Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Russian on December 21, 2007, 03:25:10 PM
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(since I've been part of this board for many years and made some good friends here...let me inform you lads)
Yes....I've been selected....shocking, I know.
WOot.
Now to pass medical...finish OTS ....UTP .... :)
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Congratulations! Just don't listen to any advice anyone here gives you on flying, and you should be fine. ;)
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Congrats.... just do opposite of what works in AH and you will be fine.
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nice! congrats!
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Originally posted by Chairboy
Congratulations! Just don't listen to any advice anyone here gives you on flying, and you should be fine. ;)
Ummm :huh
Russian, if you end up at Sheppard make sure you let me know.
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Sheppard Rocks! dont know you but i know you will like it there
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Originally posted by WWhiskey
Sheppard Rocks! dont know you but i know you will like it there
I've on my second tour at Sheppard as a T-37 IP. I'll switch over to the T-6 shortly after they arrive to replace the T-37. Gonna miss the tweet, but the T-6 is a nice plane too.
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Russian,
Congrats on your selection and best of luck in the rest of the process. Study hard, listen to the instructors and work your bellybutton off.
Eagle, it's sad to see the tweet go away but it had a long haul and trained a BUNCH of pilots. Not bad for a Cessna.
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Tell us more Russian. What sort of pilot do you aspire and have you been selected to be?
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Originally posted by AKIron
Tell us more Russian. What sort of pilot do you aspire and have you been selected to be?
He can tell you but then he have to kill you.........
Congrats Dima!
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Originally posted by Maverick
.....Eagle, it's sad to see the tweet go away but it had a long haul and trained a BUNCH of pilots. Not bad for a Cessna.
[hijack] Know what Cessna stands for...?
Cheap
Engineering
Sh_tty
Service
No
Airspeed
:confused:
[/hijack]
LOL
( I work on 'em.....)
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Hawk,
I used to work on them as well. The worst thing I could call someone was to refer to them as a Cessna Engineer. It came up many times when I was fishing around trying to fix some darn part that couldn't be seen or reached with both hands. One of the worst was trying to replace a cotter pin on the shimmy dampner on the front landing gear of a 337. It takes 2 people to replace one cotter pin.
:furious :furious
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Wooohoo! Congratulations Russian :)
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Congrats to you.
A friend of mine busted his butt to get selected but didn't make it. Those spots are far and few to get, lately.
Eagl, the Tweet? We used to have those from time to time down here. The B-52 drivers would hop into one, leave Loring and come to our "big city". Man, those things were terrible to listen to taxi-ing around the ramp.
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Thanks guys. :D
Eagle, sure but it will take sometime....wouldn't that be odd if you teach me :D
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Originally posted by Russian
Eagle, sure but it will take sometime....wouldn't that be odd if you teach me :D
I'll be here for another 2.5 years.
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Originally posted by eagl
I'll be here for another 2.5 years.
In that case I will see you. I looked around and it seems average after selection is nearly 5-6 months. My only main concern is with top secret clearance...that might be a hassle.
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Only if you have something to hide. Are you hiding something? Its ok..everybody hides SOMETHING...you can tell us. We are your friends. Cigarette?
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Originally posted by FiLtH
Only if you have something to hide. Are you hiding something? Its ok..everybody hides SOMETHING...you can tell us. We are your friends. Cigarette?
LMAO!!! :rofl :aok :aok :aok
Russian,
WTG and good luck!
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Originally posted by eagl
I'll be here for another 2.5 years.
I hear your job is gonna get easier over the next year sir. Something about selecting a few hundred less zeros for pilot training.
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Less zeros?
I do know that they're spinning the flight screening program back up, and that should weed out a whole bunch of people who don't need to be in the business. The Italians have a great screening program, and their students tend to do very well except for in instruments, because the language barrier is significantly worse when the flight task involves a lot of work with ground controllers. But it's rare to have an italian wash out for simple flying skills. Yea some are good and some sort of suck, but a lot of the problems they have are caused by having to think too much about the language.
An hour of T-6 instruction supposedly costs about half of an hour of T-37 instruction. I assume that some of the cost savings is eaten back up by the more robust simulators, but still in the long run I think the T-6 will save money. Assuming they can fix some manufacturing glitches... They found some wing spars that may not meet specs so the FAA isn't certifying any new airframes and T-6's already delivered are flying with some operating restrictions. I hope they figure that out in a hurry even if they have to cycle every single T-6 back through the factory for a spar refit.
Outsourcing is a b**ch when the contracted company delivers a couple million bucks worth of defective wing spars... If they have to outright replace the spars, it could turn that whole contract into a massive loss because the problem appears to be that the spars simply do not meet contracted specs or requirements. Gonna be some pissed off investors if that happens.
At least the wings haven't started falling off though.
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Russian is to be an Air Force pilot? Guess we'll see more ejection seat demonstrations in the US now! :D
(J/K of course)
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Big
and Congratulations Russian. Remember, if you have a drivers license, you push a mower. No license you rake and sweep. Btw, watch out for them jet jockey HOers.
:aok
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hated my time at shepard. It made keesler look like maui.
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Originally posted by eagl
Less zeros?
zeros = enlisted slang for officers.
O in the pay grade looks like a zero....
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Originally posted by Gunslinger
zeros = enlisted slang for officers.
O in the pay grade looks like a zero....
Its about what you make after taxes too.
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Ah.
Well, I'm not sure about any downturn in pilot production. There is a shortage of aircraft to fly that's for sure, but they still need officers with rated experience (ie. pilots) to fill an awful lot of non-flying staff jobs.
