#Aviation Management Program

[antara93]

Certified BBA in Airline Operation Hospitality in Kolkata

Discover your wings with a Certified BBA in Airline Operation Hospitality!

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[dy-patil-university-navi-mumbai]

Top Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing an Aviation MBA Program

Choosing an MBA in Aviation Management is a smart move for students who want to build a career in one of the most dynamic industries in the world. From airport operations and airline management to aviation consulting and logistics, the opportunities in this field are vast. However, the success of your journey depends heavily on the choices you make before the program even begins—particularly in selecting the right course and institution.

To help you make an informed decision, here are some common mistakes students should avoid when choosing an MBA in Aviation Management in India.

Not researching the program curriculum thoroughly

Many students make the mistake of assuming that all aviation MBA programs offer similar content. In reality, the quality and relevance of the curriculum can vary greatly between institutions.

A good program should cover key areas like:

Airline and airport management

Aviation laws and regulations

Air cargo and logistics

Strategic and financial planning in aviation

Safety management systems

Aviation marketing and customer experience

Make sure the program offers both theoretical and practical learning, including case studies, simulation exercises, and internships.

Ignoring the importance of industry exposure

Aviation is an efficient and operations-driven industry. One of the most valuable aspects of any MBA in Aviation Management is real-world exposure.

Yet, many students overlook whether the college has:

Industry tie-ups with airlines, airports, and cargo companies

Guest lectures and workshops by aviation professionals

Field visits to airports and aviation hubs

Internship opportunities with reputed aviation firms

Without these elements, your learning may remain limited to textbooks, which could put you at a disadvantage when entering the job market.

Choosing a college based only on location or fees

While location and affordability are important, they shouldn’t be the only deciding factors. Some students choose a program solely because it’s closer to home or fits within a budget, without considering the overall value it offers.

Instead, focus on the return on investment—does the college provide the skills, exposure, and placement support to justify the fees? Sometimes, spending more on a better-quality program leads to stronger career prospects in the long run.

Overlooking faculty expertise and teaching methods

Faculty members play a critical role in shaping your understanding of aviation management. Make sure the program is led by educators who have:

Academic credentials in aviation or related fields

Practical experience in the aviation industry

A student-focused, interactive teaching style

It’s also worth checking if the college uses modern teaching methods like business simulations, case analysis, and industry projects.

Not checking placement history and alumni network

The ultimate goal of an MBA is career advancement, so placement history matters. Unfortunately, many students skip this research and end up in programs with weak industry connections.

Before enrolling, ask questions like:

Which companies have hired graduates from this program?

What are the typical job roles and salary packages?

Does the college have an active alumni network in aviation?

A strong placement cell and active alumni can significantly enhance your career opportunities after graduation.

Why DY Patil University is a Trusted Choice

If you’re planning to pursue an MBA in Aviation Management in India, DY Patil University, Navi Mumbai, offers a comprehensive program that addresses all the key areas mentioned above.

Here’s what you can expect at DY Patil University:

A curriculum designed with input from aviation industry experts

Faculty with real-world experience in airline and airport operations

Field visits, case studies, and internships for practical learning

Strong placement support and industry collaborations

A campus environment that encourages leadership and innovation

DY Patil University ensures that students graduate with both knowledge and confidence, ready to thrive in global aviation careers.

Final thoughts

Choosing the right aviation MBA program can shape your entire career. Avoiding common mistakes—such as neglecting curriculum depth, industry exposure, or faculty credentials—can save you time, money, and effort.

If you’re serious about building a future in aviation, DY Patil University, Navi Mumbai, provides a strong and supportive foundation to help you succeed in this high-flying industry.

[kunalkushwah]

Frankfinn : Your Gateway to a Successful Career in Aviation and Hospitality

Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training in Dubai is a premier institution offering specialized courses in aviation, hospitality, travel, and customer service. With a focus on comprehensive skill development, Frankfinn prepares students for successful careers in these dynamic industries.

Key Courses Offered: Frankfinn Certificate Course in Aviation, Hospitality, Travel, and Customer Service (FCCAHTCS): A 4-month program covering essential aspects of the aviation and hospitality sectors. Frankfinn Certificate Course in Aviation & Grooming (FCCAG): A 2-month course emphasizing personal grooming and aviation industry standards. Frankfinn Certificate Course in Travel Management (FCCTM): A 2-month program focusing on the intricacies of travel management.

Why Choose Frankfinn Dubai: Global Recognition: Frankfinn has a strong international presence, with training centers in Dubai and a reputation for excellence in aviation and hospitality training. Industry Awards: The institute has received multiple accolades, including the Gold Award for Best Higher Vocational Institute for Skill Development. Placement Opportunities: Frankfinn boasts a commendable placement record, with students securing positions in leading airlines and hospitality companies.

By enrolling at Frankfinn Dubai, students gain access to quality education and training, paving the way for a successful career in the aviation and hospitality industries.

Explore more at http://www.frankfinn.ae/

Mobile : +971-5-59935622 Email : corporate@frankfinn.com

[juhimehraposts]

What Do You Need to Know About Aviation Courses?

Aviation courses focus on training in the fundamentals of flying, security activities, and general procedures to be followed during the trip. Get to know how certificate course in aviation management can help you flourish professionaly.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Boeing’s deliberately defective fleet of flying sky-wreckage

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" is manufactured far from the company's Seattle facility, in a non-union shop in Charleston, South Carolina. At that shop, there is a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production because they are not airworthy.

Hundreds of parts from that Material Review Segregation Area (MRSA) were secretly pulled from that cage and installed on aircraft that are currently plying the world's skies. Among them, sections 47/48 of a 787 – the last four rows of the plane, along with its galley and rear toilets. As Moe Tkacik writes in her excellent piece on Boeing's lethally corrupt culture of financialization and whistleblower intimidation, this is a big ass chunk of an airplane, and there's no way it could go missing from the MRSA cage without a lot of people knowing about it:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-30-whistleblower-laws-protect-lawbreakers/

More: MRSA parts are prominently emblazoned with red marks denoting them as defective and unsafe. For a plane to escape Boeing's production line and find its way to a civilian airport near you with these defective parts installed, many people will have to see and ignore this literal red flag.

The MRSA cage was a special concern of John "Swampy" Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who is alleged to have killed himself in March. Tkacik's earlier profile of Swampy paints a picture of a fearless, stubborn engineer who refused to go along to get along, refused to allow himself to become inured to Boeing's growing culture of profits over safety:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-03-28-suicide-mission-boeing/

Boeing is America's last aviation company and its single largest exporter. After the company was allowed to merge with its rival McDonnell-Douglas in 1997, the combined company came under MDD's notoriously financially oriented management culture. MDD CEO Harry Stonecipher became Boeing's CEO in the early 2000s. Stonecipher was a protege of Jack Welch, the man who destroyed General Electric with cuts to quality and workforce and aggressive union-busting, a classic Mafia-style "bust-out" that devoured the company's seed corn and left it a barren wasteland:

https://qz.com/1776080/how-the-mcdonnell-douglas-boeing-merger-led-to-the-737-max-crisis

Post-merger, Boeing became increasingly infected with MDD's culture. The company chased cheap, less-skilled labor to other countries and to America's great onshore-offshore sacrifice zone, the "right-to-work" American south, where bosses can fire uppity workers who balked at criminal orders, without the hassle of a union grievance.

