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What IS the Penalty Box and should I fear it?

joe dirt

Well-Known Member
pilot
You hit the nail on the head. I think it would be great if we could get the numbers for each community but have no idea if it is even possible, I have only seen them once and it was about 10 years ago in a Navy Times article. I am curious myself what the numbers are nowadays. That source of info already exists for the USMC with their excellent FY XX USMC Aviation Plan that breaks down the current aircraft numbers and even their crystal ball as to what they see happening in the future, giving everyone a very good idea of just what percent get _____.

There are 3,667 Marine Aviators, of these 1,388 fly f/w aircraft and 2279 fly r/t aircraft.
37.8% of marine Aviators fly fixed-wing aircraft and the remaining 62.2% fly rotary / tiltrotor aircaft.
I'm sure these are a little off due to Marines no longer flying still being counted with their former airframe. Also, I realize that the needs of the Marine Corps at a given time will ultimately dictate who and how many from a given class will go into each respective pipeline

Fixed:
10.06% - Harriers
15.38% - Hornets
2.23% - Prowlers
10.14% - Hercules

Rotary:
Osprey - 6.65%
Phrog - 16.58%
UH-1 - 8.37%
CH-53 - 15.76%
AH-1 - 14.78%
 

xmid

Registered User
pilot
Contributor
Finally! Some numbers to give people!

As has been relayed before, there's really too much that goes in to selection to say for example that the top 25% on any given week get jets or what not. Sometimes they need jet guys and any one with above a 50 NSS (or in some cases slightly less) get it. Other weeks there's no jet slots and rockstars don't get them. A large part of how well you do in primary comes down to prep time and wrote memorization. If you know all the book knowledge COLD on day one and you chair fly every flight you will probably do well (provided you aren't incapable of learning the monkey skills). If you ace all your briefs, you start out the flight ahead of the game. A lot of the guys that do the best studied the hardest plain and simple. I don't mean to say that all the helo guys and multi guys didn't study as hard, but nine times out of ten if you picked out the hardest studying guy in the class he was probably going to at least have jet grades. Sometimes timing or preferences just didn't work out for that guy/gal and they didn't get jets (or want them). Other times the CO liked a guy and put in a good word for him and he got jets when he possibly wouldn't have otherwise. Bottom line is you can only do your very best and let the cards fall where they will. Which is why a lot of guys on the forum get irritated at people for asking the what % question. It's human nature to wonder what your odds are for getting something you believe you want, but it can also come off as someone that only wants to work for it if their chances are good.

Another thing to note is that the percentage of people that think they want jets goes down over time. I think most of A-pool would tell you they want to fly jets, but then people get air sick flying PA's, or they hate instruments or forms, or they think the jet guys in their VT squadron are assholes, etc. etc. Some guys realize that all their favorite instructors are from community XX and they decide thats where they want to go. Some guys get to primary and just realize that its a shit ton harder then they thought it would be and they are just relieved to select anything. Most people get to advanced and have a good time flying their new platforms and don't look back. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that said they absolutely hated flying their fleet aircraft.
 

pilot_man

Ex-Rhino driver
pilot
My whole beef with this topic is that if we are really tired of hearing the question, then just tell dudes to do a search. Just like we do with every other question that we are so tired of hearing and feel like we need to be assholes. There is no reason to ban, or threaten to ban someone because they want to know what the odds of them getting a specific platform are. The truth is, I know it doesn't matter what percentage get jets. If there is a platform you want, and you work hard enough, then your chances are better than those that just get by. Needs of the Navy, sure, but if you work hard enough and aren't a total DB, then generally things work out for you. Maybe, we should just have a banner at the top of the homepage that says DO A SEARCH!!!! That way we don't have to repeat ourselves and can get on with our days.
 

Scoob

If you gotta problem, yo, I'll be part of it.
pilot
Contributor
The overwhelming majority of kids my age (21) have seen/learned about Naval Aviation through that movie. My friends ask me all the time, "dude are you gonna fly a jet?" and they aren't educated enough about Naval Aviation to know any better.

The beautiful part about Naval Aviation, and perhaps some of the source of the disdain for "the question", is that as you get older, those friends get further entrenched in that desk job they hate, and whatever you're flying looks more and more like the life they wish they had.

Which, curiously enough, is the same attitude you'll have when forced to a lame staff job...
 

red_ryder

Well-Known Member
None
But if you think about it, it's probably the most logical question for a newbie who is trying to get in with the hopes of getting jets.

granted, annoying question, but... I don't think anyone here with experience would say all platforms are the same...

So with that said, lighten up, Francis? (Francises?)
 

Alpha_Echo_606

Does not play well with others!™
Contributor
My whole beef with this topic is that if we are really tired of hearing the question, then just tell dudes to do a search. Just like we do with every other question that we are so tired of hearing and feel like we need to be assholes. There is no reason to ban, or threaten to ban someone because they want to know what the odds of them getting a specific platform are. The truth is, I know it doesn't matter what percentage get jets. If there is a platform you want, and you work hard enough, then your chances are better than those that just get by. Needs of the Navy, sure, but if you work hard enough and aren't a total DB, then generally things work out for you. Maybe, we should just have a banner at the top of the homepage that says DO A SEARCH!!!! That way we don't have to repeat ourselves and can get on with our days.

Except then you get some douche dropping by and just asking to get a reaction, with the penalty box or ban hammer the message is put out. Just think about how many times some stud came in here and asked the same old question without even thinking to use search. It gets old and annoying.
 

Slax

New Member
The penalty box used to be a place at ORD. They would send you there I'd you missed a call or made a wrong turn. After flying the f4 I thought that civilian stuff was so easy. I was wrong. WX doesn't matter. Your going. And no follow me trucks .
 

Renegade One

Well-Known Member
None
"Holy thread resurrection, Batman!"
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