Category Archives: Fighter Pilot

General Welsh Declares Official Air Force Mustache March

At the 2014 Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium, Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Mark Welsh decided the Air Force should have an “all-in,” MAJCOM vs MAJCOM official Mustache March.  With a nod to the MAJCOM commanders in the front row of his audience, Gen Welsh said

In just a few days, its March. Now, I don’t know, but I don’t think we’ve ever had an all-in Mustache March, have we? So I’m putting the smackdown on you guys: Air Force-wide Mustache March. MAJCOM competitions. [Laughter] You identify your winners, we’ll check the imagery to make sure nothings been doctored. We’ll find our Air Force winner and I’ll figure out a way to honor…him.

At that point, Gen Welsh seemed to become aware that he had to say “him.”  Read more

Air Force Urgently Replacing Ejection Seat Beacons

On February 5th, the Air Force Times reported the US Air Force has experienced a spate of problems with the emergency locator beacons intended to help rescuers find downed airmen [emphasis added]:

The Air Force spent $30 million for 17,000 of the beacons in 2009, with deliveries finalized in 2010. Two years after the first beacons were installed, crash investigators began noticing that they had not worked in multiple crashes. In fact, the beacons failed 10 times in 22 ejections, according to a review of crash reports since the beacons were installed.

The situation is so serious that one unit in Italy made a point of flying with their personal cell phones.

The article notes the incident that may have caused the greatest injection of urgency was the loss of an F-16C over the Pacific in 2012:  Read more

Lockheed Still Building F-16s, 40 Years On

In 2012, Lockheed Martin delivered the last F-22 off its assembly line, a mere 9 years after the first delivery of a production F-22 in 2003. The original F-22 buy plan had been 750 aircraft. The number eventually dwindled to less than 200 — with each reduction resulting in per-unit increase in cost.

By contrast, the first F-16 was delivered to the Air Force in 1979 (after the first test flight in 1974). As noted in a local paper (and repeated at the Stars and Stripes), Lockheed (who bought General Dynamics) is still churning out the F-16 after more than 4,500 have been delivered worldwide.

It is worth remembering that while technology Read more

Air Force Pilot Gives it All to God

The US Air Force published an interesting story about 2Lt Abraham Morland, whose origins may be a little unique but whose desires about Air Force flying are probably pretty common:

Second Lt. Abraham Morland…held dual citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He was born to British parents in Tulsa, Okla., where his father worked as a flight simulator technician…

“My real love was America, I wanted to come back home to the states and join the U.S. Air Force,” he said.

As a result, his parents moved back to the United Sates so their son could pursue his dream of becoming an American pilot.

Morland ultimately enlisted and then spent years trying to Read more

Gen Welsh Authorizes Morale Patches, Confirms Rock Star Status

General Mark Welsh just cemented his “rock star” status as Chief of Staff of the US Air Force. Though it took nearly 18 months, General Welsh has finally sent the ban on morale uniform items the way of Blues Monday [emphasis added]:

Morale T-shirts/patches representing individual squadrons that were worn in the past to increase unit pride are now authorized to wear on Fridays. Squadron color T-shirts may be worn with the ABU or flight suit when in-garrison or on-station during unit temporary duty assignments and contingency deployments…

The nuance to the victory here is that in years past, most morale uniform items (colored unit shirts, morale patches, etc.) were unofficial — ie, the regulation didn’t say you couldn’t, so people did — and stretched the limits of the rules as a result. This was then “fixed” by new regulations specifically banning “morale” items. Now, General Welsh has explicitly authorized those same items.

The new AFI even specifically authorizes “tab” patches, which Read more

F/A-18E Pilot Ejects, in Critical Condition

According to the US Navy, an F/A-18E Super Hornet pilot ejected last Wednesday and was picked up by a local fisherman. The pilot is reportedly hospitalized in critical condition, with local news reports saying he was having trouble breathing when the fisherman recovered him.

The pilot (or aviator, in Navy parlance) was ultimately picked up by an MH-60 — from the same squadron that suffered a helicopter loss the week prior.

The Super Hornet was assigned to the “Pukin’ Dogs” of VFA-143 out of Oceana Naval Air Station. As is the usual practice, the Navy will investigate the incident.

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