The current plan is to keep a bunch of F-16s around, send pilots through pilot training, get them 2 or 3 years flying vipers, and then send them to staff jobs or UAVs with very little chance of returning to fly.
That sorta sucks. We're back to spending the smallest percentage of our GNP on defense since pre-WWII at the same time we simply MUST modernize our front line equipment (re: F-15s falling apart). That means we're a few short years away from the proverbial paper force... We'll have all sorts of capabilities on paper, but nobody around with any current skills to actually do anything.
Those nukes that got "lost" at the B-52 base... That sort of thing doesn't happen if your nuke certified folks are current, qualified, and spend an appropriate amount of time training in that mission. Instead, those nuke warriors (maintainers too) are also part-time finance officers, part time personnelists, janitors, painters, amature civil engineers, etc.
So... I wouldn't bet on a drastic reduction in pilot production but then again maybe I'm wrong. I do know that if our washout rate drops because of more effective screening, and if our UPT grads do better in follow-on training due to adjustments in our syllabus with the new T-6 and T-38C, then they won't have to START as many students in training in order to END with fully combat qualified pilots after training.
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Originally posted by Wolfala
Its about what you make after taxes too.
Officer pay isn't all that bad, at least after you make Capt. The biggest problem I see with military pay is that more and more junior enlisted troops are getting married and having kids before they are earning enough to support a family. The pay scale has increased, but the social dynamics have shifted a LOT faster than I think many people thought.
Back in the day, a first shirt would do almost anything required to keep a 17 yr old recruit from marrying his 16 year old sweetheart, or to keep two tech school students from getting married and popping out kids at the beginning of the wife's 5 year comittment. Those are simply stupid decisions to make at that time, and everyone knew that. Kids now show up and figure they are owed respect they havent' earned, and nobody is going to tell them what to do or not to do. So they do the dumbest f**king things imaginable with their lives.
Part of me says to hell with the kids, because they were told and the pay scale is public knowledge so they ought to have the basic intelligence to not buy into comittments they aren't being paid for. Another part however tells me that this is a social phenomena that's much larger than other considerations, and we should simply increase the pay rates at the bottom of the pay scale and hire fewer troops to make up for it (with corresponding tougher entrance requirements).
But that's just my opinion. If I was in charge, E2's would be treated just like cadets where it comes to dependents... Cadets can not remain enrolled at the Academy if they have dependents. So if you're an E2 and you get married, you get shown the door because frankly you're more trouble than you're worth. But that's just me.
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Originally posted by eagl
So if you're an E2 and you get married, you get shown the door because frankly you're more trouble than you're worth. But that's just me.
Well, they would be more trouble than they're worth if the military bothered to be troubled by them.
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woot! :aok
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Eagl
The article I read was in the AF times. Basically it amounted to what you said.....turning Pilots into the UAVs and office jocks sooner. The main reason being that if they brought too many new pilots in the operational squadrons would not have enough planes to train them in and you would get a majorly unbalanced squadron as far as experience to rookie pilots.
Down here in BMT we just got our instructor manning up to a level that no instructor should be working 130+ hour weeks. Yet in preparation for the 8 week program starting in oct they are re-activating another squadron, which pulls instructors from ours. They also need about 50 more instructors from field training. It looks like we are going back to one instructor per flight for 8 weeks instead of 6.
What sucks is that we have been teaching 8 weeks worth of curriculum in 6 weeks but instead of getting more time when it switches to 8 we all KNOW they are just going to add more crap to teach. This system is beyond broken. More attention is placed on instructor performance than holding the trainees accountable for their actions. We should be kicking some of these kids out, yet we are required to graduate them.
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Eagle,
I keep getting conflicting info; after OTS do LTs head to UTP or IFS and then to UTP?
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It's changing. I think the intent is to send everyone through flight screening, but to my knowledge the latest screening program is not fully up to speed so some guys still get their 20 or 40 hours with a contracted instructor, and that's it.
That may explain the different stories you're getting. It's in the process of changing.
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Originally posted by Russian
Eagle, sure but it will take sometime....wouldn't that be odd if you teach me :D
Here we say that it's not because the world is narrow, but because a circle is small :)
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Dimka, my congratulations :-)
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Russian thats great but the onlly thing I ask is when you get into that little black and white bird stay away from Bridgeport Lake. At least till 1000 in the morn. I hate it when yall fly over the house. But I glad you got picked for the job
:aok :O :aok
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Official list is out. It's almost surreal to see own name here.
http://www.rs.af.mil/recruiter-online/story.asp?id=123081118
1/4/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- One hundred seventy one men and women from across America have earned an opportunity to become Air Force leaders following their selection for an officer's commission, officials here announced today.
Air Force Recruiting Service officials considered 328 applications as part of Officer Training School Selection Board 08OT01, which selected 171 individuals for a 70-percent selection rate. Of those, 31 enlisted members earned the chance to attend OTS and trade their stripes for gold bars as second lieutenants.
As part of the selection process, board members review both objective and subjective factors. Objectively, the board considers each applicant's academic discipline, grade point average and Air Force Officer Qualifying Test scores. Subjectively, board members evaluate work experience, accomplishments, adaptability, character, leadership ability, potential for future growth and other recommendations. For active-duty enlisted members, the board also evaluates performance reports and commander's recommendations.
Five Air Force colonels review every application. The selection process is similar to an Air Force officer promotion board. No single factor leads to an individual's selection or non-selection, according to OTS selection officials.
People selected can expect class assignment information approximately eight weeks after their commissioning physical is certified.
