Kevin, as the lone voice of reason on this forum (ie P3 pilot), I will go ahead and and take the lead and do my best to answer or shed some light on your questions.
P3 Pilot Demand: Well, as we have beaten to death in the past, it all depends on the "Needs of the Navy" and how the numbers stack up during your selection at Primary. How many slots are open in the Advanced Prop Pipeline? In turn, is the P3 FRS backed up? Or are they taking in people? I am sure there are other smoke and mirror aspects to it that I am unaware of, but that pretty much covers it. But with respect to pure numbers, we have roughly 60 officers in our wardroom, 2/3rds of which are pilots. I recently went through some training with the jet community, and ran into some old friends. Well, just 5 officers from ONE of our crews about damn near equalled their whole wardroom for one squadron. Definitely different. We require the 3 pilots per plane (Combat Air Crew), and sometimes when we have too many pilots, we have 4. So, yes, on the whole, I would say that the demand should be high for P3 pilots, I once saw a slide of what % P3 pilots were of the total Pilot inventory, think we were like 13% or something, could be way off. Helos still beat everyone hands down.
Lifestyle: P3 pilot does not go to the boat during his first tour. You go to your squadron, and are on an 18 month cycle, at home for one year, then deploy for 6 months. When you deploy, you have various det sites that your squadron is responsible for, and you rotate between those det sites, and the missions associated with them. Last deployment I lived in everything from a single BOQ room all to myself with a living room, to a tent in the desert with 12 other guys fighting off camel spiders, a hotel room at the sheraton, and the best (long term) Air Force accomodations in a near mini apartment at their BOQ, living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. It all just depends on what is going on, and where you are going to. Some of the det sites are places like Puerto Rico, Iceland, Rota, Sigonella for the East coast bubbas, and for us on the West coast, you have Kadena, Misawa, Diego Garcia and Bahrain. The lifestyle is ALOT different. Now, I am also familiar with haze gray and underway lifestyle, 2 + years on board a submarine. Anyways, being able to land at your base, go have a beer at the Oclub, or go out in town and have dinner are way up there on that lifestyle list. In addition, damn near close to 100% comms with the family at home. On my last deployment I had internet connectivity in every location, and in most had internet via my laptop in each of my BOQ rooms. Had ATT or DSN for the calls home, and in many cases my wife was able to call me. Depending on which deployment you are doing, in many cases your spouse will get to fly out and visit you while you are deployed, and during your crew leave cycle if your CO approves it. For one of my friends who is going through an East coast deployment to the tri site (Puerto Rico, Iceland, and Sig), he has been home THREE times to Maine as he has gone from det site to det site. Flying from Puerto Rico back up to Iceland, stopping to get gas and stay over night in Maine. Definitely a plus. Also, number of flight hours, I logged over 800 flight hours in my first deployment, and just recently went over a thousand hours in the P3.
Finally, one of the best things about P3s is the aircrew, you have 13 or so people that you fly missions with, and work together to get the job done. You become really close with those people as an extended family on deployment, and build some really great friendships. As one jet guy made a comment on here awhile ago, it is the "play well with others" principle! And definintely putting CRM to use!
BUT, if you are going to stay in the military, like I am, your THIRD tour is supposed to be a 2 year disassociated sea duty tour onboard ship. Your second tour is usually to a training command, VTs or FRS as an IP. There are many other choices also from Flag LT to duty pilot, to manning a staff job.
Well, I hope that answers your questions, I personally enjoy the lifestyle, the mission, and the people I fly with. And wouldn't have it any other way.
So, now my question, are you thinking about P3s as a possible platform to go fly?
