Prozac

Can't tell if sarcastic. Anything looks staggering when applied over a large enough sample. I'm all for saving gas and operating efficiently. However, when you remove the chutes and then start eyeballing that ridiculously heavy 30lb galley....c'mon. Seems another thread takes a direction of its own...

Ever been to OIF/OEF? Hope you can pick the correct hemispheric. (Edit: format)

We do:

FIR boundaries?

Shack. We should be exploring any and every alternative to importing energy. The "green" aspect is, unfortunately what's getting the press.

This is a common occurance in the tanker where it is likely that only one of the wipers will work and Murphy's law states that it will be on the least experienced pilot's side. Adds livelieness to the end of a 16 hour mission. On another note, I just returned from my first real flying TDY in a while and I was pleasently surprised to find that TACC's planned fuel loads were entirely reasonable. Also, on at least 2 of the legs, the ETPs were correctly computed. Probably just lucked out with a halfway decent flight manager.

Controller may or may not have inferred that the 210's fuel state was low based on the "Bingo" call. It's possible that the controller had never heard the term and truly did not know what the pilot meant. In any case, I'm sure that the FAA is interested in why the pilot planned his mission so poorly in the first place that he was in a position where he felt he was unable to execute a go-around due to his fuel state.

Yep. It's called research and development. DOD is in the proving phase. I haven't heard anyone talking about wholesale replacing good ole JP-8 just yet.

Sorry, bad takeaway from your previous post on my part.

Yeah, what a bunch of choads those guys were. This would NEVER have happened if you were on that jet.

Not sure what your argument is here. DOD doesn't care whether its fossil fuels, bio fuels, or otherwise. Global warming doesn't factor here. The point is that we have access no matter what. Politics are just clouding the issue.

The idea isn't so much to be green as it is to develop access to alternative fuel sources when traditional sources become too expensive or unavailable. Pretty sound strategery. Also makes for good/bad press depending on if you're MSNBC or Fox News.

On the flip side of the coin, don't be the dumbass who, when given ample opportunity, still cannot closeout his beans. Manage your own training. Logging all your beans and staying current should be the easy part. Staying proficient is a different story. If you don't feel like you're proficient let your training flight/ADOs/DO know. They may not be able to get you on a bunch of locals right away, but I've yet to see someone in these positions do nothing for a guy when he speaks up. Beat me to it. Shack.

That's 'cause he's got a wife (and kids) he's never seen before.

Not expecting a detailed discussion here. However, a lot of the time good lessons are lost in events like this one. Just hoping the channels stay open. Good chance multiple MWSs to take something away here.

Sounds like you had a part in this. Once the dust settles I hope we get some good feedback on how the SAR went down and what the tanker did right and wrong. I've often thought about this scenario on coronets. Unfortunately, it's not something we spend a lot of time on (if any) during mission planning/briefing in the tanker community. Glad to hear it all worked out ok.

Anyone else find it distasteul that the conversation here and elsewhere almost immediately turned to fears about gun control when the families of 12 dead bystanders have barely had a chance to start mourning? Not trying to minimize people's concerns for their rights but mods, any chance we can get a seperate thread (not "gun talk") on said concerns?

Depends on where you are and what you want to do. Skill-sets are similar.

This. You might be surprised at how many pilots I've flown with, who when handed the controlls and asked to "set us up for a left/right base/downwind for a visual approach to runway xx" get that deer in the headlights expression. Many are simply unable to put the jet in a good position as this is something they never practice. Of course, this does not preclude backing yourself up with the ILS for SA, but I can think of many times that a visual would be safer or make more sense than flying the approach. Example: more than once, I have had more SA on the weather than ATC. It made more sense to cancel and go visual than let myself get vectored through a thunderstorm. This is a skill set that all AMC crews need to have. Just don't be complacent about it. Treat it with the same level of preparation and vigilance that you would an instrument appproach.

This is the prevailing attitude of all bad drivers. So, I'm not allowed to wear my morale patch but these ######s are prancing around with rainbow "bronie" patches on? PLEASE tell me someone has ordered the code red!

Well, whatd'ya know.... must've been thinking of another book.

2 on "First Light". Great first person take on being in the BOB. I think Wellham died late in the war or just after doing test pilot work on the Typhoon/Tempest. His memoirs were put into autobiographical form by his surviving family members. Great read.

Touche

Chuck Norris is the pilot AND the boom operator, and he is never late though his receivers are sometimes early. Chuck Norris does not eat anything with "pocket" in its name.

Of course, they'll be supported by "black world" tankers.....I hear those guys only operate in cloud (for stealth) and the booms don't even ask for tail numbers.