HiFlyer

Perhaps an issue of semantics. Being tailored (syllabus designed for) for zero time students is not the same as meaning experience is not valuable. While the program is tailored to zero timers that does not mean that previous flying time doesn't help you in several ways (flight proficiency, technique, knowledge of the FAA system, etc.). Lack of previous flight experience deprives you of a comfort factor, places a work load on you that a more experienced student may not have, and adds to the stress. However, the program is set up such that a zero timer can succeed if he/she applies himself/herself diligently, and many do. I believe that a pretty hefty percentage of pilot applicants have some prior flight time (given the competition for slots), but I suspect the CSO and RPA studs don't, and they still make it through with a respectable success rate if they apply themselves and don't throw in the towel because of the pressure (it is a screening program, after all, so that is exactly the way its supposed to work). I made it thru a similar progam many years ago, my son succeeded at IFS, and both of us agree that the key was to take it very seriously and work your ass off (I had no time, he had a PPL). Those who don't do so from the start risk getting behind and there's little time to catch up. Ultimately its up to the individual to recognise the training situation and respond, or risk washing out regardless of whether "flying" is easy or not.

I've done both, too. As I recall, the -40 feels a little less "flighty" and doesn't float quite so much, and the speeds are about 5 kts faster because gross weight is a little higher, but neither are huge factors in the feel.

"PPL Trap" is probably intended by the writer to mean the false conclusion that just because you already know how to fly (have a PPL) that you can sail through IFS without much effort. As noted earlier, IFS is not really about flying, its about learning to learn the AF way. Actual flying is not the only issue you'll have to deal with. The same thing sometimes happens at UPT, when some higher time civilian pilots assume thay can coast through the program, only to fall behind and have a hard time catching up (and recouping lost IP points for having a bad attitude!).

Sounds a little odd.. Normally an FCF profile is written in the -6 (or whatever nomenclature they now use) and there are specific checklist cards for the flight data. The "off-handedness" of the discussion doesn't sound right. Even if it was an inexperienced guy on his first FCF, the cards should have dictated the specific FCF profile, unless it wasn't an official FCF...just an inflight check of some specific maintenence item.

We had lots of IPs with a SEA tours; probably half our IP force. They were almost all pretty low key about it. Besides, it wasn't "post-Vietnam" with Raz...it was 1968. I guess that would be "mid-Vietnam".

He was a kick in the ass as my T-37 IP at Willy, too!

Normally, acquisition contracts like this (first time buy of a developed foreign product) cover more than just the aircraft, so dividing the cantract amount by the airplane numbers is misleading. I'm sure there's a chunk of spare parts included (normally several years worth), vartious types of aircraft specific ground equipment, engineering support and tech rep services, pubs development to USAF standards, initial training services for ground crews and maintenance people, etc. That all adds up on the first contract. I suspect that a follow-on buy would show a much lower aircraft cost the second time around, as all that other stuff would be contracted via separate methods. While the AT-6 may be advertised (by the builder) at a lower cost, that cost probably is the airframe cost, not including all the extra stuff.

Well, maybe things haven't changed so much after all. You'll notice the mustache was gone a few days later when he had to go to Saigon and meet the Generals on the 7th AF staff!

Simple... a. It was in the pre-reflective belt days b. It hadn't started to wind down in Vietnam yet ('69 when he got the job) and political correctness hadn't settled in yet. c. He was an asshat and didn't give a flip about the rules once he took over, so things looked good from the outside for a while.

Also, look around your area for a used book store. They sometimes have flying instruction books and they can be 50-75% off the "new" price. Amazon also sells used books on its web site.

I stand corrected. I guess my info was based off the A-models.

I think the main reason the "50 year old OV-10 Broncos" are becoming available is that they are old, are running into sustainability problems (lack of spare parts), and are structurally used up. Most of the current owners are trying to replace them.

I already posted my stories. You'll have to find them... Here's a few http://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/index.php?/topic/16608-u-2-dead-stick-landing-1959/ a few more... and finally...

If you also talk to the billeting office (the Laughlin Manor), you may be able to reserve a furnished TLF or other temporary quarters for you when you arrive (depends on if there are any available) and are waiting for a base house. If there's one available, I think you can stay for 30 days. After that, there may be other options or you may have to find a hotel until a house is available. If your furniture arrives first, they'll store it until a house is available. Some numbers that might help: Housing (830) 298-5732/3, Laughlin Manor (830) 298-5731, TMO (830) 298-5189/5178. DSN prefix is 732-xxxx

Simple. There was no driving need to actually use it (as opposed to ways it could have been used) and the COCOM didn't request it, so the AF didn't send it. Its not about whether or not it could have been used, it was all about the COCOM not needing to use it. Practice, not theory.

To quote the directions... "DA-20 Boldface Be able to write this boldface verbatim when you arrive." Verbatim means exactly the way the example depicts!