For more information concerning OTS and the application process, active-duty members should contact their local education office; civilians should contact the nearest Air Force recruiter.
Active-duty selections
Senior Airman Ellis Christian
Senior Airman Michael Marshall
Senior Airman Timothy Nolan
Senior Airman Brian Shackelford
Senior Airman Ryan Smith
Senior Airman Andrew Staton
Staff Sgt. Sean Bailey
Staff Sgt. Ronald Bellue
Staff Sgt. Robert Belus
Staff Sgt. Matthew Bolado
Staff Sgt. Christopher Daniel
Staff Sgt. Melvin Davis
Staff Sgt. Thomas Draper
Staff Sgt. Justin Edmunds
Staff Sgt. Mathew Froehlich
Staff Sgt. Joe Fuqua
Staff Sgt. James Gallego
Staff Sgt. Jason Graves
Staff Sgt. Joel Hakes
Staff Sgt. Brian Jensen
Staff Sgt. Maria Mc Cartney
Staff Sgt. Tyler Miller
Staff Sgt. Justin Phelps
Staff Sgt. Bruno Posada
Staff Sgt. Jody Robertson
Staff Sgt. Joshua Still
Staff Sgt. Joshua Swann
Staff Sgt. Brian Tapp
Staff Sgt. Matthew Tonay
Staff Sgt. Todd Webb
Staff Sergeant Kristopher Williams
Civilian selections
Todd Afshar
Asif Alam
Andrew Armey
Joshua Armstrong
Jonathan Babb
Nathan Babbitt
Joshua Baker
Britney Barber
Tiffany Barmore
Jacob Bass
Matthew Bean
Manuel Beltran
Jared Bickenbach
Kevin Bland
Jared Bourquin
Joshua Brady
Alexander Brannon
Nicholas Bristow
Jesse Brown
Martin Brown
Lorena Bruner
Ryan Buckhout
Philip Bush
James Byrd
Kurt Chapman
Matthew Clark
Ryan Claussen
Skyler Collins
Ellie Constantine
Lucas Coston
Sherry Craddock
Kimberly Crystal
John Davis
Lucian Dekich
Christopher Dercks
Larry Dicks
Daniel Doucette
Daniel Duncan
Christian Ewald
David Ewell
Joshua Federer
Jon Fisher
Rhiannon Fitzsimmons
John Floro
Darin Flynn
Caitlin Fox
Erin Fredricks
Scott Galloway
Daniel Germaine
Christopher Gilbert
Benjamin Gilliland
Michael Goodwin
Ryan Grossman
Eric Han
Ronald Hershberger
Michael Hicks
Scott Higgins
Trent Hullinger
Jared Johnson
Thomas Kellams
Joseph Killingbeck
Benjamin Kreutzberg
Daniel Lane
Amanda Laprelle
Ryan Lee
James Legge
Russell Lipoff
James Liston
David Listro
Vincent Marshall
Daniel Martin
Brenna Martin
Jill Matteson
Carlos Maturana
Joseph Mcloughlin
Matthew Meyer
Christophe Mezak
John Miller
Joshua Milton
Reed Moody
Bryce Moore
Krystle Moore
Joseph Myers
Beau Nelford
David Newman
Cathryn Newton
Anh-Vu Nguyen
Michael Nordin
Divina Oakes
Jenna Onken
Justin Papineau
Japheth Parker
Jonathon Parks
Christina Patton
Christopher Pauly
Troy Pierce
Derek Plasterer
Yakov Polishchuk
Matthew Potratz
Justin Pummill
Brian Quinlan
Loretz Ramseur
David Reed
James Reeder
Joseph Regan
Jason Riggs
Joshua Riker
Shawn Roach
Derek Rodgerson
Don Roney
Timm Ross
Blair Russell
Kevin Rynbrandt
Gregory Sauder
Trevor Scalise
Brian Sebold
Collin Sexton
Catherine Shaw
Justin Silva
Enoch Sizto
Steven Smith
Dmitry Stupnikov
Dustin Surcey
Kurt Svec
Kevin Taylor
Joshua Tischler
Benjamin Toler
Jonathan Ulven
Christopher Walker
Brian Walker
Arlen Walker
Shawn Wallace
Joel Weimer
Brian Wensel
Kevin Whetstone
Mark Wulf
Edward Yerage
William Yetman
Matthew Zalewski.
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Originally posted by Russian
Official list is out. It's almost surreal to see own name here.
http://www.rs.af.mil/recruiter-online/story.asp?id=123081118
Thats Awesome man, Congrats!!
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Congrats ! :)
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Now the real fun begins. Keep the attitude nailed to the objective and pay attention to what they are trying to teach you as opposed to the stressors they pitch at you.
Seriously, best of luck to you.
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Congrats Russian. Hope this helps you choose an airframe wisely. Good luck at UPT.
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This e-mail apparently originated from a young kid who sent it to AETC (Air Education and Training Command) wanting to know how to prepare himself for a future career as a fighter jock. A worldly and jaded C-130 Pilot, Maj Hunter Mills, rose to the task!!
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To LtCol Van Wickler:
Sir,
I am DJ Baker and I would appreciate it if you could tell me what it takes to be an F-16 fighter pilot of the USAF. What classes should I take in high school to help the career I want to take later in my life? What could I do to get in the academy?
Sincerely
DJ Baker
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From: VanWickler Kenneth, Lt Col, HQ AETC
Anybody want to help this poor kid from Cyberspace?
