The Air Force has released the report of the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) for the May 2009 fatal crash of a T-38 at Edwards Air Force Base. The crash killed the front seat pilot, Capt Mark P. “Dash” Graziano, and severely injured the rear seat engineer, Maj Lee V. Jones. Both were students at the USAF Test Pilot School.
The publicly-releasable AIB report indicates that the T-38 crashed because Read more
The Washington Post revisits the background of Navy Chaplain (Lt Cdr) Carey Cash, the Chaplain for the Evergreen Chapel on Camp David, the Presidential retreat. Previously, Time momentarily called the Chapel the Obama’s “home church,” which lit off a firestorm of controversy and denials. The current article takes the more cryptic form in describing the situation as “The Pastor Who Has Obama’s Attention.”
Much of the article describes Cash’s background, including his time in combat in Iraq and his book, A Table in the Presence. It includes a short description of what the author calls “Cash’s controversial views on Christian proselytizing Read more
Urban legends abound in the Air Force about doing unusual things in aircraft that the manufacturer (and the Air Force) never intended. No, this doesn’t refer to things like rolling inverted in a tanker. It’s like the ability to suck hard boiled eggs out of the sextant port in the C-135. Seriously, who figured that out?
Another example is the zippo, a product of the F-111, a photo of which is below:
Photo credit Capt. Christy Stravolo
At some point, an F-111 aircrew member discovered Read more
Chaplain (Maj.) Bradley West, a US Army Chaplain, was presented with the Gen. Methodej Kuban Medal by Chaplain Mirek Jordanek, Chaplain for the Czech unit stationed at Forward Operating Base Shank in Afghanistan.
The award was named for a Czechoslovakian Catholic chaplain killed in Auschwitz in World War II, who encouraged believers of all denominations to worship together.
As has been noted many times before, there is a shortage of Catholic Chaplains in the Armed Forces. Chaplain West, a Protestant, was fulfilling his duties to see to the spiritual needs of all of his troops when he Read more
In a scene right out of Star Trek (which is based on the Navy construct, by the way), a C-130 equipped with a laser recently engaged a vehicle on the ground with fascinating results. The laser sparked and burned the hood of a parked car, and Boeing, the commercial contractor, said that it “killed” the vehicle.
The C-130 carried a belly-mounted turret from which it fired its Airborne Tactical Laser (ATL). The ATL has been under development Read more
Nearly 100 American Muslim soldiers gathered at Fort Jackson to pray as a group to mark Eid al Fitr, celebrating the end of Ramadan. The call to prayer was led by Chaplain (Lt Col) Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad of the US Army Chaplain Center and School. The Chaplain lauded the soldiers’ participation, saying
We want (the Soldiers) to be empowered through the spiritual foundation that Islam provides.
When members of the military fail in their respect and protection of religious liberty, Read more
Missionary Aviation Fellowship, a Christian aviation and missions organization, has already begun to assist in the humanitarian crisis following the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Indonesia. The MAF has had aircraft and a small team in the country since the tsunami in 2004, and has already been supporting local governments in response to the crisis. Their assistance is in demand, with
the phone…ringing off the hook with requests from the Red Cross and others
The MAF has requested prayer support, and financial donations to support the humanitarian relief can be made through their website.
A previous post noted that the Air Force graduated UAV pilots who had no prior flight experience. More recently, the Air Force announced [updated link] that those pilots will wear the following wings, designed by public affairs Staff Sergeant Austin May in the UK:
(By comparison, you can see traditional Air Force pilot wings in the ChristianFighterPilot logo.) The wings were awarded to the first class that just graduated. This is not an insignificant step for the Air Force, which is characterized by a culture that closely guards those who it permits to wear wings. The Air Force also announced that the UAS pilots Read more