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skinny

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Posts posted by skinny

  1. So, there have been many rumors and talks by the senior officers here that if you wash out of UPT nowadays, you will be booted from the AF and have to pay everything back (scholarship money, stipends.. dunno about your actual pay)

    Anyone confirm/deny or have heard anything relevant???

    Do you have something to be worried about?

    Caveat, I'm out of my lane here but I haven't heard anything official. As for the booting out of the AF, with the way manning numbers are, it wouldn't surprise me. Easy kill to get down to the congressionally mandated numbers. I highly doubt they would stick you with a bill for scholarships, stipend, etc. It would be funny as shit if they stuck you with a flight training bill too!

  2. Why couldn't the crew chiefs just paint the number on the nose of every bird? It would alleviate comms and satisfy the boomers requirement.

    In the interest of keeping the retardation to a minimum in this thread, please take the time to actually read the previous pages of the thread in which you are reading as opposed to re-hashing what's already been discussed at great and painful lengths.

  3. Buy a iPhone while you're still overseas, then take it back to the US and get a sim card from the company of your choice (this will rule out Sprint). My iPhone from Italy works perfectly in the States.

    To buy an iPhone outright isn't very cost effective just to avoid ATT. Had I got one when I first got here (mandatory 2 year contract with a copy of orders) that would have been the route I would have taken, However with 2 months left here, I can't justify forking over the roughly $600 for the iPhone.

  4. Moving back to CONUS soon and I'm looking at what I should get once I get back. I've had horrible experience with ATT in the past so no iPhone for this guy. I've basically got it narrowed down to either the BB Storm2 or the Motorola Droid... leaning more towards the Droid. I've read the posts above regarding the Droid but I'm curious if you can tether it to a Mac, same for the BB. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks!

  5. Again, dude, I'm NOT talking about a book of tail numbers. I'm talking about anything that gives you TTP's for refueling. Does that make sense, or is the concept that foreign? ...Something that tells you, for example, that every A-10 flying today rolled off the production line between '78 and '82....and therefore the easy technique for how to read the tail number.

    Short answer, no, that sort of gouge doesn't exist. Should it? Who knows. Dude, all I can say is, lowest common denominator. Sure the 10 year vet knows how to read a tail number. But to expect an 18 year old kid wet behind the ears to know the shit you're spewing isn't feasible. Those things come with time and experience.

    Do I expect you to know that the Hog wasn't flying in 1961? Well, YES, actually. Reference my comment above about studying/briefing/having/knowing the books/gouge. It may seem minor, but it speaks to the same level of ignorance that causes the tanker to not know what altitudes/airspeeds we can refuel at, or that we don't have a radar, or how to effect the rejoin faster. It's part of being an expert in something. Think I step to the jet not having a baseline knowledge of what radios a JTAC carries, or what the EM diagram for the A/A threat looks like, or what the frag cylinder of a Mk-82 is, or exactly what SCL the B-1 is carrying, or...etc. etc.?

    Absolutely it's about being an expert. But were you an expert straight out of RTU!? Didn't think so. Your job was to say "4" and nothing else, unless someone was putting lives in danger. Were you rock solid on the boom at DM? Probably not, but it came with time didn't it? And I'm sure the boom was patient with your lack of experience. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that you're the guy that thinks because you can see the receptacle and the boom, you want to make your own contact. Stop me if I'm wrong here. SH if you can do that, but you'd be wrong. Just park the damn thing and I'll make sure you get your gas.

    The reason fighter pilots get frustrated with tankers is because tanking should be easy. It's ADMIN. It's motherhood. It's a means to an end. The autopilot is on, there's two pilots and one boom, blah blah blah...

    You're right, it should be easy. So pass me your 6 digits and be done with it! How's that for simple?

    Edit to add: I'm not trying to start a flame war here. 99.99999% of the guys I've refueled have been top notch and 99.99999% of the tanker crews I've been on have always attempted to whatever could be done to proved a better service to the customer/receiver. As much as we hate to admit it, as tankers, we are in the customer service business; not always for the guy on the boom but usually for the guys in the mud. This ENTIRE thread is talking about that .00001% when it didn't quite go so well. That's all I've got. :beer:

  6. When I asked if you had a book for this shit, I wasn't talking about a log or record of tail numbers. I was talking about a pub or even simple gouge about your reciever. It's like you guys have never talked to each other before.

    Like I said, most units do have a book listing the entire AF inventory, but as jets move around, it becomes a living document that doesn't get updated as often as it should.

    Again, don't you have a book for this shit? It's on the nose, granted, in slightly cryptic form. But it's not rocket science: "10978" = 81-978, "90251" = 79-251. If the boom blocks it, look before or after contact.

