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Plinkey posted:Probably not, I'm not even sure how long PRK has been around. My sister just had it done because she is thinking about flying helicopters if she can get a spot. She said it was awful, basically out of work on pain meds for 5 days during the recovery. The USAF has allowed LASIK for pilots since 2007, with the primary reason for not allowing it previously being that they were still in the process of evaluating whether there was any danger of something like that happening. The answer was, no, the area cut during LASIK won't come loose after it heals. Basically you're dumb if you get PRK at this point because it's a much more invasive and potentially damaging surgery for at best the same results. Edit: It also has a substantially longer and more painful recovery period. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Jan 12, 2014 |
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Jan 12, 2014 22:43
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Warbadger posted:The USAF has allowed LASIK for pilots since 2007, with the primary reason for not allowing it previously being that they were still in the process of evaluating whether there was any danger of something like that happening. The answer was, no, the area cut during LASIK won't come loose after it heals. Is the army different? I think she got it done around 2011 so not 'just' but somewhat recently.
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Jan 12, 2014 22:46
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Plinkey posted:Is the army different? I think she got it done around 2011 so not 'just' but somewhat recently. I don't know when the Army started allowing LASIK, but I believe it's currently permitted.
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Jan 12, 2014 22:52
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I got PRK a few years ago because LASIK sounded freaky with getting in there with a knife etc. It was slightly uncomfortable for less than a week but then again my perscription wasn't very strong so they didn't have to ablate much. So glad I did it, gently caress glasses n contacts!!
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Jan 12, 2014 23:16
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Plinkey posted:Probably not, I'm not even sure how long PRK has been around. My sister just had it done because she is thinking about flying helicopters if she can get a spot. She said it was awful, basically out of work on pain meds for 5 days during the recovery. I know PRK wasn't an option around 2000-2003 when I asked a recruiter when I was in high school. No flying my dream F-16 for me  
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Jan 13, 2014 02:05
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Totally TWISTED posted:I know PRK wasn't an option around 2000-2003 when I asked a recruiter when I was in high school. No flying my dream F-16 for me I graduated high school around the same time with the same crushed dream.  
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Jan 13, 2014 02:42
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In the late 80's , life set me up with Top Gun and Iron Eagle then crushed me when I found out I would not be flying my dream planes.
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Jan 13, 2014 02:49
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If it makes you guys feel any better if you had gotten in your dreams would've been crushed way more brutally by the service of your choice and then you'd be posting with the rest of us bitter alcoholics in GiP until the day you got your DD214 and flipped off the base sign on your way out the gate for the last time. So basically what I am saying is that having bad eyesight was your genes' way of doing you a huge favor.
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Jan 13, 2014 02:54
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iyaayas01 posted:If it makes you guys feel any better if you had gotten in your dreams would've been crushed way more brutally by the service of your choice and then you'd be posting with the rest of us bitter alcoholics in GiP until the day you got your DD214 and flipped off the base sign on your way out the gate for the last time. Nah, I went straight contractor life is great.
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Jan 13, 2014 03:06
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Since we're on vision chat: Paul Newman was a tail gunner on TBF Avengers during WW2. He wanted to be a pilot but was disqualified due to color-blindness. I recently finished reading "Skunk Works," by Ben Rich, first a worker and later the director of Lockheed's Skunk Works. He started there in the 50s, worked on the U-2, the SR-71, the D-21 drone that just got a writeup in the AI aviation thread, and the F-117. The book was a pretty fascinating insider account, particularly when he got to talking about the process of building the SR-71 and all the technical stuff they had to figure out on the fly because no one had ever built something out of titanium on that large a scale. At the end he talked about how the aviation industry has changed since he started, and identified some trends in aviation that he wasn't too fond of, most of which have proven to be solid predictions in the twenty-odd years since the book was published. I'd say it's definitely worth a read. http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389580250&sr=8-1&keywords=skunk+works TheNakedJimbo fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Jan 13, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 03:33
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TheNakedJimbo posted:Since we're on vision chat: Paul Newman was a tail gunner on TBF Avengers during WW2. He wanted to be a pilot but was disqualified due to color-blindness. And the kindle edition is half off right now. Just bought it, thanks. Sounds like it'll be a really interesting read.
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Jan 13, 2014 04:12
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Thirding or fourthing that that book is almost required reading. The bit about the F117 mockup radar test is worth it.
