flensr

The response to that statement is usually "make way, superpower coming through..." Not saying it's right, just that's how it is.

And, that's speaking as a guy who unwittingly flew non-RVSM military fighter aircraft up in RVSM altitudes for years without realizing how many hoops ATC had to jump through to clear everyone out of my way. It was pretty much like requesting a 4k block altitude and 10nm ring around my plane, coast to coast. Whoops. Nobody told us that's how it was, and I didn't realize how effed up it was until a decade later. Sorry guys... "make way, superpower coming through". Oops.

MelT

Keep believing that Walter

Adlerdriver

You don't control how your fighter is equipped by Uncle Sam. If you need to get from A to B without a tanker, what choice do you have? Go to FL450, get direct and I'll bet no one will even know your were there.

flensr

Yea, and that's how we approached the issue. Still, if there is a way to get the job done with less interference/impact on civilian and commercial traffic, we were usually willing to tread lightly. We even usually had an FAA/ATC liaison officer just to help make sure we weren't doing something during day to day ops that really impacted civilian ATC.

But again yes, mission accomplishment was the first priority and if we weren't equipped to do the mission in a way that was ATC friendly, that wasn't our problem. Superpower, coming through.

m3113n1a1

Quality time with FAs 😏😏

flensr

Should a leg or two sitting in an FA jumpseat be a mandatory part of training? The few times I've done that have been educational...

Packrat

Perhaps just giving a Shiite what your crew is doing and going through in the back would suffice. I guess that's too much to ask for the kids populating the regionals or are getting hired by the majors at 26.

Maturity is a wonderful thing. Someday they'll have it.

m3113n1a1

I don't know if most pilots are "able-bodied."

Big E 757

My neighbor is a Reaper pilot. I was talking to him at a neighborhood Christmas party a few weeks ago and was fascinated by his stories. I talked to him all night. Most of what he does is classified but he could talk in generalities about his missions and his job. He is a former Air Wisconsin Pilot. Anyway, he recommended a couple books about the role of Unmanned aircraft in today’s military and the first book he recommended was “Kill Chain”. I thought it’d be about drone sorties and give me a look into the life of a drone pilots life. Instead, 80% of the book pretty much talked about all the wasteful military spending, funding unfulfilled promises from government contractors like Northrop, Lockheed, and smaller unheard of companies that make Billions of dollars off of the US Military War machine. I have a huge amount of respect for all of you who’ve served in the Military, and wish my timing had been better so I could have served too (graduated college in ‘93), but there is so much wasteful spending on projects that don’t do what they were intended to, I don’t think $12000 worth of fuel is going to move the needle on my tax situation.

pangolin

I fly short legs. Yet often I fly with guys who fly right at the limit. It saves us at most 2-3 minutes on our routes. And it uses a ton of fuel. The biggest negative to me though is that it limits options on the arrival end for the unexpected. That “extra” fuel can make all the difference in the world. Why waste it to save 3 minutes.