I recently bought a pair of Merrell Moab Flight trail shoes. I live in a coastal town in Cornwall UK with miles and miles of trails all around which both the dog and I love.
However, these new Merrells feel a bit like they’re hindering me somehow, despite being probably the most comfy shoes I’ve had in ages! If I’m taking the dog for just a walk, they’re perfect. Maybe they’re too cushioned and it’s like putting on the brakes with how my foot hits the floor. I don’t know. But is that a thing?

Introduction to United Terminal MCO
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United Terminal MCO offers a plethora of facilities and amenities aimed at enhancing the passenger experience.
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Travelers can avail themselves of the premium lounges located within United Terminal MCO. These lounges provide a tranquil environment equipped with complimentary refreshments, Wi-Fi access, and comfortable seating, allowing passengers to relax before their flights.
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The terminal boasts an extensive selection of dining establishments catering to a variety of tastes and preferences. Whether passengers crave a quick bite or a gourmet meal, United Terminal MCO has something to satisfy every palate.
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By my count, there are 15 T5 ships available for just dilithium or a level 40 token, which someone might want a starter build for to help them finish off the episode missions and start the reputation grind. My Strict Budget Build covers the three science vessels, the Baby Step series covers the three cruisers with tactical ensigns, Quick Looks 1 and 2 cover the Hegh'ta Bird of Prey and the Jem'hadar Escort, and there's definitely an argument to be made that some are just bad choices. But there was one more I wanted to take a look at here. This series will not be as thoroughly researched as those previous series, and it will not feature optimized skill builds (there are many resources for that), but the builds will be proven in the Badlands Battlezone and in solo Defense of Starbase One Advanced, as well as extensively parsed in the Wanted (Argala System) patrol with comparisons to similar builds. That should adequately demonstrate that they can get you whatever reputation marks you need, using only mission, basic (generally Mk XII uncommon) Exchange, and Phoenix Store items. Each build will be allowed one Mk XV item to maintain parity with the Strict Budget Build, usually a forward weapon. It's also easy enough to put these together that I could be persuaded to do more if there's a ship that deserves it.
So, why the Vo'Quv? Well it's in the name, it's a carrier. Hangar bays are expensive to boost in this game, but that means they have to be balanced to have pretty good base damage. In this case the two hangars did more than half the damage of most of the other builds in this series with hardly any support for them. The downside to carriers is that they often sacrifice a lot for those hangars. Not so for Flight Deck Carriers, which are pretty much full cruisers, or any of the single hangar types, but the science carriers like the Vo'Quv don't really have an obvious path to getting ship damage, especially on this budget. Their turn rate is terrible, which is a problem for most things, they have only 6 weapons so getting a lot from energy weapons is out, and they don't have a secondary deflector, which did do more on my science vessel build than the hangars did here.
So where did I end up, then? Well, with 6 science ability slots and not a ton of options I couldn't see not using them for some direct exotic damage. And since that required me to face forward, and the turn rate was terrible and I couldn't do much about it, I concluded that I'd have to use turrets in the rear with either beam arrays or single cannons forward, the two widest arc weapon combinations possible apart from pure turrets, although their damage potential is limited. The Chronometric set also seemed like a must have, providing a large amount of EPG and some Polaron cat1 from the tac console, and a bit of aux power from the 2 piece, but I wasn't sure whether I'd want the Morphogenic set or not, since it would mean sacrificing a cannon. Then, I went to the TRINITY DPS Calculator from STO BETTER and started plugging in some rough options. Single cannons outperformed beam arrays even with the Chronometric 3 piece, so that settled that, and getting the crtd from the Morphogenic 3 piece and Cannon Scatter Volley was well worth losing a forward cannon for the torp. Attack Pattern Beta proved a bigger contributor than expected thanks to boosting the exotic damage as well, which is why that's at 2 and CSV is at 1, and easily outperformed including a Torpedo Spread as well. Finally I switched the power settings away from a balanced configuration toward weapons over aux and aux over weapons, and the high aux version did best. So that was the build.
How did it perform? Well it was sluggish, obviously, I expected that. But the DPS was pretty impressive and was reflected in how quickly it got kills. And the survivability was pretty good, with a lot of hull and pretty good healing I really couldn't complain, except that it was so sluggish it was hard to run out of range and heal if I needed to. On the other hand when I did withdraw the fighters kept fighting, contributing to the highest Wanted Elite DPS of any of the builds in the table with only one attempt needed to survive the whole mission (the science vessel could do better by charging in and dying a couple of times, but needed to play cautiously and sacrifice its CPB to survive). They were even powerful enough to handle the Birds of Prey in Starbase One Advanced without any help from the mothership, potentially even without player input, which could be convenient.

Captain Details

Captain Name	Stilt
Captain Career	Science
Captain Faction	Federation
Captain Race	Vulcan
Primary Specialization	Temporal	The best specialization for exotic builds, as well as for ground builds and a good generalist option, it provides debuffs, damage boosts, EPG, and survivability

Space Skill Tree

Rank	Engineering		Science		Tactical
Lieutenant		Advanced Hull Capacity			Advanced Energy Weapon Training	Advanced Projectile Weapon Training
Lt. Commander	Improved Electro-Plasma System Flow	Impulse Expertise	Improved Control Expertise	Drain Expertise	Targeting Expertise	Defensive Maneuvering
			Control Amplification	Drain Infection
Commander	Hull Plating				Advanced Weapon Amplification	Advanced Weapon Specialization
Captain	Defensive Subsystem Tuning		Advanced Exotic Particle Generator	Advanced Long Range Targeting Sensors	Advanced Hull Penetration	Advanced Shield Weakening
Admiral					Coordination Protocols	Advanced Tactical Readiness
					Defensive Coordination
					Offensive Coordination
1 Points Left	8		11		26

