Puma, this thread is likely locked before we can discuss this more but I had some thoughts about the 89th Airlift Wing.
You obviously preferred the "go fast" division of the Air Force. Maybe you could enlighten us all as to whether you ever thought about the "heavy" side of the Force and indeed, do pilots ever move between the divisions once their initial training is complete.
Also, would you have any idea how often the pilots in the Airlift section get to fly and how many hours a month or a year they might possibly log? I am sure you know where I am going with this. When you joined the airline, I imagine you began logging hours at the 80 per month rate. That was likely supplemented with at least four 4-hour simulator sessions a year? Plus possibly 4 days of re-current groundschool? All that assures a very current and well trained pilot group on each type.
The obvious question.... the VC25 (B747) doesn't fly daily. How does the assigned pilot group stay current? And I hope they are only assigned one type at a time?
Moving between fighters and heavies was and probably still is near impossible. I met a guy in the Six days who started out as a KCM-135 pilot at Griffins AFB. To this day I don’t know how he did it but, he wrangled a cross command transfer (SAC to ADC) to the F-106 squadron on base as a T-33 pilot. His story gets even more bizarre. He was flying a TBird from Griffiss to Loring AFB with a Flight Surgeon in his pit, carrying a part for a broken F-106 at Loring. During cruise, the TBird engine exploded and they both ejected with no injuries. The accident investigation determined that the engine experienced a materiel failure. No pilot fault.
Time marches on and he’s selected for upgrade to the F-106, goes to school, returns, and starts sitting alert. On a flight to Loring to sit alert, he experiences a massive engine failure, ejects successfully, and you guessed it; materiel failure. No pilot fault.
Time continues to march on, the F-106s are starting to phase out and be replaced with F-15s. He wrangles an assignment to Alaska. One day flying his Eagle to somewhere, his jet has a catastrophic engine failure. It was so bad that it also killed the good engine. He ejects successfully. Again, it’s ruled a materiel failure. No pilot fault, again!
It’s very rare for a military pilot to eject from one aircraft during a career, let alone three. The joke was that if he ejected two more times, he’d be the first peacetime ace.
No, I never considered crossing over to heavies. Way too much fun flying fighters.
To your question about the Andrews crews. I’m pretty sure they only fly one Type aircraft, similar to the airlines, due to the complex nature of the jets. I’m not sure how they maintain currency. Maybe simulators? AF One seems to spend a lot of time on the road. So, they may be in relatively good shape for currency. A great question though.
The 80-100 hours a month in the airlines builds time more rapidly than the 12-15 hours a month I averaged in fast movers. In my first assignment as a T-33 driver I averaged 40-50 hours a month and could easily push that to 60+ by going on weekend cross countries.
The 89th is definitely a unique flying unit. It would be most interesting to talk with someone who has flown there.
Hope I answered your questions.
