Dean

@MCCCANM Took a Cessna 206 into ORD a few years back 😅🥵 I’m not sure who hated it more, me or the controllers.

Coming from the military, ORD made me nervous as a new-hire to the airline. It has a reputation. Not the approach & landing or weather, but the taxiing procedures. The ground controller can spit out instructions to 10 or more jets in a row without pausing & then yell at someone who takes a wrong turn, all in a single radio transmission. It’s legendary, like watching a teacher unload on a class of fifth-graders. I don’t feel like it’s the same after covid. They had a pause when traffic fell & it’s just a little more chill now. Hard to explain. Anyway, while in the reserves, we had an active duty crew who wanted to take a KC-10 to ORD, staging for an airshow. They brought it up in some ops group meeting. The reserve folks laughed & said absolutely not. We knew the active duty crew would get eaten alive…they had no experience that would compare. I would have screwed it up before I went to the airline, too. Keep your mouth shut, your ears open & don’t stop moving unless told to.

@CyborgPeds How many gallons? Do they increase the MTOW?

New tip tanks look good.

@MCCCANM Is the USCG butthurt that you left them out of the list of US Military operators of the C-130?

The Lockheed Martin C-130 “Hercules” is the longest continuously produced military aircraft, having started production in 1954 & continuing to roll off lines today. Obviously, it’s had significant upgrades since 1954. It’s flown by the U.S. Air Force, Navy & Marine Corps, in addition to the Air Forces of many other countries (about 70 in total). It was originally designed as a replacement for piston engine transports still used during the Korean War. Able to carry up to 92 passengers or 42,000 lbs of cargo, the C-130 has been used for a wide variety of missions over the years, with an ability to land at austere, unprepared airfields. The list of variants is too long to go through, but some of my favorites: Weather Reconnaissance (“Hurricane Hunter”), Gunship (AC-130 “Ghostrider”), Psychological Warfare, Electronic Warfare, Air Refueling Tanker, CSAR Command & Control & even drone control. It can be equipped with skis to land on ice & snow. A paused program by Air Force Special Operations Command sought to equip it with floats for water landings. Some versions were equipped with rockets to shorten takeoff distances. The Marine Corps mounted Hellfire missiles under the wings with a Bushmaster gun on the back deck to turn their tanker version into a quasi-attack aircraft. The possibilities are almost endless & it’s a popular choice for modification. Production of the C-130 is expected to continue at least another 10 years, with somewhere around 20 rolling off the line per year. To date, more than 2,800 have been delivered around the world. In the U.S., the Air Force currently operates approximately 373 of different variants, while the Navy has 33 & the Marine Corps 64; it’s unclear how many each service currently has on backorder, but they do have them on order. It’s estimated there are about 300 currently in a kind of retirement in the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ. They exist in varying states of upkeep, with some being able to be returned to service very quickly. It’s sort of a joke that when an Air Force looks to replace their C-130s, the first choice is the C-130…but there is a lot of truth to that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed a little context to the C-130! As always, this is written in the simplest way I can for people not familiar with aviation & there is a lot more to know. Hope it helps, though!

@ShivAroor Hard to shove a bunch of small helicopters inside a V-22.

I don’t know. But the claim that the departing US forces blew up their HC-130s sounds off. Also, there must be a good reason (other than availability) why Ospreys weren’t used for the extraction. They’re literally built to avoid what’s being claimed.

@MCCCANM Do you know if pilots always fly with the same WSO or do the crews change frequently?

Rumor only, but rumor on the street is the pilot rescued Friday is one of the same pilots who was shot down by Kuwait a few weeks ago. If true, probably going to get an epic new callsign.

@judi_harris @grey4626 What’s the name? Looking for something to read.

@grey4626 Read a fictionalized history of Poland that explains why their military did not fight the many invasions of their country. Explains everything about this persons’ comment and ignorance of why we value our military so highly and all American lives

You Polish fucking idiot... you absolute mouth-breathing, historically illiterate simpleton who wouldn’t recognize genuine warrior ethos if it curb-stomped your fragile national ego into the dirt where it belongs. You sit there, sneering at the spectacle of America committing every asset, every operator, every ounce of kinetic fury from the most lethal military machine ever forged...just to yank one downed pilot out of the fire....and you sneer. That’s doctrine. That’s identity. And your limp-dicked dismissal proves exactly why your military culture treats its people like disposable serfs while ours forges legends who fight like they have a nation that will burn the world down to get them home. “Leave no man behind” isn’t some sentimental bumper-sticker slogan for the U.S. military. It is the sacred, blood-oath covenant that has defined American warfighting since the Revolution, through Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Vietnam’s endless Combat Search and Rescue missions that diverted entire air wings to extract one airman, Mogadishu where Task Force Ranger bled rivers to recover every last brother, and every black-op Delta, DEVGRU, or Ranger stack has ever run since. It is codified in the Ranger Creed, the SEAL Ethos, the Marine Corps’ every-man-a-rifleman creed, and the Army’s Warrior Ethos: “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” We enforce it with lethal precision because we understand something your culture apparently never grasped: the individual American fighter is not expendable cannon fodder. He is the irreducible unit of national power. This policy is pure predatory genius. It weaponizes trust. Every pilot, every operator, every grunt steps into the breach knowing...bone-deep, soul-deep...that if the worst happens, his brothers and his nation will expend whatever it takes, risk whatever it costs, to drag him back alive or bring him home in a box. That knowledge annihilates the paralyzing fear of abandonment that has broken lesser armies across history. It transforms hesitation into ferocious, calculated aggression. It creates men who fight like cornered lions because they trust their tribe implicitly. Betray that covenant and you erode the very foundation of combat effectiveness. Armies that treat their soldiers as interchangeable meat...look at the meat-grinder doctrines of the Soviets, the Chinese, or certain Eastern European “allies” who’ve spent centuries getting partitioned and occupied...crumble from within. Morale collapses. Initiative dies. You end up with conscripts who surrender at the first real contact because they know nobody’s coming for them. We don’t do that. We never will. That’s why our warriors are qualitatively superior. It projects unassailable resolve that deters enemies and cements alliances. It raises the cost of engaging us exponentially. It tells the world that American lives have infinite value while theirs are negotiable. That message is worth every asset, every round, every risk...because it sustains the dominance you now resent from the sidelines. History is littered with the corpses of empires that forgot this lesson. We studied those failures. We weaponized the opposite. So when we lose “all this” to rescue one pilot and still call it a triumph, it isn’t delusion...it’s affirmation of the spiritual steel that makes us the superpower and leaves you polishing participation trophies from other people’s wars. Your sneering exposes a profound cultural weakness: you don’t value the individual fighter with this ferocious, unrelenting loyalty, so you can’t comprehend why we do. That’s why your military produces cannon fodder and ours produces predators. We don’t leave our own to rot in some foreign shithole. Period. That isn’t weakness. That is what makes us lethally, unapologetically superior. And that, you clueless Polish prick, is why we win. 💀🗡️🦅🇺🇸🪖

