Originally Posted by FLY6584

Well its a Referral OPR due to receiving an LOR with a UIF for texting in the cockpit. I was instructing a student on his last ride before sending him to his checkride. While we were at an outbase practicing emergency landing patterns the student could not get one of them on the ground so I knew I was going to hook him and not send him to his checkride the next day. It was the last go of the day, at the very end of the day, and my scheduler was back in the flightroom building the schedule for the next day and coordinating to have a Check IP fly with this student on his checkride. By the time I made it back to the flight room it would have been another hour and a half and everyone would have gone home for the day and the scheduler would have had to change everything last minute. Having been a scheduler in the past I know what it feels like to have a bomb dropped in your schedule last minute thus keeping you there that much later when you already are the last one in the flight walking out the door every night.

So needless to say I texted him while climbing out on a simple VFR departure on a clear and a million day. A quick text that basically said... "Lt XXXX is hooking this ride, plan accordingly." Was it wrong and was I in direct violation of an AFI? Absolutely. Do I regret doing it and wish I could take it back. No doubt. Is the LOR and subsequent referral OPR warranted? I don't know and that wasn't for me to decide. In today's climate of people doing flyby's 18ft above the Scoreboard, barrel rolling King Air's, and anything else that is driving this focus on Flight Discipline I can understand why leadership would like to make a statement.

Does it stink that it has probably ended my Air Force career? Sure, but I never saw myself making a career out of the Air Force anyways and I was grateful that a flight related disciplinary action was not taken and it was left to an LOR with a UIF. Now I just learned that it will be driving a referral OPR so I was curious how much of an affect this will have in the airlines...

Cheers fellas

Originally Posted by Adlerdriver

Sounds like your "bud" the scheduler, who you were trying to do a solid, should have kept his pie-hole shut and just re-worked the schedule.

I think Delta might be in the minority on the use of OPRs. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Elvis90

Right...the online app is the most important thing to get right. OPRs, Forms 8, etc. are brought with you for the interview. My interview was 1 hour long with 3 people: one Human Resources person, an Active Delta Captain, and a Retired Delta Captain. We spent at least 1/3 of the time verifying all of the information I placed in the online app. Realize too that Delta loves military pilots.

Originally Posted by thrust

Wow. Your story epitomizes why I cannot wait to get out of active duty. It's absolutely terrible. To say that this isn't the service and job I thought I was getting into would be an understatement.

That said, this UIF might work out great for you. How much longer is your ADSC? With rumors of future RIF/ Force Shaping Boards (whatever they decide to call it that day), the UIF might be your ticket out of this hell hole. Perhaps I should start texting people from the cockpit too. Oh wait, we do that (and look up weather, NOTAMs, etc) all the time, and nobody cares provided you're PNF.

Originally Posted by HoursHore

And FAIPs wonder where they get their reputation.

Originally Posted by larryiah

Hard to believe that someone would turn you in for that. It's minutia, really. How that would find its way to an OPR is beyond me.

We text in the cockpit all the time, usually concerning even less important minutia. Our texting is just done via ACARS.

Originally Posted by HuggyU2

Yes,... backstabbing never happens anywhere else in AF aviation... only with FAIPs. Copy all.

For the record, FLY6584: no one did a barrel roll in the MC-12.