Stonecipher was succeeded by Jim "Prince Jim" McNerney, ex-3M CEO, another Jack Welch protege (Welch spawned a botnet of sociopath looters who seized control of the country's largest, most successful firms, and drove them into the ground). McNerney had a cute name for the company's senior engineers: "phenomenally talented assholes." He created a program to help his managers force these skilled workers – everyone a Boeing who knew how to build a plane – out of the company.

McNerney's big idea was to get rid of "phenomenally talented assholes" and outsource the Dreamliner's design to Boeing's suppliers, who were utterly dependent on the company and could easily be pushed around (McNerney didn't care that most of these companies lacked engineering departments). This resulted in a $80b cost overrun, and a last-minute scramble to save the 787 by shipping a "cleanup crew" from Seattle to South Carolina, in the hopes that those "phenomenally talented assholes" could save McNerney's ass.

Swampy was part of the cleanup crew. He was terrified by what he saw there. Boeing had convinced the FAA to let them company perform its own inspections, replacing independent government inspectors with Boeing employees. The company would mark its own homework, and it swore that it wouldn't cheat.

Boeing cheated. Swampy dutifully reported the legion of safety violations he witnessed and was banished to babysit the MRSA, an assignment his managers viewed as a punishment that would isolate Swampy from the criminality he refused to stop reporting. Instead, Swampy audited the MRSA, and discovered that at least 420 defective aviation components had gone missing from the cage, presumably to be installed in planes that were behind schedule. Swampy then audited the keys to the MRSA and learned that hundreds of keys were "floating around" the Charleston facility. Virtually anyone could liberate a defective part and install it into an airplane without any paper trail.

Swampy's bosses had a plan for dealing with this. They ordered Swampy to "pencil whip" the investigations of 420 missing defective components and close the cases without actually figuring out what happened to them. Swampy refused.

Instead, Swampy took his concerns to a departmental meeting where 12 managers were present and announced that "if we can’t find them, any that we can’t find, we need to report it to the FAA." The only response came from a supervisor, who said, "We’re not going to report anything to the FAA."

The thing is, Swampy wasn't just protecting the lives of the passengers in those defective aircraft – he was also protecting Boeing employees. Under Sec 38 of the US Criminal Code, it's a 15-year felony to make any "materially false writing, entry, certification, document, record, data plate, label, or electronic communication concerning any aircraft or space vehicle part."

(When Swampy told a meeting that he took this seriously because "the paperwork is just as important as the aircraft" the room erupted in laughter.)

Swampy sent his own inspectors to the factory floor, and they discovered "dozens of red-painted defective parts installed on planes."

Swampy blew the whistle. How did the 787 – and the rest of Boeing's defective flying turkeys – escape the hangar and find their way into commercial airlines' fleets? Tkacik blames a 2000 whistleblower law called AIR21 that:

creates such byzantine procedures, locates adjudication power in such an outgunned federal agency, and gives whistleblowers such a narrow chance of success that it effectively immunizes airplane manufacturers, of which there is one in the United States, from suffering any legal repercussions from the testimony of their own workers.

By his own estimation, Swampy was ordered to commit two felonies per week for six years. Tkacik explains that this kind of operation relies on a culture of ignorance – managers must not document their orders, and workers must not be made aware of the law. Whistleblowers like Swampy, who spoke the unspeakable, were sidelined (an assessment by one of Swampy's managers called him "one of the best" and finished that "leadership would give hugs and high fives all around at his departure").

Multiple whistleblowers were singled out for retaliation and forced departure. William Hobek, a quality manager who refused to "pencil whip" the missing, massive 47-48 assembly that had wandered away from the MRSA cage, was given a "weak" performance review and fired despite an HR manager admitting that it was bogus.

Another quality manager, Cynthia Kitchens, filed an ethics complaint against manager Elton Wright who responded to her persistent reporting of defects on the line by shoving her against a wall and shouting that Boeing was "a good ol’ boys’ club and you need to get on board." Kitchens was fired in 2016. She had cancer at the time.

John Woods, yet another quality engineer, was fired after he refused to sign off on a corner-cutting process to repair a fuselage – the FAA later backed up his judgment.

Then there's Sam Salehpour, the 787 quality engineer whose tearful Congressional testimony described more corner-cutting on fuselage repairs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP0xhIe1LFE

Salehpour's boss followed the Boeing playbook to the letter: Salehpour was constantly harangued and bullied, and he was isolated from colleagues who might concur with his assessment. When Salehpour announced that he would give Congressional testimony, his car was sabotaged under mysterious circumstances.

It's a playbook. Salehpour's experience isn't unusual at Boeing. Two other engineers, working on the 787 Organization Designation Authorization, held up production by insisting that the company fix the planes' onboard navigation computers. Their boss gave them a terrible performance review, admitting that top management was furious at the delays and had ordered him to punish the engineers. The engineers' union grievance failed, with Boeing concluding that this conduct – which they admitted to – didn't rise to the level of retaliation.

As Tkacik points out, these engineers and managers that Boeing targeted for intimidation and retaliation are the very same staff who are supposed to be performing inspections of behalf of the FAA. In other words, Boeing has spent years attacking its own regulator, with total impunity.

But it's not just the FAA who've failed to take action – it's also the DOJ, who have consistently declined to bring prosecutions in most cases, and who settled the rare case they did bring with "deferred prosecution agreements." This pattern was true under Trump's DOJ and continued under Biden's tenure. Biden's prosecutors have been so lackluster that a federal judge "publicly rebuked the DOJ for failing to take seriously the reputational damage its conduct throughout the Boeing case was inflicting on the agency."

Meanwhile, there's the AIR21 rule, a "whistleblower" rule that actually protects Boeing from whistleblowers. Under AIR21, an aviation whistleblower who is retaliated against by their employer must first try to resolve their problem internally. If that fails, the whistleblower has only one course of action: file an OSHA complaint within 90 days (if HR takes more than 90 days to resolve your internal complaint, you can no have no further recourse). If you manage to raise a complaint with OSHA, it is heard by a secret tribunal that has no subpoena power and routinely takes five years to rule on cases, and rules against whistleblowers 97% of the time.

Boeing whistleblowers who missed the 90-day cutoff have filled the South Carolina courts with last-ditch attempts to hold the company to account. When they lose these cases – as is routine, given Boeing's enormous legal muscle and AIR21's legal handcuffs – they are often ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs.

Tkacik cites Swampy's lawyer, Rob Turkewitz, who says Swampy was the only one of Boeing's whistleblowers who was "savvy, meticulous, and fast-moving enough to bring an AIR 21 case capable of jumping through all the hoops" to file an AIR21 case, which then took seven years. Turkewitz calls Boeing South Carolina "a criminal enterprise."

That's a conclusion that's hard to argue with. Take Boeing's excuse for not producing the documentation of its slapdash reinstallation of the Alaska Air door plug that fell off its plane in flight: the company says it's not criminally liable for failing to provide the paperwork, because it never documented the repair. Not documenting the repair is also a crime.

You might have heard that there's some accountability coming to the Boeing boardroom, with the ouster of CEO David Calhoun. Calhoun's likely successor is Patrick Shanahan, whom Tkacik describes as "the architect of the ethos that governed the 787 program" and whom her source called "a classic schoolyard bully."

