RV on the ground at Travis AFB

[TangoPapa]

Originally Posted by TangoPapa

Back in the day, mid 1980's, I was a member of the Travis aero club which had its own runway and facility located on the base. Several of our members kept there personal planes at the aero club. When the weather was bad and landing at the aero clubs runway not feasible we would use the bases larger runways. Today I live in Florida and have no idea if the aero club still exists but this could be a reasonable explanation to this situation.

Well never mind me.

[DanH]

Originally Posted by flynwest

So that's the story ladies and gentlemen.

Ridiculous. Sounds like a third world country. The only thing lacking is a request for baksheesh.

[RViter]

we now know the details and the confirmation is in. The 'regs in this life' have become so complex that even the reg enforcers and overseers cannot make heads or tails out of them. Thus we are left to wonder each day as the sun rises whether or not we will survive the chaos of life's regs.

If it weren't for chaos, the unemployment rate would be 3x what it is, mostly in the government sector. Thank heavens for regs and red-tape or there would be absolutely no consistency from day to day.

Love the chaos,
gary

[Mike Macon]

A Cessna 175 bound for Oroville, CA airport at night lost electrical. The pilot could not use his radios to get the lights on at Oroville and running low on fuel decided to land unanounced on a taxiway at Beale AFB. What I remember, the pilot was questioned, released (his airplane was not) and given a date to return and be questioned again. The military asked the FAA if they wanted to join in the fun, they declined until they were informed that the pilot had no current medical or current annual on the 175. I do not know what the final outcome was but the airplane was eventually flown to Oroville by a friend of mine who was running the civilian flight school at Beale. The plane sat at Oroville for a couple of years. One day the tires were aired up, battery charged and off it went still out of annual.
A totally different situation but an interesting encounter with a military installation.

[John Collier]

I'll be flying into a USAF base this spring... I think I'll include: "I'd like to declare an emergency on short final" in the remarks section of my flight plan. I'm getting very good at one-upping the USAF at their own BS.

[Wayne Gillispie]

The exact reason I served five years and got my DD-214. Glad I served and traveled part of the world with my wife(version 1.0) of 22 yrs. but the unorganization drove me crazy. Now self employed and loving it!

[cfiidon]

Originally Posted by flynwest

A civilian asked for my DD 2400 forms which I gave him.

Ahhhh... there's the rub. In my 25 years with the Air Force I discovered some truths. Those in the military uniform ask "How can we get this done?" SOME (emphasis on the "some") civilian government workers ask "How can I stop it?"

It must be something to do with performance evaluations, or the fact that those in uniform come and go and those not in uniform are around long enough in one spot to build a fiefdom.

If you are a civilian government worker and do your best to contribute, please don't respond in anger. There are a small percentage of those in positions such as this that refuse to acknowledge the time-spatial relationship of fecal matter (s___ happens!). If your attempt at paperwork was pure, and you forgot to cross the t and dot the i then; here, I'll do it for you this time if you promise to be good in the future... now, get that airplane off my field!

[JordanGrant]

Flynwest,
I've brought my RV-6 to Mountain Home AFB a few times, and the Airfield Ops Nazis are apparently the same everywhere. This is my home field, though, and I used to be the Ops Group Commander's Executive Officer, so I had an "in" with the Boss. Even still, having a small civilian airplane come in to that base threw most of them for a loop. They (especially one Senior Master Sergeant that I can think of) literally look for any way they can tell you "no". Of course, that's how most of the "support" functions seem to be these days.

sigh...

[Bob'sRV6A]

Just before I was stationed at Marble Mountain Marine Air Facility (MMAF) in Northern South Vietnam, a DC8 landed on our little strip--amazing video taken from the Army side. I was on the other side of the runway with the Marines flying H46's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bvK6enoQDg

Any DC8 pilots probably know about this one.