viper154
-
Posts
526 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
3
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Blogs
Downloads
Wiki
Posts posted by viper154
-
-
I watched them load up as I drove by the runway on my way to work. I was wondering why a few hours later a 130 was circling so low over the gulf. My buddy was in the air as the search started, the amount of help and support was pretty humbling, fighters, bombers, tankers from all over the south were overhead almost immediately (relatively speaking)
-
2
-
1
-
-
11 hours ago, willis said:
Who all is wearing the green Massif-CWAS jackets? My squadron just got them, and our chiefs are trying to convince our leadership that we need to sew rank on the shoulders like the old flight jacket and the bag. I’m getting data points to present to the Bobs that we would be the only unit in the Air Force with rank sewn on the shoulders of this sweet jacket.if y’all could let me know what unit you’re with, that’d be great too. Also; does anyone have a Memo giving guidance on the patches and rank?
Our OCP MASSIF jackets came with the Velcro set up like the OCP tips except the rank Velcro was above the name tape like the old Velcro for the ABU fleeces. Somehow I got one with the flight suit name tag Velcro and being the jackets are $550 a pop I just rocked my flight suit name tag. I couple asshats made a comment about it and getting rank sewn on if I was to wear it like that. Eventually my SQ/CC said something to me, my reply was always the same. “Sewing on additional Velcro would ruin the fireproofing/shell of the jacket” No idea if that has any truth but that seems to keep people at bay, successful tactic for 4+ years now.
-
4 hours ago, nunya said:
On the Verizon thing... so this is what I found. I'm hoping somebody actually has 3 lines to tell me what your bill is.
I need 3 lines, so I'm looking at $45/mo/line for Start Unlimited, minus $25/mo/line, so $20/mo/line + taxes/fees? Right now my taxes/fees are ~$17. So 3 lines for $77/mo? That'd be awesome, but I feel like I'm missing something.Nevermind, I was reading that as account = line. Not so much. So 3 lines would be about $127, I think?
Sounds right, my bill for 2 lines of unlimited talk/text/data is right around $100 a month.
-
5 hours ago, Ghost of James Post said:
Part of me is like, yeah the public doesn't fully conceptualize the cost of such an overhaul, which would be vast (to say nothing of the already $1 Trillion a year we spend on healthcare) The other part of me sees this line of attack/rhetoric as disingenuous. Where were people arguing over the costs of OEF/OIF and our attempts to pacify the greater middle east? Where are the people arguing over the cost of maintaining a world-wide empire and garrisoning the entire planet? - At this point, we just sort of take that for granted. If you're going to bring economics into the equation, it shouldn't be selectively applied (not saying you do this … but in general, it is).
What’s the return on investment on a global empire though? Sure, we pay a fuck ton for our bases scattered all over the world but we should be getting a return on that investment with global security and leveraging our interest to our economic benefit. Ya OEF/OIF were debatable investments, I don’t really want to go down that rabbit hole.
What’s the return on investment if granny lives to be 80 instead of 75? Or you get the sweet air cast and not the old school plaster one because that’s all you can afford. Paying for everyone’s healthcare is not a good investment, Europe is a great example of that. At the same time it’s not great to have a section of the population with massive medical debt, but I would debate that is a better option than investing trillions for “free” health care.
-
1
-
-
28 minutes ago, Breckey said:
Based on what I read 3 of the 4 engines had 0 hours since overhaul, which seems weird that they would have passengers on the first flight after an engine overhaul.
I read it as they had 0 hours at the time of the annual inspection in January.
-
1
-
-
On 9/26/2019 at 4:10 PM, K_O said:
Rescue always seems to be high... but bomber and RPA? That’s surprising. RPA in this case is 18 or 11X?
Not sure, but about a year ago AFPC announced that any 11 that had been in RPAs longer than 5 years was being involuntary recat to 11U. Most those dudes planned on ridding it out to 20. Also, a lot of the initial 18X guys just came up on their commitment and most of those guys/gals were prior E or crossflow that we’re planning on staying to 20. I’m guessing this is affecting the percentages.