If Shanahan's name rings a bell, it might be because he was almost Trump's Secretary of Defense, but that was derailed by the news that he had "emphatically defended" his 17 year old son after the boy nearly beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. Shanahan is presently CEO of Spirit Aerospace, who made the door-plug that fell out of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Boeing is a company where senior managers only fail up and where whistleblowers are terrorized in and out of the workplace. One of Tkacik's sources noticed his car shimmying. The source, an ex-787 worker who'd been fired after raising safety complaints, had tried to bring an AIR21 complaint, but withdrew it out of fear of being bankrupted if he was ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs. When the whistleblower pulled over, he discovered that two of the lug-nuts had been removed from one of his wheels.

The whistleblower texted Tkcacik to say (not for the first time): "If anything happens, I'm not suicidal."

Boeing is a primary aerospace contractor to the US government. It's clear that its management – and investors – consider it too big to jail. It's also clear that they know it's too big to fail – after all, the company did a $43b stock buyback, then got billions in a publicly funded buyback.

Boeing is, effectively, a government agency that is run for the benefit of its investors. It performs its own safety inspections. It investigates its own criminal violations of safety rules. It loots its own coffers and then refills them at public expense.

Meanwhile, the company has filled our skies with at least 420 airplanes with defective, red-painted parts that were locked up in the MRSA cage, then snuck out and fitted to an airplane that you or someone you love could fly on the next time you take your family on vacation or fly somewhere for work.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/01/boeing-boeing/#mrsa

Image: Tom Axford 1 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_sky_with_wisps_of_cloud_on_a_clear_summer_morning.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

--

Clemens Vasters (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:N7379E_-_Boeing_737_MAX_9.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[responsivethoughts]

The Grumman X-29 Experimental Aircraft

The Grumman X-29 was an experimental aircraft developed by the United States in the 1980s, aimed at testing advanced aviation technologies. One of its most unique features was its forward-swept wings, which improved maneuverability and reduced drag. However, this design introduced significant aerodynamic challenges, such as the tendency of the wings to twist under stress. To address this, the X-29 utilized advanced composite materials, which provided the necessary strength without adding excess weight.

The X-29 was inherently unstable due to its forward-swept wings, necessitating a sophisticated digital fly-by-wire control system. This system allowed a computer to continuously make adjustments to keep the aircraft stable during flight. Additionally, the aircraft featured canard control surfaces, located in front of the main wings, which enhanced control and maneuverability, particularly at high angles of attack.

Another key feature of the X-29 was its variable-geometry engine inlets, designed to optimize airflow into the engine across different flight conditions. This design allowed the aircraft to maintain efficiency at various speeds and altitudes. Together, these innovative design elements made the X-29 a complex and advanced aircraft for its time.

The X-29 first flew on December 14, 1984, under the management of NASA and the United States Air Force. Two X-29 aircraft were constructed, and they accumulated over 400 test flights. These tests focused on exploring the aircraft's unique aerodynamic and flight control characteristics, providing valuable data on how forward-swept wings performed under various conditions.

The primary objective of the X-29 program was to investigate technologies that could be used in future fighter aircraft, with a particular focus on improving maneuverability and control at high angles of attack. Although the X-29 was never intended to enter production, the insights gained from its development contributed to future advancements in aircraft design.

While the X-29 did not see operational service, its legacy is significant. The technologies it explored, including forward-swept wings, composite materials, and digital flight controls, paved the way for innovations in fighter aircraft. Today, the X-29 is remembered as an important milestone in the study of unconventional aircraft designs and aerodynamics.

An interesting and lesser-known fact about the Grumman X-29 is that, despite its radical design, the aircraft reused components from existing fighter jets to save on development costs. Specifically, the fuselage of the X-29 was derived from the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter, and its landing gear was taken from the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. This blending of cutting-edge technology with proven components from earlier aircraft helped keep the project within a more manageable budget, demonstrating a creative approach to experimental aircraft design during that era.

[monkeyssalad-blog]

XB-70A #1 liftoff with TB-58A chase aircraft by NASA on The Commons Via Flickr: Description: This photo shows XB-70A #1 taking off on a research flight, escorted by a TB-58 chase plane. The TB-58 (a prototype B-58 modified as a trainer) had a dash speed of Mach 2. This allowed it to stay close to the XB-70 as it conducted its research maneuvers. When the XB-70 was flying at or near Mach 3, the slower TB-58 could often keep up with it by flying lower and cutting inside the turns in the XB-70's flight path when these occurred. The XB-70 was the world's largest experimental aircraft. It was capable of flight at speeds of three times the speed of sound (roughly 2,000 miles per hour) at altitudes of 70,000 feet. It was used to collect in-flight information for use in the design of future supersonic aircraft, military and civilian. The major objectives of the XB-70 flight research program were to study the airplane's stability and handling characteristics, to evaluate its response to atmospheric turbulence, and to determine the aerodynamic and propulsion performance. In addition there were secondary objectives to measure the noise and friction associated with airflow over the airplane and to determine the levels and extent of the engine noise during takeoff, landing, and ground operations. The XB-70 was about 186 feet long, 33 feet high, with a wingspan of 105 feet. Originally conceived as an advanced bomber for the United States Air Force, the XB-70 was limited to production of two aircraft when it was decided to limit the aircraft's mission to flight research. The first flight of the XB-70 was made on September 21, 1964. The number two XB-70 was destroyed in a mid-air collision on June 8, 1966. Program management of the NASA-USAF research effort was assigned to NASA in March 1967. The final flight was flown on February 4, 1969. Designed by North American Aviation (later North American Rockwell and still later, a division of Boeing) the XB-70 had a long fuselage with a canard or horizontal stabilizer mounted just behind the crew compartment. It had a sharply swept 65.6-percent delta wing. The outer portion of the wing could be folded down in flight to provide greater lateral-directional stability. The airplane had two windshields. A moveable outer windshield was raised for high-speed flight to reduce drag and lowered for greater visibility during takeoff and landing. The forward fuselage was constructed of riveted titanium frames and skin. The remainder of the airplane was constructed almost entirely of stainless steel. The skin was a brazed stainless-steel honeycomb material. Six General Electric YJ93-3 turbojet engines, each in the 30,000-pound-thrust class, powered the XB-70. Internal geometry of the inlets was controllable to maintain the most efficient airflow to the engines. NASA Media Usage Guidelines Credit: NASA Image Number: ED97-44244-2 Date: February 4, 1969

[cursedreverie1945]

This format is going to be a little different because it’s not just simple facts. I have a lot to say about this bag of hate. Also, this is over 7 pages on Microsoft Word. Buckle up. It's a long one.

@atticuscat

Hans Friedrich Karl Franz Kammler

He was better known as simply Hans Kammler.

He is probably one of the least known but most impactful of the more infamous bags of shite.

His young life was non-descript. There was nothing about really written about his early years that screamed out that he would be one of the worst men or the best at the worst. Depending on how you look at it, of course.

What made him stand out was his dedication to nazism. He joined the NSDAP in either 1931 or 1932, as various news agencies and websites report different dates. He was a rigid ideologue, and held various administrative positions, including being the head of the construction department at the Imperial Ministry of Aviation. In 1933, Kammler joined the SS.

He was responsible for the five-year program to organize concentration camps in the occupied territories of the USSR and Norway. Kammler was also involved in the design of the Auschwitz death camp and others. The sheer attention to detail made him all the more dangerous. The death camps were planned by this man, right down to the methods of cremation.

