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  1. RobLyman

    Ruined my fishing!!!

    I was enjoying a relaxing morning fishing when the fire department boat and three engines showed up on and in the vicinity of the Buckman Bridge. Then a JSO 206 arrived. Finally, HSM came to the rescue. Realistically, I wasn't catching anything anyway.
  2. RobLyman

    Blackhawk / CRJ-700 Midair

    'ZACKLY!!! Try teaching shipboard landings to these guys! FWIW, I am going to amend my thought on the accident. After watching an overlay of the positions and radio calls for the nth time, I think PAT25 may have correctly identified the CRJ the first time at 5-6 nm. Then, by the time they made...
  3. RobLyman

    Blackhawk / CRJ-700 Midair

    In Jax, a simple transition along the river through Craig (KCRG) airspace and then directly into Mayport (KNRB) can be challenging for some Army aviators if they haven't done it in awhile or have never done it. Simply forgetting to setup the radios for the quick frequency change can put you in...
  4. RobLyman

    Blackhawk / CRJ-700 Midair

    I have never worked with them specifically. All IPs in the Army and Army National Guard used to go through the IP Course (IPC) at Ft Rucker or one of the National Guard training centers (EAATS or WAATS). I went to WAATS. Some of the courses done by ARNG are better than their AD equivalent. I...
  5. RobLyman

    Blackhawk / CRJ-700 Midair

    Ay caramba! The tragedy of loss of life is hard to take. But a close second is observing the "experts" tell their opinions on why it happened and why they are the only ones who know the truth. Having said that, here I go.... Aircraft: UH-60L Blackhawk. This could have been a VH-60L, but it...
  6. RobLyman

    Seeking advice on that first handgun or next weapon purchase? Ask AW!

    Of course, if you really want to save money, go for one of these. Amazon delivers to your door without a gun store being involved. Pellets run about $20 for 500, and you can shoot it in your back yard in most places. I have the .22 version and it clocks in at about 900 fps with lead pellets and...
  7. RobLyman

    2025

    My guard unit invites the retirees to the annual Christmas party. Last year it was 10 months after I retired. People asked me how retirement was, but didn't mention how things were going at work now that I was gone. I knew that no matter how irreplaceable I might feel, the machine would move on...
  8. RobLyman

    Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news

    South Carolina Army National Guard tried the paint scheme until Big Army made them change it.
  9. RobLyman

    This here's my (flooded) county!

    Most of you know I flew for the Florida Army National Guard for about 16 years. I have participated at different levels and at different stages in numerous hurricane relief operations. FWIW, the Florida Guard had aviation assets up there for Helene up until Milton took aim. I may be bias, but I...
  10. RobLyman

    Aero Nerdery Thread (rotary-curious welcome)

    The 60M had on-the-fly calculations for fuel flow, max endurance, Vy, fuel required to waypoints, etc... nut you are still required to go through the performance planning card prior to the flight. In Army flight school this is taught using charts, but in your unit you get to use a computer...
  11. RobLyman

    Aero Nerdery Thread (rotary-curious welcome)

    LOL. No, REALLY. Army IPs are dipshits. I watched Army IPs time and again teach aero topics, especially compressibility, VRS and retreating blade stall, wrong. You're right, I had the benefit of being in both services with experience as an instructor in both services, something few Army IPs had...
  12. RobLyman

    Aero Nerdery Thread (rotary-curious welcome)

    Just ask any Chinook pilot. They ALL wear t-shirts or own car stickers that depict a Chinook long-lining a Black Hawk. It's a rivalry thing. My response was always, "That shirt is only accurate when your helo is out of the hangar and doesn't have a red X in the status block."
  13. RobLyman

    Aero Nerdery Thread (rotary-curious welcome)

    OMG Army IPs are for the most part dip shits! And I am/was one. The guys at HAATS in Eagle Colorado were the exception. Vx is straight up if you can. However, if you can't, it is usually just through translational lift. I used to demo this for rolling takeoffs. First, the Vy and MaxEnd (Vbe)...
  14. RobLyman

    Awarded $60M for hitting a parked Blackhawk.

    We had a prisoner lawn care guy run into our Balck Hawk with a mower at Camp Blanding...DURING THE DAY! We have also had a forklift run into a Chinook at the ramp of the Tallahassee airport during hurricane response duty. We have also had a security guard at our own facility driving a golf cart...
  15. RobLyman

    Family Disapproval - what do I do?