    Not everyone flies a Hog. Therefore not all jets were built in the same years as the hog. Just because your tail number is 10978, that '1' could mean 61, 71, 81, 91, 01, etc. It's even more fun with the USN when they try to give us their side number, you know the three digit one on their nose? There are probably 10 aircraft in the USN that have that same side number. What we need from them, their Bureau Number(BUNO), is a six digit number and the only place you can find it is just below their horizontal stab. Now how the hell am I supposed to see that, even if he is on the wing!?

    ...thanks dude, ....never thought of that. :banghead:

    No problem dude! Glad I could help!

  7. ...One of my biggest pet peeves.

    Really? Really boom? You want to know what my tail number is? ...FAIL.

    Not all fighters have the tail # written in three places on the nose, but for fvck's sake, how hard is your job? Don't you guys have a book for this shit?

    Dude slow down.

    What you have to realize is any records we do have of what tail is stationed where doesn't update at the same rate of PDM inputs/outputs and jet swaps with other units. It's a little easier at a deployed location as long as we keep up with AEF swap-outs and who is deployed where with what jets.

    EMCON allowing, I would rather verbally ask you what your number is so my co can copy it down as opposed to strain my neck to try and see what those 2 inch digits say while I've got 20-30 degrees flaps trying not to fall out of the sky to keep you in contact (A-10 specific), so you get your gas, so the guys on the ground get their CAS. Oh by the way, the last three digits don't cut it, we need the FULL tail number, YY-XXXX. Especially since the boom blocks any view of the numbers aft of the receptacle. Don't even get me started on night AR and reading a black number on a gray jet.

    We try pretty damn hard not to gum up the radios, like having the co look out the window at your stab for the number and tail flash if it's light enough out. I know, genius right? Fact is, we HAVE to have your tail number. It's not something we ask for to make you flail looking for it (however entertaining that may be). It all comes down to the shoe accountant at the wing that has to make sure the bill is sent to the right place for the right jet. All a unit has to do is say, "We don't have that tail number here, we're not paying." That money then comes out of the tanker unit's funding. We're here to give you the fuel, not pay for it.

    Here's a thought, pass them at check-in, you know we're gonna ask for it, why not be ready for it? (again EMCON allowing) If not, try boom interphone (I know I know, the thing is about as reliable as the AF uniform policy), but it's worth a shot.

    "Hawg 01, copy you're switches safe....confirm nose cold?" "...Yup, been cold for 32 years now."

    "Hawg 01, is FL260 gonna work for you guys today?" "...Uhh, No, the A-10 isn't capable of AR that high...let's try 18 or 19."

    "Ohh, really? ...Uhh...standby, we need to coordinate with center for the airspace."

    Shack on the above. I've seen it and heard of it happening and all I could do was hang my head in shame for tanker clowns everywhere. Comes down to a lack of SA on the tanker's part and a lack of ATP-56 knowledge of receiver ops limits.

  8. Just got off the phone with the pre-commissioning department at USAA. Here's the deal:

    The 'Career Starter' 30K @1.99% for 60 mos is for Academy cadets ONLY. (USAFA, West Point, etc)

    The 'Pre-Commissioning' 25K @ 4.99% for 60 mos is for all others (OTS, ROTC, etc). Before you can even ask about the loan you must be within 4 months of receiving your commission. So if you're going to OTS, that's one month before you depart for Maxwell. You're required to have USAA checking and savings accounts and the payment must be set up to automatically come out of one of those two accounts. If you're ROTC, USAA has a pdf form that your commanding officer is required to sign and send to USAA before you can begin to apply. Also, a standard credit check will be accomplished.

    That's all the info I got on it. If you want more you can call yourself, they were as always, extremely helpful. 1-800-531-4610 will take you straight to the Pre-Commissioning Department. Cheers...

  9. My first thought is Sikes is lying. He was either mad because Toyota told him his Prius was fine or he planned it all along. It's just a little over the top that Ponch for CHiPs would have to help bring his car to a stop. Not buying it.

    2

    I was kind of thinking the same thing. The odds of having both the brakes AND gas pedal fail at the same time have got to be pretty slim. I think the Prius was only recalled for the brakes and not the gas pedal. Probably just looking for some cash or an easy way out of making such a bad decision by buying a Prius.

  10. EL CAJON, California -- A California highway police officer helped slow a runaway Toyota Prius from 94 mph to a safe stop on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a freeway near San Diego, authorities said.

