polcat

Honestly, it was a goal to make it to retirement. Fortunately, I had fantastic assignments and pretty much got to go where I wanted, even ended up with a pretty sweet gig as an exchange officer with the Canadians despite it being non-flying. My most rewarding job was also the most challenging and exhausting, I loved the people and the Herk mission, but I was burnt out and ready to move on. Yes, the grass is greener with the airlines, but it's a different shade if you catch my drift. I definitely don't regret staying in for 20 years.

The summer slowdown is normal for Delta. They do most of their hiring (aka indoc) in the 1st quarter in preparation for the busy summer.

Talking about foreign airlines, just stay away from Turkish Airlines if you don't want bed bugs. https://jalopnik.com/turkish-airlines-isnt-doing-anything-about-its-bedbug-p-1851731129

Looks like it was just a kinetic strike, no actual warheads, using an IRBM.

Maybe the majority of Democrats have accepted the loss. But I've seen this on SM and cannot fathom how people draw parallels to this election and 9/11.

Navigators enter the chat.

Thanks for the link. Never dealt with GPS spoofing myself. In the C-130J, we just deselected our GPS's to simulate a GPS degraded environment and used the radar or visual aimpoints to update the aircraft's position. Easy peasy.

The FAA doesn't have guidance or updated mandates in place for US air carriers? Say it ain't so. And the AIM isn't too helpful either, only to report anomalies online. Are there any airline dudes here that fly international that can comment on their procedures to mitigate this issue? Also, its somewhat shocking that the AAL B777 crew in that WSJ article experienced GPS issues all the way back to the US.

Delta is still conducting interviews. Although the talk has been 1000ish pilots in 2025, it'll most likely be somewhere around attrition numbers (~540). For everyone's sake, I hope that number is low. A buddy of mine just received a CJO last week and I've been waiting to start at Delta since I received my CJO back in April, fingers crossed I'll start in January since the last class (October) invite for 2024 went out. I would expect that they'll train most of the pilots in the first quarter, then training will slow, especially for the Summer and November/December months.

Are you referring to end-of-year fallout funds coming down from the wing/group? If so, you should know that justification is a must and something your Commander will have to back when he takes his 1-N list up to the Group. My memory is fuzzy regarding RA duties and unit budgets now that I'm retired, but for example, my last unit (Combat Training Squadron) used O&M funds to purchase flight gear (flight suits, gloves, flight boots, Massif coats, etc) for our pilots and loadmasters. If I recall correctly, straight up AF regs don't really get into the specifics of this, you have to delve into DoD financial management regs. I recommend talking to the group RA who should be tied into the base comptroller.

I'll second your recommendation on this book. I just finished the read and am not surprised, especially while I was in Kuwait during the NEO. How we let our Afghani comrades behind and the overall sh1tshow of the withdrawal is an understatement of the century.

Cool video and walkaround of the A-37 at Oshkosh this year.

You read it correctly. "MP did not utilize a helmet visor, and the MOSO did not utilize an aircrew helmet or gloves."

This checks out with what DAL's Pilot Manager of Pilot Selection stated. Basically, their plan was to "onboard half of the 2024 pilots in the first quarter and then add a much smaller but relatively consistent number each month for the remainder of the year." Planned total is supposed to be around 1100 in 2024.

Wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if this was written by ChatGPT.

Well doneViper Demo Team and a great tribute to the F-16! https://www.twz.com/air/viper-demo-team-secretly-painted-jet-in-yf-16-scheme-to-celebrate-types-50th-anniversary

Sasquatch Sunset, looks frickin' hilarious!

Is O-6 really a carrot these days? Congrats @Dogs-N-Guns, I just received my approval for retirement.

Another good article, same topic, at The Drive: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/extremely-ominous-warning-about-china-from-us-strategic-command-chief

So, do you get to earn your red wings as well?

Let's not talk about low SA on her part during ground ops after saving Jon's a** as he was about to be overrun.

AIB is out. It was uploaded on the C-130 Hercules Aircrew facebook page. Just wow and disbelief.

Damn! Was is a binding of the #2 throttle, i.e. jammed or unresponsive engine?

Well, it IS a herk, although the norm is one shutdown. But two is something. The AMP birds didn't fly for quite some time at LRF.

This is the type of innovation we need. I want to be optimistic that this will become the new AERPS, but I'll be a realist. Although it's been quite some time since I last wore AERPS, this looks much more comfortable and practical. https://www.stripes.com/news/yokota-airmen-improve-gas-mask-with-3d-printer-potentially-saving-air-force-8-million-or-more-1.531504