Search results

On a related note, has anyone had an issue using new CACs at the TSA checkpoint? The last few times I’ve flown the machine has rejected it, and according to to the agent on duty they’ve been having problems with newer CACs. I’ve ended up having to use my (non-Real ID) PA drivers license each time.

Think you probably saw the Marines, thankfully my squadron is ashore and not on das Boat...

It seems to affect most, if not all, T/M/S’s that use MB seats. My squadron has been at a large multi-service exercise for the past few weeks, and it’s been interesting to see how this rolled like a slow wave over many of the participants.

Not to mention that the 35B doesn’t have the on-station legs required to fill the EW requirement for more than a small time slice of a mission.

F-35 has dual FADECs on its engine. If one fails that is a no-shitter for us (especially if it was caused by the fuel being too hot and overheating the FADEC). It basically drives us to a flameout profile since if the second FADEC fails the engine will flameout with no manual backup available...

With F-35 gear you just wear a G-suit and a full-sleeved survival "jacket" that has anti-flail arm restraints on the sleeves. We also have hot weather gear, where you wear a special flight suit that has the arm restraints built in, and you just need to wear a survival vest over it. Very clutch...

It still blows my mind how antiquated the F-18/T-45 gear setup is compared to the modern USAF harness. When I moved to F-35 gear (with no pilot-worn harness) it was an absolute revelation.

I don't like flying with the water pouches on my vest (we use a slightly different setup than the camelbaks the F-18 guys use). Usually I just fill up a camelbak with water and keep it in my helmet bag with the hose sticking out, drop my mask and drink as required. I also always fly with a...

Remake of a meme I saw the other day...

Would recommend having both. However, depending on how “by the book” your Admin department is, using your personal card for government-funded travel may be a no go. Definitely worth it for personal and family travel though, and they have good non-travel perks as well (streaming credit, Uber...

I’m sure dudes flying Rhinos would be extremely worried about their “lack of screen presence” should they ever go to merges with Chinese fighters…

Awesome dude and a great American. Had the pleasure of knowing Max and flying with him from Primary through the Fleet. He will be sorely missed. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/06/06/navy-identifies-pilot-who-died-in-california-super-hornet-crash/

Not super up to date with the status of the VTJs, but when I was there circa 2019 there was one P-8 guy who came right after his first sea tour, and also a post-DH P-3 dude so it definitely was possible.

Not sure unfortunately. Maybe one of the SFTIs will chime in.

I thought the answer they gave about why they couldn't use the F-35 was flimsy; a simpler solution IMO would have been to say they needed 2,000lb LGBs (which is what they showed the Super Hornets employing), and that the F-35 does not carry that munition. I will admit I thought they were...

Most patches in my squadron rock the TOPGUN Breitling Aerospace (the quartz one with the two LED displays). However our XO does have the new N7 staff watch, it’s an IWC Chrono on black leather with light blue stitching. Absolutely gorgeous in real life.

Navy has more helos, USAF has more transports/tankers. Navy has some awesome bases locations, as does the USAF. Both have some real awful locations as well. Both have some things that we envy about the other service (like E-5s in the USAF having $4,000 dollar desktops when it takes me 30 minutes...

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in this job was from my mid-stage FCLP paddles: “Never talk shit about someone else’s flying behind the boat until you have flown your last pass ever, because you can still just as easily throw a turd or scare the shit out of yourself.”

@sevenhelmet had an awesome break down. I’m a single seat dude in the F-35 world and our job flow is a little different since we are so mission planning heavy. The two Senior JOs usually are AOPS and the Mission Planning Officer (MP-1). There is a “track” of sorts which gets you into either of...

Interesting that NAVAIR/PMA was the one awarding the contract yet the USAF was the first to integrate it. Not super familiar with the acquisitions side, but is NAVAIR effectively the model manager for all of the -22 variants?

Not sure about the logistics side of things. Over the course of our work ups and deployment, the deck got a lot better at managing the Osprey. Normal ops had the Osprey marshaling at the top of the stack (Case 1), commencing and landing last, unloading pax/cargo, reloading the offgoing...

Because when people say mechanical watches are back "in", they really mean Rolex/AP/Patek, which are the only brands popular with the Instagram crowd. Unfortunately buying a watch from just about any other mass-produced luxury brand results in an "asset" that depreciates like a stone. I'm sure...

Mix of both. Usually on the CVN for transits and then shore basing when feasible. Not sure who you heard that from, but that is 100% incorrect.

If you're a SNA I'd say don't spend your own money to buy gucci gear that you will probably get issued in the fleet anyways. You run the risk of buying stuff that you may never use again if your future community doesn't "wear" it (i.e. fleece vests/jackets are rarely seen in VFA-land) The sole...

VFA-2 has an old school bus in Lemoore that's their squadron vehicle, and I believe VFMA-314 has a converted ambulance in Miramar.