Kammler believed “subjugation” would require the murder of 20-30 million people from the Eastern Front, plus from the murder of what he considered undesirables.

It is known that Kammler organized the SS Special Staff in the section of the "Skoda" company located in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. This would have been under the control of Reinhard Heydrich at the time. I have no idea how much Heydrich would have known about this, but knowing that bastard, I imagine it would have been most everything.

In March 1942, Himmler officially transferred the management of the "Skoda" plant to the SS, a giant industrial complex located in Pilsen and Brno. Speer knew nothing about this operation until he was informed about it as an accomplished fact.

In 1943 Kammler was appointed the Reichsführer SS special representative for the "A-4" program, otherwise known as vengeance weapons. He was put in charge of construction work and labor supply from concentration camps. The camps that worked their human slaves to death, on a quite literal level, were part of this man’s signature.

“The Holocaust would not have been as ‘efficient’ were it not for Kammler,” said Dean Reuter, author of “The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America’s Deal with the Devil,” “He was integral to the evolution of mass murder.” We’ll get back to Reuter later.

In March 1944, Kammler became a representative of Himmler in the "aviation staff," which consisted of senior officials from the Luftwaffe and the Ministry of Armaments.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe and Hateler's nominal successor, tasked him with moving all strategic aviation facilities underground. From March 1944, Kammler supervised the construction of underground factories to produce fighter aircraft.

The bombing of Germany had become so prevalent that they wanted to move everything underground to possibly get ahead in the war machine. Obviously, as I sit in my American home, speaking English as my native language, and being quite liberal in my politics that involves having told a vast number of politicians in my lifetime that they were vile bootlickers, you can see how well that worked for Kammler, Himmler and Hateler. Also, what is up with Kammler and Himmler? They sound like names from some fascist cartoon.

After three months, Himmler reported to Hateler that ten underground aviation factories with a total area of tens of thousands of square meters had been built in eight weeks. EIGHT WEEKS. The sheer work that goes into something like that is virtually unheard of today.

 In August of 1945 the Allies sent a list of six underground factories that had been penetrated to the U.S. Air Force headquarters in Europe. Each of these factories continued to produce aviation engines and other specialized equipment for the Luftwaffe until the last day of the war.

These factories occupied 3 – 16 miles approximately for my fellow Americans and 5 to 26 kilometers in length for the rest of the world. Tunnel sizes ranged from 13 feet to 66 feet or four to twenty meters in width and five to fifteen meters in height; workshop sizes ranged from 42,651 to 80,202 square feet or 13,000 to 25,000 square meters.

Don’t get me started on the feet vs meter thing. It’s a thorn in my side that the US is so damn backwards. Anyway, it’s a lot of land mass.

By mid-October 1945, a report sent to the U.S. Air Force stated that many underground factories had been discovered, much more than previously thought. These underground facilities were found not only in Germany and Austria but also in France, Italy, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.

The report stated that the Germans had managed to launch about 143 such factories by the end of the war. Another 107 factories were discovered, built or laid down at the end of the war, in addition to 600 caves and mines, many of which were turned into conveyor belts and weapon production laboratories. It can only be speculated what would have happened if the Germans had gone underground before the war began, concludes the report, clearly impressed by the scale of German underground construction.

On August 8, 1944, following Himmler's appointment as head of the Ministry of Armaments, Kammler became the chief executive of the "V-2" project.

Kammler managed the entire process, from production and placement to conducting military operations against England and the Netherlands. He personally directed the rocket attacks. This position, thanks to his attention to detail, allowed Kammler to study the entire process of managing the strategic weapons program, an opportunity that had not been available to anyone else in the third reich.

Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich und Himmlers Hirn heißt Kammler.

I’m going to go off on a tangent here. Himmler really didn’t have anything more than an average IQ from everything I have read over the years. He was a toady little man, not much to look at in the general sense. He was, however, excellent at picking his people. Hans Kammler was one of them.

You don’t get the equivalent of a PhD without attention to detail. Trust me, I know this as fact, personally. The sheer amount of attention to all the details and thinking outside the box is so danged important. With some people, it is dangerous.

The war was falling apart for Germany. Perhaps the public didn’t know that because of Goebbels’ propaganda, those that were in command? They knew. They were done. There was no chance of winning the war for the nazis.

Around the very end of January 1945, Kammler became the Hatler's authorized representative for the development of jet engines and the leader of all rocket programs, both defensive and offensive.

Hateler permanently transferred all responsibility for air armaments such as fighters, rockets, and bombers to Kammler. In early April 1945, when the Soviet army was already approaching Berlin, Hateler and Himmler handed over to Kammler all the secret weapons systems of the third reich, which had no equivalents among the countries of the Allies.

The work of the scientists in Kammler's headquarters as unparalleled among other late-war technologies, even the "V-1" and "V-2" projects seemed ordinary in comparison. The list of special projects included nuclear installations for rockets and aircraft, advanced guided projectiles, and anti-aircraft lasers.

An important point is that the testing was not carried out at "Skoda" itself but in field conditions. Thus, Kammler's Special Staff functioned as a coordinating research center.

After the meeting with Hateler on April 3, 1945, Kammler moved his headquarters (not to be confused with the Special Staff) from Berlin to Munich. Before leaving Berlin, he made a farewell visit to Speer, during which he hinted that Speer should also move to Munich and that the SS was attempting to eliminate Hateler.

Kammler then informed Speer that he planned to contact the Americans and offer them everything in exchange for his freedom - "jet planes, as well as A-4 rockets and other important developments." He also revealed that he was gathering all qualified experts in Upper Bavaria to hand them over to the U.S. Army.

"He offered me a chance to participate in his operation," wrote Speer, "which undoubtedly would work in my favor." Speer, however, is not a reliable witness and wrote/told a lot of lies in his work. Still, Speer declined.

It was unheard of that these sons of bitches in leadership could possibly believe that Kammler would/could/should work miracles. In April of 1945, Goebbels wrote in his diary: "The Hater had long negotiations with Obergruppenführer Kammler, who is responsible for the reform of the Luftwaffe. Kammler is doing his duties superbly, and great hopes are placed on him."

WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK. I am utterly serious. Were these men delusional? The beginning of April. Hateler would commit suicide less than a month later and Goebbels could possibly believe this load of shite? My honest thoughts on Goebbels’ diaries were absolutely meant for someone else to read them by this point or earlier. He knew that the diaries would be scrutinized by others and so he would be the biggest supporter of nazism.

All these research programs represented by SS Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler, it is surprising that his name is hardly mentioned in references to the Luftwaffe or its major programs. However, despite this, Kammler was at the head of a top-secret research center. He was the ‘forgotten one’.  However, was this on purpose?

I’m all about forgetting nazis in a sense. Their names and legacies should be forgotten. It is not so simple. We must remember them, or it will happen again.

Throughout all of this. Throughout all the insane things that Kemmler had accomplished. How he was told to work faster and harder on setting up the camps, while he stated it was the conditions that were the problem. Those problems were the extreme cold, lack of supplies, and poor labor. When you use dying people for labor, there usually is a problem. Idiots.

Once again, what happened to him after the war was what truly interests me. He was one of hundreds, if not thousands of men that potentially could have done the exact same job with the exact same outcomes.

