[What's wrong with the Air Force?]

Anecdotally, it seems to me more fixed wing guys ball it up during the admin phase, and more rotary wing guys ball it up in the terminal/tactical phase. I don't recall the last time I heard of a pointy nose type not pulling out on dive delivery, but I have heard of plenty planting it short of the runway. Conversely, I have friends no longer with us who have drove straight into the dirt trying to infil or use guns down low.

I'm not saying one is better or worse than the other, but in my memory that's what stands out.

 

 

[Marine 130/35 swap paint]

8 hours ago, slacker said:

Their MEL, essentially, is if it can fly, we'll take it.

 

Most aircraft in Naval aviation are that way. Required equipment mostly mirrors the FAR/AIM for flight conditions your going into, the rest of the equipment is up to the discretion of the AC. In 14 years in the Navy, after signing for the aircraft, I never asked my boss for permission/waiver to fly for something broken.
 

It was always a discussion between me and  maintenance on what the broken part meant to the aircraft, but the final call was up to me. 

 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

1 hour ago, Homestar said:

Also everyone realized they didn’t want to fly like a Lt when they were a 40 y/o passed over Major (deployments, triple turning, etc). 
 

The irony is I want to fly like that and it’s like pulling teeth to get on the schedule more. 🤷‍♂️

[It's Official, OCPs are Coming!]

On 10/22/2020 at 3:15 AM, 08Dawg said:

Plus, Nike makes some stupid comfortable boots. 

Danner makes a helluva comfortable boot that is really similar to the Nike. 

[Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP - The Bonus)]

14 hours ago, TexanDriver8 said:

Hey guys, I have a very specific question for the peanut gallery; it only applies to Reserve AGR flyers so if you're not one you can scroll on. 

BACKGROUND: I had significant difficulties getting my orders extended to 20 despite having been granted career status (another long story) that led to my being unable to apply for AvB under the FY20 bonus before midnight 30 Sept.  Therefore, I won't be able to sign the FY21 bonus until it comes out in (I'm being told) June of '21.  On the reserve side, my airframe has achieved excellent manning levels (AGR), therefore I anticipate between that and the airline situation, the bonus is going away for me in '21.  This means that because of delays caused by ARPC I am liable to lose out on $140K worth of bonus, all due to bureaucratic incompetence. 

GET TO THE POINT: (Again, Reserve AGR Only) Does anyone know of any circumstances in which a waiver for the bonus signup cutoff requirement was granted?  Has anyone lawyered up?  Do you think I should after exhausting all the normal lines of effort?  Just thought I'd ask the hive mind, this is a pretty huge bummer.

So, I’m active, not AGR, but hopefully this helps. 

Did you actually submit an application for the bonus through the MyPers website (does ARPC do it that way?)

I ask because I transferred from the Navy in Aug19 and immediately asked AFPC about the bonus. Due to admin stuff associated with my transfer, the lady running the program couldn’t get me paperwork to sign until Oct 19,!well after the cutoff date. Since I had applied online before the cutoff date, I was allowed to remain on the FY19 program even though I didn’t have an approved application until after the due date.

 

[Helicopter T-6A Instructor Pilots]

1 minute ago, SocialD said:

 

From my understanding, that's how it was done back in the day.  A fairly prolific poster on here went through UPT-H and ended up transitioning to the Hog and later became a WIC IP.  I think I remember him mentioning some form fixed wing qual course.  That said, I have no opinion on this because I don't know shit about flying helos.   I'm sure someone else has better info about his. 

 

Anyone know whatever happened to Rainmain?

Obviously the Army has it figured out since they teach only helo flying with no previous fixed wing time, but I think learning how to fly planes first helped me be a better helo pilot. Plus, considering how few helo pilots there are in the AF (in the grand scheme) it seems better suited to getting a quality spread of pilots into the aircraft. 
 

 

[Helicopter T-6A Instructor Pilots]

5 hours ago, Breckey said:

Yes but it's rare. There are usually 2-3 Helo guys that go through PIT every year. Our "normal" white jet tour is Ft. Rucker. This may change in the future though with the idiotic plan to have helo guys not going to T-6s.

The AF is doing this? Damn that’s a bad idea. Are the helo guys just gonna sign a contract with the AF to go straight helos and not worry about class drops, etc?

[is it worth dropping everything I am doing for military aviation ?]

I’ve known guys who got their medical degree when they were 50. You can’t start out as a military pilot much older than early 30s.

My advice, pursue the flying. 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

Looks like line numbers are popping into MyPers now. 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

34 minutes ago, Zag Em said:

Promotion Increments for 1 Nov & 1 Dec are loaded to MyPers .... Officers Promotions --> (scroll down for) Increments to Lt Col 

 

EDIT: Forgot part 2 ... CC's/SR's have your specific line numbers, otherwise it should flow thru MILPDS to vMPF (Career Data Brief) within 24-48 hrs. 

Unless I'm missing it, the CY20B board isn't showing on the increments yet?

Copy on the line number, I'll ask my CC!