Which is weird, because the F-35 community in the USMC seems a lot more T/M/S agnostic. In my time in Lemoore, I’ve seen a bunch of B dudes (both IPs as well as nuggets) come through and get C quals. Last I heard the Marines were looking to go to an integrated RAG construct where everyone goes...

No date should be amongst the easier ones (although by no means easy) on the sports watch side. Obviously being local, popping into the store to chat, keeping in touch with your salesperson all help as well.

We have a couple of maintenance CWOs in my squadron and they usually will introduce themselves as "Warrant xxxx" in formal settings. Obviously when talking to other officers first names or callsigns are fair game.

I did the OCS route because I knew I wanted to fly, and I didn't want to run the risk of being medically DQ'd while at the Academy/NROTC or being "drafted" into a different community. It all depends on your personal calculus of what level of risk you're willing to accept in order to have...

That’s a shame, once you got over the SNA helmet fires I think RR flights were some of the best in the syllabus.

I'm not saying that wouldn't be useful, but when you only have 15-18 seconds of ball flying, allocating time to scan and interpret that wouldn't be worth it, IMO. And unless you're using JPALS with data-linked ship speed, you still wouldn't know if you have the "right" ship's speed entered...

I think you’re overestimating the effect of the SRVV. Yes it’s nice to have, but inside 3/4 of a mile you are flying primarily a visual scan. Using the SRVV is nice because it declutters some stuff from the HMD and makes it easier to reference a visual scan, but “just put the SRVV on the wires”...

In the F-35, we get ship’s speed automatically from JPALS (along with precision approach capability and legacy TACAN functions). In the event that JPALS is not available, we can manually enter ship’s speed as well. There isn’t any HOTAS functionality to change ship’s speed, and you have to go a...

Unless things have drastically changed at OCS, you have no access to personal electronic devices until your last three weeks, so no. When I went through API, students were not allowed to use electronic devices in the API building. Not sure how that's changed in the last couple of years with...

I had always grown up living aviation, and I knew if I was going to fly I wanted to fly in the Navy. But it was never more than a thought in the back of my head until I spent a summer in college working on Wall Street. Sure, living in NYC was a lot of fun, but I figured that there were better...

My squadron just did a big Tipsy Gypsy order. Most of us went for flags. Call me OCD but I think the jacket looks unbalanced with a platform or weapons school patch on the right shoulder with nothing on the left...

Ehhhh that may be just a bit of a stretch. ;)

This question pops up every few months or so, if you search around you’ll find a lot of good gouge on the topic. To sum it up, you have a better chance of picking the weekly lotto numbers this week than projecting when you’ll actually start, despite what the SNA rumor mill will tell you. Enjoy...

One of my T-45 paddles was notorious for going on diatribes in briefs that could easily last 20+ mins (for example, going from talking about how to properly execute a wings-level transition to off-color stories about crematoriums). Part of me wonders if he lurks on AW somewhere and is the one...

Requal is super easy. Takes less than a day, in the morning you swim the length of the pool in gear a couple of times, do the tread and float in gear, and then do some survival stuff (parachute drag, chopper hoist, getting into rafts, etc.). Then in the afternoon you do the build up to the...

Bad on my part, I should have said that we don’t train to it in the RAG during Transition or CQ. Everything is full up DFP and the last few flights at the field they let you explore APC only. Manual passes aren’t explicitly verboten in our SOPs or JTD but I wouldn’t exactly say encouraged either.

The writing is on the wall. F-35s don't even fly manual passes at the field, and anything other than DFP is considered a "circus" pass. After a false start in November, PLM CQ is on for the dudes in -122. For the past few CQ classes in -125, two bolters or less total for the entire det has been...

Yeah dude, NAMI will take their time doing their due diligence, and it's not abnormal for people to be held up in Student Pool after graduation waiting for their final PQ. I'm sure there will be some Class O's on here who can chime in, but I'm sure your Class Team and OTCN Medical is tracking...

The CNATRA Facebook page reposted this article the morning of the T-6 accident too. It's becoming harder and harder to not believe in coincidence/laws of the universe/whatever...

It's a lot of boom and bust. There will be weeks were you're only scheduled once or twice with plenty of time to study/golf/goof off, but then there will be weeks where you're double pumped every day and struggling to find time to study. You'll get pretty good with time management and...

It appears I lost the permissions as well.

Yeah dude, when I was at Whiting I made the drive down to NASP a few times for training, fleet fly-ins, etc. Base to base can easily be 70-80 minutes with traffic and the back gate is an additional 15 minutes. Would not recommend doing that day in and day out, that’s a super easy way to set...

Your best bet is to get in touch with people you know down there already, or if you don't I'm sure someone on AW will reach out. I would call NASC/Flight Management only as a last resort, as all it takes is one disgruntled person answering the phone and then you're "that dude". Also, besides...

Haven’t gotten too into the wild game stuff, but after buying whole sirloin and chuck (and brisket if you really want to go crazy) and grinding it yourself into an equal ratio for burgers, you’ll never go back to the supermarket stuff.