    PSA: Remember to check the date of a post before replying. The post was almost 19 years old!!!! I never really thought about how old this site was. My profile says I joined in 2010, but I think that date reflects a site upgrade and not my actual join date. I am pretty sure I was on this site...
  16. RobLyman

    Romeos Vs. Sierras

    We flew this one directly from West Palm and dropped it there in Huntsville. The WPB guys said it was going to be some sort of VIP aircraft. It was a lot of fun. Some of the foreign sales Black Hawks had the APU hydraulic pump handle access on the outside and some circuit breakers tagged out...
  17. RobLyman

    Romeos Vs. Sierras

    As far back as November/December 1992 I flew missions as an H2P in the HH-60H and SH-60F during my CCDG staff tour. I was an SH-60B HAC. I never got signed off as a HAC in the F or H, but did fly both as H2P into Somalia. Other than a few Pax River guys, there weren't many switching/combining...
  18. RobLyman

    ISO: Aircraft Ready Room Chairs

    Fanny Dugans!!! Wow. I remember that place! Edit: Didn't realize that post was so old. LOL
  19. RobLyman

    Crossing the finish line... running, walking or crawling... (Reserve Retirement Process)

    Assuming you are talking about a reserve retirement... My 20 year letter didn't get to me until three months after I had my 20 years.. I received my 20 year letter in 2017 but didn't retire until January of 2023. The "powers that be" recommended starting the process six months out from when you...
  20. RobLyman

    Crossing the finish line... running, walking or crawling... (Reserve Retirement Process)

    That's why I suggested "shopping around" if possible. The first one I joined was mostly Vietnam and Cold War veterans. They were social and drank a bit ($2 beers), but not as organized and a little less charity oriented. Luckily there was another one nearby that I transferred my membership to. I...
  21. RobLyman

    Crossing the finish line... running, walking or crawling... (Reserve Retirement Process)

    Change over your TSP, VA, DFAS, etc.. to use ID.me or Login.gov. Go see a Veterans Service Officer (VSO) to see what is in store for you regarding VA benefits. I joined the VFW a year ago and wasn't happy with the post I affiliated with, so I recently switched to another post. If you want to...
  22. RobLyman

    Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news

    Sounds like a "go fetch me some prop wash" kind of thing. There's a video (I can't seem to find it) of a soldier told to pump up the tail strut on a Black Hawk using the pylon step. It's pretty funny. I KNOW as an instructor you never spun up a -57 rotor head. That's GOT to be the job of a...
  23. RobLyman

    Navy Dedicated SAR Squadrons

    Yeah, Buehring does give off that vibe. But most pure Army FOBs/COBs in Iraq were like that. ECHO in Diwanyah in 2011 was no exception. The comforts of home were hand built by soldiers from whatever scrap wood they could get. Erbil medevac definitely went outside the wire on the 2016/2017...
  24. RobLyman

    Navy Dedicated SAR Squadrons

    While I didn't make it to Erbil, I was the C Co 1-111th (those Army guys) SIP for the deployment in 2016/2017. That is until I got attached to the 77th CAB and occasionally farmed out to ARCENT. I knew Navy and shipboard "stuff." At least I got to keep flying out of Buehring, doing shipboard...
  25. RobLyman

    Navy Dedicated SAR Squadrons

    They were relieved by Army National Guard HH-60Ms from Florida. CSAR is not Medevac which is not Casevac. They share a lot of overlap, but also a lot of differences. The Air Force has aerial refueling. I'm sure they practice this a lot. The Army has Fat Cow/FARP capability with Chinooks...
  26. RobLyman

    Navy Dedicated SAR Squadrons

    Just to add... On #1, be careful about the Army Reserve. They will move you. I know a few that got moved out of Clearwater after leaving the FLARNG in Brooksville and working a few years in the reserves. If you become an IP in the National Guard(may apply to reserves as well), you can be a...
  27. RobLyman

    Naval Aviations "One" Problem...

    The Guard takes off a day of age 60 for each day you are deployed overseas, in 90 day increments. That, with some AGR time got me 53% at just past my 58th birthday. Does the Navy Reserve do that too? The Army National Guard wasn't a bad way to finish out. The deployments were austere with real...
  28. RobLyman

    Do they still do this?

    Boots boots boots... For years Bellevilles were the only authorized flight boots in the Army. Then, Rocky finally got there's approved. THEN, the Army switched to the Coyote brown color boots, which when faded from use looked the same color as the old tan boot. :confused:The Coyote brown Rockys...
  29. RobLyman

    Your retirement plans . . .

    Ahh yes. You have given your argument an inoculation by siting Dunning-Kruger, while simultaneously insulting your foe. This is nothing more than a thinly vailed ad hominem attack. What you have said is, "You're stupid and don't know it. I am the better informed because I recognize you are...
  30. RobLyman

    Your retirement plans . . .

    Well...I don't nap when I'm in the car....at least not yet. :D
  31. RobLyman

    Your retirement plans . . .

    Mine have noise cancelling, Bluetooth, and a setting for white noise or ocean sound for tinnitus. BUT... it's a pain when my hearing aids, phone and car all fight for who is in control.
  32. RobLyman

    Your retirement plans . . .

    Why is that? Maybe because you will be vested at 5 years and eligible for GS medical retirement at that point? Do you get civilian flight physicals and have to report VA disability eligibility? When I switched back to GS-13 from AGR just before I retired, I got my last flight physical with the...
  33. RobLyman

    Your retirement plans . . .