For a very long time it was thought that he committed suicide in 1945. The suicides after the war were numerous, over 7000 in Berlin alone.

Decades passed, it was assumed Kammler died by suicide or was killed shortly after liberation in 1945. Reuter’s book, however, demonstrates that Kammler was “delivered” to US authorities by rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who feared that Kammler’s secrets — and colleagues — would fall into Russian hands.

Oh my, does that plot ever thicken.

“Kammler and the Americans created the deal wherein he gave them the rocket team, and they erased his past,” Reuter said. “As part of that deal, we covered up his death and the world accepted that he died.”

Remember, this accusation is that of a writer. I could easily tell you that my father’s fourth cousin twice removed was Kammler. Given that Ridding The World Of Nazis Is A Family Tradition, nah. Not feasible. I have that on a t-shirt.

Going back to Reuter, as part of “Operation Paperclip,” US authorities sought to capture German technical experts to use in the space program. Beginning in 1945, an estimated 5,000 German scientists and technicians were brought to the US, including “severely tainted men who were involved in the Holocaust and the use of slave labor.”

Are we great yet? Nope.

No released official documents have been found that list Kammler having been brought over to the US. No official documents have said he wasn’t. The problem with Kammler was quite simple, he knew too much. That made him a target. If you have a special target, you don’t go around being a pick me.

“Gerald Fleming, a leading Holocaust researcher, wanted certainty but could not find sufficient evidence to prove that the suicide narrative was not true. Fleming urged us not to let the story rest but to continue the research.

In the article „Ein inszenierter Selbstmord. Überlebte Hitlers „letzter Hoffnungsträger“, SS Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler den Krieg? [A staged suicide. Did Hitler’s “Last Hopeful,” SS Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler, Survive the War?], published in the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft in 2014, for the first time declassified documents and statements were presented which suggest that Hans Kammler was captured by the Counterintelligence Corps, an American military intelligence service. The most important evidence for this thesis was a report by special investigator Oscar Packe dated August 1949. Packe, who worked for the department of the U.S. military government in Hesse responsible for denazification, concluded his report as follows: “The suicide of the subject, suspected and allegedly confirmed by the witnesses, is refuted by the CIC’s precise information about his capture and escape in May 1945. Evidence that the subject is now in Soviet custody and is to work in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany could not be provided here.

Packe had been informed by the CIC of Kammler’s capture and subsequent escape. Was it possible for a high-ranking SS general and his staff to escape from American captivity? Was he really arrested with his staff at the Messerschmidt works in Oberammergau, as the Packe report states, “by American troops on 9 May”? And was able to escape from there with senior SS leaders of his staff? Did the events in fact take place near the underground Messerschmitt plant “Bergkristall” in Gusen, near Linz? It is likely that Packe did not learn the true circumstances of Kammler’s arrest from the Counter Intelligence Corps. Recently Donald W. Richardson, a special agent of the CIC and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), has emerged as a key. Shortly before his death, he told his sons that he had brought Hans Kammler to the United States. For reasons of national security, he had to remain silent about it. Despite these sources and Richardson’s statement, doubts about the chain of circumstantial evidence persisted.” – The Wilson Center

In any case, Kammler’s disappearance was a great advantage to the rocket developers around Wernher von Braun. Why? They were able to blame all crimes against concentration camp inmates and forced laborers related to the production and use of V-weapons to the SS, presenting themselves as apolitical engineers. Apolitical. Right. As if anyone believed such a story. These men and women were useful. Very useful. Being useful gave them the freedom not to be hung at any of the numerous trials against the other nazis.

The biography of Hans Kammler must be corrected in a central point: It does not end on May 9, 1945. What happened after that can only be clarified after the discovery or the release of relevant documents as well as the interrogation records.

For now, at least we know that the bastard is dead. Pretty sure there is no way he would be alive at 124 years of age.  We also have no idea what the ever-loving fuck happened to one of the worst men of WWII.

[thatsrightice]

HOW TO BECOME A FIGHTER PILOT

So as you may or may not know, I am writing a fanfic. Unfortunately for me, I can never do things half way, and because aviation is my passion I must do hours of research on a particular subject that I probably won't even use or reference in said fanfic. Here is a guide for how our favorite characters (probably) became fighter pilots. If there are inaccuracies let me know, I want to know :)

United States Naval Academy

The USNA is an undergraduate college that is a combination of academics and military development programs. Students who want to go into Flight School could qualify with one of a variety of different majors, but there are particular majors that obviously may provide a bit of an advantage to aspiring pilots. The USNA currently offers a variety of different majors and minors, though there are fewer than you might expect from a typical university, and overall the degrees are more tailored towards the Navy. They encourage participation in athletics in the form of a Varsity or club/intramural sport(1). 

NOTE: Maverick likely attended a regular college and was a part of the Naval ROTC program at that school. He would have gotten his degree in a field relevant to aviation, likely Mechanical Engineering given his mechanical aptitude seen in Top Gun Maverick, and then attended the 13-week program called Officer Candidate School. To be honest, Maverick’s path within the Navy is a mess and impossible to follow but in the most straightforward scenario, he would go to flight school following Officer Candidate School.

Flight School 

Flight School is an approximately 2-year-long program that is required for Naval Aviators to earn their wings. Primarily located at the “Cradle of Naval Aviation” aka Pensacola, FL, flight school consists of many different phases that will divide students into different specializations. 

1. Naval Introductory Flight Evaluation (NIFE)

Divided into four phases, NIFE is a program that evaluates students’ aeronautical aptitude as well as screens them to ensure they’re capable of becoming aviators. Students may earn a “pink sheet” for any score below 80% or a failure of a task, requiring them to stand before a panel of instructors to explain why they failed and how they plan to improve. Too many pink sheets result in removal from the program(2).

1a. Water Survival Training Following medical clearance, students are taught and tested on their ability to swim while wearing flight gear as well as formerly instructed on various survival techniques and CPR(2).

1b. Academics  A 3-week phase where students take classes and exams in five subjects. It is condensed to test a student’s ability to retain information, learn new information in a high-stress environment, and challenge their self-discipline in regard to time management and other areas(2).

1c. Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) Students are entered into a 2-week-long modified civilian flight training program where one week is dedicated to ground school courses before they must conduct a series of flights in a Cessna using Navy flight procedures during the second week. Students had to memorize and prioritize information to complete the flights, specifically in regard to conducting pre-flight briefings and emergency procedures. Overall, they’ll conduct seven flights in which they are required to complete a set of standardized maneuvers(2). 

1d. Aviation Physiology A week-long training course that consists of emergency-specific training evolutions such as the hypoxia chamber, emergency first aid, and the “helo dunker.” The “helo dunker” (from what I understand) is a particular training device that consists of strapping a pilot into a cockpit-like or helicopter contraption within a pool and submerging the entire structure under the water, simulating an environment in which their aircraft has landed in the water and they need to escape from the seat(3). An image of this can be seen below(2).

The Top Gun cast had to undergo a similar training course in order to be allowed to fly in military airplanes for filming. A video of some of their training can be viewed below.

2b. Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination

A 6-week long program that marks the beginning of the aviation pipeline. Located in Pensacola, FL, students attend classes covering the basics of aerodynamics, weather in relation to aviation, air navigation, flight rules and regulations, and aircraft engines and systems (3). 

Prior to API, those interested in becoming Radar Intercept Officers (RIO) will have expressed their interest and requested a designation as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO). 