"Vee Dub"
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Dear DJ,
Obviously, through no fault of your own, your young, impressionable brain has been poisoned by the superfluous, hyped-up, "Top Gun" Media portrayal of fighter pilots. Unfortunately, this portrayal could not be further from the truth. In my experience, I've found most fighter pilots pompous, back-stabbing, momma's boys with inferiority complexes, as well as being extremely over-rated aeronautically.
However, rather than dash your budding dreams of becoming a USAF pilot, I offer the following alternative: What you REALLY want to aspire to is the exiting, challenging, and rewarding world of TACTICAL AIRLIFT. And this, young DJ, means one thing....the venerable workhorse, THE C-130! I can guarantee no fighter pilot can brag that he has led a 12-ship formation down a valley at 300 ft above the ground, while trying to interpret a 9-line to a new DZ, avoiding pop-up threats, and coordinating with AWACS, all while eating a box lunch, with the engineer in the back taking a piss and the navigator puking in his trash can! I tell you, DJ, TAC Airlift is where it's at!
Where else is it legal to throw tanks, HMMWVs, and other crap out the back of an airplane, and not even worry about it when the chute doesn't open and it torpedoes the General's staff car! No where else can you land on a 3000' dirt strip, kick a bunch of ammo and stuff off the ramp without even stopping, then take off again before range control can call to tell you you've landed on the wrong LZ! And talk about exotic travel-when C-130s go somewhere, they GO somewhere (usually for 3 months, unfortunately). This gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the local culture enough to give any natives a bad taste in their mouths re the USAF and Americans in general, not something those strat-lift pilots can do from their airport hotel rooms!
As far as recommendations for your course of study, I offer these:
Take a lot of math courses. You will need all the advanced math skills you can muster to enable you to calculate per diem rates around the world, when trying to split up the crew's bar tab so that the co-pilot really believes he owes 85% of the whole thing and the nav believing he owes the other 20.
Health sciences are important, too. You will need a thorough knowledge of biology to make those educated guesses of how much longer you can drink beer before the tremendous case of the ****s catches up to you from that meal you ate at that place that had the belly dancers in some God-forsaken foreign country whose name you can't even pronounce!
Social studies are also beneficial. It is important for a good TAC Airlifter to have the cultural knowledge to be able to ascertain the exact location of the nearest titty bar in any country in the world, then be able to convince the local authorities to release the loadmaster after he offends every sensibility of the local religion and culture.
A foreign language is helpful, but not required. You will never be able to pronounce the names of the NAVAIDs in France, and it's much easier to ignore them and go where you want to anyway. As a rule of thumb: Waiters and bellhops in France are always called "Pierre", in Spain it's "Hey, Pedro" and in Italy, of course, it's "Mario." These terms of address also serve in other countries interchangeably, depending upon the level of swarth of the addresee.
A study of geography is also paramount. You will need to know the basic location of all the places you've been when you get back from your TDY and are ready to stick those little pins in that huge world map you've got taped to you living room wall, right next to that gigantic wooden giraffe statue and beer stein collection.
Well, DJ, I hope this little note inspires you. And by the way, forget about that Academy thing. All TAC Airlifters know that there are waaay too few women and too little alcohol there to provide a well-balanced education. A nice, big state college would be a much better choice. Good luck and see you on the SKE scope!
Maj. Hunter Mills
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Originally posted by eagl
I've on my second tour at Sheppard as a T-37 IP. I'll switch over to the T-6 shortly after they arrive to replace the T-37. Gonna miss the tweet, but the T-6 is a nice plane too.
Ahh the T-37 Tweety Bird. Is it still the only jet to take a birdstrike in the prettythang ? ;) I can remember learning radar at ABI RAPCON and getting swamped with what we called "Scat Attacks" of 37's out of SPS, DLF, and RND. They would show up in a group of about 5 - 6 VFR and request IFR pickups for multiple ASR approaches at ABI then terminate at DYS. They were nowhere near as bad as the NATO 38's on oxygen tho, could never quite understand what the heck their request was, so standard operating procedure was to just say "Roger, Cleared approach at DYS." and move the B-1's, C-130's, KC-135's, or whatever was in the radar pattern out of their way :)
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Thanks, guys.... now I have to 'level up' with my exercises. My initial FC1is on standby due to cholesterol problem....
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Eat more fish and vegetables.
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I'm going to attend Officer Training School on 17th Sep. Expected graduation on 19th December.
:)
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Congratulations :aok
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Congrats.
Just remember.ground is down and sky is up.
Unless your inverted
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Crap, now I gotta call you sir.....
:D
Congrats......Sir <S>
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Enjoy it; it's one of the very best times of your life. Things you would meet and FEB for as a rated pilot are usually excused if a mere student does it. :devil
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Enjoy it; it's one of the very best times of your life. Things you would meet and FEB for as a rated pilot are usually excused if a mere student does it. :devil
I'll try to break things :D
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OUTstanding! Congrats and good luck!
.... yah gawdamned chair-force weenie!
<S!>
Hang
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Congratulations, God speed, and good luck!!!!!
Have fun! :aok :aok
<S>
Yossarian
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Good afternoon O'Club,
Today I finished OTS and received my commissioning. Welcome your newest 2nd Lt in USAF. :)
2nd Lt Russian
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:O congrats L tee how long befor you get railroad tracks?
(http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/ima/newranks/o3.gif)
:salute
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wtg :salute
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Congratulations! :aok :salute
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Grats Dweeb. :)
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Do you have a UPT class yet? If so, which one and where?
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:O congrats L tee how long befor you get railroad tracks?
