Prosuper

The real question is how a guy with no military flying training get into a Mirage and fly it. Sounds like the story of a Marine Crew Chief who applied for a commission and pilot training numerous times and kept being denied. After his last chance he said screw it stole his A-4 and got some stick time, went to the brig, discharged and had a long successful career as a civilian pilot. There are numerous Enlisted maintainers who have to go the simulator to stay engine run qualified once a year, after emergency procedures especially if it's a heavy and the mx guys have a ton of experience we got through our requal quick and spent the rest of the time flying it (E-3). Some guys were awful and some guys had the talent to land it every time. One guy was real good at doing AR's, pretty good with no formal training. There are a bunch of enlisted who busted their butt to get a degree, do all the paperwork to apply but are in certain career fields the USAF deem critical and are stuck and get denied. I can guarantee the first time a young kid goes to an air show a dreams it is not about being a Crew Chief. Being nearsighted I was forever denied the chance to have a future of getting paid to fly, now to all the rated guys here pray to your creator for thanks that everything fell into place to have those wings pinned upon your chest.

Japan has more DDG's than anybody, if anybody has a interest in keeping those straights open it's them. Plus if they do it they can dictate terms to China, which will bring up old old old grudges.

No money either to support Hamas and Hezbollah, so no more rockets flying out of Gaza. Will they be crossing into Afghanistan to retaliate , they have regular airline service to Mazar E Sharif (OAMS).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis, I was wrong one Frigate sunk another damaged and towed to port. 3 Speedboats destroyed and two oil Iranian platforms damaged.

With Iranian internal problems could this be a ploy to unite everyone against the great Satan? The ruling junta in Argentina tried this before by invading the Falklands in 1982. Did not turn out to well. Just thinking out loud. Last time back in the 80's we sent most of the Iranian blue water Navy to the bottom.

To be fair the Air Force does a poor job of getting rated officers ready to command anything with a large amount of enlisted. If a single seater the only time you deal with them is on the flight line mx, debrief, intel, and medical. Its not until your a O5 do you have to deal with a knucklehead standing tall giving you a reporting statement at your desk. If you have a good First shirt he helps keep stupid stuff off your desk. In the middle part of my career I was in the 89th at Andrews, there were nothing but NCO's and it was easy going. Then I went to KC-135 mx unit with young Airmen , it was a slap in the face having young shitheads right out high school to stop acting like they were in still in high school .

yep, on the bottom about the middle of the fuselage, depending on the moosehead on the refueling truck you have to take it completely off by releasing spring loaded pins. Worked a TA contract for 9 years.

Killing Japanese didn't bother me very much at that time... I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal.... Every soldier thinks something of the moral aspects of what he is doing. But all war is immoral and if you let that bother you, you're not a good soldier. There are no innocent civilians. It is their government and you are fighting a people, you are not trying to fight an armed force anymore. So it doesn't bother me so much to be killing the so-called innocent bystanders. Curtis Lemay

Miss marked, that is for more cow bell sounder.

Most of them ended their service lives as target drones at Tyndall.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2542821662?view=permalink&id=10157244247471663 I wonder if this happened with the boomers looking through VR goggles if the second delay would have ended in disaster.

Working in the MRO world that had military contracts I'm surprised that DCMA is not getting the third set of eyes when ever a critical part was paneled up. I hear mechanics at Boeing use their own tools, I did to when working contracts but my toolbox had to have the same standards as your Crew Chiefs when you step to the jet, 100% accountability, inventory and shadowing. My supervisor and myself both signed off the inventory everyday. This sounds like that the penny counters program managers have thrown out quality, FOD free because that takes time and sacrificed it for roll times on time and delivery dates no matter what.

I hope the the other 79 welcomed him home with a goblet of 1896 vintage Cognac.

It sounds like a KC-135E that crashed on approach to Geilenkirchen, stab trim run away , left the rest of the remaining fleet looking for serviceable jackscrew units. 737 jurassics had a problem with its rudder going full deflection on approach causing a snap roll, later found that the power control unit fluid got so hot it caused it to lock up.

Damn, and I was thinking of growing hemp instead of corn

Lots of WW2 USAAF /RAF bomber crews who bailed out over Germany got the same treatment from the locals before the Luftwaffe got to them. Probably the same with Japan, fire bombing pisses people off.

Those harvest falcons were bad enough. I'm waiting when they give female recruits buzz cuts and the same physical requirements before I call it gender neutral.

Is it just a additional duty? Don't the mx guys belong to the Wings AMXS sq and report to that SQCC and does the pilot still attached to a flying Sq?

With all the updates and the landing gear hydraulic system isn't one of them.

Correct

Had to keep 2 KC-10's rapped up like that for months as we proofed the new RVSM upgrades. This what happens when finance guys design airplanes.

Anything we do for the Kurds is predicated by what the Turks can stomach. Even though they run northern Iraq more or less with anatomy the Turks always will be a threat to them and visa versa. During the Provide Comfort days we would have to abort our operations whenever Turkey turned off the JTIDS link. At what lengths did Mattis want to protect the Kurds, lock horns with the Turks and push Erdogen into the Russian camp?

We are more or less energy independent now with fracking technology bringing the break even price to a little better than $20 a barrel. The ME oil is east Asia's and Europe's customers now. If the Iranians and KSA lock horns and go after each others oil fields it will be the Chicoms job to get the oil flowing again. I find this video quite informative. BTW, the price for a gallon of gas in OKC is $1.77 give or take.

Plus all your mx folks got to do is fix jets, nothing else, no PME, no swing or mid shift, no weekend duty. They can have a family life and close the flightline down every other Wed for in house training. Contractors lube and wash the jets. All parts coming from the depots are good and jets don't ever break. Debriefs are professional between pilot and mechanic not officer vs enlisted. Sounds like the Civil air patrol.

No it is not, the FAA has no authority here. We are set up in a Group with AMXS Sq's for each MDS. Standard USAF MX rules as per AFI 121-101. Backshop units are in a Commodities Sq. Buffoonery and Fuckery in abundance, some of us actually fix jets to so we can sleep at night. If these jets were at other contractors sights they would go by part 145 rules and have also a GFR (for tool control)and DCMA witnessing and signing after each critical phase of MX. But most of us have a Airframe and Powerplant certificate to at least get us a job. Was working the part 145 side for awhile but I prefer steady work and paychecks, chasing contract after contract gets old. But fret not there are scores of us who care about what we do and we know who doesn't, with the civil servant rules it takes ages to fire a employee.