Any active/ret. Air Force Pilots out there?

R

RightFlyingKid

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Gulfport, MS
Display Name
Brad
Home Airfield
Gulfport/ Bilioxi INT
I'm Planning to be pilot in the Airforce, and I was hoping that i could get some stories or some Do's and Dont's when flying out in the Wild Blue Yonder!
 
Baseops.net will answer any questions you might have.
 
SCCutler said:
Wwaaaalll...

...watch for EvilEagle to stick his nose in here.

Not only is he an Air Force pilot - he's a Beechcraft guy, yielding an unmatched combination of coolness.
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You have to realize that USAF pilots fly off of 10,000 feet of pavement which is in exactly the same spot it was on take-off when they return.......not that there is anything wrong with that. They do have the best chow of all the services however. :yesnod:
 
Threefingeredjack said:
You have to realize that USAF pilots fly off of 10,000 feet of pavement which is in exactly the same spot it was on take-off when they return.......not that there is anything wrong with that. They do have the best chow of all the services however. :yesnod:
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Don't forget, best on base housing / barracks as well. :D
 
Threefingeredjack said:
You have to realize that USAF pilots fly off of 10,000 feet of pavement which is in exactly the same spot it was on take-off when they return.......not that there is anything wrong with that. They do have the best chow of all the services however. :yesnod:
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And they name most of their bases after pilots who've crashed airplanes. :rolleyes2:
 
Protect your hearing, get those earbuds out of your ears.
Protect your vision, get some sport safety glasses and use them.
Stay fit, 20 lbs over is not good.

If you are flying now, get a good headset and use it.

Be smart in your flying. We all know "crap happens", but don't let it be a pilot error issue that could have been avoided. Like loosing control on landing, or running out of gas.

No DUI, no adverse police record.
Your choices are, AF Academy, ROTC, or OTS. But you need a 4 yr degree.
 
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I wanted to be an Air Force pilot too, but then I realized that if I DIDNT get a pilot slot (which could happen for any number of reasons) that I had signed away 5 years of my life.

No thanks.
 
Brad: Forgive the threadjack, there is a lot of ribbing between the services. I worked with some really fine AF folks in my career, (I'm retired USCG) And my advice if you are serious about a military flying career is to work your butt off in school. Math is HUGE. Stay fit and stay out of trouble. Good luck!!!
 
"Don't do dumb things."

Oops -- that was what my last commander in my Navy squadron had on the sign over his desk. But based on my later USAF experience, it works there, too. The best advice I heard in the USAF for success in flying was, "Always fly as though your commander was on your wing," i.e., if you wouldn't do it with your boss watching, don't do it when he (or these days, maybe she) isn't there, either.
 
DavidWhite said:
Something tells me a smartass like myself would struggle in the military.
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Some of the biggest smartasses I know are former or retired military. I mean this in a nice way. Of course I didn't know them when they were young and active duty.
 
Everskyward said:
Some of the biggest smartasses I know are former or retired military. I mean this in a nice way. Of course I didn't know them when they were young and active duty.
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They were the same:lol:. I was one ('69-'76) I think.
 
BillTIZ said:
Protect your hearing, get those earbuds out of your ears.
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Sorry to divert the thread, but what does this mean? Does the air force provide poor quality hearing protection for it's pilots? Are there better options available?
 
\__[Ô]__/;1214297 said:
Sorry to divert the thread, but what does this mean? Does the air force provide poor quality hearing protection for it's pilots? Are there better options available?
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Your medical one must pass to get a training slot. Hearing test is just one of the many things that get checked.
 
\__[Ô]__/;1214297 said:
Sorry to divert the thread, but what does this mean? Does the air force provide poor quality hearing protection for it's pilots? Are there better options available?
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It has nothing to do with Air Force-provided hearing protection. A lot of people damage their hearing because earbuds direct sound directly into the ear canal and most people have the volume up too high.
 
If you go to UPT at columbus afb, give me shout, we will go fly. I maintain the T-6 simulators there.
 
\__[Ô]__/;1214297 said:
Sorry to divert the thread, but what does this mean? Does the air force provide poor quality hearing protection for it's pilots? Are there better options available?
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People wear earbuds to listen to their iPod music, then crank it to loud, then can't pass the AF Entrance exam hearing test. Then they don't get to go to flight school.

Protect your hearing, protect your vison, protect your potential security clearance.
 
Velocity173 said:
Don't forget, best on base housing / barracks as well. :D
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apparently not all air forces are created equal. To put it mildly.

DavidWhite said:
I wanted to be an Air Force pilot too, but then I realized that if I DIDNT get a pilot slot (which could happen for any number of reasons) that I had signed away 5 years of my life.

No thanks.
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5 years is but the slightest drop in the bucket of your life. You are going to waste that much time and more on false starts. What better way than in the service of your fellow man ?
 
