A good WSO brings a boatload of SA to the fight. Gaining/maintaining tallies, deck awareness, keeping track of other friendlies/hostiles, etc...all while you're fighting your best 1V1.
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Growler RAG?
- Thread starter MidWestEwo
- Start date
A good WSO brings a boatload of SA to the fight. Gaining/maintaining tallies, deck awareness, keeping track of other friendlies/hostiles, etc...all while you're fighting your best 1V1.
it will take a while before your pilots appreciate flying with a brand new EWO. Accept it, learn, grow, and prove them wrong.
false.
it is what it is and I've written some to help others understand the "whys", but your explanation here doesn't do much to counter the critics.
NTXRockr
Alive and kicking...sort of.
Thanks MWE for the response! I think that's about as specific as you could be without going into too much detail online. I'm getting ready for Primary soon so it'll be awhile until I get to voice my opinion on platform, but your post along with other gouge sources are definitely nudging me towards the Growler for first preference. I had been torn between going the Rhino/Growler path or the P-3/P-8 route (with perks of the Growler and P-8 both being brand new platforms and obviously it's exciting to have a new plane to play with) but I like more excitement and am thinking I'd be happier flying in a -18F/G versus modified airliners (though the deployment schedules for P-3/P-8 seem like fun...). I would definitely be interested in discussing this topic off forum sometime if you or anyone else with recent experience or gouge would want to chat.
One question: you mentioned that "Your basic instrument navigation is going to serve you well." Is there any areas throughout API, Primary, etc. that you would say to pay closer attention to while working through the pipeline? I know the standard "you'll get the training as you progress" answer applies here, but platform specific I'm sure some areas are more important than others (if you can say, that is). I appreciate the feedback!
No. If you have pilot wings on your chest, there isn't a reason in the world that you should need an NFO to help you navigate. Maybe back in the day with crappy drifting INS or something, but that stuff, from a single seat perspective, is something that you don't even have to think about by the time you get done with flight school.....you just do it. Not to mention that the instrument nav clownshows you see in flight school are pretty far from reality (though good training IMHO).
If you want to be a good WSO/EWO/whatever, add something tactically to the flight. We don't need someone to help us get airborne and fly around. I honestly have no idea what an NFO does (have never flown with one), but I can think of a few areas that I would *guess* that they would be helpful. Suffice to say that none of those areas involve basic aviating.
To the winged 1320's on this board, no offense intended by this, I hope that you read the above commentary as a positive.
And that is where you would be wrong. No offense taken, none at all. You just don't know what you don't know. Without getting into particulars, it's all about division of labor. I've easily made just as much money on basic admin as I have being good at "tactical" stuff.
Fair enough. I guess my standpoint is that I can do all that admin stuff alone, so while maybe it could be made easier, the things I would actually want an NFO for would be in the tactical realm. And I can think of quite a few things that they would be money for, without going into details on the low side. But I'm sure that given the platform you grew up in, and nowadays with your comparatively vast level of experience, that you can give the new guy in the left or front seat a lot of love. My take is that I have gotten a lot better, a lot faster, not having a sugar daddy in the back to help me out when I need to figure something out (tactically or simple admin). That said, when I have an off day and do something retarded administratively speaking, its also nice not having someone else to witness it
For those who know, how often do pilots go from two seat hornets to single seat in different tours? Once someone selects E's or F's is that what they typically stick with forever? The same question applies for Marines.
So considering the similarities between the F/A-18 and the EA-18, would pilots/NFOs who train in the Growler theoretically be able to transition to the Hornet/Super Hornet (or vice versa) if needs be?
Certainly, there are definitely some skills that translate to each platform....but the pilot or NFO would need some sort of modified FRS syllabus to make the transition.
I do know a fleet Rhino pilot headed to VAQ-129 to be a RAG instructor.
-ea6bflyr
On that subject, is there a common core NATOPS for E/F/G? The different -60
E/F = same book, not sure about G. As to the E guy going to F's or vice versa, yes it happens and with the few guys I know who have done it nothing special seemed to play into them going from 2 seats to 1. I know a guy who went F's to C's, cat other FRS syllabus and off he went.
edit: my info is almost 1.5 years old, as always YMMV.
I totally missed the "positive message"...to your peers in today's NFO community. That's between you and them, I guess.
As for us "old guys": No worries...you're joining a long list of very distinguished Naval Aviators who thought much the same since the birth of the NFO community. I've given chapter and verse before, on other threads, about my frank assessment of NFOs being...earlier in time...a "bridge to operational capability" offered by the technology available in the day. That was ground truth then...I have no idea what ground truth is today.
I will assume, until evidence to the contrary is provided, that the multi-crewed aircraft of today are designed and built for that for a good reason. I doubt it remains only as some sort of a "Big Navy" EO imperative.