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Jan 13, 2014 07:26
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Mortabis posted:What are the vision requirements? My friend's dad had to get a waiver to be a BUFF nav, and he was an academy graduate in '78 or so. fuf posted:Nope apparently only 18-35%. And as iyaayas said, those of you who never followed your dreams of being a fighter pilot have only missed out on being sent to do a job you hate in the parched rear end in a top hat of the Middle East due to "needs of the service."
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Jan 13, 2014 07:30
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I had my hopes and dreams of flying helicopters dashed by color blindness. Thanks, jerks. 
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Jan 13, 2014 14:16
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Dead Reckoning posted:And as iyaayas said, those of you who never followed your dreams of being a fighter pilot have only missed out on being sent to do a job you hate in the parched rear end in a top hat of
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Jan 13, 2014 17:07
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Akion posted:I had my hopes and dreams of flying helicopters dashed by color blindness. Thanks, jerks. I had mine crushed by my inability to not get nauseous on things as innocuous as a merry go round. Stupid lovely inner ear. Cold war content: As a child of the 80s, I got to read all sorts of "end of the world" kid lit. One of the books that freaked me out for a long time involved a kid stealing an electronic chess game from the mall radio shack, and somehow that playing out being juxtaposed over the fear of nuclear annihilation. I cannot find what that book was. Sound familiar to anyone?
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Jan 13, 2014 17:15
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Speaking for myself, no amount of OH YOU DID YOURSELF A FAVOR will ever, ever wash away the pain of not being able to fly F-15s because of my only marginally not-good-enough eyesight.
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Jan 13, 2014 17:41
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stealie72 posted:I had mine crushed by my inability to not get nauseous on things as innocuous as a merry go round. Stupid lovely inner ear. Wow, I don't think I have even thought about this book in the last two decades, but This?  is that the one? DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Jan 13, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 17:57
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Holy poo poo, yes. Goons are the best. Searching google for things about the cold war and chess brings up a lot of Kasparov pages.
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Jan 13, 2014 18:11
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stealie72 posted:Holy poo poo, yes. Goons are the best. I didn't remember the name, but got it through "boy steals electronic chess game book" I vaguely remember reading it and then asking my parents about nuclear war, and getting a "well everyone would die horribly but it probably won't happen so don't worry" talk which promptly scared the crap out of me. Book was pretty cool from what I remember though. As for my broken military dreams, from around age 5 I wanted to be a pilot in the RAF and so after talking with the careers office around age 14, they suggested I join air cadets as soon as I could, wherein I promptly got involved in a lot of drugs and partying with occasional drill or flying experiences, and the prospect of stopping all that fun to go join up was no longer attractive, especially as all the  was starting to hippie-fie me and the thought of maybe killing people just wasn't cool maaaan.
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Jan 13, 2014 18:45
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I didn't even want to be a fighter pilot I just wanted to fly Herculeses (herculii?)
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Jan 13, 2014 19:06
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stealie72 posted:
Don't know that one, but it reminds me of Cloak and Dagger, which pretty much ruled. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOh4PeDIkWs
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Jan 13, 2014 19:38
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The Kindle daily deal for today is Red Eagles: Americas Secret MiGs, about the US aggressor training program using Soviet airframe examples (which were mostly from defectors if I recall correctly.) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X7533K/
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Jan 13, 2014 22:36
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This is a good book and for $2 it's a steal. Everyone read it. Some were defectors and some others were part of the deals the US made to sell jets to other countries. Part of the deal was that if they wanted to buy US made jets we got what we wanted of their MiGs. I think mostly from Egypt and Indonesia.
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Jan 13, 2014 22:47
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Done and done.
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Jan 13, 2014 22:53
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What was the deal with countries in the Middle East burning MiGs in sand? Discreet disposal? Save em for later? Can they be restored from that? I recall there was a few in the region especially Iraq.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:00
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Iraq was trying pretty much anything to keep their poo poo from getting blown up once it was clear they had utterly lost the air war. In the air or at a base they were going to get destroyed. Landing their planes in Iran ended up with Iran going "Thanks for the free planes bro" so they tried burying them to be recovered later.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:04
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"Saddam cannot keep?" "No, Saddam cannot keep." Amazing to think they could recover something like a supersonic aircraft that had been packed in sand. Did they protect engine components or anything or was it just God's will if it will work again?
