HiFlyer

Pardon me if I deviate from the party line a little, but if you had a "B" going into the final , then "How the F*ck do you get a D in Aerospank class!?!" That really is a valid question that you ought to think about a little before you talk to the Cadre. That's a huge drop, even if you scored poorly on the test. I'd want to have a good handle on what I did wrong when I went to case. Simply a lack of sleep isn't a very good answer. What did that lack of sleep cause you to do? Did you mis-mark the answer sheet, did you mis-read some instructions? I'd try to have some sort of an answer ready that demonstrates to them that it wasn't because you didn't know the material. Just a thought...

XL 10-03 DROP T-1's: C-17 Charleston KC-135 McConnell 2 x KC-135 - Fairchild (1 reserve) 2 x RC-135 - Offutt KC-135 - Mildenhall MC12/NSA RPA - Creech RPA - Cannon T-1 FAIP C-130 - Pope WC-130J - Keesler (active duty assigned to the reserve squadron, i believe that's a first?) KC-10 McGuire T-38's: F-16 2 x T-6 FAIP B-1 - Dyess B-52 - Barksdale MC-12/E-3 (Tinker I think) follow on KC-135 - McConnell C-17 - McChord C-21 Ramstein AlphaJet (international)

Yep. They're reference marks for the stab trim. You'll find them on most large aircraft that have a trimable horizontal stab, although the exact markings are different. The -135 has them, too, although if I recall there were only a center mark and two max deflection lines.

Clearly still drunk while editing...but thats all right.

Actually, the flight docs at Brooks AFB did a medical study of U-2 pilots back in the 80s and found little evidence of anything serious. I think the focus of the study was really on long term effects from flying at very low cockpit pressures (the "bends", etc), but they interviewed every pilot they could find, young and old, to get medical histories. Bottom line, as I recall, was that the U-2 population was pretty much in line with the overall AF pilot population with regard to medical issues. That was pretty interesting because the early crew force did a lot of post-nuclear test air sampling in the 50s and 60s when everybody was testing in the atmosphere, and they were also interestied in seeing if that was noticible. It wasn't...the aircraft structure and the pressure suit were apparently enough to shield the body from any stray gamma radiation in the residual airborne debris. The only health problems I recall were generally caused by excessive intake of alcohol and tended toward hangovers, sprains, and fractures!

1. Use the letters, not some made-up word. 2. Its free. You can take it where ever is best for you. Some people feel the ROTC units are a little less stressful, but frankly there isn't much difference. Distance may be a factor. You can usually schedule via the ROTC dets yourself, while MEPS arrangements are done via the recruiter in most cases. 3. I'm not sure about the TBAS...I think that's a recruiter-scheduled event.

The answer is partly due to the fact that people don't get promoted, promotion folders do! If they can keep the boss happy and keep the gold stars coming from above, nobody below them gets to vote on the promotion. By the time you get to be fairly senior, there are only two types of people left...really good ones, and really bad ones.

I was driving by the building enroute to Crystal City and saw all the smoke. I knew something had happened, but at that point all I could think of was that a helicopter had gone in next to the VIP pad. My next door neighbor had left in his summer whites (Navy) and returned that evening in a uniform that reminded me of a USMA cadet uniform...grey and black. His office was in the D ring just to the right of the impact and had to crawl through the building wreckage to get to safety. One of my former UPT studs was dead center on the second floor of the D ring and was killed.

The plans are stored in the wastebasket...

While I personally have no knife in this fight, I think we may want to be a little cautious about the discussions on this thread. Opinions on leadership may be one thing, but verturing too far into the personal allegations may not be too good of an idea from a legal standpoint.

I believe the investigation found that the pilot screwed up. I can't remember the exact details, but he either mis-computed the takeoff thrust setting or the aircraft was heavier than it was supposed to be. Pilot error in any case.

Its all about creating a public perception. In the 70s and earlier, they were RPVs (the old AQM-34 Firebee Recce drones). In the 90s, the newer technology was very different and the proponants wanted to differentiate them so they created the term UAV. About five years ago they went to UAS to help promote the concept as an entire system, not just an aircraft. Lately, the fear of the independent-minded killer drone bothers people, so I think they're trying to reinforce that there is still a man in the loop, so we're back to RPV! As for a "motivated force", it depends on your perception. I know some of the UAV guys and they are very motivated. On the other hand, some aren't. But I can say the same about AETC instructors and C-5 pilots. Even a few of my U-2 brethren were, in my opinion, somewhat less than fully motivated a few years ago.

Not recently that I know of (unless you call the Marines a different nation). In the early days there were some Brits in the program, but that was 50s and 60s.

Heck, the T-38 will do the same thing high. There just aren't enough spare air molecules to burn gas or create drag. I can remember my studs getting nervous on an overtake and chop the power to the 80% mark for a few seconds. Its a lesson they learned quickly...it took five minutes just to get the formation back together. Of course "high" in that case was about FL300...