-
1
-
-
26 minutes ago, Standby said:
I want to port our paper ORM worksheet into the digital world and dont have a lot of coding skills. Looking for a single product that allows pilots to quickly complete ORM with a database back-end for safety data analysis. Anybody currently use this process in their unit or have files they could send me to poach from?
I flew for a deployed unit a few years back that used a excel workbook. Worked decently and color coded and all that fun stuff. I’m not smart enough to make one but that is a direction you could pursue.
Big thing was that it was at a step desk computer. I know different communities handle the step desk differently, Ipad/file sharing between your crew might be a better route.
-
33 minutes ago, Laxer69 said:
I see a HUGE problem in how it’s been implemented though. VR goggles and flight sims are in nearly every flight room at laughlin now and but few IP’s have more than a passing familiarity with how to use them. The students catch on how to boot them up quickly but since there’s just videos of guys doing 69 patterns and aerobatics, with no integrated narrator or instructor on the vid, the sims are glorified chair flying or time-wasting machines. That’s not a bad thing necessarily but there’s a lot of untapped potential
Long story short- I think there’s tremendous potential with the sims, but the knowledge of what to use them for and how to make a good product for them is lacking. The VR sims need a significant amount of effort to mold them into effective training aids which takes time and (most important) technical knowledge. We’ve thrown the sims at people and yelled at them to innovate, and we wonder why people are exasperated and unimpressed by the haphazard results.
I’ll chime in with my worthless opinion. The Air Force wants a way to cut the cost and time required to train new pilots, and I think that is the biggest downfall of PTN. There is huge potential for these devices to be awesome training tools, not just for UPT but for IQT/MQT, upgrades, CT and all the other training programs out there. I honestly think VR would make the most difference in advance training, after pilots have a foundation of airmanship, studying, chair flying etc. I’m currently in a IQT program for my 2nd MWS, I have amazed myself at how much more efficiently I can study and chair fly than back in the day going though UPT and my first IQT/MQT program, I attribute it to having a good foundation of airmanship, study habits, and just knowing what is important to study. Having a VR device I could run though profiles with on my own time would probably take me to that next level in the jet.
Problem is it’s going to require a massive investment of $$ and time to make the VR of a high enough quality to provide great instruction. Money and time are exactly what the AF is trying to cut, and I don’t think the AF is smart enough to realize a major investment on the front end will pay dividends on the back end.
I’m curious if we left the old UPT amount of flight hours and 12 month syllabus timeframe alone and incorporated a high quality VR program how much better quality of stud you would get on the back end, subsequently reducing 87/88/89 rides, failed IQT rides, mishaps etc.
-
1
-
1
-
-
18 minutes ago, Bender said:
You should probably still QC that...they couldn’t make you before, can’t make you now. Hopefully you never run into a database error or something.
I helped with the C-5 CNS/ATM stuff and I was a little surprised by the chain of custody issues with those databases. I suppose it’s fair to acknowledge I have little trust/faith in people I don’t know (or in general really) as it is.
I’ll always check that shit whether it’s required or not. Is this from the new 217? I’ve yet to even read that thing.
~Bendy217 v1/2/3 are now AFMAN 217. All one volume. The old guidance required you to verify the course and distance between your points for a RNAV. That verbiage was removed. NVG stuff got moved somewhere, some other minor changes.
Point being, the bobs are saying “look, we eliminated a bunch of pubs and rules!” When in reality they just combined some pubs and reduced redundancies. All the rules are still there.
-
1 hour ago, ThreeHoler said:
Renaming changes nothing. Both are mandatory compliance. What does change is the elimination of rules from [some] of those pubs.
Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile appI’ve noticed almost 0 difference in my day to day operations/flying. Honestly the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is not confirming my RNAV headings/courses in my GPS with my plate. Maybe I was just already ignoring all the stupid shit they “got rid of”.
Oh, I now have additional guidance about having to have flight gloves.
-
1 hour ago, Bode said:
What exactly do you disagree with?