    Prius driver James Sikes said that the incident Monday occurred just two weeks after he had taken the vehicle in to an El Cajon dealership for repairs after receiving a recall notice, but he was turned away.

    "I gave them my recall notice and they handed it back and said I'm not on the recall list," Sikes said.

    Sikes’ 2008 Prius was not covered by the accelerator recall – only the floor mat recall, ABC News reported. His Prius model allegedly has a different accelerator than the ones with “sticky” pedals. Sikes said there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with his floor mat, ABC reported.

    In a statement, Toyota said it has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the incident.

    Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6 million in the United States -- since last fall because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius.

    On Monday, Sikes called 911 about 1:30 p.m. after accelerating to pass another vehicle on Interstate 8 near La Posta and finding that he could not control his car, the California Highway Patrol said.

    "I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny ... it jumped and it just stuck there," the 61-year-old driver said at a news conference.

    "As it was going, I was trying the brakes ... it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up," Sikes said, adding he could smell the brakes burning he was pressing the pedal so hard.

    A patrol car pulled alongside the Prius and officers told Sikes over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake.

    "They also got it going on a steep upgrade," said Officer Jesse Udovich. "Between those three things, they got it to slow down."

    After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt.

    The officer then maneuvered his car in front of the Prius as a precautionary block, Udovich said.

    Toyota owners have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.

    One of the crashes claimed the life of a CHP officer in August.

    Off-duty CHP Officer Mark Saylor was killed along with his wife, her brother and the couple's daughter after their Lexus' accelerator got stuck in La Mesa.

    The Toyota-manufactured loaner vehicle slammed into a sport utility vehicle at about 100 mph, careened off the freeway, hit an embankment, overturned and burst into flames.

    A few things come to mind here:

    1 - Why did he wait until he slowed down to 50mph before he decided it might be a good idea to turn the vehicle off? Is there not a neutral on hybrids?

    2 - HOLY SHIT! This guy got a damn PRIUS to go 94 mph! Kudos for the top speed attempt, but you still drive a Prius. I award you no points.

  11. Part of me laughs at this, but the other part of me wouldn't appreciate if someone arbitrarily listed my name on 'the internets' without my consent. It's not that hard to track down folks in the AF, why make it easier? Especially with the email for life we all have now.

  12. I went to see Avatar recently and liked it. Then I saw this absurd story about people who were depressed and unhappy with the real world because the beauty of the story isn't real. There are some choice quotes from losers who are considering suicide because they want to die and be reborn in that story.

    I just saw that piece of shit about an hour ago. Great effects with the 3D and all but the weak ass attempts at likening this movie to any situation currently going on in real life today damn near made me want to leave. The whole "shock and awe" comments, and the "their planet is already dead / They killed their mother" (ie mother earth). I don't remember the exact verbiage but there was one comment made trying to make this "planet" like the country of Iraq and how we invaded for "unobtanium" (oil) and didn't care about the people or what we had to get it............blah blah blah. Really turned me off to the whole thing.

    [/rant]

    On a lighter note, Inglorious Bastards is by far my favorite Tarantino movie to date. Delta had it available on their on demand system for transatlantic flights. I watched it once going to ATL and again back to Frankfurt. Oh the irony of watching that movie while flying to and from Germany....

  13. Search was exhausted prior to post...

    I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty pumped about the super cool new patches as described below:

    2.13. Recognition for Excellence. Members achieving and maintaining excellent FA scores are authorized to wear a patch on the right sleeve of their PT uniform shirt (IAW AFI 36-2903, Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel) recognizing their accomplishment as follows:

    2.13.1. Current Excellent. Members with a current FA score of ≥ 90 and meeting all component minimum requirements.

    2.13.2. Sustained Excellent. Members with the most recent 4 or more tests over a continuous minimum 2-year period with FA scores ≥ 90 and meeting all component minimum requirements.

    AFI36-2905 1 JULY 2010 24

    2.13.3. Current Perfect 100. Members with a current FA score of 100.

    2.13.4. Sustained Perfect 100. Members with the most recent 4 or more tests over a continuous minimum 2-year period with FA scores of 100.

    Honestly what kind of BS is this? Don't give me a patch, give me a day off or a bonus. Not some ridiculous iron on pat on the back for not being a fat ass. I want the "mediocre, not dying any time soon" patch!

    On another note, here's hoping it doesn't become mandatory like a RB. One more way for the alterations and MCSS to make a buck I s'pose.

  14. We were thinking about submitting a video to AFN based on this, they are running a deal right now "think you can do better? submit your video to AFN." With the ridiculous scenarios we've come up with, I doubt it'd get played, but funny none the less.

    If this happens, I want in!

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