Space Skill Unlocks

Purchases	Engineering	Science	Tactical
2	Hazard Emitters III	Science Team III	Tachyon Beam III
5	Battery Expertise	Sector Space Travel Speed
7	Feedback Pulse III	Photonic Shockwave III	Jam Sensors III
10		Maximum Shield Capacity
12			Tractor Beam III
15		Control Resistance
17			Viral Matrix III
20		Shield Drain Resistance
24 (Ultimate)			Focused Frenzy
25 (1st Ultimate Enhancer)			Frenzied Assault
26 (2nd Ultimate Enhancer)			Team Frenzy

This skill tree is my generalist one from Strict Budget Build part 2, and it pretty much needs to be. This build relies on both energy weapon and exotic damage, so it can't afford to neglect either one. There are other generalist skill trees, of course, but that is what you'll need to be looking for, any single purpose tree isn't going to get the job done.

Ship Loadout: Vo'Quv Carrier

Slot	Item	Notes
Fore Weapon 1	Polaron Cannon	The one Mk XV, single cannons are usually a poor choice, but they will outperform beam arrays forward/turrets aft and provide 180 degrees of firing arc
Fore Weapon 2	Polaron Cannon	The Vo'Quv suffers from terrible turn rate so it doesn't want weapons with narrow arcs, but it needs to face forward for the exotic damage
Fore Weapon 3	Morphogenic Polaron Energy Torpedo Launcher	Here for the 3 piece set bonus providing 30% crtd to the whole ship
Aft Weapon 1	Heavy Chronometric Polaron Turret	Mostly need a turret, 2 piece provides some aux
Aft Weapon 2	Morphogenic Polaron Energy Weapon	Another turret, and contributes to the 3 piece
Aft Weapon 3	Polaron Turret	Just a turret
Deflector	Solanae Deflector Array Mk XII Very Rare	Provides more EPG out of the box than any other mission reward
Impulse Engines	Sol Defense Impulse Engines Mk XII Very Rare	With the bonus from getting hit this does just provide the best total turn rate out of the mission rewards at 14.7 degrees/s, replace with Fortified Competitive rep engines
Warp Core	Obelisk Subspace Rift Warp Core	This build only hits 122 aux so this doesn't actually help, could consider Deuterium-Stabilized but the benefit is minimal
Shields	Sol Defense Covariant Shield Array Mk XII Very Rare	2 piece is nice for survivability, alternative would be Jem'Hadar 2 piece for a bit of Polaron cat1.
Devices	Exotic Particle Flood	Crafted in Science R&D. I do have to admit that the materials are a little hard to come by, and Admiralty (with account unlocked ships) is the best source I've found.
	Deuterium Surplus	Evasive Maneuvers in battery form, and you can collect 4 per day from the Alhena system.
	Delta Alliance Reinforcements Beacon	Handy damage boost
3 Engineering Consoles	Console - Engineering - Trellium-D Plating Mk XII Very Rare	Good survivability console, could use a Neutronium instead
	Console - Engineering - Polaric Modulator Mk XII Very Rare	Boosts Inertia, which is rare, as well as turn rate, and slipstream turn rate at warp
	Console - Engineering - House Martok Defensive Configuration Mk XII Very Rare	Boosts turn rate and provides some survivability, an RCS would work too
4 Science Consoles	Console - Science - Temporal Disentanglement Suite Mk XII Very Rare	Nice crit and durability boost, plus some power.
	Console - Science - Temporally Shielded Datacore Mk XII Very Rare	Slightly less EPG than Particle Generators but it makes up for it with the CtrlX
	Console - Science - Particle Generator Mk XII Uncommon	Just need EPG
	Console - Science - Particle Generator Mk XII Common
2 Tactical Consoles	Console - Tactical - Morphogenic Matrix Controller Mk XII Very Rare	For the 3 piece and some polaron cat1
	Console - Tactical - Chronometric Capacitor Mk XII Very Rare	Good EPG, some aux from the 2 piece, and some Polaron cat1, and this build uses all of it
2 Hangar Bays	Hangar - To'Duj Fighters	These provide more DPS than any other hangar that's available by default, and they come with the ship, they will die in heavy AoE content, otherwise use two
	Hangar - Delta Flyers	These have slightly less DPS than To'duj but almost never die in any content, but do require a level 65 KDF character for Cross Faction Flying. Could substitute B'rels for more DPS loss

Officer Details

Bridge Officers
Lt. Commander Tactical	Tactical Team I	Shield distribution and debuff clear, may cause firing cycle problems but I haven't seen it
	Cannon: Scatter Volley I	Excellent weapon damage buff and also spreads APB to up to 3 targets
	Attack Pattern Beta II	Unusual to slot this above the firing mode, but it boosts every damage source and weapon damage is only ~1/4 of the total
Lt. Commander Engineering	Emergency Power to Engines I	More than doubles speed and provides +2 turn rate, essential mobility for any build
	Auxiliary to Structural I	Excellent heal and damage resist, and on a very short cooldown
	Emergency Power to Weapons III	Major energy weapon damage boost
Commander Science	Hazard Emitters I	Good hull heal and debuff clear
	Destabilizing Resonance Beam I	Good exotic damage, used with GW
	Photonic Officer II	Cooldown reduction
	Gravity Well III	Good exotic damage and control
Lieutenant Science	Science Team I	Shield heal and debuff clear
	Tyken's Rift I	Exotic damage, alternate with GW

