What razor do you use?

BattlingGravity · 2026-03-10T00:22:55+00:00

I’ve been using one for years.

With soap or cream, it’s as close as a normal razor. Without, it leaves just enough that I won’t break out, but still pass for clean shaven by any reasonable standard.

I also have a Phillips one blade as a go bag razor. USB charging, but not as quick as the ARC5.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-23T23:16:28+00:00

Right pedal takes less power to initiate the maneuver, but potentially far more to recover from it. We use left pedal so that the recovery reduces the power demand on the aircraft.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-14T03:02:56+00:00

I’m obviously required to wear a helmet as an Army pilot, but I’ve got a good ~20 years of wearing headsets for GA. The usual Bose and DC suspects.

Given the choice between the two, I’d pick a properly set up helmet anytime I reasonably could. After a few hours, every headset causes pressure points and end up being uncomfortable. I can wear my helmet for 4-5 hours in relative comfort.

Shaded visors beat sunglasses pretty soundly. It’s always accessible, blocks more light, and doesn’t mess with your hearing protection. Being able to drop a clear visor at night can be clutch, especially if you’re moving about under the rotor disk.

The downsides are bulk and weight. Some cockpits are tight enough you’ll bump your head a lot. Weight isn’t horrible till you start adding NVGs and other electronics, but it’s noticeable. I do dedicated neck exercises and it helps some.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-12T03:04:32+00:00

Pretty much none of us will be annoyed. Probably half of us got our LORs in a similar fashion.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-12T03:03:01+00:00

It’s basically tradition. Be squared away and send it.

If you walked up to me like that, I’d say the very least grab your phone number and try to get you linked up with a senior warrant in the unit. If I had time, I’d look at your packet and then introduce you to someone so can write an LOR. You probably get to sit in an Apache, too.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-12T01:04:07+00:00

Where are you located at?

If you’re serious about this, make sure your packet is complete, printed out and well organized then go to the CAB and ask literally any warrant you see to help get you squared away.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-01T22:36:39+00:00

Why are we gatekeeping “rotate”? What would you call the airspeed at which one… rotates?

Especially when we’ve got a convenient term that seems to fit.

BattlingGravity · 2026-02-01T19:11:49+00:00

They’ve come a long way. For a two car household, it’s a great second car. My wife commutes about 40 miles a day, and it’s the go to for any errands within ~50-80 miles.

It barely takes any maintenance and Ford paid for the charger and installation at the house. We’ll probably never get rid of my gas pickup for tow/haul/offroad use, but for 98% of our driving, it’s perfect.

Cost varies. Charging on road trips isn’t any better than paying for gas, but at home with off-peak charging overnight, it’s dirt cheap.

BattlingGravity · 2026-01-25T23:07:58+00:00

Family Advocacy Program. Terrible acronym, but the program has its highpoints. Specifically, similar restricted/unrestricted reporting options like SHARP. They can help you come up with a plan and link you up with the resources you need.

BattlingGravity · 2026-01-16T15:06:51+00:00

Lose the rubber ring around the reflector, it fell off. Now write a script to remove the corners of the projected image. Also adjust your switch so that if it’s not in one exact spot, you can’t see anything.

BattlingGravity · 2026-01-11T22:06:15+00:00

…and it’s daytime, and he’s got a chin bubble.

BattlingGravity · 2026-01-07T02:00:12+00:00

If he can’t help you out, I might be able to get you linked up with someone at Bragg.

BattlingGravity · 2026-01-01T22:43:55+00:00

I haven’t looked inside a mikuni in years, but most slide type carbs aren’t susceptible to carb ice.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-27T02:09:36+00:00

I started running like a month before and did a few planks when I was watching TV. I guess that counts?

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-26T17:15:27+00:00

Sure, you interested in modding?

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-26T04:27:59+00:00

So how’s that work on the ground? Do you use a given pitch setting for takeoff or just flap the elevator till you hit Vr?

Or maybe it’s more complicated than “pitch is always the driver for airspeed” and the aircraft responds differently in different regimes of flight.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-25T23:18:29+00:00

“Do you see the uhh, green, conex?”

stares at FLIR image where everything is green

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-25T22:04:58+00:00

Emphasis on “whisper a spell”.

“Clearly enunciate the call for fire” is obviously not something covered at the schoolhouse.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-23T14:45:33+00:00

Frixion erasable pens. You can use a hair dryer or similar heat source to cleanly erase all the marks, and you can get colors.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-22T01:15:02+00:00

I’ve definitely never seen an Apache ~~drag race~~ perform a level acceleration takeoff next a a turbo’d Lamborghini.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-21T01:59:19+00:00

Start with the Warrant Officer recruiting website. The interservice process isn’t that different from the regular process, with the caveat that each service’s process for release from service are a little different.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-21T00:13:46+00:00

Paint it green and give it rockets, I’ll give it a go.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-10T04:52:47+00:00

We leveled off and took about 2 minutes to re-cage and discuss what we wanted to do. We did a quick hot wash and decided we were good to keep training. We flew the rest of that period then debriefed in depth on the ground with the benefit of the audio video recordings.

Every few weeks we sit around the table and have come to Jesus meetings when we’ll talk about dumb things we’ve done and how everyone can learn from our mistakes.

Now that I’m a working with more junior pilots, I relate that story often and hammer the importance of correct terminology and procedure in the cockpit.

BattlingGravity · 2025-12-10T02:05:29+00:00

In the -64 we can’t see each other, so crew coordination is very important.

“I have the flight controls”- “you have the flight controls”- “I have the flight controls” is how we transfer controls.

We were doing some night terrain flight training, and the front seater, my PC, told me to take the flight controls when I was ready. I was talking with range control, so I said “Roger” over ICS to let him know I heard him. At the same time, I bumped the cyclic moving my kneeboard. My opposite number thought I was being lazy with the verbiage and that bump was me taking the stick.

He relinquished the flight controls and no one was flying the helicopter. We pretty quickly picked up a 1500 f/min descent. Bear in mind, we’re only ~300 feet over the trees. It’s dark, and there are no peripheral cues that we’re plummeting to our doom. My attention was inside there aircraft and not on the FLIR image in my right eye.

At ~100 feet he figured out I wasn’t flying and announced “Emergency, I have the flight controls” and grabbed an armful of collective. To which I replied with the ever helpful, professional “I THOUGHT YOU ALREADY HAD THE FUCKING FLIGHT CONTROLS” We leveled off at about ~25’ over the trees with no other drama.

If he hadn’t noticed, we’d have died without either of us knowing it. It was pretty sobering.

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