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Seat cushion/lumbar support - yay or nay

There was a similar case in Prowlers not too long ago with an NFO who is, I'm told, now in P-3s . . . couldn't reach the hook handle from the right seat. I also knew a rather short Ensign in A-pool who found her way out of the Navy after NOMI determined she was out of aviation anthros . . . after being designated a 1395, commissioned, and shipped down to P-cola!

I know sometimes things go wrong but you'd think things like this shouldn't happen. Measure early, measure RIGHT and don't screw people over who are already in the pipeline.
 
nittany03 said:
There was a similar case in Prowlers not too long ago with an NFO who is, I'm told, now in P-3s . . . couldn't reach the hook handle from the right seat. I also knew a rather short Ensign in A-pool who found her way out of the Navy after NOMI determined she was out of aviation anthros . . . after being designated a 1395, commissioned, and shipped down to P-cola!

I know sometimes things go wrong but you'd think things like this shouldn't happen. Measure early, measure RIGHT and don't screw people over who are already in the pipeline.
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+1 I can speak for the whole anthro thing as well.
 
deMontjoie said:
please understand that NAVAIR does not prohibit any operational folks from flying any which way the want to -- NAVAIR is not in your operational command-chain. All we can do is refuse to grant technical approval of such a configuration. If the PIC or (more likely) the operational commander then refuses to let you-all fly with that gear, it is ultimately their call -- not NAVAIRs. Of course, the Commodore or Skipper or whomever will make his/her decision with NAVAIR's input in-mind.
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It's funny that you mention this because that's not always the perspective in the fleet. On my first cruise this very topic was an issue for my squadron and it may still be an issue for my old community.

We were flying with "unapproved" equipment of specific tactical utility that was literally "taking the fight to the enemy," during the early stages of OEF. The squadron perspective was that we had to keep this "hush-hush" so that NAVAIR wouldn't find out and our CO (or someone else) wouldn't get their pee-pee slapped. Granted, one of our DH's was a TPS guy and possibly had a large part in forming our apparently incorrect perspective.

It would be great if correct gouge on this topic could be shared with the fleet. I am sure it is buried in some pub somewhere, but that really doesn't help when you are on the other side of the world.

In fact, a similar parallel is found WRT to medical up and down chits. As has been discussed recently in a couple other threads, they are just recommendations from the FS to your CO. The CO can choose to ignore them if he/she desires. Fortunately, every NA/NFO knows 3710 backwards and forwards because we live it everyday in the fleet, so this little bit of knowledges about up/down chits is easily shared and is useful. If there is a NAVAIR or systems pub that has the same bit of "this is just a recommendation" info in it, NA/NFOs would never know because it is EXTREMELY rare to ever touch or even see a NAVAIR pub.

Heck, maybe this topic is something that should be incorporated into 3710. By this I mean something more specific than the general, "Do what it takes to get the mission done..." type sentences that can be found in 3710. It's hard to do the "rank coin flip," WRT to a general statement in an OPNAV pub versus a specific statement in a NAVAIR pub.
 
Speaking of anthro.....

When I flew in VF-114 we had the VF communities' tallest and shortest pilots.

"Stork" was 6' 6" or so and "Chilly" was about 5' 2". I flew with both. My regular pilot was Woody, he was 6' 5" and looked like a linebacker. Maybe waivers were earier to get for the F-14A for height and weight.

THREADJACK

Chilly was an LSO and when we'd start up next to the LSO platform he'd sometimes run his seat all the way down until only the top of his helmet was visible to mess with his LSO bubbas. Of course I see this from the back seat.

So the wily NFO pulls the seat power CB....and acts like nothing out of the normal is going on. Just waited.

Stick monkey: "Uhhh, hey could you check your circuit breakers back there?"

Me: "They're all in normal, why?"

I messed with him for awhile until he wanted to call a trouble shooter, then "fixed the problem" for him. Oddly, he didn't do it again.

/THREADJACK
 
Last I heard cushions are again authorized provided they were purchased from Oregon Aero or Wings (locally in Pensacola). I haven't seen anything official on the subject yet, but this is the most recent rumor. I have seen many people using the cushions, so I trust the rumor has merit.
 
abracadabra11 said:
Last I heard cushions are again authorized provided they were purchased from Oregon Aero or Wings (locally in Pensacola). I haven't seen anything official on the subject yet, but this is the most recent rumor. I have seen many people using the cushions, so I trust the rumor has merit.
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It's official, I have seen the message.
 
Yes, they are allowed. The message was emailed out to IPs the other day. I'm guessing in 2010 people will get to relive the fun.

EDIT: Bah, too late.
 
I can tell you VA is supporting my disability claim for lower back injury from being an IP in TH-57 and lack of lower back support - take care of your back. The TH-57 and a lot of legacy helos are responsible for a number of pilot disability with VA.
 
If it is any help, I never had any back injuries despite flying helos for 20+ years. That I attribute to power lifting - in particular deadlifts and squats.
 
Core strength is the best defense against back injury! (Sorry for the Captain Obvious statement, but incredibly true in this context)
 
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