Traits & Duty Officers

Trait	Name	Description	Notes
Personal Traits	Astrophysicist		A little bit of EPG
	Cannon Training		A little more cannon damage
	Conservation of Energy		Significant exotic damage while solo, but stacks don't last long
	Deft Cannoneer		Boosts turn rate by 1, on this build we need it, from Cannons R&D
	Fleet Coordinator		One of the best traits in the game when on a team
	Give Your All		Excellent hull damage resistance
	Operative		Some extra crit
	Particle Manipulator		The most powerful trait for exotic damage, +50%/+29.6% crth/crtd on this build, from Science R&D
	Photonic Capacitor		Extra Photonic Fleet is nice to have
Starship Traits	None		Unconventional Tactics from completing Strategist is definitely worth slotting here, but I kept it cheap.
Space Reputation Traits	None		You'll start picking these up very quickly, Precision and Advanced Targeting Systems are top picks.
Duty Officers	Projectile Weapons Officer		"Law" from A Fistful of Gorn, a bit of a pain to get there, but worth having
	Projectile Weapons Officer		A common included in my first duty officer pack
	Astrometrics Scientist		Uncommon, also in my first pack, handy to have set
	Conn Officer		From Phoenix, a must have for mobility in any build

This table shows all damage sources in one Wanted Advanced run, with multiple lines from the same source summed together.

Source	DPS
To'Duj Fighters	6594
Delta Flyers	4504
Gravity Well	3571
Photonic Fleet	3170
Polaron Cannons	2889
Destabilizing Resonance Beam	1728
Chronometric Turret	1156
Polaron Turret	1001
Morphogenic Turret	994
Morphogenic Torpedo	855
Tyken's Rift	839
Drain Infection	708
Entropic Rider	144

^{Table formatting brought to you by ExcelToReddit}
Now, let's talk keybinds. In STO on PC you're going to want to learn keybinding eventually, and most of it's not too hard and can be done through the chat window (although it is arguably better to create a separate text file with your binds, that's more complicated). The first thing I always do is to set up a secondary fire weapons button through settings, usually V, just in case I screw up and my intended fire keybind doesn't work. While I'm there I usually set Distribute Shields to Left Shift, it's a pretty good survivability boost, although a lot of people do say it can mess up firing cycles, but personally I've never noticed a problem. Then, the commands you'll want to know are "FirePhasers" or "FireAll", "+power_exec Distribute_Shields", and "+TrayExecByTray # #", where # is a number. Note that the list of commands needs quotation marks around it, and commands should be separated by "$$". So if you typed the following into the chat: /bind y "+TrayExecByTray 0 0 $$ +TrayExecByTray 0 1 $$ +TrayExecByTray 1 2 $$ +TrayExecByTray 1 3" That would create a keybind so that y would activate the first and second abilities in the row labeled 1, and the third and fourth abilities in the row labeled 2 (0 in a keybind means 1 in the UI, 1 means 2, 2 means 3, etc., that's just how it works), starting with the fourth ability in 2 and then proceeding backwards. From there on in it's personal preference, put things where they feel natural to you, where you're used to them being. What I use has evolved naturally over time, I make no claims that it's efficient, just that I'm used to it, and I use it on everything. For fire weapons, distribute shields, Emergency Power abilities, cooldown reduction, often Aux to Structural, and anything else I just want to keep active I use spacebar, like this: /bind space "FireAll $$ +power_exec Distribute_Shields $$ +TrayExecByTray 6 0 $$ +TrayExecByTray 6 1 $$ +TrayExecByTray 6 2 $$ +TrayExecByTray 6 3 $$ +TrayExecByTray 6 4" That's the first 5 slots in row 7, which is usually enough. Then for my firing modes, Attack Pattern Beta, and so on, things with short cooldowns I activate as I attack, I use the 7 key, no good reason for that it just happened, and the first 4 slots in row 3: /bind 7 "+TrayExecByTray 2 0 $$ +TrayExecByTray 2 1 $$ +TrayExecByTray 2 2 $$ +TrayExecByTray 2 3" And finally for my exotic builds I always put Gravity Well and Destabilizing Resonance beam on 2, using the next two slots in row 3, although it is true that the usual logic behind that doesn't apply here, I just did it out of habit: /bind 2 "+TrayExecByTray 2 4 $$ +TrayExecByTray 2 5" That's all the keybinds I use, everything else I activate manually, one at a time, but it does compress 13 keys I might want to be pressing down to 3, which helps a lot.
Now, the difficult thing about this build is that I really don't know how to suggest upgrading it, apart from the obvious necessity of some Competitive Reputation engines to get their Overcharge to improve turn rate, I made sure to use Aux to Structural to pair with the Fortified version of those. The damage is very divided between different types, with about 40% from hangars, 25% from exotics, and 21% from energy weapons, and it's not getting a lot out of any of them, but I'll provide my own ideas and the STO BETTER Basics links for all three. Currently the biggest damage source is the hangars, but trying to improve those would be expensive. Ideally you'd like to pick up Superior Area Denial from the Mirror Strike Wing Escort lockbox ship, or at least the Independent Wingmate space trait, but those are very expensive compared to this build. Even the more minor and less powerful Advanced Engineering – Hangar Craft Power Transmission consoles are starting at 1 million energy credits each on PC for either a Mk XII with a useless mod or a Mk II with an [EPG] mod, or 5 million for a Mk II with [Polaron], while Swarmer Matrix is going for 7 million. If you wanted to work on exotic damage you could of course pick up the Temporal reputation two piece, and then you might want Subspace Vortex or Very Cold in Space to replace the heals with some more damage, but those will cost you 9 million, and really you'd want to pair them with Spore Infused Anomalies from the Somerville or Batlh C-store ships for a truly potent source of exotic damage. You might be able to get good exotic damage out of the Gravimetric Photon and Particle Emission Plasma torpedoes after picking up the Competitive engines, and those aren't as expensive, but they do give you a much narrower arc. And if you wanted to improve the energy weapons, of course there are reputation items you can pick up starting with the Discovery reputation shield, but you're pretty limited by the combination of poor turn rate and forward firing exotics. You could try to switch to dual (heavy) cannons, probably moving the torpedo to the rear and dropping the plain turret, but I don't think I'm a good enough pilot to pull that off even with Competitive engines, which would leave you with single cannons which have underwhelming base damage and very few set items to support them. I just don't know what direction to go in to make a really impactful improvement in this build.
Finally, here's the table of DPS testing in the Wanted patrol for all five equivalent budget builds. The Luna used the original, unaltered Strict Budget Build, using the mentioned swap of Emergency Power to Shields instead of Aux to Structural for better survivability against non-Borg. The Vor'cha sat somewhere between parts one and two of the Baby Step series, meaning it had exactly the same consoles as the Hegh'ta BoP and similar ones to the Jem Escort, and the beam equivalents of the phaser weapons, with exactly the abilities and personal traits in the Baby Step posts. It must also be said that the Vor'cha and Vo'quv were the only builds to never die on elite difficulty, and the Vor'cha was definitely the toughest, although all the builds took about 20 minutes to get through the mission so using them at that difficulty is a bad idea. The Hegh'ta of course used the Quick Looks 1 build, and the Jem Escort used the Quick Looks 2 build.

