Tailhook?

[A4sForever]

.... getting helos is not the kiss of death ....

During an airline furlough, I was the D.O. for a Part 135 *ahem* HELO operation in Texas ... hired/fired/was responsible for/rode with/got some flight time & schoolin' from (they were mostly former Army guys with Vietnam backgrounds and Gulf oil rig flight time) ... air ambulance, offshore, charter ... you name it, they did it. Good guys and maybe a couple of not so good guys ... just like the rest of us. The one common denominator was: they weren't trying to "prove" anything to anyone anymore --- they were experienced, they were "good", they had "been there" --- and they knew it.

The interviews I conducted were .... "illuminating",shall we say .... ... at least for a Navy jet jock to conduct ....

One of the BEST airline pilots I ever flew with was an .... *ahem* ... former Army HELO pilot. Except he like to call 'em "choppers" ...

 

[e6bflyer]

Is E-6 considered maritime or a category of its own?

Maritime. It is split into E-6 or P-3, with the studs choice going on the selection card.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Maritime. It is split into E-6 or P-3, with the studs choice going on the selection card.

That's what I thought but wasn't sure. Thanks.

 

[scoober78]

My mistake sorry...my gouge was based on a buddy who "Put E-6's on his card" but I guess that was a posibility either way...

 

[e6bflyer]

My mistake sorry...my gouge was based on a buddy who "Put E-6's on his card" but I guess that was a posibility either way...

No worries. There are actually quite a few P-3 guys going through the T-1 syllabus up at Vance due to the cutback in E-6 pilot manning. I feel really sorry for those guys!

 

[Gatordev]

Neither... I can't remember the guys name for some reason... Started with an M I think. Marine type - one each. Ended up flying Cobras out of New River.

No, I meant the CO.

Interesting, there was a post, can't find it right now, that said FTS, reserves, etc did not have the money to re-train helo guys to fly VR. Once a helo pilot, always a helo pilot, unless you're a Master.

Pretty much not true. I believe the post you're referring to was saying that there's not really money to send someone to a RAG type training. The training is done in-house. It doesn't really take much training to teach a helo guy to land a plane again. I personally know a helo guy from last board that got VR. I'm not sure if any got it this board, as I didn't recognize some of the names.

 

[phrogpilot73]

No, I meant the CO.

[/QUOTE]
OK, I must not have had enough coffee when I read your original post... Thanks for jostling my memory... In that case:

I remember that. Was that Boudry or Hinson?

Boudry. Hinson was the XO when I selected (and also when I checked out). I never got the chance to fly with Boudry, but I did fly with Hinson once. Wasn't he an HSL guy?

 

[Gatordev]

Yeah, Hinson was HSL and a great guy. I never flew w/ either of them, but since I had an interest in HSL, Hinson took some time w/ me at one point and talked about some of his experiences. Really appreciated his time. Boudry was always cool with me until after I selected helos. Then he just would seem to rag on me all the time. Could never figure out if it was in fun or not, so I would just push right back at him. Respectfully, of course.

 

[scoober78]

There are actually quite a few P-3 guys going through the T-1 syllabus up at Vance due to the cutback in E-6 pilot manning.

Reason #567 that things could be much worse... Ouch!

 

[phrogpilot73]

Yeah, Hinson was HSL and a great guy. I never flew w/ either of them, but since I had an interest in HSL, Hinson took some time w/ me at one point and talked about some of his experiences. Really appreciated his time. Boudry was always cool with me until after I selected helos. Then he just would seem to rag on me all the time. Could never figure out if it was in fun or not, so I would just push right back at him. Respectfully, of course.

I think ragging on helo guys was just Boudry's MO. Hinson's the one that taught me to use my pedals on a PAR final when trying to make 1-2 degree heading corrections. I agree, great guy.

 

[Circle K]

No, I meant the CO.



Pretty much not true. I believe the post you're referring to was saying that there's not really money to send someone to a RAG type training. The training is done in-house. It doesn't really take much training to teach a helo guy to land a plane again. I personally know a helo guy from last board that got VR. I'm not sure if any got it this board, as I didn't recognize some of the names.

My bad, I got the two ideas confused and after I finally found the post I was talking about got it straightened out. Makes plenty of sense that it shouldn't/wouldn't take Advanced/FRS style training, especially out of T-34's. Leave it to the Air Force.

 

[BrittO]

Back to the original thread....during my winging debrief with the commodore he said that starting June 1st all primary selections will have tailhook vice jets and e2/c2. He also stated that as of now Krock has already been slated with around 20 of e2/c2 slots, with another 20 or so to be divided equally between TW1 and TW2 over the next year (mid point of FY08).
Bottom line, do well in BIs/RIs especially, its hard to get out of the hole if you do poorly...oh and MPTS is coming to TW1 very soon...should be fun!

 

[FLYTPAY]

I selected "Tailhook" on May 24th. It's here and that was the first selection.

 

[A4sForever]

....Bottom line, do well in BIs/RIs especially, its hard to get out of the hole if you do poorly......

Huh. I wonder where we've heard THAT before ...

 

[smittyrunr]

Reason #567 that things could be much worse... Ouch!

Yeah, and then there's the poor guys who did AF primary and then T-1s... they show up at VP-30 having NO IDEA how the Navy works. We're still trying to break them. (in)