[Promotion and PRF Information]

Not that anyone will be pinning on anytime soon until the Senate confirms, but how long till we find out our line numbers? Off my date of rank I'm pretty senior but I'm curious how this much this merit based reorder will affect that.

 

 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

1 hour ago, bennynova said:

How is everyone getting notified?

 

phone call?   Video call?  In person?

 

 

I’m deployed and my home unit commander called me on Wednesday afternoon to let me know. 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

1 hour ago, celtic020 said:

Anyone hearing their O-5 results?  

Call it a win; #3/9, P, "one more DP to give", and IDE in-correspondence complete

[Promotion and PRF Information]

Calls are going out.

[Marine 130/35 swap paint]

Buddy of mine was flying the Navy helo that picked up the F-35 pilot. The dude walked to the helo from his parachute and was freaking out because he thought there was no way the C-130 could've kept flying. Incredible work by the aircrew to get this thing on the ground.

 

*Edit* ATC audio as well. Around the 2:30 mark, the C-130 pilot sounds surprisingly calm for having just lost two of his four propellers. https://www.liveatc.net/recordings.php

 

 

[What's wrong with the Air Force?]

21 minutes ago, BFM this said:

I must be missing the reference.

Ah, I clicked on the link and the picture was fixed. The original picture was of a KC-135 cockpit and the tag line was something like "B-52 crew prepares for a flight".

[What's wrong with the Air Force?]

Edited as the picture was fixed!

[Promotion and PRF Information]

32 minutes ago, 14N Guy said:

I like this idea. I would take a step further and open it up to anybody that wants to do it, versus only allowing the top 20%. I would also tie in an option for folks do a career intermission to go to an in-person school for a Master's degree. I think one of the big problems facing the military is that we don't bring in a lot of the tools/ideas that work in the civilian sector, and that's because most leaders haven't been exposed to them. 

 

I did the ACSC OLMP and I enjoyed it. I won a research award (i got my name on a plaque at Maxwell), but, because it wasn't in-residence, it literally gained me nothing career-wise. So why does the AF currently offer this program if promotion boards/senior leaders don't feel they are worth the effort they ask folks to put into them?

Don’t the OSBs only say IDE/SDE complete now? No mention of in residence or correspondence. 
 

Not sure about masters degrees since those are masked till O-6 anyways. 

[The new airline thread]

Ever send an email to finance or comm and your issue get fixed right away? Compare that to going into said office and standing there in front of the person’s desk till it’s fixed? 
 

Virtual is good but it can’t replace the impact of face to face. 

[F-15 Down in North Sea - 15 Jun 20]

5 hours ago, Sprkt69 said:

Including all privileged information?

When I still flew helos the squadron I was in made it a point to get sister services mishap reports, to include the privileged info. Sometimes the other safety offices would initially balk but we would always end up getting the full reports.

 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

4 hours ago, BigWing said:

Wow, actually some movement this week. It's with USD (P&R) as of the 16th. Looks like past board public release was ~2 weeks give or take from this point. 

Probably wait till week of 28 Sep at the earliest to avoid any overshadowing with the SSgt release next week. 

[Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP - The Bonus)]

42 minutes ago, Techsan said:

Correct. Annual payment. Should be 2 deposits: $19,500 & $7,800.

Interesting, I just get one lump payment for all of it. 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

6 hours ago, jazzdude said:

Anyone know what the other services are doing with promotions? My understanding was that the AF traditionally tends to promote faster and with higher opportunity (for the FGO ranks), so the recent changes to promotions affected us more.

My interaction with both navy and army peers was that they were much more concerned about making O-4, and the army O-4s were concerned about making O-5. It doesn't sound like the other services continue passed over officers like we do either, especially the army. On the other hand, as an AF pilot, retirement send pretty much achievable as long as you don't elect to separate.

Can't speak for the Army, but in the Navy it was virtually unheard of to promote BTZ. About 10 years ago there was ~5 guys that did select BTZ to O-4 and they all struggled and most failed to make the subsequent rank. I think there was 1 dude last year that was BTZ to O-4, so it's rare.

Making O-4 is the goal simply to be able to retire, the Navy has for years let O-4s get to 20.

For comparison, last year the Navy promoted ITZ at about 70% to O-4 and about 60% to O-5.

My understanding of the merit based reordering is that the decision on who goes where was made at the board. If Generals are bickering now about who goes where that's just absurd. Not saying it's not happening, it just defeats the intent of the FY-18 NDAA that authorized it.

*Edit to add that my info is for pilots. 

[Promotion and PRF Information]

The annoying part, if it is the reordering that’s delaying it, is that other services have already implemented the process without any issues like this.

[Air Refueling]

1 hour ago, Breckey said:

2 hours ago, norskman said:

Refit with boom

And have an MC rate in the single digits.

That’s a Navy Osprey, affectionately known as a plopter. Not sure if their availability rate is better than ours.

The Navy ‘plans’ to use it as a COD replacement but I have a strong feeling it’s going to end up doing a helluva lot more than just ass and trash back and forth from the boat.