	Elite (DPS thousands)	Advanced 1 (DPS thousands)	Advanced 2	Advanced 3	Advanced 4	Advanced Average
Hegh'ta Heavy BoP	20.0	20.1	21.5	22.5	23.2	21.8
Jem'hadar Escort	19.3	23.4	20.6	21.8	19.7	21.4
Vo'quV Carrier	27.3	26.3	28.2	26.6	25.2	26.6
Luna Science Vessel	24.8	31.4	28.3	27.9	27.0	28.6
Vor'cha Battlecruiser	15.1	15.0	14.1	14.8	14.6	14.6

^{Table formatting brought to you by ExcelToReddit}

Hi everyone. I'm an Australian national planning to travel to Norway and Germany next month. This will be my first trip to Europe, so this will be a bit of a test run. I plan to fly from Bangkok to Oslo. What's the general rule for entry to Schengen countries in terms of proof of onward travel, accommodation and sufficient funds? Will i need proof of a return flight back to Australia being an Australian national? I've been based in Thailand off and on for a year or so. Are sufficient funds in a Thai bank account accepted for Schengen entry? Apologies if this subject has been well covered already.
Thank you!

SPOILERS FOR THE LAST SHADOW AND BASICALLY ALL OF ENDERVERSE TECHNICALLY
So i just finished TLS and I don't know how to feel. On the one hand I'm very emotional that Enderverse has ended and the stories come to an end but definitely not in this way. I'd like to preface by saying definitely not as bad as some comments I've seen but not good either.
Firstly the plot was ass, I'm sorry but the entire descolada stuff and the way it ended was poorly done imo. This kinda extends to Children of the Mind as well (definitely the weakest of the speaker series). Nest was just a whole lot of yapping with the story not going anywhere and seemed to just fill pages but these are just small qualms regarding the finale plot that i expected but did not get it fully and seemed dragged. Thought a planet was the source, find pretty early on its not, talk to birds for half the novel, get their ass whooped by humans who don't want them there, and ahhh the virus is just a bug that happened for us otherwise it's super safe idk how we missed that before which didn't even come from this planet btw and we may never know. Oh and also we have 3 new species btw how do we explain existing colonies to collaborate and share space? We don't that happens automatically just cuz Jane said so
Secondly and more importantly, had too many characters which led to problems. Speaker series and Shadows in flight left us with a lot of characters and then now OSC added 7 more grandchildren. When you have these many characters all you get is vague mentions to some of them and only a couple become main characters. I loved shadows in flight so so much and loved bean's children and their unity at the end. Sergeant being a dick first seemed fine by the end and then again he proceeds to be a dick again reaching adulthood. Character didn't seem consistent. Ender was AWOL like my god bro being damn near the shadows in flight mc and being a god at genetics takes a back seat in a big genetics problem. Then when we are introduced to the kid leguminids and only 2 are given priority and even them 2 seem to do shit on their own not working together with their cousins. Twins getting the most linear character out there. Card forgot about Ender's kids. They're still leguminids and are supposed to be smart as hell. Quara, Ela, Miro getting some lines here and there but apart from research they don't do anything. Peter and Wang-Mu were good I liked.
Lastly the detouring, inside outside bullshit. Like I get it and tolerated it during COTM but cmon it's getting too much. Very conveniently it becomes cheat code hacking and Jane is just god. If not Jane then the hive queen. But also at the same time, Outside can make a new bloody body for Miro, split ender into 3 people, CURE THE BLOODY VIRUS by just thinking about it, but cannot make a cure for Thulium. They didn't even try their very own creative mode. Wants to end detouring with this generation and then teaches it to everyone damn near and eventually they'll learn on their own.
Anyways thanks for coming to my ted talk. Liked some elements of it tho OSC does know his emotion writing but overall I considered Shadows in flight a more apt ending to it all and also to some extent COTM

