Stupid questions about Naval Aviation (Pt 2)

What he said. But in my day we didn't have X-box. So.... we threw shit over the side. :icon_wink

Steve

Take a bunch of grown men - college-educated, close friends and comrades-in-arms - and get them haggling over those last few JOPA fly-off seats... turns into a slap-fight like none you've seen outside a Pensacola Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

Heh. I remember on mid cruise, out in blue water we threw whole bookshelves over the side (Chief: "Get this !@#$ing thing out of here! We don't have space for it!"). In port, we spilled one stupid bucket of hardware over the edge and it was an "ecological disaster". Had to send the divers in to recover them.

How times have changed.:icon_wink I shudder to think what they'd find if they ever (really) dredged Mayport.

Steve

Does the Marine Corps utilize its pilots for missions consisting of intel gathering, reconnaissance? If so, would they fly? EA-6Bs?

Marine pilots fly Marine aircraft. Seriously?

Haha, I apologize for the confusion. My question probably should have been worded more like what are the roles/tasks of Marine pilots. Take for example a F/A-18 pilot. What would that pilot's duties be?

Sure. There are cameras on the planes. Think like "Behind Enemy Lines"...Only more...real.

All F/W platforms are capable of it. Someone else would know better if it's something being used a lot lately given the emphasis on the unmanned side of things for intel gathering.

I vaguely remember that movie; will probably watch again. You said that all fighter platforms are capable of it. So how would an aviator have the opportunity to do intelligence gathering vs close air support?

ughhh.....flying the airplane for example? In the case of F/A-18C (or A/A++) it would be doing everything, flying, nav, sensors/weapons employment, comms. In a -D, there is a bit more division of cockpit workload between pilot and WSO.

As per the advice of 129Paddles, I am posting a bunch of my stupid questions in the correct thread.

So, not being an aviator but just someone incredibly interested in all the cool stuff you all do, I have a couple questions (mostly) regarding collateral duties.

1. Do pilots have more than one collateral duty at a time? Like, can a DH be Maintenance and Ops officer at the same time? Do JOs have more than one collateral at a time?

2. What are all the other billets filled? Training, Legal, Q/A etc?

3. Which ones are given to, say, 1st sea tour guys (uh, and girls) and which ones to more senior aviators (2nd cruise, 3rd cruise)?

4. How many pilots are usually assigned to a squadron in each of the platforms, Helos, Hornets, Prowlers, Hawkeyes?


A lot of questions so I'll stop now.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply.

Odd question...

As a kid, I thought the coolest part of my uncles job (F-16 pilot in AF) was the fact that he occasinoally had freedom to fly where he wanted. A time or two I got a call from him in Vegas because he and his buddies decided over breakfast that flying there would be a fun way to log hours. This may have been a rare thing, I'm not sure. My question is, how often is one given flexibility to plan their own flights and go where they want during and after flight training? I realize there are too many variables for there to be one answer, but I'd like to hear about your experience. Are there other cool little perks (other than the painfully obvious) to being a Naval aviator?

-TL

I can only speak for the NFO syllabus and the Prowler community...

During flight school, a little bit. We had list of places we'd fly to and stop for lunch, all dictated by what training you needed to accomplish. Mostly pre-filed routes and the like. There were cross country opportunities (take the jet somewhere for a weekend). The students had some say in where you'd go, but it was all subject to the instructor and what the squadron and wing would approve.

As far as the Prowler is concerned, you've got to go to an airfield that can support the jet - security, gas, long enough runway, support equipment to get the jet started... Again, it depends on what your squadron will approve and any standing instructions that your wing and Big Navy have put out.

No matter what platform you end up flying (training or in the fleet), any trips like that are dictated by the regulations and operating procedures, squadron policy and if the airfield you want to go to can support your platform... gas, ramp space, runway length, support equipment, ease of access if the jet breaks etc.

I'm still in orange and whites, but throughout the syllabus we get to go on cross-country hops. I just did my cross-country in Primary to San Antonio, but other guys have gone to San Diego, Vegas, New Orleans, etc. It's at the discretion of your command and your instructor. Just my 2 cents. I'm not sure how much of that goes on in the REAL (Fleet) Navy.

Western NC? - Go APPS! (ASU '08)

Salt Lake City, Denver, San Antonio, Dallas, Ft Worth, Augusta, New Orleans, Pensacola, DC, NYC...good times all! Try an advanced search for threads with Cross Country in the title. Plenty of stories there.

Heck yeah! I spent over a year at App and still live in Boone. It's a great school. My heart will always be with ECU, but I have a special place in there for ASU too.

-TL

You're still in Primary? I think I got through the FRS, a whole deployment, and 2 months of homecycle since you've been there. You're going to be the first non retread O-4 nugget to hit the fleet.

F/A-18 E vs. F/A-18F split

Does anybody know offhand about the split between the variants - how many of each is in the inventory?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_aircraft_squadrons#Strike_Fighter

Yea, tried that. Brings back some perilously vague returns. I was hoping that somebody might know some obscure site that may have already done more precise work. Thanks for your effort though.

According to the Boeing PDF overview:

"[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Operational in 10 U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wings (19 squadrons)
432 Super Hornets have been delivered as of May 1, 2010 [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Courier New,Courier New][FONT=Courier New,Courier New]
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]234 F-model Super Hornets[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Courier New,Courier New][FONT=Courier New,Courier New]
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]186 E-model Super Hornets"
[/FONT][/FONT]
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/fa18ef/docs/EF_overview.pdf

Hope that helps.

I've used this site as a reference for years. Has almost everything you would need to know about Navy and Marine fleets to answer this kind of question.

Hornet fleet:
http://www.gonavy.jp/NavalSqn02.html
Home page:
http://www.gonavy.jp/