I know Saufley used to be open, but won't the airspace be a little tight down there? Any word on how the working areas will change?
Sidenote: in my primary time we never canceled a flight for maintainence.....except that one time...but it was my fault
Saufley was open when I was a student, and from an IP perspective, it kind of sucks to have to use because it takes so long to get in there. However, from an airspace perspective, it's not that big a deal and the course rules are already written for it to interact w/ NPA and PNS.
Lot of cool gear on the bird. But how the hell are we going to use our OLFs w/o BETA?!
Bunk or Gatordev--has the TW-5 team considered lengthening any of the OLFs? I know it doesnt solve split-field ops, but it might allow us to use our existing fileds.
The T-6 can land at all the fields except Silverhill (and Holley, but that's a non-starter). Back when I was a stud, they had already lengthened Brewton and Evergreen/Middleton (and NSE, I think, but I'm not sure) for the T-6. Talking w/ guys who were around several years ago, after I got winged, there was a time where NSE went full-length for a while and it apparently wasn't too big a deal. Take that for what it's worth.
Gator - your points are valid. No doubt The Wing has and is doing boat loads of analysis. Some one though at some point has to make the call - and adapt the aircraft we are being given. Course rules at NDZ will have to fundamentally change - including split field ops. I bet if you asked some of the blue suits at VT-3 what they would do you would have it in a bulleted power point slide in 20 minutes.
The Navy won't win on mods to the airplane itself - at least I don't think so from reading the trade rags. And at some point the lack of T-6 adoption may threaten the J in JUPTS.
So my very uneducated guess is that things will change fundamentally at NDZ.
You're missing the fundamental point. Most of the logistics are ready to go. The course rules don't need to change. T-6s might have to throttle back a bit on the rules while the -34s are around, but otherwise, it's not the end of the world. Smart folks have some good ideas to counter the traffic issues. These aren't just first tour guys, these are guys who've done multiple IP tours and some are current in both the T-6 and the T-34.
The problem is not TW-5 needing to accept the aircraft being given, the problem is that the aircraft is not available to be given. I'll put it simpler...the plane doesn't work as advertised. Until they make the thing actually function according to spec, it's "need" is academic.
Disclaimer: I've been out of the IP game for a couple months, so my info is about 2 months time-late. But I worked w/ a bunch of the guys who are in the T-6 stand-up office while in the FITU and this was the word I was getting. Will it happen? You bet, just standard contractor delays.
That stuff gets surprisingly hot very fast.