Hot Dogs!

Thanks Herk and moose, I appreciate the help! Thanks! It's actually just for my car so I can hook it up to a portable and drive around the airport real fast - sooooooo, mask up. I sure hope people see me and think I'm finally cool after that.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for an adaper for the single plug cord on helmets to the civilian general aviation dual plug set-up?

There were 10 Vipers (4 Dutch, 2 Guard, and 4 AD). Also, 3 of the A-10s were Guard/Reserve.

Is this going to affect the ANG studs enroute to fly the C-130H back at their units or is it AD only?

I take Clariton to clear up my allergies and have no side effects from it. I was also offered the option to ground test Allegra prior to starting UPT if I wanted, but the flight docs (both at Wright-Patt and at my UPT base) had no problems with me taking Clariton as long as there are no side effects. I would imagine that if you took Clariton or Allegra you would be fine, just make sure you are up-front about it and you should have no problems.

Have fun and work hard! Even if you're wing staff it's still a good time! Watch out for giant spiders in the woods though. Not to freak you out or anything, but just watch out. I mean really. They are freaky huge sometimes. We lost a few people to spiders. Not really. I wouldn't have been surprised if we did though. I'm just not a fan of spiders. Black Widows too, watch out for them. Other than that, have fun!

There is very little free time at AMS. They do this on purpose, very rarely will you complete everything you have to do for each day, in addition to having your uniform ready to go, your room in inspection order, and any addition duty items that have to be completed. The only free time I had was a few hours to go to dinner with some flight members in the last week of the program. All the other time was spent picking grass out of the carpet and looking for smudges on my mirror.

The long sleeved white shirt is for the semi-formal uniform. You'll wear it only for the Dining-in and the Awards Banquet during the last week. Flashlights should be small and durable, I had a cheap, metal, LED, tactical-looking thing that worked well since you will be beating them up a bit here and there. I highly recommend bringing two and keeping one as a back-up in case you can't find one or it breaks or something. You don't want to be the only person outside in the morning with no flashlight. The service dress coat should have the everything on it (US insignia, nametag, etc...), but leave everything off the blues shirts.

Just a heads up - bring your own APECS (or buy one there), there are none that you can "borrow" and don't be that guy without one, you will need it!

Just a heads up, from experience, there are certain points on the grid where there will be a prism in front of your eyes but it's out of the field of view of one eye (way off to the side), so if you try to cheat and say 2 lights in that situation, you're still going to be wrong.

Excellent, thanks for the great info as always!

I'm currently a civilian, with an ANG pilot slot and have my FC1 coming up soon. I had LASIK done 2.5 years ago and have all the paperwork for my pre- and post-op, 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month check-ups, but the only cycloplegic refraction I had done was during the pre-op check-up. Everything after that was either subjective refraction, auto-refraction, or retinoscopy, no cycloplegic refraction like the worksheets are asking for. Is there anything I can do about this now, or is it just something I have to work through during the physical?

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Anyone know if they can share anything more? I know a few guys in T6's at ENJJPT, just want to be sure everyone is alright.

Does anyone have a list of the extra tests required at Brooks after LASIK? Or is it just what is listed in the waiver guide?

Hey everyone, I'm getting ready for my FC1 and I had a quick question. A little over six years ago, I knelt on a nail and a small, hard piece of material about the size of a grain of rice formed in the bursa of my left knee. The only issue it created was whenever I knelt on it, it would hurt quite a bit, but I learned to live with it since the only way to get rid of it was to get it surgically removed. A little over a year and a half ago, the piece caused the bursa to get inflamed and I could barely bend my knee or put a lot of weight on it so I decided it was time to take the surgical route since it was causing a huge amount of trouble. For the procedure, they removed the bursa fluid, the piece, and any other scar tissue that had formed in the 20 years of using my knee, but it was a relatively quick, outpatient procedure. Since then, the bursa has regrown, and I have full range of motion, full strength, full everything, like nothing ever happened (no scars even) and now I'm wondering if this will affect me getting my flight physical. I see no reason why it would, and I saw no information about anything similar in the waiver guide and no other topics about anything similar. Thanks for any help.

According to the waiver guide (http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/idc/groups/public/documents/afms/ctb_071808.pdf pages 713-720), no waiver is needed for a single episode of a kidney stone, but it says "a full workup should be reported on FC I/IA physical". Does anyone know what is included in a "full workup"?

Thanks, that takes a load off my chest. You answered my last question there too. I thought I had heard somewhere that the FCII was for pilots that were already trained and the kidney stone waiver requirements for FCII are different than for FCI, so I was just curious how it all worked. Thanks again goducks, you've been darn helpful through this whole process.

