Bigred

I doubt it’s a cost thing because the Navy doesn’t require 10 years, and I doubt they have the WalMart brand F-18s just to save money. When I was in Navy flight school, after winging helo guys only had a seven year comittment, everyone else had eight. They changed it to eight for everyone around 2006-7. If I were to guess, the AF set it at 10 because they felt that’s what they could get dudes to agree to without negatively impacting accessions. I know if I was 22 and told I had to sign a 20 year contract, I have said hell no.

That just sounds like a copilot but with extra steps. If the AF was gonna go to the trouble of training and manning a squadron with a co-Nav, then might as well go ahead and put an actual copilot in the seat instead.

Something overlooked is the single seat vs crewed aircraft mentality. I’ve flown some version of crewed aircraft since 2007. This year I switched to a single seat airframe and I just finished a T38 qualification. The stick and rudder was fairly easy, however the part that absolutely kicked my butt was getting past 15 years of crew mentality. That included things like not having the other dude talking on the radio, setting up approaches, running checklists, dealing with emergencies, etc. In a perfect world, a single pilot can fly the -46 without issue. When shit gets busy, it’ll be sketch at best, to downright dangerous, for that pilot to deal with the issues happening with the jet, and this whole experiment is geared towards the SHTF scenario. Without a lot of practice, I’d hazard to bet the guy flying the -46 by himself will have some subconscious crewed aircraft habits creep back in, which could be disastrous. And no offense to booms, I’ve flown with some really sharp dudes, but a boom isn’t the same as a pilot. The boom can help but it’s not the same as having another pilot in the seat. TLDR; crewed to single piloted ops is not as simple as it seems.

Learning has occurred, thank you.

i was stationed in USAFE during the entirety of COVID and sat in on wing and UK level discussion about vaccinated airmen. I can say it was less about having folks vaccinated to prevent illness and more about meeting myriad restrictions on entering various countries. For a while, we only had a few crews who could go to any country and that was mission impacting. I say all of that because I would imagine a big part of the CENTCOM rule was so personnel didn’t deploy (assuming the HN even let them in country) and get stuck in mission limiting quarantine because they didn’t meet HN requirements.

So there’s this whiny FGO in my squadron that seems like he doesn’t want to fly with me. I’m the DO, and I have a ‘go-fly’ list of people I want to fly with. I specifically ask Skeds to put us together, but every time we end up on the schedule together he takes “emergency” leave or says he can’t clear his ears. I’m pretty much the best pilot in the squadron, if not the wing, so I know I can show him a thing or two. When I talk to my life-size doll of Robin Olds, (that I keep in my office) his mustache speaks to me and says I should just smash his soul out of his body. Oh whatever should I do? These damn millennials…

I’d argue the Russians are actually pretty good at the gray zone stuff because they use people who want to do it, plus the Russians are good at being sneaky. It’s the full frontal, conscript-manned war that we are watching Russia implode upon.

With Mini’s order that the 46 is now combat deployable, I wonder how the AF can keep pressing Boeing to fix deficiencies? Seems like it’d be hard to say it still needs fixed if they are considered combat ready.

Around 2016 the Navy tried getting rid of all job titles with ‘man’ in them, bucking 200+ years of tradition. It was quickly rescinded as the outrage from the enlisted was enormous.

Can a 46 pilot reach all critical items from one seat? Using the -135 as an example, there’s some things critical during emergencies that can’t be reached from the pilot’s seat, and vice Versa. I’m curious with the 46, if the boom is doing boom things and only a single pilot up front, could said pilot deal with every EP without assistance?

SDAP is taxable.

One year. You can request extensions in 6 month intervals up to three years, but those requests aren’t guaranteed to be approved.

When I went to Altus to learn the tanker I left my family at my previous duty station. I used myPers to submit a BAH waiver to get BAH at my previous duty station and it was all handled, and approved, through myPers. It was actually fairly easy. I was TDY so I still got the normal TDY entitlements. That said, you’re guard so it might be different.

Rank/power doesn’t change someone, it exposes them. If they are toxic as an O-6 then they were toxic before, it’s just no one noticed.

One solution would be to take the signed OPR and submit it as part of a letter to the board. Not the correct way but it’ll ensure it gets in. Just make sure to adhere to it getting there 10 business days prior to convening rule.

It’s hard to tell if the amn/nco/snco page is for or against the Col, but it’s a fun read regardless.

Let them learn to grease a Cessna 140 and they’ll never have tail wheel landing issues. Those spring steel main mounts still give me nightmares, and the former French Mirage pilot teaching me couldn’t stop laughing as he counter landings as we bounced down the runway.

The H-60 isn’t single pilot rated but we took guys up on fam flights all the time. The how, we had to get approval from the CC and it had to be an EP as the AC.

As of spring ‘22 the -46 couldn’t be used on CED deployments, only TDY trips. It’s why the -135 crews were getting worked hard in EUCOM. I think the AMC/CC should focus on getting that fixed first before worrying about something like this.

I know quite a few and they all did a rotational gig. Making $250k+ a year for usually 3 or 6 months at a time and then not working the other 3 or 6 months isn’t a bad deal.

Any word on public release date?

It depends of course, but in your example if it were allegations/rumors, then the cause wouldn’t be released. It would take said Skipper needing to be charged with a UCMJ violation. Now, what leaks out is a totally different story.

To answer the point of the article, it’s a privacy act concern. CDR Lesaca was relieved for DUI. The rest of the reliefs, if it didn’t cross the threshold of a crime or UCMJ violation, cannot be disclosed, even though they may significant enough to get themselves fired.

Can't speak to the guard slot, but if you wanna fly, and this is a chance, take the opportunity! F*ck what people think of contractors flying and take advantage of the opportunity.

I hear this counter argument quite a bit, it’s not an apples to apples comparison. There’s a reason why the FAA changed the minimum hours needs for the ATP, and why a restricted ATP exists. Inexperienced guys were bending metal and killing people and it made the FAA realize that 250 hour first officers was dangerous. Airlines don’t teach guys with ~200 hours, they teach guys with minimum of 750 hours for prior military, or 1,000-1,500 hours for civilians, depending on how they got those hours. That’s potentially ~550-1250 hours more than a dude right out of flight school. That extra flight time makes a huge difference. The airlines sim is more of a top off for an already experienced pilot instead of teaching a brand new pilot how to fly the plane in actual airspace while refining their airmanship.