Employer threatening to call my absence resignation (sask) Canada
I had requested to book of the 3rd to the 25th for vacation, the 3rd until the 17th is all earned vacation days, it is may long so we have Monday off on the 20th and then I had requested 4 unpaid days. (It may be unusual at some workplaces for long vacations but we have had multiple employees take a month off this year) They denied the unpaid days but they never came to me and informed me the days where denied. so I then went on to book my flight and was then told the day before I leave. That they had denied the 4 days unpaid vacation, and that they may have to take it as a resignation on my part. After that conversation I was told to come meet with my GM at the end of that day to discuss what will be happening. He left the building before the time we where supposed to meet… I’m currently on vacation now and I am just wanting some advice on the mess I’m about to get back to. I was told by some people that I should call in sick on those days so they can’t call it a no show. It is a fairly large company. and I have been working tirelessly and putting in overtime for the past 4 years. I am honestly in shock about the situation. I have already been exploring options for other jobs and I will not be wanting to work there anymore because of the unprofessional treatment they gave me. But I would like to leave with my severance. Any advice helps thank you.

As the title suggests!
I’ve been offered my first ever FA role for a UK airline doing domestic flights. This is a fantastic opportunity for me as my base airport is ten minutes from my home and I’ve managed to break away from hospitality jobs!!
I have a few questions that I can’t find much information on though…
1) what should I expect from ground school? I’m aware I’ll be away for a few weeks for training the letters I’ve received state I need to dress formally for the duration but also to bring leggings/tshirt/shorts. I assume this is for some sort of fitness testing?
2) what exams do they do in CAA medical examinations? Presumably drugs and alcohol on top of standard sight tests/weight/blood pressure?
3) does anyone have any interesting insight? I would love to hear your experiences as I’m super nervous and don’t know what to expect!
Thank you in advance :)

I had requested to book of the 3rd to the 25th for vacation, the 3rd until the 17th is all earned vacation days, it is may long so we have Monday off on the 20th and then I had requested 4 unpaid days. (It may be unusual at some workplaces for long vacations but we have had multiple employees take a month off this year) They denied the unpaid days but they never came to me and informed me the days where denied. so I then went on to book my flight and was then told the day before I leave. That they had denied the 4 days unpaid vacation, and that they may have to take it as a resignation on my part. After that conversation I was told to come meet with my GM at the end of that day to discuss what will be happening. He left the building before the time we where supposed to meet… I’m currently on vacation now and I am just wanting some advice on the mess I’m about to get back to. I was told by some people that I should call in sick on those days so they can’t call it a no show. It is a fairly large company. and I have been working tirelessly and putting in overtime for the past 4 years. I am honestly in shock about the situation. I have already been exploring options for other jobs and I will not be wanting to work there anymore because of the unprofessional treatment they gave me. But I would like to leave with my severance. Any advice helps thank you.

Hi everybody,
disclaimer: Nothing I say in this post is necessarily true, and in NO WAY, do I condone anyone following in my footsteps or referencing anything I say in this post to the FAA/AME... but with that being said:
New to this reddit, but Just wanted to make this post to any future pilots who are going through a similar situation to what I have, about Depression, Anxiety, antidepressants, Therapy Etc.
To start this off... If you are an aspiring pilot, wanting to eventually work in the airlines, corporate, military, or basically anything that makes money, you need an "FAA First Class Medical" This is a non-negotiable aspect of aviation, that any pilot you see had to earn, but also maintain every year.
If you are not aware yet, the FAA takes mental health issues very seriously and almost always tends to disqualify or defer pilots who have had, or continue to have these issues (Bipolar disorder, Depression, ADHD, Anxiety, etc)
My personal story is that I have always wanted to be a pilot, but never really thought to start my training until more recent years, which also happened to coincide with the beginning of my depression/anxiety diagnoses, for which I was medicated on a few different antidepressants (prozac, zoloft, wellbutrin) over the timespan of 1.5 years. During this time I was regularly visiting a psychiatrist for psychotherapy and a regular therapist, along with my pediatrician at the time (I was 16-18).
In regards to my diagnosis: In my own opinion, my depression was a result of my environmental and lifestyle issues, which resulted in my diagnosis later being classified as "adjustment disorder with anxiety." This is a factor that I believe helped me later on in this story.
WIth 100% honesty, I never had any suicidal intentions or any dangerous thoughts that would ever truly make me a liability in the cockpit, as I understand why the FAA is careful around people with this type of history, so I will say that if you are reading this, and you do fall under this category, I would highly recommend doing some introspection about your mental health, and if you deem yourself capable to hold the lives of potentially hundreds of people in your hands, as this can be serious issues down the road.
I would say I am definitely on the safer side of the world of mental health issues, as some of you may have much more serious conditions or history, like suicidal ideas, bipolar disorder, ADHD (depending on if you take medicine/are diagnosed). Unfortunately, The cases mentioned above are much harder to get past to earn your medical, and I would not be able to advise you in those situations, although I believe a "HIMS AME" is the person you would go to for help in that department.
Going back to my story, however...
After learning that being on antidepressants would not allow me to be a pilot, I realized that I had essentially made a grave mistake in getting medicated for a diagnosis that I was not even confident I had, and was extremely upset by this. That was the moment I started going online to find people who had been through similar situations, and the reason why I am now writing this post.
To clarify, I never personally felt as though the medication was doing anything for me, and always wanted to get off, but I was always at the mercy of my pyschiatrist's treatment plan, which basically required me to stay on medication for a certain period of time before getting off.
In NO way did I intend to intentially stop my use of medication, which is VERY dangerous, but I was out of the state for about a month while doing some volunteer work, and unintentionally forgot to take my medication in the morning, which I did not realize for about a week (IT WAS ONLY SAFE BECAUSE MY DOSAGE WAS VERY LOW, OTHERWISE IF YOU STOP USAGE OF MEDICATION SUDDENLY YOU CAN HAVE SERIOUS PERMANENT BODILY DAMAGE).
Because I was doing very good with my life and my mental health, I opted to stay off medication with accordance to my psychiatrist, and from there on out was smooth sailing as far as my mental state. I would see my psychiatrist once a month as a check up, and always reported my positive state of mind. About 7-8 months after that, this month, I decided to start my flight training, but more specifically my AME appointment.
I was already familiar with the process, which begins with you filling an AME form out on medexpress website, where you fill out all medical history. I will specify this one time and one time only:
DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT LYING TO THE FAA!!!!!!!
No matter how desperate you are, lying to the government will always hurt you in the end, and a potential career in aviation is not worth it if it is based on a single or possibly multiple lies.
After filling out the form truthfully, with all my medical history as mentioned in the above texts, I went to my appointment, and talking with the AME, who was quick to start asking me about my mental health history, for which I was ready to explain. I was also able to get a letter from my psychiatrist, mentioning that I was "adherent to my treatment plan"
After telling the AME EVERYTHING about my mental health struggles, history, etc. He decided that I was fit to earn my medical, pending a signature from my psychiatrist ensuring everything I said was truthful, which it was. Finally, after so much struggle, I was able to earn my first-class medical.
The point I want to get across with any of you who still stuck around to read all this, is that if you do disqualify for the medical, there is a reason for that, which you simply must accept in the name of safety of others.
for those of you who are in a similar position to me at any point in my journey, just know that If you stay honest with yourself, your doctor, and eventually the AME, you will definently have a path to earning your certificate, pending some potentiall obstacles.
There is a resource from the faa about medications allowed for pilots, though I never used it as a reference for myself, but definitely check it out if it applies to you in any way. If I missed anything please reply below and I will try my best to answer.