2c. Primary Flight Training

A 6-month-long program that teaches the students the basics of flying. There are two locations for Primary, one at Training Air Wing 5 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Pensacola, FL, or Training Air Wing 4 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, TX. Both Naval Air Stations (NAS) are taught the same curriculum and fly the same aircraft, the T-6 Texan II. The students learn about the instruments, flight basics, radio instrument navigation, formation flying, and aerobatics, and also conduct several solo flights. At the end of Primary, students choose which pipeline they would like. This is conducted depending on the needs of the Navy and how many spots are available(3). 

Obviously, Iceman, Slider, Goose, Cougar, and everyone else got Jets, though they may not have gone through flight school at the same time. 

2d. Intermediate Flight Training

Intermediate Flight Training is a 27-week program. Split into five platforms; Jet, E2/C2, Helicopter, Maritime, and E-6 TACAMO. The jet platform flight training focuses more on navigation, air traffic control, individual skills, and cooperative skills of flying jets. The intermediate flight training program for jets is located at Meridian, MS (Training Air Wing One) at either VT-7 or VT-9, and Kingsville, TX (Training Air Wing Two) at either VT-21 or VT-22, both of which teach the same curriculum. Students in the jet platform will complete 58 graded flights in the T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft(3). 

2e. Advanced Flight Training

Similar to Intermediate Flight Training, the program is split into five platforms but lasts 23 weeks. The students will probably have stayed with the same training squadron throughout the intermediate and advanced flight training. This stage includes learning skills specific to the chosen platform. The Advanced Flight Training program for jets is what’s called the Strike Syllabus. The Strike Syllabus includes an additional 67 graded flights in the T-45 covering air combat maneuvers, low-level navigation, tactical formation flying, and aircraft carrier qualifications. Students will then graduate from Advanced Flight Training with the Wings of Gold(3). 

3. Squadron Selection 

The final selection process assigns naval aviators to a particular squadron based on the needs of the service. Naval Aviators are assigned to a fleet replacement squadron or other similar training assignments for further training on their specific aircraft type. Here, RIOs and pilots must become qualified by gaining the required flight hours and meeting the proficiency standards necessary.

NOTE: It’s kind of hard to figure out when exactly the RIO training occurs. I know it takes place over the course of all the primary through advanced training occurs as well but I’m not sure if they have to attend seperate courses for it. 

TOPGUN

From there, pilots and RIOs may have been moved to their first official squadron for deployment. They would have been in their first squadron for approximately one and a half years, deploying with them. Their squadron would come back from a deployment and during the stand-down time before their next deployment, their commanding officer would select them to go to TOPGUN.

Sources

(1) https://www.usna.edu/homepage.php

(2) https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/2944668/nife-lays-foundation-for-naval-aviation-training/

(3) https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/tw4/flight-school.asp

[alex51324]

I Just Figured Out What Elon Musk’s DOGE Really Is That it’s a protection racket should have been obvious all along.

Article by Slate's legal reporter, Dahlia Lithwick, developing the thesis that DOGE is, in essence, a protection racket. Doesn't seem like news exactly, but it's a cogent exploration of the theme.

Slate's "jump through hoops to read for free" model is grating on me today, so I'm just gonna copy the whole thing over.

**

Late last month, amid the utter chaos of Donald Trump’s first two weeks back in office, there was a revelatory moment during a press conference by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that was intended ostensibly to explain Trump’s attempted, then rescinded, across-the-board budget freeze. During that presser, Leavitt tried to explain which services might come back online and how. Instead, she inadvertently revealed that what’s really been going on with these budget cuts is the widespread institutionalization of the sort of organized-crime approach that Trump has brought to every aspect of his professional, political, and presidential life.

In order to explain the very first effort to dismantle the federal government by way of impounding federal funds and shutting off the spigot for trillions of dollars across thousands of federal programs—funds already appropriated by Congress—​​Leavitt tried to calm the roiling waters around a spending freeze that was likely to halt funding to Head Start, foreign aid, HIV programs, Meals on Wheels, and other vital services. Leavitt tried to soothe these vital institutions and programs with the promise that anyone who was worried about their own parochial interests should just pick up a phone and call the incoming head of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, to ask for special favors and exemptions. As Leavitt described it, she had been in contact with Vought that very morning, “and he told me to tell all of you that the line to his office is open for other federal government agencies across the board, and if they feel that programs are necessary and in line with the president’s agenda, then the Office of Management and Budget will review those policies.”

The line struck me at the time as a strange and ominous admission: Sure, we have arbitrarily defunded the government as you have come to understand it, but just hop on the phone with the as-yet-unconfirmed OMB director (he has since been confirmed), plead your case, and he might just do you a little favor. In the blur of the will-they-won’t-they OMB memo rescission and the subsequent lawsuits, it was easy to miss that mobsters dole out services in precisely this fashion. Governments typically do not.

That certainly isn’t how any of this is meant to work. It’s how things worked during, say, the Renaissance, when you went with your rakish peasant hat in hand to the Medicis and asked them for special favors in exchange for your pony or your eldest daughter. It’s how things worked when you went to the Cosa Nostra to ask for protection for you and your family in exchange for some portion of what was in your cash register. When we think of the DOGE takeover of the federal government solely as an act of smash-and-grab vandalism, we are just slightly missing the endgame, which is to sell us back those stolen goods and services in exchange for our loyalty. That is, of course, a protection racket. And it’s precisely the point.

This whole racket of theirs has already begun to affect all of us. On Monday, a Delta Airlines flight made an emergency landing upside down at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, a few short hours after hundreds of firings at the Federal Aviation Administration, the most recent in a string of stunning plane crashes in recent weeks. The pink slips were reportedly sent out “without cause nor based on performance or conduct,” with the emails originating “from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address”—not a government email address. Whether it is Elon Musk or DOGE or a postpubescent coder firing the probationary staff at the FAA in some sense matters far less than the fact that a team from Musk’s SpaceX spent Monday visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, in Virginia, to assist in overhauling the system. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Musk’s platform X that Musk’s DOGE team would “plug in” to the FAA to help “upgrade our aviation system.” I’m pretty sure that when the guy breaking your storefront windows is the same guy selling you replacement plate glass, you are not, in fact, witnessing the free market doing its best work.

In one sense, the protection-racket model works so well in the present moment because it also appeals to the foundational NIMBY ethos that holds that cutting everyone else’s government services is fine, so long as your narrow interests are protected. The raft of tweets, posts, and articles about the Trump-loving folks who absolutely support the MAGA vandalism of the federal government but never believed that it would come for them is its own small carnival of leopards and face-eatings. But isn’t the really chilling part not that they are surprised, but that they believe they can still find a way to be exempted from it? And of course they should be exempt. But they should also not have been targeted for budget cuts and cruelty in the first place. And they assuredly should not be forced to throw themselves on the mercy of the state to be made whole for their losses.

In heartbreaking recent reporting by the Washington Post about Luke Graziani, a disabled Army veteran terminated Friday, when he was just five weeks from completing his probation year at the Bronx Veterans Affairs hospital, two details stood out to me: When he printed out his termination letter, blaming his dismissal on poor performance, and took it to his supervisor, Graziani’s boss immediately promised to submit a request for exemption. “You’re critical staff,” Graziani recalled his boss saying. “We’re going to try.”

