Free Republic

Germany's defense minister said Friday his country will look into a report that former German air force fighter plane pilots have been training pilots for the Chinese military. News magazine Der Spiegel and public broadcaster ZDF reported Friday that “at least a handful” of former German air force officers are working as trainers in China, and that in several cases they were apparently paid through companies in the Seychelles. They said that such training has been going on for years, that several pilots didn't respond to requests for comment or were unreachable, and that one rejected the allegations.

In backrooms and dark corners, airline lobbyists, particularly the Regional Airline Association, are scurrying all over Washington, still trying to undo all the hard work that has been done to make air travel the safest form of transportation in human history. They’re doing this for the usual reasons. They want to try to cheapen pilot training and levels of experience for their own financial gain and expedience. They’re trying to do what is easier and cheaper for them, not what is best for passengers or crews, or for their industry. Once again, it is necessary that those of us who...

Old time freepers will know that I am a retired airline/military pilot of 40 years experience. Guys like us stay in touch and swap experiences. It is how we learned as youngsters and how we stayed alive into retirement. This revelation is nothing new to those of us who have been around the pattern a few times. Nothing new at all. Read it and make your own decision.

I view this as a golden opportunity for Perry to proudly hold up his transcript and ask the President of the United States to provide his for review by the American people. Insist that it be a certified copy not a "copy"... I think this could be a virtual gold mine in getting the American People to finally pay attention to the obvious...

"UP cops nab IM terrorist planning aerial strike" Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui, TNN, 2 February 2010, 01:48am IST SNIPPET: "LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: The arrest of Shehzad alias Pappu — one of the key accused in the September 2008 serial blasts in Delhi and the Batla House encounter — by the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of UP Police from Azamgarh on Monday evening is being seen as a major breakthrough in exposing a module that was planning to unleash air strikes. Shehzad, intelligence agencies had recently discovered, had undergone a training to fly planes from an institute in Bangalore and had surfaced as a...

/13/2007 - KABUL AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- An Afghan translator soon will attend Air Force pilot training in the United States as part of the service's Aviation Leadership Program, becoming the first such trained pilot in the Afghan National Army Air Corps. Cadet Faiz Mohd Ramaki said he is the luckiest person in Afghanistan because of the opportunity to attend pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. "I am still shocked that I was selected," said the 25-year-old translator who has worked for various U.S. government agencies in Afghanistan for about five years. "It's still like a dream...

WARPLANES: Pilots Surrender to UAVs January 17, 2006: The U.S. Department of Defense has decided to make the next generation heavy bomber an unmanned aircraft. The Department of Defense also wants the new aircraft in service by the end of the next decade, some twenty years ahead of schedule. At the same time, the current combat UAV program (J-UCAS, run by the air force and navy) is to be changed as well. The current X45 project will be split up, with the air force and navy allowed to develop a shorter range combat aircraft to suit their particular needs. These...

Iraqi pilots get first-time C-130 training BAGHDAD, Iraq - A five-man crew from Squadron 23 of the Iraqi Air Force trained for the first time on flying and operating an American C-130 cargo plane outside of Iraq’s air space. A crew of U.S. Air Force pilots used a five-hour round-trip flight to Amman, Jordan as a training exercise for the Iraqi pilots and crew members. Five other crews from Squadron 23, of Ali Base in Talil, Iraq, were passengers on the flight, heading to training in Jordan. One crew will continue traveling to the U.S. for Hercules simulator training in...

<p>Michael Norman, who in his "semi-retired" spare time enjoys turning discarded computers into functioning tools, often donating them to poor schoolchildren, has happened across the carcass of one eye-opening machine in a Dumpster next to a Dunkin' Donuts in Schaumburg, Ill.</p>