Hi all :) In June I am visiting Karlstad and currently, I am planning the travel. I am flying from Munich, so I have the choice of flying to Göteborg, Oslo or Stockholm. This choice is what I am currently thinking about. The price of the plane ticket does not matter to me, as my company pays for it. The flight takes round-about 2h. Then, I'd have to get to the central station from each airport. For Oslo and Stockholm this seems easy, taking about 20 min by train. Göteborg seems only bus or taxi and takes more like 40 min. The train from each central station to Karlstad takes about 2,5h as far as I see it, again quite similar for each city. Do you have any recommendation where the transfer seems to be the fastest or easiest? Thanks :)

Hello beautiful people, i will be visiting Malaysia with my husband for the first time next week. We will land in Kuala Lumpur then fly the following day to Sandakan.
Can anyone advise on what is the process for domestic flights? What time before the flight we need to be at the airport? Are we allowed to have a checked in bag? We will be travelling with backpacks and 1 small luggage. So far the flights we founf online have only 7Kg carry on allowance.
Any other travel advice is highly appreciated 😊

Hey yall! Separated last year and recently got picked up by DAF. With the mil side of the house shifting to primarily air base defense (or so I’ve heard), how does this affect the DAF side of the house? Are the civilians doing patrols/gate and mil sticking to flight lines and exterior patrols? Or is it highly dependent on the unit?

I am housebound with me/cfs and I have an upcoming trip that I cannot skip, We are moving to another city that is like 500km away, and I have considered booking a flight since it can take much shorter time than taking a bus. There are no trains for this route. But I am worried. Have any of you travelled by plane after getting diagnosed with me/cfs? If yes how was it like? I have never been on a plane after I became sick, and I am also worried about whether the altitude and changes in air pressure can have bad effects on my illness. So I want to hear some experiences and any tip for reducing the crash is appreciated and tell me advice whether to book a flight or a bus ride Thanks!

Wild story. End of last year, my father went through liver failure. He was a long haul truck driver and doesn’t speak much english. Because of the liver failure, he went through hepatic encephalopathy and it happened quite slowly over his 2 week trip. His trip was almost over, he was in Utah coming to Cali. His last night in Utah was when his hepatic encephalopathy hit hard. He called me telling me his GPS isn’t working right and that he’s in texas and on his way to chicago. Explained to him that everything he was saying was wrong but he got mad and hung up many times. Finally I was able to convince him to stop or at least I thought he was going to stop. His trailer slid off the road into the median because of heavy snow and thats when cops arrived at the scene. They called a tow truck and managed to get him out. Dad refused to pay the tow truck driver [at this point he was starting to black out a little and losing his state of mind]. Cops try to stop him, he keeps driving, isn’t aware of the fact they’re trying to get him to pull over. Cops end up getting him to stop, see an empty bottle of alcohol inside his truck by the trash can. [Pops basically lives in the truck due to long haul driving so drinks before he sleeps sometimes which I think what induced his liver failure]. He also has genetic hemochromatosis so alcohol alongside that wasn’t a good idea. Cops charge him for felony flight and DUI and arrest him, take him to jail. This entire time pops skin is more yellow than a lemon due to severe jaundice but no medical attention was provided to him. No rights were read. Straight to jail. Medical staff at the jail saw pops and refused to keep him there so pops was taken to the ER and admitted for over a week.
I’ve hired an attorney for him and have the first court date next monday. Pops has been jobless so Im taking care of the family since December. He lost his license due to “not consenting” to blood test even though he can’t even understand the cop due to language barrier plus his mental state. His intoxication report came back negative for any kind of drug. Doctors diagnosed him with liver cirrhosis and his sodium levels critically low at the time of admission. The lawyer I hired is fighting his case to get the felony charges dismissed hopefully. I need advice regarding where to go from here, if he gets convicted somehow. Can I sue for them not providing immediate medical attention despise seeing his severe jaundiced body and face. Cops also noted my father looked very confused when he first approached him while he was stuck in the snow. I’ll provide any further details if needed but just looking for advice and my options from here. I’ve talked to my attorney but he’s more focused on getting the charged reduced/dropped and suggested I approach a civil attorney if I want to sue.