It didn’t end there, notes the Post.Graziani, who is 45 and has four children, “had believed until this weekend that his veteran status would protect his job. He served 20 years in the Army, first as a supply specialist and then in public affairs, deploying for two tours in Iraq and another two in Afghanistan before retiring in 2023.” So he sat down and wrote a letter to the new Veterans Affairs secretary, Douglas A. Collins, who had vowed in his confirmation hearing, “We will not stop until we succeed on behalf of the men and women who have worn the uniform.” He wanted Collins to give him his job back. Collins, it seems, has not yet replied. But might we agree that nobody should have to be put in the position of selling themselves back to their employers any more than they should be buying the spark plugs that the government just stripped from their own cars?

In the event that this is not all perfectly transparent, consider the tragic case of New York Mayor Eric Adams, whose continued time in office stands for no august legal principle save for the oldest one in the book: I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine. (That’s neither legal nor a principle, by the way.) It is how power works when power acts outside the boundaries of the law—you are spared bad consequences the very moment you fall in line, and by falling in line, you become part of the machinery that oppresses those who cannot or will not pay for the same protections.

It should be axiomatic, for anyone who actually flies commercial airlines, drinks water, gets diseases, and sends their children to schools, that most people will need those things to be provided by the government. The current plan is to ensure that you wake up in the morning and read Elon Mail, drink Elon Water, and attend Elon School while you rely on SpaceX and Tesla for all your needs, and you will pay for all that using the financial instrument of Elon’s choosing.

For anyone who has spent hours on the phone, navigating the byzantine forms and rules of the modern health care, educational, and student loan systems in immense frustration, please be prepared. Whatever else those entities did, they didn’t lead with “What can you give me in exchange?” They do now.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a Freedom of Information Act request that aims to reveal more about the sea life-saving work impeded by Trump’s mass firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The filing with NOAA seeks job descriptions and workplans of those fired by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. NOAA’s rapid loss of experts is crippling the agency’s ability to protect marine species such as critically endangered whales, sharks, sea turtles and corals.

“The incredible ocean animals that Americans adore are in serious danger as Musk plays power games with hard-working marine scientists,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center. “Unbelievably, they fired an orca-saving employee of the year, and the public deserves to know what other animals, marine sanctuaries and conservation programs are paying the price for DOGE’s cuts. Getting rid of the experts carrying out important conservation work has devastating and unlawful consequences for both wildlife and people.”

The sweeping DOGE cuts are already hampering agencies’ mandates, though many of the precise harms are unknown.

According to news reports and social media posts, DOGE has fired at least 700 NOAA employees and previously gave buyouts to around 170. Among the many fired experts are the orca-saving employee of the year and the director of an ocean acidification program, both in Washington, a fisheries management specialist assessing salmon stocks in Alaska, a scallop fishery observer in Massachusetts, a meteorologist at the NOAA National Weather Service’s Boston office, an aviating “hurricane hunter” in Florida, and scientists and science communicators around the country.

The agency is also reportedly disbanding two committees related to marine protection: the Marine and Coastal Area-based Management Advisory Committee and the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee.

NOAA Fisheries is responsible for safeguarding and stewarding the marine species and protected areas off the coasts of the United States. It has jurisdiction over 165 endangered and threatened species, including blue whales, Oceanic whitetip sharks, Chinook salmon, green sea turtles and several species of corals.

[usafphantom2]

#TomcatTail

#TomcatTuesday

That Time at Top Gun I Got Jumped by an F-5

Disclaimer: This #TomcatTail occurred almost 30 years ago and while I’ve got the lion’s share of the details correct, there may be a few errors but not in anything substantive to the story. Sorry, I’m old.

Getting selected to attend Top Gun in March of 1995 was pretty cool. Back in those days, TG was still at NAS Miramar so a good bit of training occurred in the Top Gun hangar and out over the water off San Diego. Other elements of training involved training ranges near El Centro/Yuma, Fallon, Nevada and China Lake, CA (emitter hop). All in all it was a great experience but it did have a couple “others”.

First, both the selected pilot and RIO are supposed to be cruise qualified, having done a deployment as they would likely become Pilot and RIO training officers after they graduated. Unfortunately, the luck of the draw had it that a non-cruise-experienced RIO got the nod to attend with me which made it just a bit more challenging. No dig on my RIO, it’s a really hard thing for anyone to do, but it made for some extra work on me in a learning environment.

The second “other” – and I know you aviators out there will be shaking your head in recognition – was that when I went through there was a HUGE budget problem in the flying hour program: not enough money for gas (when is there, right??). My CO’s solution was to only partially fill all the jets for each flight (internal fuel only) and NOT fill the drop tanks. Your normal fuel load of 20,000 pounds was reduced to 16,000 pounds (yes, 20% reduction). Not my favorite CO, BTW. I asked “can I at least take the drop tanks off so I don’t have the drag penalty?”, his answer was, in a word, “no.” D*ck. Any other classmates have this problem? Nope. Double D*ck.

That was my challenge all the way through Top Gun; an inexperienced RIO (still love him like a brother) and a 20% fuel penalty for every flight. My RIO got better pretty quickly and generally rose to the occasion, and for my part (having always been a Friend of Maintenance or FOM) I managed to often times sweet talk the Sailors fueling the jet to “accidentally” fill up the drops. I always had a great relationship with Sailors (my Dad was Enlisted before he became a Naval Aviator), so it wasn’t that hard to get ‘em to help me out on occasion.

It was a pretty lengthy syllabus (I counted 28 hops in my logbook just now) with your standard “small to big” training focus. 1v1s, 2v2s, 4v4s, the infamous “Flanker Hop” against high alt/high speed Vipers, threat emitters at China Lake, and Strike missions around Fallon, Nevada. The instructors were absolutely top notch and literally everything you did (from brief, to flight, to fight, to debrief) was critiqued. It’s like applying Blue Angel precision to the fighter environment.

With that, we come to the story of getting jumped by an F-5. As I recall, the hop was a four plane Self Escort Strike (Fighter/Bomber configuration) at the training range around Fallon, Nevada carrying two each inert Mk 82s (cement 500lb bombs). We’d fight our way in from the east on the north side of the range, hang a left at the right time to attack the Bravo 19 target complex to the south, and egress/hook out to the west after that (picture counter-clockwise flow). We were in a four plane and the section of F-14Bs were in the lead, and I was Dash-2 in the section of F-14As.

Side note – one crew per squadron was selected per class so they generally ran 2 sections of Tomcats and two sections of Hornets (maybe a few more). At the time, I was in VF-24 in the F-14A so I got crewed up with another Pilot/RIO [admission – for the LIFE of me I can’t remember their squadron……VF-213?.....31?... ...dunno….it was 1995 and they were flying A’s out of Miramar] and we’d swap leads every other mission/syllabus hop. Today “Stinky” was in the lead (not his real callsign).

We started the run from the east headed west along the northern boundary of the working area. We were one mile combat spread (each jet 1 mile apart) in a line abreast and I was on the far right (northernmost fighter); lead fighter in the B was on the far left and Stinky was 1 mile to my left. Break those hands out again if it helps. Looks about like this:

◄ - Dash 4 (me)

◄ - Dash 3 (Stinky)

◄ - Dash 2 (F-14B)

◄ - Dash 1 (Lead F-14B)

The expectation is that we’d see some long-range contacts (we did) and fire some BVR weapons (we did) and then make our way to the target area and get jumped either in the middle during our turn south (we did) or immediately off the target after we released (we did).