As a prior UPT guy the quality of product from AMC was pretty bad over the last year. I had one guy roll in and his indoc took 5x the average. As a qualified pilot he circled to the wrong runway. Multiple times he tried to get his TI IP violated because he didn’t know what he was doing.
A second guy at the same time, showed up with 3 Q-3s on his record.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkWhat’s been the ratio of non 11F/B that have sucked as bad as your examples compared to those that have done fine or needed just a little extra with Tac form/other 38 specific things?
-
59 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:On 8/10/2019 at 12:01 PM, pawnman said:I guess I was the bottom ~25% of my year group according to the Air Force. Maybe I should start working like the shit bag Big Blue believes I am. Come in late, two hour lunch, gym at about 2, go home after the gym...
It's pretty great, actually. Pays the same.
Spend a lot more time with your family and are a lot less stressed to.
-
1 hour ago, uhhello said:
It's called POTF in AFSOC and some Rescue squadrons. We get a trainer, physical therapist, social worker, and in some places a nutritionist. Some squadrons have better luck than others getting dedicated gym/workout areas close to sq building. In my experience that last few years with it, its great for the guys/gals who already worked out. The hard part is getting the folks who didn't get involved.
From what I gathered the HRT program was getting a bunch of money for its own equipment/space. Not sure what the program was called, I walked in rather late.
To be clear, POTFF does a wide range of things for members and families, similar ish to the family readiness center, but their pot of money comes from SOCOM. Not sure if this aircrew program was associated with POTFF or not.
-
11 minutes ago, HuggyU2 said:
Push-ups, pull-ups, 1.5 run, waist.
And they really believe this test accurately tells them anything about what physical condition someone is in? As a business practice, is the investment in dollars and resources worth the data we get from the "fitness program"?
A month before I turned 50, I did my mandatory PT test with one of my best friends, who was 47. Of the other 7 in your PT group, one was early 30's, and the other 6 were early 20's.
Me and my artificial hip came across the finish line at 10:16 with Brad about 20" behind me. We stood there and heckled the other 7 with shouts of "old guys rule!" Most of them were sucking wind. I lapped one of them twice.
While this is only one indicator, it was obvious that these kids in their early 20's were lethargic. But was anything productive done with this data now that they were identified? Or was the time away from work, and the money spent on the salary for the full-time civilian monitor with the expensive AED heart-attack-restart box worth it?
I appears to be such a monumental circle-jerk that we simply couldn't improve during my 28 years in.
I was a flt/cc is a squadron that was half enlisted aircrew. The amount of young kids that failed PT tests was surprising. Many of them were pretty thin dudes that I would have thought wouldn’t have had issues. They just didn’t care or didn’t want to put the effort into physical training.
On another note, a got a brief last week from a new program AFSOC/SOCOM is standing up later this year. It’s going to be a staff of physical trainers, physical therapists, dietitians, dedicated to only aircrew. They are suppose to have their own gym, and biometric equipment for analysis of improvements. Any aircrew on base can walk in and get help, and their services are suppose to be oriented to help aircrew better operate in their crew position. Having back issues being in the seat? Expect them to help get you on a training program to strengthen back muscles and focus on making it more comfortable. They were getting fam rides on the jets to become more familiar with our operating environment to better help us. I walked in late but it sounded pretty awesome. It’s based off what the Army/Navy have for their spec ops teams, and the money is from SOCOM, so for now it’s only going to be a AFSOC thing.
-
1
-
5
-
-
16 hours ago, LiquidSky said:
This was shared on TPN fb group with regards to Goldfein's comment. Unsure how recent it is.
Slide says current as of 29 April. Downgrade for SA
-
1
-
-
4 hours ago, Hawg15 said:
People use EFBs in flight for more than just checking ILS approach plates?
Pretty much a one stop shop for everything. Only hard copy pub we have is the abbreviated checklist Incase of iPad failures.
-
7 hours ago, Skitzo said:
What’s wrong with the USAF?
Flight glove wear guidance in the MAJCOM supp to the uniform reg.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Did that finally happen? Been hearing rumors now for awhile. I just can’t wait to be back from leave.............