(http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/ima/newranks/o3.gif)
:salute
No idea. I didn't calculate that yet...
Do you have a UPT class yet? If so, which one and where?
It's at Columbus. Start day is around Nov....so I'm going to be on casual status for sometime.
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Congrats LT. Now the adventure begins. This can be some of the greatest times of your life. Keep on keeping on.
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Grat buddy
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No idea. I didn't calculate that yet...
It's at Columbus. Start day is around Nov....so I'm going to be on casual status for sometime.
Where will you be casual status? At Columbus or elsewhere? If you can do casual at the UPT base, it can help you get a bit of a start settling in.
And BTW, if you ever have a question that you don't want to ask your IPs, send me a PM or email. Most of the IPs at Columbus were heavy drivers and they often don't look at things quite the same way as fighter pilots, so feel free to ask me any questions that you think wouldn't go over too well at Columbus.
Plus I recently started instructing in the T-6 and I'm Chief of our pilot instructor training (I teach new IPs) so I have a bit of perspective on a lot of pilot training issues.
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Hawk,
I used to work on them as well. The worst thing I could call someone was to refer to them as a Cessna Engineer. It came up many times when I was fishing around trying to fix some darn part that couldn't be seen or reached with both hands. One of the worst was trying to replace a cotter pin on the shimmy dampner on the front landing gear of a 337. It takes 2 people to replace one cotter pin.
:furious :furious
soooooo.......
cessna has ford engineers workign for em? :aok :rofl
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gratz, g'luck, and be sure your instructors are made aware of your mad flight sim skillz!
:aok
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soooooo.......
cessna has ford engineers workign for em? :aok :rofl
Nope they hired the Ford rejects. If their knuckles dragged on the ground up to the wrist, they qualified.
:huh
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Where will you be casual status? At Columbus or elsewhere? If you can do casual at the UPT base, it can help you get a bit of a start settling in.
And BTW, if you ever have a question that you don't want to ask your IPs, send me a PM or email. Most of the IPs at Columbus were heavy drivers and they often don't look at things quite the same way as fighter pilots, so feel free to ask me any questions that you think wouldn't go over too well at Columbus.
Plus I recently started instructing in the T-6 and I'm Chief of our pilot instructor training (I teach new IPs) so I have a bit of perspective on a lot of pilot training issues.
Thanks for the offer. Lets take this into a more private chat....
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(http://x8d.xanga.com/371f203308532240904944/w190682944.jpg)
Getting stuff issued felt very 'Christmas' like. :D
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Just wondering if I could pick your brain a bit Russian. I spose Eagle can answer this as well or anyone with the knowledge for that matter. I was wondering what the selection process was like? How many interviews did you do, what kind of education background you had, the testing involved? Did you have to make a commitment to service before knowing whether you could fly or not? I'll be finishing my degree up within the year and I've thought about trying to get a flight spot. Feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it all out in the open, or to tell me it's none of my business :) .
-Zap
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<--- envious
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Just wondering if I could pick your brain a bit Russian. I spose Eagle can answer this as well or anyone with the knowledge for that matter. I was wondering what the selection process was like? How many interviews did you do, what kind of education background you had, the testing involved? Did you have to make a commitment to service before knowing whether you could fly or not? I'll be finishing my degree up within the year and I've thought about trying to get a flight spot. Feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it all out in the open, or to tell me it's none of my business :) .
-Zap
It seems the only way for you to reach your dream is to apply though OTS. Contact officer recruiter and tell him / her your intentions. He will schedule you to take AFOQT and TBAS. You will need to have 3-5 letters of recommendations and interview with a pilot. After selection you will wait over a year. Then you will take initial flight physical and work on top secret investigation. If you really want to do this, this is a perfect time to do so since process takes such a long time.
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Congrats Russian :aok
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Thanks a bunch for the info. I'll get right on it. And congratulations by the way :) .
-Zap
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Man it would be nice to have a surplus tweet to fly around in. 38 would be cool also.
Congrats on the selection. Please be sure of your targets on the ground. The grunts love you but put your rounds on the bad guys.
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wtg russian, congrats. :)
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Let me guess... He's not really a Russian? ;)
WTG Russian! Good luck! :aok
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My journey to be a pilot continues...
Part of pilot training is a three weeks screening program at Pueblo CO by Doss Aviation. They managed to get a contract from USAF to screen all incoming pilot candidates regardless if they hold PPL or higher. So Doss Aviation created a program to emulate what would a candidate experience during UPT and eliminate folks that don't have the heart for the job or aptitude. All together we get around 14 flights with last flight as a check flight where everything is expected to be done by a candidate. Meaning we fly to another airfield while communicating with tower, do a no-flap, simulated forced landing, slip and normal landing. Then we head to area and perform various maneuvers as instructor quietly writes our mistakes.
Today, as part of the program, I soloed in a mighty Katana (DA-20C). I did 6 touch-n-gos and one go-around in the 125bhp little monster. ;)
(http://xa9.xanga.com/e63f367265230242791323/w192309546.jpg)
I have two flight left. A pre-check and a check. After solo I tried to do pre-check but experienced partial brake failure. By Friday, I expect to finish this program.
(http://xeb.xanga.com/f4bf446354234243454838/m192876439.jpg)
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it's got a shark mouth, does that mean it drops bombs?
call me when it does. :)
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it's got a shark mouth, does that mean it drops bombs?
call me when it does. :)
It has a little window where I can drop things size of a hand grenade. :devil
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I'm learning in Katana's although mine doesn't have the reversed controls.
