Your Tax Dollars at Work

[Brett327]

Dude, it's the AF. I once had to declare an emergency for a violently ill crewmember (not airsickness, more along the lines of dysentary). They rolled out every firetruck, ambulance, and Security Force vehicle on the base. It was a gaddamn circus. I'll tell you what, those guys do not fear prop arcs, either.

No kidding. Anyone who has ever taken a trap at an Air Force base knows what a complete cluster it is to get out of the wires. What should be a fairly routine 1 minute affair turns into an all hands 30 minute goat rope.

Brett

 

[Gatordev]

This amount is child's play...military spec is the key word here.

Yup. One of my favorites is the doghouse on the -60 (covering over the hydralics bay). It's nothing more than a piece of fiberglass w/ some rollers on it, but if it blows off and over the side (something that is relatively common) it costs enough to become a Class C mishap. Fortunately, they float (and no, I'm lucky enough not to have first hand knowledge of this fact).

 

[Brett327]

I remember looking up stuff on the P-3 in FEDLOG. I think the fridge cost something like 65K.

Brett

 

[eddie]

But why? Where in the process of buildng and selling do things like a refrigerator or a fiberglass box become so expensive?

 

[Gatordev]

I think that's always been the question ($100 hammer). I'm sure there's lots of "answers" on the 'net somewhere. Part of it, though is that you're not just paying for the part, you're paying for all the testing/MILSPEC/additional costs to the manufacture that it took to get you said part.

Although I still don't know why a 10 cent stainless fastener costs more than a dollar...

 

[Whalebite]

I think that's always been the question ($100 hammer). I'm sure there's lots of "answers" on the 'net somewhere. Part of it, though is that you're not just paying for the part, you're paying for all the testing/MILSPEC/additional costs to the manufacture that it took to get you said part.

Although I still don't know why a 10 cent stainless fastener costs more than a dollar...

Well this is very true. I worked at NASA for a time, researching and buying ele parts for spacecraft, and you can get a part at radio shack for .35 cents, but its space rating can make it cost 30$ When you cant bring a spacecraft back from venus to replace the 35 cent part it gets important to make sure its not going to fail, We would take the testing (which was part specific) buy 100 of the parts, life test 5, fail test 5, use 5 (1 on spacecraft one on engineering model, one on proof of concept, and some backup) and the rest would go into stock, as there are minimum buys of parts. so for a 35 cent part the cost could be 35$ X 100 + data + in house testing, only to find out that the requirements changed and we had to change parts so they all went to stock (which costs money to store in space rating)

But this is not venus, I guess I should know why things cost so much better than most, but I still cant see 180k for a canopy. One of a kind mission specific hand made/high tech made components, dont usually cost this much.

 

[montellv]

I remember looking up stuff on the P-3 in FEDLOG. I think the fridge cost something like 65K.

Brett

Talk about wasting money! You P-3 bubba's needing a fridge is a damn travesty. Brett I hate you for your hot coffee and warm meals.

If it doesn't fit in a helmet bag, you don't need it. I hope this doesn't affect my standing with the ball cap and David Clark mafia.

 

[zab1001]

If it makes you feel any better I can count the times I've had a fridge that actually worked on one hand.

The convection oven is MONEY though.

 

[Brett327]

Talk about wasting money! You P-3 bubba's needing a fridge is a damn travesty. Brett I hate you for your hot coffee and warm meals.

If it doesn't fit in a helmet bag, you don't need it. I hope this doesn't affect my standing with the ball cap and David Clark mafia.

Unfortunately, my Prowler provides neither.

Brett

 

[Gatordev]

If it makes you feel any better I can count the times I've had a fridge that actually worked on one hand.

The convection oven is MONEY though.

So, does that get MAF'ed? And if so, what's the AWP timeframe? If it's 2006 now, I'm guessing something like "AWP [julian date] 1365"

 

[montellv]

Unfortunately, my Prowler provides neither.

Brett

My fault. The Prowler has no comfort to speak of outside of someone to talk to, especially behind the ship.

 

[Brett327]

My fault. The Prowler has no comfort to speak of outside of someone to talk to, especially behind the ship.

Speaking of comfort, that Raptor sure looked like it had some Gucci seat cushions. Looked like a God damned BarcaLounger.

Brett

 

[zab1001]

So, does that get MAF'ed? And if so, what's the AWP timeframe? If it's 2006 now, I'm guessing something like "AWP [julian date] 1365"

I don't even bother. A warm Red Bull keeps me as awake as a cold one. Besides, I'm too busy writing 3 page MAFs about props spewing hyd fluid and sparks in the cockpit on engine starts. Who loves the 3rd world? zab.