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the maximum number of waivers you can get (for a pilot)? I know I am going to need two (one for LASIK and one for a kidney stone), and possibly a third (for an extremely minor surgery just below the skin on my knee). Is there a point where they just say it's not worth the trouble? I meet all the criteria to get a waiver for each condition, so I'm not too concerned about that. I have no lasting effects from them other than better vision from LASIK, but no more kidney stones or abnormalities and no problems whatsoever with my knee. Also, this has nothing really to do with waivers, but after reading a few of the previous posts I'm curious, what is the purpose of the 2nd and 3rd class medicals for pilots?

I'm back again with one more question. Surgery is scheduled for a week and half from now and I was looking back through the waiver guide and I thought of something. It says one of the required pieces of information for the waiver is the "pre-op cycloplegic refraction", which - if I'm not mistaken - is the refraction after having the eye drops to dilate your eyes. When I went in for the consultation appointment, they did do a refraction test after giving me eye drops, but they didn't affect my vision nearly as much as the ones that I had during my FC1 (as in, I could still see and read, even just a few hours after the drops), which makes me think it wasn't the exact same way they did it during the FC1. I would imagine that the dilation test I had done at the consultation would qualify as the pre-op cycloplegic refraction, but if it doesn't for some reason, would the refraction test I had done at my FC1 back in September count as a pre-op test? Thanks for any help. I just wanted to make sure I'm crossing all the t's and dotting the i's, so this is the last time I have to do all this.

I'm back with another question. I just got back from my LASIK consultation appointment and am scheduled for surgery on March 5th, unless anything opens up sooner (but no sooner than January 15th). Since the application cut-off date is 13-Mar-09, this means there no chance of me applying to the 09-03 board since I need the three month waiver after surgery to apply. If the board doesn't convene until 13-Apr-09, would there still be a chance of me being able to send my application in for the 13-Mar cut-off without the waiver, and getting the three month waiver taken care of and sent in by the board convening date or is that looked down upon? Sorry for the confusing question, but I'm just curious if there's even a possibility of getting my application in for the 09-03 board, or if I should just slow down and wait for the 10-01 board so I can be sure to get it right. My opinion is that I should probably wait for the 10-01 board and make sure I get this right since I'm not age critical, I just don't want to wait an extra six months since I just moved back home after my lease ran out, thinking I would be off to OTS in the next month or two.

Thank you. It seems there's no reason to get PRK if LASIK has no restrictions, but I just wanted to make sure again.

Just to triple and quadruple check, LASIK is now waiverable and has no airframe limitations for pilots? And if it is, are all forms of LASIK approaved (e.g. Wavefront LASIK and Bladeless LASIK)? Right now I'm a civilian 08-03 OTS pilot select that just lost my slot due to my manifest refraction test for my FC1 (-6.25 and -5.50) and am trying to schedule refractive surgery for next week so I can reapply for the 09-03 board. I was thinking of getting PRK, but if LASIK is waiverable and has no limitations as far as airframe, I would definitely go that route. I just wanted to make sure before I commit to anything. Also, does anyone have a link or information for the paperwork I need to have filled out by the doctor prior to surgery? I have the list of information needed that's in the USAF waiver guide, but I heard there's something else I need to get from my recruiter that needs to be filled out prior to surgery. Just curious if anyone has a link to that since my recruiter is a couple hours away and there's no guarantee I can find him in the next week. Thanks for any help. Mike A Link for bladeless LASIK: http://www.be2020.com/lasik_bladeless_lasi...asik-lasik.html

Hi everyone, I seem to have a situation here and I was wondering if I could get some advice. I was selected for a pilot slot on the 08-03 OTS board, and had my FC1 in the middle of September. Yesterday, I received a call that I was DQ'd because of my manifest refraction test. Right now, my vision is -6.25 in my right eye and -5.00 in my left eye, which is beyond the -3.00 waiverable limit for pilot and the -4.50 waiverable limit for navigator, but still within the -8.00 limit for PRK pre-op numbers. From what I've heard, I can't get PRK now because they won't hold my slot for the 1 year wait to get a PRK waiver, and from what it sounds like, I won't be able to switch over to nav for the same reason. So to me it sounds like I'm going to get the boot, unless there is anything anyone knows of that I can do to keep my slot? If I do loose my slot, can I get PRK done now and wait and reapply to the OTS boards in a year (or however long I have to wait to reapply), or do I have a permanent mark on my record that's going to keep my from flying? I brought this situation up with multiple recruiters and AF medical people before I applied because I knew I was probably outside the limits, but everyone I spoke to either didn't know the requirements or told me to wait until after I go through OTS and training to get PRK done, which apparently isn't at all how it works. It seems to me that if someone had told me how it actually was, I could have had PRK and I would still be in a position to have a slot or get a slot, but instead, I'm stuck here now in what should be a totally avoidable predicament. Thanks for any information. Mike