To live in the Undead Burg is a daily test of one’s wit and their will. The brutish and dull fall to the cunning, and the weak intellectual tears their own mind asunder. For those who escape the Asylum, it is sometimes enough to make one consider voyaging back to their cell.
After all, only a few are Chosen.
In the lower levels of the Undead Burg, a cloak of rat skin fluttered behind a walking corpse as they hurriedly turned the corner of a short length of stone stairs, slamming the shield of a hollow soldier against the ground just as the claws and fangs of the first hound rose to meet it. In truth he lacked the strength to properly defend himself with the thing, to raise it with only one arm and withstand a blow with the same, but it didn’t matter here. The lower corner of the shield lay braced against the bottommost of a length of stone steps. This, with his shoulder pressed against the shield’s top, made progress against him nearly impossible for a foe so light as this.
If idiocy was to lose one’s common sense, then it couldn’t account for the stupidity of an undead hound. The corpse raised a spear over the shield and swung it downward in a pathetic arc, the wood slapping against the metal with hardly a noise to report. Seeing the motion, the dog leapt sideways out of some horribly trained reflex, and in this manner crashed into large pile of eternally burning corpses. It yelped as the heat caught it, spasmed as it searched for purchase amidst the mass of charred bones and melted flesh, and promptly died. The commotion brought with it the sound of distant footsteps, and soon another beast had run headlong into the shield. This one took two similar “attacks” of the spear to repeat its fellow’s mistake, and the one after it four.
To think he had once been terrified of these things, and discovered his tactic in panic.
Beside the steps was a well, and (after a moment to ensure no further dogs were coming), it was this against which the corpse laid his heavy shield. The next test between him and his goal would require agility, something ill-afforded with such heavy hardware. For this, he turned his attention to the well’s crank, and set thereafter to turning it. From the depths was raised a target shield tied in place of a bucket, and upon it a collection of bones, a severed hand, a ring, and a candlestick. The corpse laid the miscellaneous treasures aside, untying the shield and equipping it to his left arm.
The first two thieves were marked by buckets… or rather, the buckets were set in place to tell the thieves which doors were to be hid behind. As travelers came and went, the buckets would roll down the hill as they were knocked aside or blown by the wind or carried around by the dogs, and thus the thieves’ stations would move. When it was determined one had rolled too far down the decline of the alleyway, an annoyed thief would inevitably carry it to a more desired station, pretend it had always been there, and hide themselves behind the newly marked door. It was possible some band of thieves set this tradition in place long ago and retained the habit after they’d eventually gone hollow, but proving this thought today would be nearly beyond impossible. The reasoning didn’t matter to the corpse, of course, but the effect he used to his advantage.
The tops of the doors he adorned with knives from the Lady of Moss- blades up, such that the forceful opening of the door would spin the knives just right to sink their poisonous bile into the victims below. What additional wastes and acids the corpse had applied need not be mentioned by name, only that they shared their patron creature with the leather cloak on his back. With his work done, he now walked the side of the alley as any clueless traveler would have, and awaited the springing of the trap.
As always, the third and lowermost thief signaled the attack by kicking open their door. The two now behind the corpse followed, and shortly thereafter issued their raspy exhales of pain amidst the clatter of falling steel. The corpse charged. The leader hurriedly reached for their throwing knives but was swiftly force-fed the edge of the corpse’s shield, thusly to be brought to the ground. Here was the corpse’s blade drawn, its cracked and jagged tip turned down towards its latest prey.
When skinning rats, it is important that one carries a sharp blade. This both to pierce the thick hide, and to avoid unnecessary damage to the intestines, stomach, and other usable bits lying beneath. Replacing the rat with a hollow, the corpse preferred the tip of a broken straight sword to the edge of his usual dagger. The motions made indeed bore some crude similarity to his work when harvesting leather, but the abandon of care became only more evident with each forceful cut and flailingly resisted gouge. In the end, what remained could hardly be discerned from a spot of muck on the road, a hollow-faced madman above it.
Further down, beyond a second set of stone steps, was another favorite spot of ambush for the thieves. The mutts at the end of the alley had long since devoured whatever scraps had been used to position them, and so readily charged forth at the beckoning call of the corpse. They found at his feet the now separated legs of the corpse’s most recent kill, adorned in many fresh gouges and oozing with a pungent liquid. The source of this meal mattered not to them, and so they eagerly set to work engorging themselves on the new flesh. So single-minded were they, intent on ridding themselves of the insatiable undead hunger that plagued them, that neither one slowed as a white foam began to pour from their mouths. Their stomachs first bulged, then split apart and spilt what little they had for content as the acid worked its way through. Their legs gave way from beneath them, first the hind, then the front, and yet still they desperately swallowed more of the decaying flesh and embedded stomach-skin pouches that rapidly digested them in return. When at last the pair had at last lost such strength as to no longer reach the meals inches away from their first gasping, then whining maws, the corpse delivered their mercy. A swift kick, and what little remained of their necks gave freedom to their lifeless skulls. The thieves, meanwhile, bore no challenge the corpse had not already faced. Knives over the first few doors, the greeting of jaw and shield, the pillaging of another victim. Nothing unusual, and nothing of note.
With the capra demon gone, some “chosen” adventurer having long since vanquished it from realm, little now stood between the corpse and… her… save only one thing. The corpse took the last flight of stairs three at a time, ricocheting off the wall on the outside of its only turn and bounding towards his target.