    As someone who has hearing aids, this is not exactly true. If you turn up the volume of the TV, radio, etc...because you can't hear, then yes, it will do more damage just as other loud sound will. But hearing aids don't preserve your hearing otherwise. I got my hearing aids for free coming off...
  34. RobLyman

    Which Branch Allows Its Officers to Fly the Most?

    As of a year ago, 60 pilots in a FAC 1 position were required to fly 48 hours every 6 months, or 96 a year. FAC 2/3 is 60 hours annually. Incidentally, that applies to National Guard and Reserve units as well. As a FAC 1 I flew 1040 hours in the first 6 years I was in the guard, 477 in the...
  35. RobLyman

    Which Branch Allows Its Officers to Fly the Most?

    Army warrants, definitely! I flew as much or more as a warrant than I did in the Navy through O-3. I never flew as an O-4. As for longevity, I flew my last flight as a CW4 just 10 months shy of my 60th birthday. In that month (January 2023) I conducted two MTP evaluations and an instrument...
  36. RobLyman

    Your retirement plans . . .

    I was going to work for a few years after my recent military retirement, but decided to take a year off. I am enjoying it. I have a military retirement 52%, GS retirement 24%, VA disability that's up there, and turned 60 last month. I won't say they are inflation proof, but they do have COLA...
  37. RobLyman

    Marksmanship

    We had annual quals in the Army National Guard. For pilots, it meant M9/M17 and M4. It takes up an entire weekend to get the battalion qualed. On a one-weekend-a-month basis, individual weapons qual was a REAL pain in the ass. Then another weekend for crew served weapons. This was EVERY year...
  38. RobLyman

    P-8 overshoots runway in K-Bay

    Yes. I was at Mayport then, but definitely saw the plane on the runway afterwards. That construction was NOTAMed for a LONG time. It wasn't any last-minute construction project. They removed more than a foot of concrete. If I remember correctly, it was more like three feet off concrete removed...
  39. RobLyman

    Which Branch Allows Its Officers to Fly the Most?

    FWIW, I flew past my 59th birthday as a warrant officer in the Army National Guard. Not a lot of hours, but that was due to a 10 year break in service. There were only one or two years that I couldn't fly as much as I wanted to.
  40. RobLyman

    War in Israel

    I had these coozies made in 2011 when I was in Diwaniyah to celebrate his "peaceful" demonstrations.
  41. RobLyman

    The impossible to make separate thread (Ghost F-35)

    There are a bunch of listings for sale on Facebook Marketplace. My favorite was a well done photoshop of it parked in a Buc Ees parking lot. Sadly, that one was taken down.
  42. RobLyman

    Sen. Schumer gas for electric car trade in program?

    Any neighborhood that might contain a large dog. DON'T let your cats roam free! If they wonder into the wrong backyard a large dog can kill a cat in 3-5 seconds. I have seen it happen.
  43. RobLyman

    CNATRA Bids Farewell to Orange and White Paint Scheme

    Why is it I get the idea the Navy can take any idea and make it worse through poor execution, yet take an a$$ed up idea and execute it perfectly? This is what will probably be the result...
  44. RobLyman

    Sidearms for Naval Aviators

    Maybe Air Guard, but not Army...obviously...since I was in the Army National Guard for 16 years and had been shooting the M17 for over a year before I retired in February. But then again we were the second or third unit nation wide (Active Army and National Guard) to get M model 60s. Active-duty...
  45. RobLyman

    Sidearms for Naval Aviators

    I know it's not answering the direct question (Navy), but my last two quals in the guard were with the M17 (and M4 dual qual).
  46. RobLyman

    UFOs?

    The universe is big. The radius of our GALAXY is 52,850 light years. Our solar system is about 2/3 of the way out from the center on the Orion spiral arm of our galaxy. Light speed travel is very unlikely to bring intelligent visitors to our planet from within our own galaxy. There are people...
  47. RobLyman

    The role of HIFR in 2023

    There were still a couple of Knox frigates and Adams destroyers in the middle 80s. Slightly off topic, but this discussion reminded me of a story... Flying the "old" SH-60B, we got a mission to transfer a sailor with a red cross issue off an Adams class destroyer. Flying from the right seat, I...
  48. RobLyman

    Reserve Retirement Awareness

    Do you get the Navy equivalent of a Retirements Points Accounting Management (RPAM) NGB Form 23? This comes out annually for National Guard members for us to review our points and retirement eligibility date, based on active duty service overseas under certain titles of USC. See this link for...
  49. RobLyman

    Crossing the finish line... running, walking or crawling... (Reserve Retirement Process)

    Now, 6 days after the fact, I remembered the title for this post and had to add something... Wednesday February 1st was my first true day of retirement. Wouldn't you know it, I came down with the flu and had to cancel my retirement party for last Friday. I guess I literally crossed the finish...
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