I've probably had hearing loss over time while flying in the service. I always use double ear protection (earplugs + helmet), but it can still be pretty loud, with radios turned up and just cockpit noise. Normally when the engines are on, my canopy is down, so it really isn't as much the motors themselves.
 
Consider joining the Air National Guard. In many ways being a Guard pilot is one of the best deals in aviation, period. If you were my son I might suggest you find a good guard unit and join as an enlisted person while in college and working on a PPL.

You would still have the option to apply to one of the tiny handful of active Air Force OTS/pilot slots.

The other way into the cockpit is to join as a non-rated officer, do outstanding work in your non-rated position, and apply for pilot training as an active officer.

There's no easy way into a USAF cockpit these days, but somebody's got to share the F-22.

All the services are highly selective
 
35 AoA said:
I've probably had hearing loss over time while flying in the service. I always use double ear protection (earplugs + helmet), but it can still be pretty loud, with radios turned up and just cockpit noise. Normally when the engines are on, my canopy is down, so it really isn't as much the motors themselves.
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I've got some DVDs showing cockpit footage from VFA-106 demos. Thought it was interesting when they yank back on the stick, besides the vapes on the wings, it sounds like the noise level gets pretty loud in there. I image at high speed the wind noise over the canopy can get loud as well.

I always complained that our helmets should have ANR technology like civilian headsets. Unfortunately Army Aviation has far more pressing budget concerns than ANR.
 
Velocity173 said:
I've got some DVDs showing cockpit footage from VFA-106 demos. Thought it was interesting when they yank back on the stick, besides the vapes on the wings, it sounds like the noise level gets pretty loud in there. I image at high speed the wind noise over the canopy can get loud as well.

I always complained that our helmets should have ANR technology like civilian headsets. Unfortunately Army Aviation has far more pressing budget concerns than ANR.
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There is some wind noise at higher speed certainly, as well as the "Hornet buzz" in the transonic range......may be a legacy only thing, as I believe it is from the inlets, but I wouldn't be surprised if the SH has the same issue. The noisiest part is actually just the electrical busses/avionics. One of the common troubleshooting techniques on deck is to shut off both gens and turn the battery off with the motors running. It is amazing just how quiet it gets when you do that.
 
Yes I fly both Bonanzas and F15's. currently overseas so I didn't have Internet this last week. Anyway, everyone else has been spot on. Stay fit, get good grades and work your ass off. Nothing you do will ever impress a fighter pilot, so don't try- instead just do the best you can all the time, let other people brag for you. If you are as good as you think you are, it won't take long.

(Yes our bases have long runways, good food and nice gyms; they also have cross-winds. Don't let the squids blow too much smoke...)
 
Little known fact......carriers have crosswinds too :) That and the fields we land at daily when we aren't at sea
 
EvilEagle said:
(Yes our bases have long runways, good food and nice gyms; they also have cross-winds. Don't let the squids blow too much smoke...)
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35 AoA said:
Little known fact......carriers have crosswinds too :) That and the fields we land at daily when we aren't at sea
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As long as we have our measuring tapes out.....

The flight deck on a WHEC is 38X60 :D
 
There's no question that if you want a great lander you want a squid. After all, landing seems to be the main purpose for most of their sorties.

If you want a pilot to actually win the fight, then maybe the pilot who doesn't center his life around landing the darn plane will tend to do a better job. That was certainly my observation.
 
JimNtexas said:
If you want a pilot to actually win the fight, then maybe the pilot who doesn't center his life around landing the darn plane will tend to do a better job. That was certainly my observation.
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Tell that to the guys at TOPGUN, NSAWC, or SFWSP/SFWSL. Apparently they have been wasting their time :)

It is much less of a focus than you probably think. Yes, we spend several weeks here and there over the span of a year doing FCLP's working up for deployment that AF guys don't (and obviously a lot more dedicated training in flight school/FRS), but I'd hardly say it is the center of life. It is the place that everyone in the airwing sees you though, so if you are going to F something up, best do it outside 10 miles. I've never seen an AF dude F anything away though, so it must just be us :)
 
Sigh:
I remember when we were a team - Navy, Air Force, Army, Marine and Coast Guard. We fought to the SIOP, we appreciated all of those who had our six.
Hanoi, Haiphong Class of 68-73.
Team Linebacker
Sigh:
 
Tell that to the guys at TOPGUN, NSAWC, or SFWSP/SFWSL. Apparently they have been wasting their time
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No, they aren't wasting their time, it takes lots and lots of hard training to be able to and on a boat. They are great landers.

It's just a fact that their bag is no bigger than that of the Air Force guys, who are practicing fighting in the time our squid brothers and sisters are practicing landing.

It's really just simple math that shows that Air Force pilots are just a bit more likely to win a fight because they just have more practice fighting than our friends in the sea service.
 
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