I figured I'd share my experience with you guys for two reasons:
1. I think the newbies can learn from it and maybe not make the same mistakes as I did if their personal life hits the fan a month after they hit the fleet.
2. If any of you guys' lives have gone to shit, you can realize that it isn't the end of the world, even if the end result is that you no longer get to fly grey jets into combat.
PART 1: Facts of a FNAEB
There are a few different reasons that an aviator can go to a FNAEB: Failure to meet syllabus goals or complete a syllabus, mishap, established trend of unsafe behavior, actions discrediting Naval Aviation. There are others, but I haven't read the instruction in a while. Keep in mind that just because you are recommended for a FNAEB doesn't mean you're done flying. It's also not punitive. It is an administrative process to determine two things: If you are eligible to continue in a flight status and if you can retain the right to wear your wings. Most likely, you'll retain the right to wear your wings unless you've specifically done something to bring discredit on the Navy and Naval Aviation.
Once your skipper starts the FNAEB request, you will be grounded until the FNAEB is completed and the end result is that you remain in a flight status. Situational dependency allows for a waiver to be granted to remain in a flying status for the duration of the process, but that waiver isn't the norm. You may or may not be allowed to continue your ground job in the squadron, depending on the reason why you've been recommended for a FNAEB. In my case, I was allowed to remain with my squadron while the board was conducted.
PART 2: The Process
In my case, my skipper requested a FNAEB due to my failure to complete the PWTP Level 3 syllabus, which means that I failed to attain my mission commander qual in the prescribed time.
As I stated above, once your skipper sends the letter to the Model Manager requesting a FNAEB, you'll be removed from flight status pending the results of the board. At that point, you should be notified by the skipper, XO, or Training-O that this process has been started. You'll get a copy of your FNAEB letter. Your chain of command should have notified you that this was going to happen before the process started.
If the FNAEB was requested due to performance, you should have been counseled on your performance issues in the past with a plan to improve and an ultimatum of what will happen should you fail to meet your training goals. This is key, as if the command fails to create the proper paper trail, the FNAEB can, and sometimes will, be invalidated due to administrative reasons.
Once the FNAEB letter is forwarded up the CoC, a presiding member will be named. This person will usually be a PXO or a random, not very busy CDR from the FRS. In my case, it was one of the senior SAU IP's. Most times, they will try to get a CDR that wears the same wings as you do (Pilot for a pilot, NFO for an NFO). If not, it is not a huge issue, as the majority of the board will wear the same wings as you. The presiding member of the board will conduct a preliminary interview with you. This interview isn't a place for you to start explaining what happened. It is an administrative meeting to ensure that all of the administrative elements are in order and that you understand the process and your rights. You will also learn who is going to be on the board. Here, you can object to the make up of the board. The board will be the presiding member, 2 or 3 aviators (from the same platform as you) senior to you and a flight doc.
If any of you have ever been to an HFB, then you already have an idea of how the board is conducted. You'll talk to a flight doc and get a physical. The results will go into the documents that the board will review.
Once the board convenes, the members will read and discuss the information provided: Skipper's inputs, NATOPS & Training jackets, miscellaneous grade sheets (if your squadron does them - mine does), log book, flight docs write up and anything else that was included. Once they call you in, the FNAEB is like an HFB spanning your whole career.
You will get asked everything from why you didn't study harder in college to what you were thinking during certain flights or incidents. You can also be asked for clarification on grade sheets spanning from your IFS flights to the last flight you had in the fleet. Here, the board is just trying to establish who and what you are and any mitigating circumstances. Your personal life will be examined in depth as well. Marriages, divorces, relationships with parents, friends, squadron mates, kids, etc. If you've had a training plan put in place, that will get examined as well.
You and the board also have the right to ask members of the squadron and others that you have worked closely with to submit statements on your behalf.
Once this process is complete, the board will inform you of its decision and forward its findings to you and your skipper. All of this needs to be complete within 14 working days.
Before your package gets submitted to your skipper, you'll have an opportunity to review the documents and clarify anything that you feel didn't come across the right way during your time in front of the board. Once you and the presiding member sign the paperwork, it gets forwarded to your skipper, then up the chain of command, all the way to CNAF.
Depending on the circumstance and your squadron's schedule, you may or may not have an follow up chat with each endorsing member of the chain of command.
Once it gets to CNAF, you will have to make a trip to San Diego to meet with the Admiral. You'll sit down and have a fairly informal chat with the Admiral, and he will inform you of his decision and put his final endorsement on your paperwork.
The ways that this can end:
1. Retention of flight status, retain the right to wear wings
2. Retention of flight status (probationary), retain the right to wear wings
3. Retention of flight status, limited to UAS, retain the right to wear wings
4. Termination of flight status, retain the right to wear wings
5. Termination of flight status, termination of the right to wear wings
I think there are a few others, but those are the main categories that you can be placed in.
