NFO to Pilot at Primary?

[flyinghigh]

I'm planning to apply for the NFO to Pilot transition (had PRK) and wondering what it is like to be at primary as a LT with an NFO sea tour already under my belt. Do you think that the instructors treat you differently? Do you feel that transition SNA's have an advantage? How do you feel they do when it comes to the selection process? What is the attitude of the ensign SNA's towards the transition dudes?
Thanks for any insight!

 

[wink]

Can't say for sure as I didn't do the retread thing. I had a couple buddies that did in the '80s though. They thought being a fleet NFO helped because of their comfort level in the cockpit. They were also used to processing information at 500+ knots the day they started primary in a slow mover like the T-34C. The RAG was a cake walk because they all went back to their fleet platform. Things like SOPs, CV NATOPS, TACMANS, 3710, etc, don't change with the seat you sit in. Don't remeber any negative comments about how instructors or Ensign studs treated them.

 

[rare21]

yeah the ones that are around our squadron are cool. With them its "how you doing so and so" not sir. more like one of the guys even though they wear full LT bars.

 

[GatorNFO]

Whats the time requirement of being an NFO until one would be able to do this? Are there age limitations and other guidelines, such as when someone is applying from the civilian world?

 

[wink]

No formal age limit. You have to have completed one fleet tour as a NFO. For any given board they are only looking for guys in certain year groups (ie LT at 6 years)to make up for shortages of pilots at certain ranks. It isn't a free for all. Some years they will only take one or two guys. Other years it may be a few dozen. I have never seen a guy past the 8-10 year point picked up for redesignation to pilot. With such a late start you would have a very hard time competeing for the rest of your career as a pilot. If you consider the high retention experienced for pilots lately you can assume there will be some real dry years for the NFO dudes looking to redesignate. They won't take a retread unless they have a hole to put him in. It is all in the timeing. And you have no real control over that.

 

[GatorNFO]

Understandable. Thanks for the gouge Wink.

 

[HooverPilot]

Hey flyinghigh! One of my best friends is a Viking NFO going through the pilot transition down in Corpus (Primary). Of course, everyone down there is on Christmas leave, but PM my and I'll try and put you in touch with him. What community are you coming out of? Like Wink said, he's got an advantage of SA gained from just having been around and seeing it all in a sea tour. He also was able to get a bunch of stick time, so he's got a pretty good airsense about him too. He said that the treatment is pretty good, the Ensigns are fine, and the instructors all give him credit for what he has done. Of course he has to do just as well as everyone else. Because he also has a lot of civilian time, he's in the accelerated program.

 

[kmac]

From the guys I know it's good to have a few NFO to pilot transitions. They provide a lot of information about the fleet without being in the role of an instructor. The jet-transition guys have been the same way. From what I've seen, they're all quality individuals.

 

[josejimmenez]

I,m applying for both SNA and SNFO through BDCP. Whats the process to become a "Re-tread"