There she was, out in the open as always. The corpse sprinted down the stairs and, after passing a blind corner, set his left foot forward and crouched to halt his considerable momentum. The ambusher behind him was easily parried as he brought his shield up and behind him, cracking something in their forearm or perhaps their wrist. Not bothering to waste time, the corpse’s broken blade was brought upwards through the ambusher’s jaw until it snapped the bit bone between their eyes. This done, the corpse wrenched his weapon up and sideways with a hollow “pop” as the neck gave leave of its skull. The body collapsed to the side, its head twisting unnaturally upwards and backwards as it freed itself of the blade. The corpse, unbothered, bore no interest in holding either aloft. Now he turned, inspected the last of the thieves, and after a moment returned his blade to its holder.
“You are Patient.”
This first time he’d uttered the phrase, the last word was merely an attribute. ‘Twas a description of the one hollow that could be shot with any arrow, afflicted with any pain, and would yet remain loyally in her position. To be fair, it wasn’t for great gift a choice, as the position of “live bait” was reserved only for whichever of the thieves had been deemed least desirable by the rest. What caused this, and whatever penalties lay for abandoning of the post, were matters the corpse could only assume. The important part was that it was her, the thief who had become “Patient” by name. At their first encounter the corpse had considered dispatching her like the rest, but had hesitated in piercing her skin. He still bore the scar about his neck that she had given him for his idleness, and she still wore the rat skin “grieves” he’d forcefully tied to her for a marker. As time passed, the two gradually traded more scars and more black fur hide between them- the corpse receiving the former, Patient gaining the latter. He had stripped her and tied a pelt about her chest which lay now beneath her leather armor, he’d fashioned a double-thick leather stock to protect her neck, and though he tied gloves to her at a point she’d taken great effort in cutting them off. All this he had done across many visits, through much pain, and at expense of his best materials. Todays gift had by far been the hardest to craft- a thrice layered leather helm affixed on one side with a jawbone to replace what he’d broken so long ago.
His approach was slow, and well-rehearsed. At about ten paces, Patient’s patience finally broke as she ran for him. Today she chose to hesitate upon reaching him, though he'd learned this was by chance of random choice than any form of compassion. The corpse waited for the attack, not daring to kick another outcast as he had once been in life. She tried first her more viscous pattern, a pair of vigorous strikes that slid across the corpse’s target shield rather than bouncing away. She completed the maneuver and immediately prepared for a more powerful, slamming attack, granting the corpse the opportunity he had been seeking.
As she brought her blade down, the corpse deftly batted her strong hand away and gripped her shield with his open hand. Having no further need for his own shield, he cast it now away and spun the patient thief ‘round. She made as if to leap upward and over the corpse, but the maneuver was one he’d long since learned to counter. He stepped back, spinning himself so as to bring her sideways and around and down into a prone position with his right elbow along her back and his left hand pinning her knife arm down.
His next task, before gifts could be given, was to ensure he received no further scars in return. Placing his knee at her back to free one of his hands, he drew from beneath his cloak a coil of red twine fashioned from the same rats he’d skinned for his gift… some of the same, at least. With great effort, the twine was managed around the thief until she could no longer terribly well resist, and her hood was pulled back from her head.
Seeing the sunken red skin, the glowing eyes, the bare teeth, it reminded the corpse of life in the Pit of Outcasts. It was there he’d met the kindest of the living, the most desperate of the poor, and occasionally even a soul or two willing to speak or come close to him. ‘Twas a place for the diseased, the undead, and those criminals deemed too vile to disgrace the hangman’s noose with their neck. It was there he’d learned to knit and to sew, skills gifted to him from an undead woman not terribly discernable from the one before him now. The main difference, at least for now, was the slack jaw broken in uncountable pieces during their first encounter.
Casting the memories aside, the corpse set to his work. The leather about the thief’s neck stilled her head a little, but precisely cutting the skin beneath her jaw to remove the old bone was still a difficult task. The end result was unsightly, and it involved more than a few excessive cuts from the patient’s constant struggling, but it was enough to work with. Removing the old bone took a great deal of time thanks to the many fragments hidden in odd bits and pockets of flesh, but sliding the new one into place and wrapping it in the old muscle proved as easily said as done. The most tiring part was retying the cuts back closed, as the thief regained and continually demonstrated a greater ability to bite and snap as the corpse made more and more progress. The last of these gaps closed, the corpse finally wrapped the rest of the leather helmet about the thief’s skull and tied the loose end to the other side of her new jaw with more twine. It wasn’t his best work, but it was the best he’d done on something still kicking around.
Patient’s hood was returned to its proper position, and the corpse took hold of a length of twine connected to a slipknot in the middle of her back. Midway up the last stretch of stairs he’d come down, the twine was pulled and the knot it held gave way, restoring the thief her freedom. Knowing better than to stick around, the corpse fled to the top of the stairs, standing on the bridge overlooking her station just beyond where she would pursue. He watched as she freed herself of the last of the twine, as she looked to him, and as she eventually returned to her post. He said then the same thing he always said to her, though still he knew not if she recognized it.
“I am Aldin Paltry, the Leper of Hangknell. I will return again.”
He watched a moment more, but was paid not a glance in return. Back through the alley he went, bound for the dragon’s bridge.