1. I think the newbies can learn from it and maybe not make the same mistakes as I did if their personal life hits the fan a month after they hit the fleet.
2. If any of you guys' lives have gone to shit, you can realize that it isn't the end of the world, even if the end result is that you no longer get to fly grey jets into combat.
PART 1: Facts of a FNAEB
There are a few different reasons that an aviator can go to a FNAEB: Failure to meet syllabus goals or complete a syllabus, mishap, established trend of unsafe behavior, actions discrediting Naval Aviation. There are others, but I haven't read the instruction in a while. Keep in mind that just because you are recommended for a FNAEB doesn't mean you're done flying. It's also not punitive. It is an administrative process to determine two things: If you are eligible to continue in a flight status and if you can retain the right to wear your wings. Most likely, you'll retain the right to wear your wings unless you've specifically done something to bring discredit on the Navy and Naval Aviation.
Once your skipper starts the FNAEB request, you will be grounded until the FNAEB is completed and the end result is that you remain in a flight status. Situational dependency allows for a waiver to be granted to remain in a flying status for the duration of the process, but that waiver isn't the norm. You may or may not be allowed to continue your ground job in the squadron, depending on the reason why you've been recommended for a FNAEB. In my case, I was allowed to remain with my squadron while the board was conducted.
PART 2: The Process
In my case, my skipper requested a FNAEB due to my failure to complete the PWTP Level 3 syllabus, which means that I failed to attain my mission commander qual in the prescribed time.
As I stated above, once your skipper sends the letter to the Model Manager requesting a FNAEB, you'll be removed from flight status pending the results of the board. At that point, you should be notified by the skipper, XO, or Training-O that this process has been started. You'll get a copy of your FNAEB letter. Your chain of command should have notified you that this was going to happen before the process started.
If the FNAEB was requested due to performance, you should have been counseled on your performance issues in the past with a plan to improve and an ultimatum of what will happen should you fail to meet your training goals. This is key, as if the command fails to create the proper paper trail, the FNAEB can, and sometimes will, be invalidated due to administrative reasons.
Once the FNAEB letter is forwarded up the CoC, a presiding member will be named. This person will usually be a PXO or a random, not very busy CDR from the FRS. In my case, it was one of the senior SAU IP's. Most times, they will try to get a CDR that wears the same wings as you do (Pilot for a pilot, NFO for an NFO). If not, it is not a huge issue, as the majority of the board will wear the same wings as you. The presiding member of the board will conduct a preliminary interview with you. This interview isn't a place for you to start explaining what happened. It is an administrative meeting to ensure that all of the administrative elements are in order and that you understand the process and your rights. You will also learn who is going to be on the board. Here, you can object to the make up of the board. The board will be the presiding member, 2 or 3 aviators (from the same platform as you) senior to you and a flight doc.
If any of you have ever been to an HFB, then you already have an idea of how the board is conducted. You'll talk to a flight doc and get a physical. The results will go into the documents that the board will review.
Once the board convenes, the members will read and discuss the information provided: Skipper's inputs, NATOPS & Training jackets, miscellaneous grade sheets (if your squadron does them - mine does), log book, flight docs write up and anything else that was included. Once they call you in, the FNAEB is like an HFB spanning your whole career.
You will get asked everything from why you didn't study harder in college to what you were thinking during certain flights or incidents. You can also be asked for clarification on grade sheets spanning from your IFS flights to the last flight you had in the fleet. Here, the board is just trying to establish who and what you are and any mitigating circumstances. Your personal life will be examined in depth as well. Marriages, divorces, relationships with parents, friends, squadron mates, kids, etc. If you've had a training plan put in place, that will get examined as well.
You and the board also have the right to ask members of the squadron and others that you have worked closely with to submit statements on your behalf.
Once this process is complete, the board will inform you of its decision and forward its findings to you and your skipper. All of this needs to be complete within 14 working days.
Before your package gets submitted to your skipper, you'll have an opportunity to review the documents and clarify anything that you feel didn't come across the right way during your time in front of the board. Once you and the presiding member sign the paperwork, it gets forwarded to your skipper, then up the chain of command, all the way to CNAF.
Depending on the circumstance and your squadron's schedule, you may or may not have an follow up chat with each endorsing member of the chain of command.
Once it gets to CNAF, you will have to make a trip to San Diego to meet with the Admiral. You'll sit down and have a fairly informal chat with the Admiral, and he will inform you of his decision and put his final endorsement on your paperwork.
The ways that this can end:
1. Retention of flight status, retain the right to wear wings
2. Retention of flight status (probationary), retain the right to wear wings
3. Retention of flight status, limited to UAS, retain the right to wear wings
4. Termination of flight status, retain the right to wear wings
5. Termination of flight status, termination of the right to wear wings
I think there are a few others, but those are the main categories that you can be placed in.