On today's flight I learned how to run home toot sweet when you see flashes of lightning approach and you're in an all composite aircraft.
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Cockpit of this mighty bird is a bit different. Student is on a right side.
(http://x6c.xanga.com/f738556256468245100643/w194301509.jpg)
(http://x85.xanga.com/b9e8576679658245100645/w194301510.jpg) [/quote]
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Nice pics. Its an exact mirror of the regular DA-20.
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Cool, and congrats. :aok
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I finally started my training. That is after almost two years after my selection notification. :x
(http://x90.xanga.com/298f7465d0c35250549566/s198863805.jpg)
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Phase 2 starts in few days. 1100hp of T-6 - here I come.
I've been keeping a light-blog of my experience here. http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2840205/1/Pilot_Training.html
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I'm sure nobody here has to remind you to have fun. :P
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Every once in a while an IP has to remind the student that it's supposed to be fun too... Not barrel-of-monkeys fun, but it's arguably one of the coolest ways in the world to earn a paycheck.
Formal release... *points* ha-ha!!!! :x
Remember to sign out.
Don't let the answering machine pick up the phone (answer on the second ring)
Sign out when you leave the room, even if it's just to go to the bathroom
Sign back in when you get back (trust me, you'll forget at least once and get fined for it)
Be ready to fill out a boldface at any time
Don't lock your knees during standups
If you're not called for the standup, pay attention and don't fall asleep or you might get stood up as a special guest speaker
Do NOT exceed 12 hr duty day or show up for work less than 12 hrs after you leave.
Busting a boldface or too many EPQs doesn't just get you fined, it may get you back into blues.
Don't go DNIF (ie. be careful what you do in your free time and don't get hurt)
Don't get caught self-medicating to avoid the doc - if you're sick see the doc, but carefully consider modifying your behaviors to ensure you're not sick very often
Eat breakfast even if it's just a pop-tart
Caffein during the summer is not a good idea especially if you have to double-turn. Drink water instead. The worst headache I ever had in my life was after triple-turning on a 105 deg day, because I had a coke between my first and second sorties. Even though I drank as much water as I could between second and third sorties and flew with a water bottle, I was still badly dehydrated after the third sortie and I still had all 3 gradesheets to fill out (12 hr duty day doesn't apply to IPs, just the 12 hr crew rest recovery period)
The T-6 is a bit like a fragile P-51A... flat-rated 1100hp and that pesky PMU reduces output to keep temps within limits.
Hint - make SURE the parking brake is on and the brakes are pumped up BEFORE you start the engine and BEFORE you do the overspeed governor check. You can kill someone starting the engine with the brakes not pumped up, and creeping forward during the overspeed gov check is embarassing and can be dangerous.
Don't hide stuff from the IPs during sorties... If you have a question or something isn't right before during or after flight, bring it up and in the worst case the ride ends early. You'll get fined (or earn a silly name) if you do anything dumb, anything you say that is dumb or has weird double-meanings will get written down and shared with everyone, and you'll carry around a tire if you try to perch with the gear up, but if you hide something from an IP you might get booted from the program.
Do not drink and drive. For that matter, consider either cold sobriety or setting a very very firm limit of one beer per 24 hr period. Nothing destroys a career faster nowadays than an alcohol incident. Well, maybe second fastest... Rapists go to jail before getting kicked out, but alcohol abuse is a contender for second place so don't be that guy. Hell, don't even sit next to that guy and don't even consider getting into a car with that guy. The best bet is to be your own designated driver, and that means don't drink or drink a small quantity far far below what could get you busted.
We had some European students (underage) get plastered in their on-base dorms a little while ago. It probably would have gone un-noticed except they got a pellet gun from wal-mart, set up lawn chairs in the second floor stairwell, and started shooting rabbits. They didn't know a year prior, the base commander had to crack down on rabbit harassment and word went out that since they were on base, those were the WING COMMANDER's RABBITS! After everyone stopped laughing those students got in a lot of trouble. I don't think they got sent back to Europe but a US student probably would have been disenrolled and discharged from the service.
Have fun on the dollar ride. I dunno how they do it there, but our syllabus is so jam-packed we actually make the SPs do almost everything. They get enough sim time that they darn well better be able to at least try to do everything. We don't expect much since real-world flying is much different than the sim, but a good student with natural flying abilities will probably end up flying the majority of the time except when I'm demonstrating something. As for the dollar, try to be creative but don't give the equal opportunity office a chance to interfere. If you'd feel comfortable having the IP show the dollar to his mom, you're on the right track.
And for formation solo (you guys do that, right?), consider giving him a nice bottle of booze since having you solo on his wing is probably the scariest thing he'll ever do and he might need a good stiff shot after the flight.
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Thanks for the advices, eagle. I'm ready for fun and hopefully will not do anything extra stupid that will be talked during track-select. I'm well prepared for "brace the suck" and enjoyment. My dollar is decorated and ready to go :devil
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For those of us not familiar with the term, dollar ride =?
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For those of us not familiar with the term, dollar ride =?
During first ride, IP does majority of work and student tips him with a decorated dollar. It's a long lasted tradition.