So we’re “haulin’ the chili” as we used to say, ingressing at 480kts and nearing the swing south. Parenthetically, we liked to travel at speeds in multiples of 60 because that made the time/distance calculation easier…..480kts = 8 miles a minute means 16 miles away = 2 minutes. We hit the turn point and start this sweeping gentle “wheel” to the left and steady up on a southerly heading as I get back in position having been on the outside of the turn. Right when we settle back in and we’re all 1-mile line abreast, my RIO shouts out on the tactical frequency “BOGEY RIGHT THREE O’CLOCK ONE MILE!!!” I look over and sure enough there’s an F-5 at one mile away on my altitude pointing right at me. Dang it.

Here’s where it gets funny. Stinky calls out on the radio “We’re clear!”, meaning he thinks we don’t need to engage and can blow through. Well yes, Stinky, YOU are clear because the F-5 is TWO miles from YOU and has no chance of catching YOU, but I’VE got him in my knickers and I HAVE to honor his presence and engage. So I do.

INTERMISSION – I will say that Stinky was a resoundingly gifted Tomcat pilot and was as good at ACM as anyone, but this was NOT the first time he’d left me to engage as he blew through. It happened on a previous 2 plane ingress; I got jumped and he kept going. Not the coolest move, naturally, and the Instructors were savage in their critique but honestly I didn’t have to worry about it after Top Gun because he wasn’t in my squadron. We now return you to your previously schedule dogfight.

So bam, max performance turn to the right to take the F-5 down my right side close aboard to try and neutralize the threat and then figure out what’s next. I figure that if I want to have a snowballs chance in hell to get back to my division, I had to steer the fight properly. So he goes down my right side and I take the fight two circle (continue the right turn, but mostly in the vertical), come out of blower to get the speed down and turn rate to increase quickly and pull hard to get nose on. It works pretty well because the F-5 turns about like a Phantom (meaning: it doesn’t). I get the nose to rate around quickly and pull down to get nose on the F-5 and call a quick “Fox 2” on him. Fortunately for me, we’re kind of pointing the way we were going originally, so it’s blowers to Zone 5 and try and find our buddies. Honestly, I think that was a gift from the Instructor to configure it so I’d bag him and be able to continue. They were always good like that.

My RIO finds them on the pulse scope pretty quickly; they’re a number of miles ahead but we’re heading down hill toward them in full grunt, haulin’ and extra helping of chili. I get a visual and aim for the Dash-4 position to the right of Stinky where I was previously. By this time we’re getting close to the roll in point on the Bravo 19 target. The plan is to do a “John Wayne Left”, where – just like in the movies – we all roll in on the target leftward, one after another. We’ll likely even mentally make that noise from those movies…..”Brrrrr…..Brrrrrr…..Brrrrrr”. The timing works out absolutely perfectly (rather be lucky than good). I’m sliding up into position when Dash 1 rolls left….Dash 2 goes……my RIO gets Air-to-Ground read into the system, good symbology…..Stinky goes….then I go.

Master Arm on, roll left, pull nose to the target, 45° dive set, symbology tracking (a vertical line through the target with a que marker marching down to a release marker), que marker hits release marker, press the bomb button (“pickle”), thump-thump, and we’re off target. I pull out hard, roll wings left to look back briefly at the target (a hit, or at least close enough) and find and join on Stinky in spread again.

The B guys get jumped from the north now and me and Stinky have a couple bogies on our nose to the west. We’ve split into roughly separate sections so now it’s time to fight our way out. Fortunately for us, the bogies are right on our nose, so discretion being the better part of valor we blow through as we accelerate through the number at about 5,000 feet off the deck. Not a good idea to hang out over simulated bad guy country after you just bombed the shit out of ‘em. “Evaluate the bug” says Stinky…..”good bug” says the Instructor. Success.

We come back for the debrief and it goes fairly well. For those that haven’t been through, “fairly well” means you get talked to about each and every point of the flight for about 3 hours. Stinky got savaged for not honoring the threat to his wingman but again, no big deal to me. And then we go to the tapes to evaluate our strike run. It comes to my turn and we roll tape. The vertical line (Bomb Fall Line, I think) tracks over the target, que hits, bombs come off, and the instructor hits pause.

“So how fast were you going at release?” Uh oh. I had no idea. So you know, there are actually limits to how fast you can drop ordnance based on how much testing had been done on the airframe. At that point the Tomcat wasn’t cleared for supersonic release. Conjecture was that depending on speed and airflow that a released bomb may get “stuck” in the air around the jet and clatter around in the tunnel between the engines. On the “good/bad scale”, that’s clearly on “bad.”

“I’m not sure, Sir. I was trying to get into position on time to roll in with the division and I didn’t check.”

“Well, based on what we could see on radar, you joined your division nearly supersonic, right around 600 knots. Then you rolled in, so I figure you may have dropped past the number. Congratulations, you’re a test pilot.”

Oops. “Uhhh…..thank you Sir.” What a time to be alive!

@RSE_vb via X

[kunalkushwah]

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[juhimehraposts]

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[parrishjeanna]

https://www.moguard.ngb.mil/Portals/48/Documents/WarrantOfficer/Aviation%20Warrant-8-27-21.pdf?ver=Xyso3LXUf9NrMGsrXvA8gA%3D%3D#:~:text=After%20you%20graduate%20from%20Warrant,aviation%2C%20Fort%20Rucker%2C%20Alabama.

What! Me fall down a rabbit hole of what Tommy most likely went through to get to where he is now? Nooooooo 😬🤫🤥

[lboogie1906]

Léopoldine Doualla-Bell-Smith (January 11, 1939 - May 9, 2023) After she graduated from high school at the age of 17, she was sent to Paris for ground hostess training by Air France and moved to UAT for flight training. She began flying as a stewardess with UAT which merged to become part of Union de Transports Aeriens. She didn’t know that she was making history as the first Black person to serve as a flight attendant for any airline. She took to the air the year before Ruth Carol Taylor who is credited with being the first Black flight attendant in the US.

In 1960 she was invited to join Air Afrique. She was the only qualified African in French aviation; her employment identification card was No. 001. She was promoted to Air Afrique’s first cabin chief. During her time as a flight attendant, she flew throughout Africa and as far away as Australia. Because of the color of her skin, some white passengers treated her like an outcast, but dark-skinned passengers often welcomed her presence. She experienced sexual harassment; on one occasion, she slapped a white man who had touched her breasts.

After twelve years as a flight attendant, She left Air Afrique to become manager of Reunited Transport Leaders Travel Agency in Libreville, Gabon. She relocated to DC to study English at Georgetown University. She returned to Gabon in 1976 where she was hired by Air Zaire as station and office manager at the Libreville airport. She supported the Skal Club, the international association of professionals, leaders, and friends who were seeking to promote travel and tourism in Africa.

She retired in 2003 and moved to Denver where they established the Business and Intercultural Services for Educational Travel and Associated Learning. She volunteers at Denver International Airport through their ambassador program. She was honored at the fortieth anniversary of the Black Flight Attendants of America organization at Los Angeles International Airport’s Flight Path Museum. She was honored during the International Women’s Day celebration in Denver on March 10, 2019. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence