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All things MV-22 Osprey

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
I don't know many who would prefer to be an FRS-I at MCAS New River over living better (and farther from the flagpole) at NASNI. I have no reason (other than hope) to suspect it will be an option, but in my mind it would make sense to send a few Marine IPs over there until the CMV guys get enough experience to teach new guys.

Anecdotally, I've met a couple guys that have been at it awhile and liked the flying but not the lifestyle or the culture or whatever else, so they bumped over to the Navy or even Navy reserves to keep flying and work towards retirement.

I wasn’t talking about personal preferences of living near New River vs SD.

I meant that the USMC is short V-22 pilots, so they’d institutionally probably prefer not to farm their pilots out to Navy billets.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
NASNI has zero room, as well. The VS hangars are now the CVW HSM hangars. If the VC-22 (or whatever it's called) shared spaces with VRC, then there's "room," but obviously that wouldn't actually work.

Hm. Wonder what their reaction was to the VRC EA memo?

A VRC RAG wouldn't be all that big...-120 has 4 or 5 CODs at any one time, IIRC. But I doubt they'd be able to cram all those Plopters into the current VRC-30 hangar. Same with -40's at Norfolk. Neither have any excess room. NASNI or Norfolk, I bet they're going to try and kick some helos off the flight line to make room, which should be a fun little inter-Wing turf war to watch.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
...A VRC RAG wouldn't be all that big...-120 has 4 or 5 CODs at any one time, IIRC. But I doubt they'd be able to cram all those Plopters into the current VRC-30 hangar. Same with -40's at Norfolk. Neither have any excess room. NASNI or Norfolk, I bet they're going to try and kick some helos off the flight line to make room, which should be a fun little inter-Wing turf war to watch.

I think Norfolk does have more actual acreage though, the transient line is usually pretty sparsely populated and you could also do the musical chairs thing Whidbey did for years with the VP and VAQ squadrons trading spaces and hangars except permanently at Norfolk.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Not sure about Cat-I, but a great deal of their training is out at Kirkland AFB in Albuquerque NM.

As far as I know, they select Ospreys out of helo training at Rucker, then go to the 58th at Kirtland for transition. I don't think their V-22 Cat-1s do any multiengine in their track.
 

SynixMan

HKG Based Artificial Excrement Pilot
pilot
Contributor
There will be (is?) Plopters already at Norfolk from the Marine Reserve squadron. Rumor was they were gonna leave the heliport and swap spaces with HSC-26.

Norfolk I’d argue still has room, specifically on the south side by the AMC terminal or by the transient line.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Hm. Wonder what their reaction was to the VRC EA memo?

Different people have different pull, so no surprise there. But from an anecdotal point of view, space on NASNI really is sparse, with FRC being a big player (and right or wrong, they have a lot of pull, no matter the base).

NASNI or Norfolk, I bet they're going to try and kick some helos off the flight line to make room, which should be a fun little inter-Wing turf war to watch.

To you or me, flight line space isn't the issue, it's the facility space. You can always put another few airframes on a flightline, but it's the infrastructure that's the issue on NASNI.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
There will be (is?) Plopters already at Norfolk from the Marine Reserve squadron. Rumor was they were gonna leave the heliport and swap spaces with HSC-26.

Norfolk I’d argue still has room, specifically on the south side by the AMC terminal or by the transient line.
So 26 would go from LFs to the LPs back to LFs?
 

nukon

Well-Known Member
pilot
As far as I know, they select Ospreys out of helo training at Rucker, then go to the 58th at Kirtland for transition. I don't think their V-22 Cat-1s do any multiengine in their track.

Brand new CV guys come through the Marine FRS, get a MV-22 NATOPS check, then head off to Kirtland for follow-on CV training. They maintain a cadre of USAF IPs and an O-5 Det CO has an office next to the Marine COs (along with the Navy O5 Det COs office)

When I was at -204, both Huey guys and T1 guys were coming through. Apparently the two T1 guys were a rarity, but it does happen.
 

kmac

Coffee Drinker
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Just so we’re clear...
Squadron: VRM
Aircraft: CMV-22B

In my view, it makes sense to have the FRS at NASNI. VRM-30 will be much bigger than VRM-40... not to mention the det in Japan. We are pivoting to the Pacific, are we not?

As it is now, VAW-120 should be viewed as a support squadron to the fleet more than a training squadron. I don’t see the CMV-22 RAG being much different on that front. There’s a lot to be said about having your materiel support close at hand.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Just so we’re clear...
Squadron: VRM
Aircraft: CMV-22B

In my view, it makes sense to have the FRS at NASNI. VRM-30 will be much bigger than VRM-40... not to mention the det in Japan. We are pivoting to the Pacific, are we not?

As it is now, VAW-120 should be viewed as a support squadron to the fleet more than a training squadron. I don’t see the CMV-22 RAG being much different on that front. There’s a lot to be said about having your materiel support close at hand.
Ahhh so the squadron desig VRC —> VRM. Makes sense now!
 

kmac

Coffee Drinker
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Ahhh so the squadron desig VRC —> VRM. Makes sense now!

Yeah, but get this... they’re new squadrons. Even though they will be composed (on the pilot side) of former VRC guys, they don’t fit into the Navy heritage lineage scheme. Technically, they wouldn’t be related to VRC-30 or -40. Weird, I know. In fact, those squadrons would still coexist until their sundown.

*Further edit: This change has caused some confusion. For some reason a lot of helicopter guys have gouge that says that they a path into VRM, including at the command level. That just isn’t true. Yes, there will be some helicopter guys needed in the FIT/new wing/etc., but those numbers will be comparitively small.

VRM dets = transitioning C-2 pilots and new accession CMV-22B pilots.
 
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Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Yeah, but get this... they’re new squadrons. Even though they will be composed (on the pilot side) of former VRC guys, they don’t fit into the Navy heritage lineage scheme. Technically, they wouldn’t be related to VRC-30 or -40. Weird, I know. In fact, those squadrons would still coexist until their sundown.

I don't see why they can't transition the lineage of the squadrons, there are several ways to do it with none of them being very hard and it certainly has been done before. Squadron lineage and history is one thing the Navy does very poorly compared to the other services.
 

kmac

Coffee Drinker
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
I don't see why they can't transition the lineage of the squadrons, there are several ways to do it with none of them being very hard and it certainly has been done before. Squadron lineage and history is one thing the Navy does very poorly compared to the other services.

How would you do it?
 
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