For my ride, I took off by my self, played around in moa and landed. It was a blast...4Gs is fun. :D
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4 Gs - fun
6 Gs - hard work until you get used to it, but it's practically a minimum requirement for tactical maneuvering
7 Gs - starts to get painful and you get "Geesles", little spots where blood vessels in your skin break
9 Gs - where you make your money
After a tour in the F-15E, I could pull 4, 6.5, and 8.5 Gs by feel without looking at the G-meter. Calibrated butt, so to speak. The T-37 and T-6 can't pull 8.5 Gs but I can still nail 4 and 6.5 Gs pretty much every time just by feel. You can get used to pulling Gs up to a point... For me up to 7ish didn't feel like it was very difficult after finishing F-15E FTU and 8.5ish was tiring but do-able, however I managed to blow out a disc in my lower back so I guess it was worse than I thought. I still go up every now and then and do a sustained 6.5+ G descending spiral turn from the top of the practice area to the bottom, just to keep up my G tolerance. I can't do that with a student but I want to ensure my body remains adapted to the environment so I won't get G-loc'd by an overly aggressive student. The speed pants help but the body still needs to adapt over time.
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I was mini-sup for a while and a lot of DNIF IPs were SUPing. One of them had slipped disk with recovery over 3 months. How long did it take you?
Hopefully I can adapt well to Gs.
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WTG Russian :)
Body builds calcium where it needs it due to stresses incurred (ideally)
Daily exposure to G will help build structure to support it (ideally)
-Frank aka GE
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I was mini-sup for a while and a lot of DNIF IPs were SUPing. One of them had slipped disk with recovery over 3 months. How long did it take you?
It was 3 months leading up to surgery, and exactly 3 months post-surgery because that's what the flight doc told me was the absolute minimum. I probably rushed it going back to flying but I had some personal and professional reasons that drove my decisions.
Hopefully I can adapt well to Gs.
Most people do, if they really care to. Hitting the gym and doing the recommended weight training helps, but you also have to be in good aerobic shape too. Lots of muscle mass and low fat can help with absolute G tolerance (how high you can go), but sustained Gs absolutely suck if you're not in good aerobic condition too. You just need to find a balance and your body will adapt... or it won't. But usually if you make any effort at all to prepare for the conditioning you need, you shouldn't have any problem.
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Thanks for the info Eagl. Once I get into acro, then it will test me.
Pattern solo is expected on Monday is weather permits. :D Too bad it was neutered down to three landings.
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Few pics.
(http://x74.xanga.com/6e9f2b5b26c30253955281/w201840092.jpg)
(http://xed.xanga.com/c10f562126c33253955273/w201840084.jpg)
(http://xc2.xanga.com/8caf766557435253665890/w201589199.jpg)
(http://x80.xanga.com/00df40ea10032251983925/w200115768.jpg)
Cockpit sim for T-6
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Crap, now I gotta call you sir.....
:D
Congrats......Sir <S>
You and me both even though I may probably have the time in service on him. :neener: :salute
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nice lookin aircraft .. looks like a great plane to have some fun in ;)
-GE
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nice lookin aircraft .. looks like a great plane to have some fun in ;)
-GE
It's a nice plane as long as the motor keeps running and as long as you don't have to maintain it. Engine failure is still a big problem with the T-6. I can't give any details but we've lost a few motors inflight recently from a known failure mode, and they think it could be years before the fix is fully implemented. We're lucky we haven't lost any planes at Sheppard due to engine failure. Well, training and skill had something to do with it, but we've been pretty lucky too.
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That's ok. That's why we have sudden spinal-cord compressing device installed. :devil "One pin removed and stowed, ISS Both" :banana:
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Russian if you get to Columbus, MS let me know. You are only about an hour away from Birmingham.
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Russian if you get to Columbus, MS let me know. You are only about an hour away from Birmingham.
If by 'get' you mean that I've been there for almost a year.... and "about an hour away" you mean 2.5hrs driving distance away then yes to both :airplane: :D
I may stop by there if I fly outback...but that's not going to happen for sometimes...
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Pah - don't know why you couldn't just stay in Katana's ;)
<-- Jealous
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That sometime is tomorrow. Going to BHM and enjoy lunch there.
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You never experienced solo until you have done formation solo. :rock 1.6hrs of doing wild things :x Flying 10 feet away from an other aircraft while in a 90 degree bank...in a mini P-51! :aok
(http://x16.xanga.com/522f626007332263124596/b209742568.jpg)
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You flyin the Col's bird?
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You flyin the Col's bird?
Other than printed name, it has no other significance. That person will fly 'his' jet only by chance as when you step to a jet, tail numbers are given and not asked for.
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I finished Phase 2. I'm T-6 complete. Next week there is track select and I'll find out what next training aircraft I'll be flying in.
~100 hours in T-6. 50hrs sim time.
(http://x24.xanga.com/89af53f7c0131263642145/m210173821.jpg)
Picture after my final flight.
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You must be having the time of your life. Congratulations!
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WTG!
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Drop me a line next time I was out of the area when you dropped in the last time. Give me a day or so heads up when you come to BHM and the lunch will be paid for. Time for a taxpayer to do something other than spring for your training.
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WTG Russian.
What A/C are you hoping for? Have they given you any idea, and have you been able to express a preference?
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your doing what most dream to do WTG man :aok
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WTG Russian.
What A/C are you hoping for? Have they given you any idea, and have you been able to express a preference?
Student places 3 top preferences out of 4 airframes USAF uses to train. But to get one of them (T-38), scores in Phase 2 have to be very high.
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So what is your first choice and how long to find out what you get?
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:aok Maybe 1 day you have one of those with youre own Nose art?
(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:OG85fPNHOxnITM:http://www.freewebs.com/)
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My next training airframe is T-1. By the end of phase 3, I will have 190 hrs in it.
(http://x01.xanga.com/d6ef402034d30263961242/w210443974.jpg)
(http://x4a.xanga.com/03af5a2234d30263961241/w210443973.jpg)
Tomorrow bright and early academics start for 4 weeks straight before we hit flightline.
