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di1630

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Posts posted by di1630

    Professional pilot kill recreation?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I was floored how much fun an RV-8 was to fly.

    I’ve had a good family cruiser since I was 25, love it. The wife and I used to load it with camping gear for long trips. Stop when we got tired or wx was an issue and set up camp.

    We did Atlanta to Alaska and it was awesome.

    I don’t enjoy heavy IFR, I also had a mechanical close call once so I’m
    Much more cautious now of terrain and weather.

    The freedom of private flying is where it’s at for me. I love jets but the USAF doesn’t make flying really much fun overall. I’ll fly long after military work is done.


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    60 Minutes Segment on 2014 B-1 Friendly Fire in Afghanistan

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The beauty of having a CAS flexible aircraft is that you have options. Not just with sensors and vis lookout but with different weapons.

    I know I can put down a mark with a rocket, 20mm or 30mm if I have questions. And that’s after the myriad of other ways I can check friendly positions.

    A B-1 costs as much per hour as 4 x F-16s or A-10’s so this decision wasn’t a “it’s good force economy”

    For me this was a lot of contributing factor with the root cause being wrong asset, wrong time in the wrong role.

    Plotting/tracking the friendlies is a basic CAS skill set. If you think this is the first time that dudes called in air strikes on their posit you are wrong. Happens more often than you know however good CAS pilots stepped in and broke the chain before pickling.


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    60 Minutes Segment on 2014 B-1 Friendly Fire in Afghanistan

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    What’s shocking to me is the fact it apparently was never done in training, in the ~33 year Ops history of the B-1, or 15+ year history of the Sniper.....How was this information not known?  Disgusting.  
     
     

    It is UFBelievable to me as well. I knew this type of stuff on my first night TGP sortie as did everyone else but then again in a jet with a basic CAS friendly design (being able to look outside) you could match your IR pointer on the pod to the flashing IR markers on the ground and even if you’d never been told, it’d be 100% obvious in 1 second.

    Again, root cause was sending a airframe not suited for the scenario because we got complacent in having anything bomb capable slinging a PHM and declaring it an awesome CAS asset (Thanks Welsh)

    I remember my first time running a TGP in the back of a Learjet, daytime trying to find targets coordinating with the pilot and another guy in back while getting SA from the small window outside.

    Complete sh-tshow and my hats off to the bone guys that can do it but drove home that even at 100%, it’s a limited concept.






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    60 Minutes Segment on 2014 B-1 Friendly Fire in Afghanistan

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Well, one frat in 19 years is a better record than most platforms.

    Dude, the honest answer to that is that was probably one of the very few times a B-1 has ever had to deconflict “close” fires in a complex situation and it went bad.

    100% of the tine I saw employment was either BOC or a BOT well away from any friendlies with no time constraints.

    I’m not knocking you guys. You do a helluva a job with what you can. You are just SEVERELY limited by your airframe in any slightly complex CAS scenario.











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    60 Minutes Segment on 2014 B-1 Friendly Fire in Afghanistan

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Damn, it’s almost as if CAS is the detailed integration of Ground and Air forces to avoid fratricide when forces get “close” and are fighting requiring a specialized skill set and weaponry.

    Shocking that a low level supersonic nuclear bombing platform asked to do the job had issues.

    Now some will say these are dickhead comments but I’ve tried CAS in a crewed B-1 type environment and it was tough.

    Need a hillside leveled in the Stan or some BOC, B-1 is great.

    Have a complex deconfliction problem requiring CAS and CAS weapons, you probably want a CAS aircraft with good vis, those weapons etc.




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    • Upvote 7

    ?s on ADSC (Active Duty Service Commitment)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Okay, so I had a FEB as a B Course student coming up on about two and a half years ago now. Unfortunately I am one of the "lucky" ones who was recommended to be re-trained into a new airframe by both the FEB and Convening Authority, only to have it overturned by the 4 star...
    That whole process took pretty much a whole year, and I PCS'd to my new non-rated assignment in February 2018. I've put a lot of introspection into my current situation, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm ready to explore moving on with my life and from the Air Force, or at least the active duty Air Force. Options I am considering are everything from straight separation, separate to the Reserves (IMA), or even an Inter-Service transfer. 
    BUT, a hang-up I'm running into is my UPT ADSC. It's still on the books and won't run out until June 2026. I've reached out to AFPC help desk on this issues and they have been pretty unhelpful. The answers I have gotten have ranged from "the Air Force has you until that ADSC runs out because you completed the training" to "all you have to do is apply to separate and they'll review on a case by case". From my own research it seems that I can apply to separate under Miscellaneous reasons, but I don't know if I need to lead turn that with anything else if I have ADSC remaining? I'd like to think since it was the Air Force's decision to remove me from flying status (I fought like hell to stay on), that they would not also force me to stay in for 7 more years, in a career I never planned to be in. But who knows? And beyond that I have zero clue where to begin with requesting an IST with ADSC remaining.
    Apologize for the long post, but has anyone dealt with a situation like this before or known someone who has? I know its a pretty narrow set of circumstances, but there is a lot of experience on here so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. Appreciate it! 