-
1 hour ago, Ant-man said:
Speaking of broken B-1s, last week, the OG at Dyess said it will take anywhere from 3-7 years to recover from all the maintenance issues. He said that the community will have to shrink, and that inevitably some people will finish MQT and be sent elsewhere. There are several pilots in the ops squadron on regression, and a few younger guys have been kicked to the OSS where they go unqualified.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to send people to other airframes before pushing them through the FTU, only to send them elsewhere? For context, I have not flown a military aircraft since last year, and will not fly the B-1 until next spring at the earliest.
My understanding is that General Ray wants to keep people in the aircraft that they dropped. I want to be clear that I am not ungrateful, I’m just concerned about the long-term impact on my flying career and don’t know how to bring it up to anyone with decision-making power.
Pretty sure some kid on here (or someone with a story of him/her) failed out of the B-1 FTU for academics and got sent to B-52s. I also remember someone in the FEB board who got booted from B-1 FTU and was being sent to scan IDs at the gate for the next 9.69 years.
How lucky you feeling?
Be patient, things might change, you might just have to fly that desk for awhile until things get fixed or you can get a white jet tour.
-
1 hour ago, Air V said:
Current Manned Fixed-Wing Pilot take rate is 35%.
Data is skewed by a close to 50% rate from E-3s and E-8s.
The rest are similar to the C-17 and fighter take rates around 12%.
12%!
I’m surprised E-3s and E-8s have such a high take rate. I would think all that 4 engine Boeing time would make them super easy hires to make 2-3x pay for half the work/no deployments.
-
Flyboys makes some good stuff in different sizes and configurations. Not sure if they have exactly what you want. I have 2 of their bags, a bigger bag with multiple pockets for multiple headsets, water bottles, iPad, lunch, center was big enough for for several binders of UPT pubs back in the day. My old squadron issued me a smaller bag for alert, just big enough for a iPad, headset, small water bottle and little pocket for flashlight/pens/multi tool. I like it for locals around the flagpole or compliment a backpack with snacks and such. Good quality bags. No issues with tearing/zippers/ etc and I don’t do a good job taking care of them
-
Bunch of people sent me the link when I was flying today, it was rather surreal walking off the flight line watching the trailer for Top Gun 2. The original was really what made me want to be a pilot as a young kid. After a really fun flight today and seeing that trailer was a awesome feeling. I hope the movie is as awesomely cheesy and filled with sweet flying as the original, and that it inspires and sparks the dream of flight in some of today’s kids like it did me.
-
3
-
-
2 hours ago, Longhorn said:
To the guys in the heavy community,
I just dropped C-17s, but, although I'm super excited for it, always wanted to go AFSOC. How common is it to move from AMC to AFSOC after your first assignment? Can anyone provide any guidance on how to go about this?
Possible. Sure. First focus should be on becoming the best C-17 pilot/new guy in the squadron you can be. Having a good standing with your squadron cc can go a long ways when assignment time comes around. As always, wants and needs of the air force always come first, and luck and timing is everything. If C-17 manning is good and a AFSOC airframe is hurting for guys when it’s time for your second assignment that’s your best chance.
Edit to add-I’m at a AFSOC schoolhouse with quite a few prior MWS students from different airframes/backgrounds including AMC.
-
10 hours ago, Bode said:
I would say the probability is high. DLF currently has a T-1 trained, PC-12/C-145 guy teaching 38s after a few years teaching in T6s.
Someone with that background can speak better to the CAF IMO than most C17 bubbas.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkI know a T-1 guy that went to heavies that was offered a T-38 IP slot last year, to the Rio though.
-
22 minutes ago, Standby said:
Which courses tag you with an S prefix and increase your deployment opportunity?
You need both the two week safety school hands on course in ABQ (looking and wrecks and doing investigations) and the safety admin course (I forgot the name, but it’s more of a how to be safety guy day to day) that is 4 ish days. Mostly done at ABQ but they do road shows every couple weeks. There af.mil site has the schedules
Commanders are dropping like flies this year
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by viper154
That statement tells me everything I need to know. What a piece of shit.