losing your wings.....

It's peacetime and all the worrywarts have crawled out of the walls -
again- to tell everyone else 'you're doing it all wrong.' I saw it
happen three distinct times during my career. Granted - the F18 stud
hung it out a bit much. But I fondly remember a pentagon type - an 06
who briefed the JCS daily - that the 'career hawks' cringed whenever
some stud hung it out too far but when the guns started shooting the
'stars' were damn glad those same studs were around to go lay some
expert hurt on the bad guys. Anybody who willingly and eagerly goes out
to trade shots with the enemy isn't exactly a tame, sane and stable
character.
Walt BJ

"WaltBJ" wrote in message
ups.com...
It's peacetime and all the worrywarts have crawled out of the walls -
again- to tell everyone else 'you're doing it all wrong.' I saw it
happen three distinct times during my career. Granted - the F18 stud
hung it out a bit much. But I fondly remember a pentagon type - an 06
who briefed the JCS daily - that the 'career hawks' cringed whenever
some stud hung it out too far but when the guns started shooting the
'stars' were damn glad those same studs were around to go lay some
expert hurt on the bad guys. Anybody who willingly and eagerly goes out
to trade shots with the enemy isn't exactly a tame, sane and stable
character.
Walt BJ

Attitude is everything, especially after you've been caught with your pants
down.

Someone else has pointed out that considering the young officers behavior
after he lost his wings that this probably wasn't the first time he's pulled
something cocky so I doubt his reaction when confronted was " I realize I
did something really stupid and wish I hadn't done it"

Is what he did a GUARANTEED loss of wings? Or if he had an otherwise good
record could his flying carreer had been saved?

Walt BJ,

It's peacetime and all the worrywarts have crawled out of the walls

True. And all the more reason to mind our manners. I'd rather not give the
politicians any more reason to cut our rations than they can conjure on
their own.

but when the guns started shooting the 'stars' were damn glad those same
studs were around to go lay some expert hurt on the bad guys.

I have no problem with that.

But given a choice, I'd prefer someone smart enough to know when to hang it
out, and when not to. There are plenty of times and places where someone can
establish one's bonafides and do so without endangering the campesinos and
the taxpayer's dinero, not to mention one's own hide or the skin of a
crewmate.

This guy didn't pass that test.

Anybody who willingly and eagerly goes out to trade shots with the enemy
isn't exactly a tame, sane and stable character.

Add to that the willingness to do so from a pitching flight deck, and you
definitely have a bunch of certifiables. g

--
Mike Kanze

"A rattlesnake loose in the living room tends to end all discussion of
animal rights."

- Time magazine's Lance Morrow, written after the September 11 attacks.


"WaltBJ" wrote in message
ups.com...
It's peacetime and all the worrywarts have crawled out of the walls -
again- to tell everyone else 'you're doing it all wrong.' I saw it
happen three distinct times during my career. Granted - the F18 stud
hung it out a bit much. But I fondly remember a pentagon type - an 06
who briefed the JCS daily - that the 'career hawks' cringed whenever
some stud hung it out too far but when the guns started shooting the
'stars' were damn glad those same studs were around to go lay some
expert hurt on the bad guys. Anybody who willingly and eagerly goes out
to trade shots with the enemy isn't exactly a tame, sane and stable
character.
Walt BJ

~^ beancounter ~^ wrote:
then tell me Mike, what makes a good fighter
pilot?

Combined
o Flying ability/skill
o Aggressiveness
o Good judgement

Remove any one of the above and you don't have a good fighter pilot.
--
St. John

Amen!

--
Mike Kanze

"A rattlesnake loose in the living room tends to end all discussion of
animal rights."

- Time magazine's Lance Morrow, written after the September 11 attacks.


"St. John Smythe" wrote in message
...
~^ beancounter ~^ wrote:
then tell me Mike, what makes a good fighter
pilot?

Combined
o Flying ability/skill
o Aggressiveness
o Good judgement

Remove any one of the above and you don't have a good fighter pilot.
--
St. John

A flyby at your old stomping ground is one thing, but high speed pass
followed by an afterburner climb (shudder!)? There's a time and place for
that kind of flying, but this wasn't it. Methinks a more garden variety
touch and go would have resulted in getting smacked hard but keeping his
wings.

He might have kept his wings, even though he did the whole "routine", if it
was a "first offense", me thinks... now with previous screwups on record,
that's a different ball game...
_____________
José Herculano

Thomas Schoene wrote:

WaltBJ wrote:
That F18 pilot knew exactly what he was doing. My guess is that he was
fed up with the Navy and decided to hang it up. Note - he was on an
authorized sortie or else there'd been a lot more severe action taken.
Walt BJ

He had four years left to run on his committment; did he think they would
let him skate on that?

Besides, from the rest of the article -- the part where he wrote a nasty
email to one of the people who reported the flyby -- he sounds like he
really loved flying and was pretty angry about getting busted. But that
same incident demonstrates his continuing poor judgementand lack of
maturity. He broke the rules and knew it; blaming others for turning him in
was just plain childish. Sounds like he thought it would have been OK to
violate flight safety rules if no one had caught him at it.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872

Hey, welcome to Generation Oprah. Par for the course for people to day. Guess
he thought he was Tom Cruise or something?

Mike Kanze wrote:

Almost unbelieveable display of immaturity and selfishness on the part of
this guy. I thought all the Mavericks and Icemen had been flushed from the
system by now.



Have you lost that lovin feeling? Personally I have the Need. The need for
Speed!

Joe Delphi wrote:
"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
ink.net...

Besides, from the rest of the article -- the part where he wrote a nasty
email to one of the people who reported the flyby -- he sounds like he
really loved flying and was pretty angry about getting busted. But that
same incident demonstrates his continuing poor judgementand lack of
maturity. He broke the rules and knew it; blaming others for turning him
in
was just plain childish. Sounds like he thought it would have been OK to
violate flight safety rules if no one had caught him at it.


Yep, I agree. The letter writing incident is almost more revealing about
his character than the whole flyby part of it. There is probably a lot more
to this story, involving his personality, than what got wrote up in the LA
Times article. He probably ****ed off more than a few people along the way
of his military career and when he needed some help at the end of the long,
green table - there was none to be found.

JD
More to the story. Indeed. I have the complete record of board action.
It made mention of a couple other incidents, less serious, which the
Navy considered along with this latest afterburner action. LA times
Ricci's investigation was professional and accurate.

I am one of the individuals (a pilot) who reported it to SBP's airport
administration.

ture, i think i perfer a "bit" of attitude and cockyness in a
fighter polit......


" I don't think it matters what you fly. Immaturity and
selfishness can be found in any flying community. "