    Dude, do you have wings? Are you you T-1 or T-38 trained? The reason I ask s your options will vary during this pilot shortage on whether you washed out of RPA’s and got nowhere else to go (apologies RPA guys) or washed from a F-16 FTU and trying to get into a crew airframe.

    If you have wings still, I’d think you have some options including guard/reserve.




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    CSAR Air Taxi

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    To give them some credit, the Italian Army CSAR detachment actually had some pretty good organic capabilities (but not great range, since their attack helos can't AR).  

    Did you see these capabilities or were they “advertised” as having them?

    Be VERY skeptical when anyone outside the US offers a warfighting capability.

    A lot is put on paper for show but you’d be shocked at what some call their ability to do CAS or CSAR vs the US standard.






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    • Upvote 1

    Flying Videos Thread Part 2?

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    No - Griffiss AFB, NY.  Checked the youtube page again but no date given by the poster, but just a WAG it looks mid-80s to me and airshow seems right.  

    1986. If you look the last part of the clip you see some numbered jets lined up. Those are 339’s of the Italian Frecce Tricolore which rarely make it overseas. They had a big North American tour in 1986.


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    O-4/O-5 career path

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I think it’ll be community specific and based off manning. If you want to fly and there is a shortage in your community/ at your base, just be honest about your flying/career goals.

    Generally the price for promotion is to give up flying. Vice versa, flying a lot will hurt your long term promotion viability.

    In the Fighter world currently, a non-HPO O-5 can fly as much as a Capt if they want to and stay proficient in squadron needs because we are undermanned.


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    • Upvote 1

    Changing/Switching airframes

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Does anyone have any SA on the possibility of switching airframes from a fighter to a non-ACC heavy without a medical DQ for ejection seats? Is there any chance, especially with the current climate and mysteries of how AFPC works, it could happen?

    Current 11F...good luck. You’ll need to wait til you can go guard/reserve.

    There’s gotta be a chick involved to do something like this so you should just volunteer for UPT and have her try to get the same base.

    Enjoy Laughlin.


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    Promotion and PRF Information

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Well, the military has figured out that marijuana is legal in a lot of places. 


    A few weeks back I was visiting my parents in a state where MJ is legal and after dinner I grabbed for an artisan caramel I saw. Luckily my sister saw me because it was her edible MJ and stopped me.

    I’m not sure what I would have done if I had eaten it. Tell the USAF and get screwed or hope I don’t get popped for a drug test.

    What would you dudes have done?



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    VA Loans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Also looking to buy a home near DM in the next couple of months. Already planning on getting a quote from NBKC but if anyone has other mortgage company and realtor recommendations I'd appreciate it.

    Work with Amy at NBKC. I’ve had a great experience thus far. Rates better than anywhere else.


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    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Wing CC: "Why would you not sign this bonus, you're leaving $35K on the table!"
    Pilot: "I grossed $35K last month in my other job"
    Wing CC: "...."

    Anyone else get pinged by leadership as to why they didn’t sign/renegotiate?

    I was considering renegotiating from my current 25k to 35k but this year they reduced the renegotiated amount to 25k which buys me nothing except commitment.

    I am truly puzzled by the mismatch between those who say it’s critical to retain experienced pilots and the message of, “You are worth $25k per year down from $35k last year.”


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    • Upvote 1

    What is next for the UPT-Next graduates?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I just know I was a phase 3 guy for 4 years (-38) and we hardly had time to finish everything as it was.

    Yeah, we’ll, that’s because we spent a lot of time teaching stuff that dudes had to be proficient in at UPT but never really need in real life.

    Number of times I’ve needed to do a formation landing in 3,500 hours of mil flying....ZERO.

    Granted, it’s all good stuff to have experience with but a lot of it is low likelihood contingency items, great to be familiar/safely able, not necessary to be masterful.

    This goes beyond UPT.

    Call me full of sh-t if you like but go visit the AOR, it’s PGMs and BOC 99% of the time.

    I can get a wingman to a CR level in 2019 much quicker than I could in 2005 and the reason is technology.

    I fully support updating the training syllabus and technique.


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