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Jan 13, 2014 23:20
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priznat posted:"Saddam cannot keep?" From what I can find in a quick search, apparently some did have some protection before burial, plastic sheeting, intake plugs, etc etc, but others were buried with no protection at all, probably in the rush to get it done before the bombers got to them. As to getting them running again, airplanes aren't quite THAT fragile, and Russian aircraft are renown for hilarious-level durability, but it would have been quite the effort even in peacetime, with good parts support, and knowledgeable mechanics, probably neither of which was something the Iraqis had even BEFORE the invasion.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:38
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MrYenko posted:From what I can find in a quick search, apparently some did have some protection before burial, plastic sheeting, intake plugs, etc etc, but others were buried with no protection at all, probably in the rush to get it done before the bombers got to them. Uhhh, a lot of Soviet aircraft are actually huge maintenance hogs. The MiG-25 and MiG-23 are both in that category (also examples of things the Iraqis buried). I'm kinda curious why you'd think Soviet aircraft were really notable for durability. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jan 14, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 23:57
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Yeah I guess it came down to "might get destroyed by encasing in sand" vs "definitely will get destroyed by laser guided munitions/aa missiles" And pretty much anything can get restored especially in a fairly corrosion free environment like that but the amount of effort it would take would be quite something.
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Jan 14, 2014 00:01
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Warbadger posted:Uhhh, a lot of Soviet aircraft are actually huge maintenance hogs. The MiG-25 and MiG-23 are both in that category (as examples of things the Iraqis buried). I don/t have first hand experience with anything Russian, but there is a difference between reliability and being a maintenance whore. See: DC-10 vs L1011. The L1011 was actually better designed from a mechanic's point of view, with most systems laid out with an eye towards maintainability. The DC-10 on the other hand... I have some anecdotes for you. "gently caress YOU, WE'RE PUTTING THE PDM FOR THE T/R ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PYLON, ABOVE THE ENGINE, YOU'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO PRECARIOUSLY STAND ON THE ENGINE FOR TWO HOURS TO CHANGE IT. IF IT'S NUMBER TWO ENGINE, I HOPE YOU HAVE LIFE INSURANCE. gently caress YOU." -Douglas Aircraft pneumatic system engineer, circa 1968. "gently caress YOU, WE KNOW YOU NEED EASY ACCESS TO THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM SERVICING MANIFOLD, SO WE'RE PUTTING THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM SERVICING RESERVOIR AND PORTS IN THE GODAMNED WHEELWELL. NO WE AREN'T INTEGRATING A GODDAMNED LADDER, RIDE THE GEAR DOOR, AND DON'T SLIP. gently caress YOU." -Douglas Aircraft hydraulic systems engineer, circa 1968. The big difference is, the DC-10 honestly doesn't break that often. The L1011 breaks all the godamned time. Maintainability is key, and if their cockpit ergonomics are anything to go by, I'm betting its something the Russians never really took very seriously...
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Jan 14, 2014 00:07
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Alaan posted:Iraq was trying pretty much anything to keep their poo poo from getting blown up once it was clear they had utterly lost the air war. In the air or at a base they were going to get destroyed. Landing their planes in Iran ended up with Iran going "Thanks for the free planes bro" so they tried burying them to be recovered later.
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Jan 14, 2014 01:00
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Epiphyte posted:I never understood why they thought the Iranians would help them out period. Its not like the iran-iraq war was that long ago and that poo poo was bitter International pariahs tend to stick together.
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Jan 14, 2014 01:02
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But not when they had been in an ugly war only a decade before.
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Jan 14, 2014 01:10
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Alaan posted:But not when they had been in an ugly war only a decade before. More like a "the enemy of my enemy" kinda thing, probably. Plus, I would not be surprised if Iran was pushing Iraq to send planes to them with promises of retuning them after the war Iran, of course, had their fingers crossed being their back while making said promises.
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Jan 14, 2014 03:04
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Alaan posted:But not when they had been in an ugly war only a decade before. Iran-Iraq war ended August 1988. Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Iraqi planes were landing in Iran less than three years after the Iran-Iraq war ended. Why Iraq thought they would get them back is just beyond me.
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Jan 14, 2014 03:13
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fuf posted:Nope apparently only 18-35%. Holy poo poo, I thought I was just a freak of nature.
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Jan 14, 2014 04:51
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IIRC Iran was about the only place the planes had the fuel to reach that wasn't explicitly part of the anti-Iraq Coalition. I had forgotten that even Syria joined the Coalition. Jordan had to stay neutral because of the large Palestinian population, but King Hussein obviously wasn't going to risk his Western ties any further.
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Jan 14, 2014 05:28
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Maybe Shia pilots? Highly unlikely, I must admit.
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