Originally Posted by N9373M (Post 1103511)

MCAS Beaufort, SC is still building the five new VTOL blast pads, hangar(s) and support buildings for the F-35. Gotta love politics and Government procurement rules - spend it while you got it.

When KNBC had the Harriers, I assume they also had blast pads. Are they gone, or won't support the F35? (one big fan vs 4?).

Originally Posted by USMCFLYR (Post 1103549)

73M -

I'm not aware of a time that NBC had Harriers.
I mean they came down to train but none were ever stationed there that I know of.

USMCFLYR

Originally Posted by N9373M (Post 1103511)

MCAS Beaufort, SC is still building the five new VTOL blast pads, hangar(s) and support buildings for the F-35. Gotta love politics and Government procurement rules - spend it while you got it.

Originally Posted by UAL T38 Phlyer (Post 1103609)

My guess is not so much the ability to maintain them but the cost. My estimate is $25,000 a flight hour. Contrast with Vipers at about $6-7k, Hornets about $8-10, Supers $11-12k, and Eagles $15k. T-38s: $3-4k. (All my estimates; nothing official).

Originally Posted by UAL T38 Phlyer (Post 1103609)

Rick:

I'm not sure what McCain is saying (haven't read it), but I would guess he is correct. They were grounded for 6 months due to the accident in Alaska...an investigation which has just been re-opened.

Originally Posted by rickair7777 (Post 1103734)

The AF blamed the AK crash squarely on the pilot as of a few days ago.

McCain was complaining about on Mx hassles and costs, not specifically the O2 gen issue.

Originally Posted by UAL T38 Phlyer (Post 1103609)

I was stationed in Europe in 1992 after Gulf War One. Zweibrucken Air Base (an RF-4C base) was closed by BRAC. But: after the airplanes were gone, they (German contractors) still re-paved the runway!! Why? The contract was signed before the BRAC, and could not be terminated. And over a year later, when it was done? We weren't allowed to land there! Ach du himmel!



Rick:

I'm not sure what McCain is saying (haven't read it), but I would guess he is correct. They were grounded for 6 months due to the accident in Alaska...an investigation which has just been re-opened.

There are things I know of I don't want to post on a forum, but the Air Force has publicly announced they are basing 20 T-38As at both Langley and Tyndall to support F-22 flying.

My guess is not so much the ability to maintain them but the cost. My estimate is $25,000 a flight hour. Contrast with Vipers at about $6-7k, Hornets about $8-10, Supers $11-12k, and Eagles $15k. T-38s: $3-4k. (All my estimates; nothing official).

Originally Posted by USMCFLYR (Post 1103742)

I've lost quite a few peers to hypoxia - some known, others assumed.
Not knowing, but obviously guessing, that there are clear Immediate Action items for an O2 failure.
These types of losses are awfully hard to take.
As an aside - I once heard of a person actually dying of asphyxiation when he had an O2 system failure when he could have just released the mask obviously.
The comments at the end of this article are more of the trash commonly seen when making comments about something they know nothing about.

Air Force Blames Oxygen-Deprived Pilot in F-22 Crash - ABC News

USMCFLYR

Originally Posted by reCALcitrant (Post 1104008)

Agreed on all points. To tack on, wouldn't it be cheaper to fly T-38's or T-6's everywhere instead of EVERY MWS? Why just certain ones? I've been thinking about this for years now. Why put so many hours and man-hours on B-52's and MX when you could keep basic currency and fly T-6's or 38's?

Originally Posted by USMCFLYR (Post 1104029)

The guy I was flying with last week is a former B-52 pilot. He was telling me stories about flying the T-37s for currency in the late 70s and I'm sure the program has been around (maybe comes and goes) for quite some time. Not sure about the question as too why not EVERY MWS, but at least in the F/A world we didn't have just currency sorties (unless you counted bounce periods for carriers ops), but every other sortie was MWS specific trainng so it couldn't necessarily be accomplished in another airframe.

Yes - I heard that he was rider. A very sad and avoidable situation to be sure. As through as the pre-flight briefings are with both the pilot and the flight support people I'm more inclined to think that panic was major factor rather than lack of knowledge. After I heard that story, I made sure that my backseat riders knew how to put on/take off the mask. A few would make some remark until I related the story I had heard.

USMCFLYR