@keldors_bluff @sentdefender @IfindRetards found one

Tonight’s operation in Southern Iran which resulted in the successful rescue of a Weapons System Officer (WSO) onboard an American F-15E Strike Eagle downed Friday over Iran, involved hundreds of special forces troops and other military personnel, including members of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, dozens of fighter and strike aircraft, helicopters, and cyber, space and other intelligence capabilities, officials tell The New York Times. Senior military officials described the mission to rescue the airman as “one of the most challenging and complex in the history of U.S. Special Operations” given the mountainous terrain, the airman’s injuries and Iranian forces rushing to the location in the mountains of Southern Iran. The WSO evaded Iranian forces for more than 24 hours, at one point hiking up a 7,000ft ridgeline, a senior U.S. military official said. U.S. attack aircraft dropped bombs and opened fire on Iranian convoys to keep them away from the area where the airman was hiding. As U.S. Special Forces converged on the downed airman, they fired their weapons to keep Iranian forces away from the rescue site, but did not engage in a firefight with the Iranians. In a final twist after the officer was rescued, two transport planes that would carry the commandos and the airmen to safety got stuck at a remote base in Iran. Commanders decided to fly in three new planes to extract all the U.S. military personnel and the airman, and they blew up the two disabled planes rather than have them fall into the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

@Ryan_Steuerwald @TobyForSD Hard pass.

@TobyForSD It’s time for some new perspective. Let’s give this guy a chance.

There are two choices on the ballot for Governor. Only two.

@KateHydeNY Move.

What else are you supposed to do to kill time in South Dakota???

@Toecutta1 @Combat_learjet A very popular opinion

@Combat_learjet Unpopular opinion: he’s actually pretty terrible.

As much as we would all like to believe in heroic pilot actions, this is totally unsubstantiated and not a realistic take by Captain Steeve .

@bengodfrey @Combat_learjet It absolutely isn’t. It’s borderline garbage.

@Combat_learjet His channel is usually pretty spot on too

@SteveNomadic @TheForwardCabin 😂😂

@TheForwardCabin They should focus on getting flights to actually depart rather than WiFi providers.

Holy shit. Excuse my French.

@midwestern_ope I’d appreciate never seeing North Dakota again.

People don’t appreciate the drive through North Dakota enough

@Martyboy_23 @CBSNews @AlaskaAir Tell us you don’t know what you’re talking about without telling us you don’t know what you’re talking about.

@CBSNews When will @AlaskaAir be bought out? Their company is hot garbage.

The FAA is investigating after a close call between an Alaska Airlines flight and a FedEx cargo plane at Newark Airport on Tuesday night. The FAA says an air traffic controller instructed Alaska Airlines Flight 294 to perform a go-around because FedEx Flight 721 was cleared for the final approach to an intersecting runway.

@PIC_Colleen Do you fly the NG or X as well?

The end of a day of flying looks different for everyone. Usually it ends with me pulling all my gear out of the deck, a little purse with lip balm, hand lotion, tissues…then there’s the flight plans, iPad, charging cables, jacket, wallet, receipts… can’t forget the aviators.😎 Then I sit down and take a water from the catering, if you can call the little drink drawer catering, and take a moment to reflect on the flight before the debrief, or I’ll head right to postflighting the plane, or I’ll start working on the logs. Idk. It switches up a little, but the mini explosion of personal effects after the flight remains the same

@midwestern_ope Are you saying that’s a bad thing?

Just when we thought spring in the Midwest couldn’t get worse, Ohio gets hit by a meteor

@unclegarytrucks @TAftermath2020 @RightWingDad Yes.

@TAftermath2020 @RightWingDad is this real?

Iran is winning the war! They just released a video of their air force shooting down a US fighter.

@1ahilton @GovLarryRhoden Well she did get fired…

@GovLarryRhoden It would probably pass if your good friend resigned.

A fully funded Department of Homeland Security ensures our national security and public safety, protecting the American people from threats within our borders and beyond. For over two weeks, Senate Democrats have blocked DHS funding amid a partial government shutdown over demands for immigration enforcement reforms. The safety and security of the American people should never be used as a political pawn.

@GovLarryRhoden What metric are we using to determine the amount of freedom a state provides?

In the freest state in the nation, we proudly let freedom ring as we celebrated America 250. It was an honor to ring South Dakota's Liberty Bell — a powerful reminder of the service and sacrifice that protect our freedoms.