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A proper flight sim ;)
(http://x0b.xanga.com/e91f710026333264717615/w211075197.jpg)
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Where are the gun and bomb site in that sim? :airplane:
:devil
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good luck russian.
when and how do you get sorted to a specific plane? or combat jet\ transport plane\ helicopter
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Do well on your tests, we'll need your resources when con season comes around. :D
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You know I see those white US Air Force trainers like that last one all the time entering the pattern directly over and around my house here just south of Birmingham.
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You know I see those white US Air Force trainers like that last one all the time entering the pattern directly over and around my house here just south of Birmingham.
What's airfield name? I don't know any field near KBHM that's used for pattern work with T-1. I did use VUZ during recovery from kMEI last friday.... but that was overflying at 15K or so.
(http://xf7.xanga.com/f09f704409033266286117/w212388102.jpg)
(http://xa7.xanga.com/af8f747a56633266286118/w212388103.jpg)
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Where I live is about a mile north of the intersection of I-459 and I-65 and all kinds of aircraft start their turn into Birmingham right over or near my house.
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Dima,
Why T-1? What was other choices and whats is your next after T-1
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Where I live is about a mile north of the intersection of I-459 and I-65 and all kinds of aircraft start their turn into Birmingham right over or near my house.
Yeah, that doesn't tell me much. If it's pattern, then they will stay within 2 miles of airport. We usually don't do many approaches where airliners do their thing.
Dima,
Why T-1? What was other choices and whats is your next after T-1
Air force usually choose for you based on performance and some preference. So I wasn't good enough for training in fighter-like aircraft compared to what we had in our class.
Out of Phase 2 of UPT people get T-1, T-44, UH-1 or T-38. I'd say 75%, 4%, .5% and 20% respectively are channeled to previous aircraft.
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Is this likely where you'll stay for the first part of your career or are there options to progress to other airframes / jobs? I knew one LT several years back who was flying the EC130 then went to the biz jets. I haven't talked to him in years so no idea where he went. He was concerned for his career progression so wanted to get a variety of airframes in case of a RIF.
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Is this likely where you'll stay for the first part of your career or are there options to progress to other airframes / jobs? I knew one LT several years back who was flying the EC130 then went to the biz jets. I haven't talked to him in years so no idea where he went. He was concerned for his career progression so wanted to get a variety of airframes in case of a RIF.
T-1 is not my MWS, it's just a training aircraft and nothing more. T-1s are not used for cargo, medical transport or DV.
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(http://x29.xanga.com/3cce12e552034267678977/w213522332.jpg)
BE40 :)
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Clouds!
(http://xdd.xanga.com/709f752209233268016305/w213795956.jpg)
(http://x38.xanga.com/f4df712ac2c33268016304/w213795955.jpg)
(http://x1c.xanga.com/071f47f324730268706202/w214336608.jpg)
(http://x9e.xanga.com/f18f9bf244735268706199/w214336605.jpg)
Low level.
(http://xdf.xanga.com/c67f756467633267830109/w213644184.jpg)
(http://x27.xanga.com/4f7f4665d7130267830113/w213644187.jpg)
Astronauts! (just returned from space flight)
(http://xc4.xanga.com/2b1f444416d30267417461/w213314373.jpg)
just a regular days in pilot training....
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(http://xf8.xanga.com/34cf751439533269608171/w215052861.jpg)
(http://x6e.xanga.com/808f94e739035269608177/w215052862.jpg)
(http://x3a.xanga.com/47bf971576d35269608185/w215052865.jpg)
A bit of simulated refueling.
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Russian, do you know what type of plane your going to be assigned yet?
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Russian, do you know what type of plane your going to be assigned yet?
I'll find out in about three weeks.
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Great shots man :aok
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Very interesting. Just found this thread today. Congratulations, Russian.
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(http://x01.xanga.com/a2085a6518ca8270852240/w216031144.jpg)
Those are mine!
Off to Creech to whack 'baddies' in a Predator.
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Congrats Russian and a big <S>
We're not really acquainted but I remember you. Good to see you're still around and doing very well.
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Congratulations <S>
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Congrats! Don't spend all your money in downtown Vegas...
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Congrats Russian! :salute
Whack a few baddies for us.
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Do new pilots still break the first pair of wings?
I graduated in class 85-05 and some guy said it was tradition, so we were all breaking the first set of wings.
Another silly superstition was not to polish one's wings. A non flight related silliness was to toss a silver dollar to the fist person that saluted you as a fresh 2nd Lieutenant.
Just curious if any of this still goes on.
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Thanks for contrats. :D I'm a happy camper. Today signed paper with FAA representative and got commercial, instrument and multi-engine rating.
Do new pilots still break the first pair of wings?
I graduated in class 85-05 and some guy said it was tradition, so we were all breaking the first set of wings.
Another silly superstition was not to polish one's wings. A non flight related silliness was to toss a silver dollar to the fist person that saluted you as a fresh 2nd Lieutenant.
Just curious if any of this still goes on.
Yes to all other than polishing thing. I never heard of it.
After graduation from OTS, I gave silver dollar to the first person who saluted me.
In the end of UPT graduation, entire class broke wings. I'll send mine to mom in a nice shadowbox.
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Congratulations Lootenant :)
If you're goin to fighters .. Dikta Gonzo applies :)
-GE (hope you have a lot of CAVU days dood :)
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Heres to you getting something that allows lots of combat flight time...AC-130 or MC-130. Good luck Russian and have fun.