I think if it were a perfect world I'd start with an OV-10 concept (twin engine, good load and loiter) make sure I had reasonably powerful engines for high altitude use, and especially redesign the exhaust routing to avoid those God-awful bronze heater magnets easily visible from the ground (on either the OV, AT-6, or Tucano). But, there aren't many perfect worlds...

Pardon my cynical beltway mentality, but by the time they get done drafting this "requirement", it'll probably wind up the size and complexity of the B-2, when all they need is an upgraded OV-1 or OV-10-like aircraft.

Well, this just goes to show that there ARE lasting health affects from too much KoolAid.

So? If you were on alert today and the sector scrambled you and drove you all over Florida chasing ghosts, you'd be doing your "duty" and getting free flying time. No harm, no foul (for you). Hopefully this kind of thing doesn't happen often, as it certainly raises questions about the competency of the AD controllers!

Also, keep in mind that the JAX Guard was responding exactly in accordance with their mission guidance from the scope dopes at Ft. Lee, and we were complying exactly with the procedures set out by the Fragord put out by SAC and the Joint Staff, so we were both squeeky clean. I have no idea what happened up at the sector center when they figured out their controllers couldn't read their scopes correctly for a solid week. It may not have been so humorous up there!

Easy...it wasn't the AF, it was the Guard (flying F-106s at the time). They love to fly and the pilots get some kind of extra active duty credits while the Florida Guard got free flying hours when the active AF scrambles them. They were loving it! Of course, that was 1983, not 2009...25 years does make a difference. But then again, we didn't come home with pine trees in our wings, like Chuck Yeager did, and laugh about it. Times were changing then, too.

Holy crap. The 727 pilot, BC Thomas, is an old U-2 and SR-71 pilot from the 70s. I flew and worked with him quite a bit!

Ha. That reminds me of another one. When we got involved MTW-Grenada we were flying U-2s out of Patrick. We'd launch and file a delay once we cleared the ADIZ, but we really didn't know exactly when we'd be back due to ops requirements...that is, no pre-defined ADIZ penetration return time on our ICAO flight plans (which the AD people then couldn't match in the computer because there was no specified track ID/call sign for our flights). We'd just call up Miami Center on the way back in when we got to their airspace and they knew who we were. Well, apparently it turned out nobody at Miami told the Air Defense (AD) people in that sector about our return (or the AD people screwed up the notification), and we were't squawking or providing Mode-C outside Miami's airspace, which was well inside the ADIZ. The pilots were constantly hearing calls on guard for some aircraft at 7,ooo' to contact some controller or be intercepted, but didn't pay any attention, since they were well above 7,000'. After about a week we got a call from SAC about our return routes and filing procedures. It turns out that the AD guys were picking us up from raw returns when we put out gear and boards for the descent, but the controllers weren't used to seeing anything that high and mis-read the readout as 7,000' instead of 70,000' on the height-finding radar. For five days they'd been scrambling the JAX guard AD unit who were going nuts trying to find this target off the coast at 7000' and decending. After we finally figured out what was happening, I called the guys at JAX to explain what had happened on our end (assuming the AD center had told them) and apologize. It turns out the AD Center hadn't said a word (it probably would have required them to explain why, and that would have been a little embarrassing). The JAX commander was laughing his ass off as I explained and said they didn't mind at all, the pilots were having a great time on the missions roaring around at low level and the Feds had to pay for all the flying time (since it was a directed scramble) so the Guard unit got all the flying time for free. He said to keep on doing it, but unfortunately HQ SAC had already alerted the AD Center and blew the deal.

I was cruising along on an extended test mission once, heading across Texas in the max range cruise mode at about 59,000 feet. Houston Center called me up and wanted to know why I was below 60, as they had never seen a U-2 "down there". I told him I was doing a "low level". You could hear the whole Center staff laughing in the background before the controller released the mike. Another time there were several of us flying over northern Arizona one day and suddenly the controller realized that in a few minutes we would all be passing over the Prescott area above 60....two U-2s from Davis-Monthan, another U-2 from Palmdale, and an SR from Beale. He got real nervous because he couldn't read out altitudes (the Mode C locks out at FL 600) and the controller's rule book says we were supposed to have 5,000 ft separation when above 60. He quickly started asking us to climb or decend and we all came up and picked altitudes from 60 to 80K. I think I "climbed" from 65 to 75 in about 30 seconds). Actually, nobody moved an inch (we talked to each other on a "company freq", but he didn't know that). One U-2 went below me at about 1000', while the SR went by about 3000' above me (really, really fast!!!). The fourth guy was off to the side and didn't conflict. The controller thanked us profusely for altering our altitudes so quickly to avoid a possible collision. We smiled... By the way, although the airspace above FL 600 is "uncontrolled" (no jet routes or altitude assignments), in the CONUS it is still monitored by ARTCC and the aircraft squawk and flight follow with them for safety's sake.

As much basic knowledge as possible (a private pilot ground school course would help if you can swing it and haven't already done it), DA-20 flight manual/operating info, gouge on DA-20 normal and emergency procedures (elsewhere on this site), etc. You should know the bold-face EPs before you walk in the door. http://dossifs.com/usaf/Docs/DA20_BOLDFACE.pdf