.  He's one of the best men I know.

    Enrolled kids in new school, wife got a new job she'd always wanted, put down money on a house they were going to close on this week.  Then of course the USAF made a brilliant decision to NOT have him PCS 6 days before he was to close on that house.
    I'll let him say why -

    "So how do I explain what happened without violating Article 89 of the UCMJ? Last week, a… person… made a blanket decision to reject and/or revoke all waivers for T-38 pilots going to PIT. I required a waiver to become a T-38 instructor pilot. This was not because I didn’t have enough flight hours or an excessive number of Q-2 or Q-3s, but because following pilot training I hadn’t flown a fighter or a bomber. I flew the Herc, and that meant that I wasn’t as qualified to fly the T-38 as, say, a brand new ing FAIP with 1/20th the flight hours and a decade less experience. But it's not just me, it's everyone. Blanket rejection and revocation of all waivers. None of it makes ing sense to me."
    Pilot crisis is solved folks.  Guess the airlines are done hiring.

    Talked to one of my fighter buddies out at Sheppard in the T-38 world. According to him, the T-38 PIT standard for non-11Fs is absolutely ridiculous. Those guys are being held to a completely different standard. Granted some guys don’t belong instructing in the T-38, but according to my buddy (a reservist who has been there for a decade) a political point is trying to be made. Take it for what it’s worth.


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    VA Loans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I see a note in there about zero funding fee if awarded a Purple Heart - any idea on what future guidance will be on funding fees and normal a VA disability rating? Specifically 40%?

    Unless things change I think 10% and above means no funding fee. Someone correct me if I’m wrong!


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    Degradation of SUPT

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Guys chill, relax. This has been in the works for at least 5 years. Everyone knows the product is worse. No one is even trying to debate that. The Air Force has realized that they are never going to be able to retain the pilots that they need. They made a conscious effort and even publicized it that they are going to grow out of the retention problem from the bottom. The problem is the pipe is too long to push out as many pilots as they need to grow out of the problem. Who cares about absorption, all they care about is bodies. I sat on countless meetings in T6 land with leadership trying to figure out just how much they can cut to get the very bare minimum Air Force pilot trained. Couple that with massive changes to the pit syllabus and big cutbacks to the simulators required in the instrument phase and you have what you have now. Read the tea leaves what is UPT next all about or the VR experiment going on in Austin? The Air Force has made a clear choice that they need quantity and they don’t care about your idea of quality. I agree that as a fighter pilot you would be able to add more big picture training to the T6 and T38 syllabus. You are fooling yourself though if you think that would magically make a better product. Sheppard is a great case study in that. When I left there were only 2 heavy 38 pilots who both flew 38‘s in UPT. Yet magically we were still getting complaints in the T6 world from IFF and the FTU that Sheppard grads were not living up to the standard of basic formation skills in follow on training. This has so much more to do than just a bunch of heavy guys trying to teach guys in 38‘s how to stay in position and do tac turns, but I guarantee the Air Force will use that excuse on why we need more fighter pilots and completely overlooked the fact that training has been cut by over 40%.

     

     

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    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    That’s the great thing about the airlines.... one persons trash is another persons treasure. Some people love redeyes for commuting, some people (me) avoid them at all costs. 
     
    To answer your question, I haven’t set an alarm clock in months because I prefer late morning to afternoon shows.  

    Which is awesome because I like the AM shows and being done with my day around noon. It’s awesome to have the flexibility.


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    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Got a chance to talk to my old sister squadron Commander while he was doing his new-hire orientation ride at my airline. He punched before hitting 20 and told me that during his whole 2 year stint as a commander, he did not PCS a single Major. The Wing Commander called him and the other flying squadron commanders in and was seriously confused why no one was staying in past their Initial UPT commitment. UFB.


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    Promotion and PRF Information

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Maybe I’m wrong but we basically have a flying only career track that tops out at O-4. Because if all you do is fly and scoff your desk job, in today’s environment you will make O-4, be passed over twice for O-5 and be continued until retirement. You will also be financially behind your peers who got out after 11 years and started flying for the airlines. If you don’t guarantee guys with no negative indicators a promotion to O-5 then it’s basically just relabeling what we already have now. At least an O-5 paycheck and retirement starts to make some of the math make sense...


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    • Upvote 1

    Fighting a commander directed Q3

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Had an SP throw the T-6 to max power on a static takeoff while holding brakes which caused the brakes to lock up. The IP eventually took the aircraft but it still departed the runway and caused the nose gear to collapse. It took the RSU controller telling the IP to shut the engine off while the prop was grinding into the ground before the engine was secured. No Q-3 and the IP ended up as the Wing Exec and a school select shortly after.

    Had another IP do a touch and go on a 2500 ft uncontrolled field and no Q-3, after previously have been counseled for telling students to see how many continuous aileron rolls they could do on their solo. The student who broke the “record” recovered his aircraft around 2000 feet AGL, but was kicked out for lying about it. Nothing done to the IP.


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    ?s on ADSC (Active Duty Service Commitment)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I heard from second hand sources there are folks in the Career Intermission Program (CIP) flying for a major airline (I.e., C-5 pilot who is currently flying for Delta with a 18 month CIP). 

    Do you guys know of anyone who has gone through this program? Is it possible to enter the IRR through the CIP, get a line number with a major, then return to AD? 


    I know a dude at United doing the same thing. He’s close enough to retirement that when he gets back he will finish out.


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    ?s on ADSC (Active Duty Service Commitment)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Yep.  He was the final authority on FEBs in AFGSC and, based on the feedback, he "felt his UPT records weren't good enough to support sending him to a different jet".  Weird, since they were good enough to graduate with pilot wings.

    While I can’t vouch for his T-38 time, he did fine in the T-6 and had a great attitude. If he had sucked super bad, the Commander at the time was sending guys to T-1s at other bases due to the pilot shortage and not risking T-38 washouts. Like Pawnman said, everyone in the chain recommended retraining to a different crew aircraft but almighty Rand new better than the people below him. I’ve flown with enough terrible co-pilots to know that he would have been successful in a different aircraft.


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    ANG is giving away 20k bonus to pilots/trainee’s

    in Air National Guard / Air Force Reserves

    Posted

    If you look at the list of “Musts” that’s on the doc that JustHanginOut posted, it seems pretty clear 92T’s can’t be eligible. 
    -Must have less than 15 years
    -Must have more than 4 years total military service
    -Not be fulfilling a service obligation other than 1) initial (ROTC, Academy, OTS) 2)Promotion 3)PME 4)Transfer of GI bill
    Put me in check if that seems off. 

    The way I read it, you would need to be done with your 10 year UPT commitment.


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