HiFlyer not = Huggy... They bust it because either they didn't read the pre-arrival letter in the DOSSIFS web site ( www.dossifs.com) which tells them what they need to do, or they didn't put the time in to actually learn them. Also, if you had read the info on the web site, you wouldn't have to ask where the BF and Ops limits are.

That used to be the case, but both the Guard and AFRS have modified their processes over the last year or two and I'm not sure what their current policy is. For the AD guys, they normally go to their UPT base, then get their IFS class assignment from there as a TDY, so maybe the Reserve guys do it that way also.

IFS is done after OTS but before your UPT class starts. For AD you go TDY from your UPT base...I'm not sure how AFRS schedules it.

When you get right down to it, the Cmdr's ranking is virtually 100% of your score. Why? Because history says that over the course of training, most stuff averages out except for one or two people at the very top and very bottom. Average check scores over the phase are pretty close, average academics scores are pretty close, "officership" is pretty close, and when lumped together, they tend to cancel each other out. So, the Flight Commander's rating becomes the real discriminator. You pretty much get what the IPs and Flight Commander want to give you based on their opinions! Bottom line: attitude is everything...don't piss off the boss!!!!

Personally, I've flown with enough students who've turned a one G barrel role into a 4 G nose low pullout four or five thousand feet below where they started (and not on their first try either). I'd be real worried about a guy who tried it the first time with a combat loaded airframe with four guys on-board. If they survive, the scenario goes: they do it a couple of more times, by the next week its all over the squadron. Supervision doesn't step in so a few more adventurous souls try. Then somone tries something else just a little more exciting, or dicks up the recovery. Pretty soon there's a smoking hole in the ground. Its happened more than once. The only variation in the pattern is time and airframe. There's a lot of difference between a test or demonstration pilot doing an extreme maneuver in a lightly loaded airframe under tightly controled conditions and a line pilot trying something out of limits with a loaded aircraft. What can be done is not the same as what should be done. Like several others here, I doubt if this was only related to the MC-12 incident...I suspect its a reaction to a number of dumb stunts in the last year or two. By the way, I've met Robin Olds and swapped stories at the bar with him. If he had been the commander of this unit I think he would have ripped the skin off a kid who did something like this, but his people knew that too, so they didn't.

Doss Aviation IFS is an FAA flight school, not a military unit, and is manned with civilian flight instructors. I think most have prior military experience from the AF or Navy, but maybe not all. Co-located is a small AF training squadron (1st Flying Training Sqdn, I believe) with a few military IPs who monitor the training, provide contract oversight, and fly a little to provide quality control, fly elimination checks, etc. However, the syllabus is constructed to mirror the UPT training process and is run that way by all the IPs. You can read about it at www.dossifs.com

Ha. That reminds me of my days at Laughlin back in the early 70s, where our "OG" (then called the DO) was discovered to be he highest time pilot in all of ATC one year. He was dual-qual'd in the 37 & 38 and flew 3 or 4 times a day, even when the weather was bad. He'd show up at 5AM, grab a student and go fly a "weather check", then go to the other squadron and do it again...two sorties by 0900 while no other wheel was turning on the whole base. Needless to say, the stud never got to touch the stick most of the time. We got calls from Houston Center wanting to know why that "Rake 02" guy was flying when all the weather reports were below minimums! Somehow he always "found a hole" (the rest of us couldn't even see the ramp!). Then he'd go down to his office to work for a while and show up again at 1400 for more sorties. He had something like 1600 hours in one year. He was a heck of a stick, but sure did draw a lot of attention He also had some great war stories about flying F-82 Twin Mustangs in Korea!

Better than the bright yellow they used to be painted!

For a new guy, IFS is a no-nonsense screening course that shouldn't be taken lightly. You need to show up on day one ready to go. - I'd suggest you go to the IFS websight at www.dossifs.com and read it carefully. There are several types of pre-arrival requirements (administrative things and study req'ts) that require you to submit things before you go. Knowing what you need to do in advance can make it all go much more smoothly. - It would also help to get some addtional flying time before you go if you can. I'd recommend finding a place that uses the Diamond DA20 as their training aircraft, as that's what you'll fly at IFS. There are lots of procedural things about the IFS profile (exact ways to fly to training areas, ways to talk to people, etc) so if you don't have to worry inflight as much about basic flying (heading, altitude, airspeed, patterns and landings, etc) you'll be able to focus more on the procedures. You don't need a PPL, but flying up to the solo point (about 15 hours most places) might help a lot. - Washouts in the IFS program are not uncommon, especially on the CSO side where many people haven't had much prior flight training. Occasionally its from lack of proficiency, but more often its from a poor attitude and failure to take the program seriously early on. When you walk in the door, you need to know the DA20 ops limits and bold-face emergency procedures verbatim and without hesitation Both sets of info are on the IFS website, and are an example of attitude. By the way, the information isn't terribly hard to learn, but it is a good "attitude indicator" to the staff about how you've prepared. Like most military flight training programs, there isn't much "catch up time" if you get behind, so don't get behind!! - Oh, yeah. They take the fitness and weight program seriously, too, so be in limits whan you get there.