• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Vance to HT

RedFive

Well-Known Member
pilot
None
Contributor
Selection is coming up here really soon and I'm pretty sure I'm putting rotary at the top of my list. Can any recent Vance studs comment on what's different at Whiting, what AF stuff I need to forget, what to hang on to, and what to prepare for when I cross back over? What do you wish you knew before you finished up here in lovely Enid, Oklahoma?

Thanks guys.
 

81montedriver

Well-Known Member
pilot
I can only attest to what it was like going from Vance to multi engine but I would not sweat it too much. I had been told that guys or gals coming out of Vance struggled in the beginning but it's all in how you apply yourself. You can forget stand up and mando 12 hour days and instead you will be doing EP's during the flight. The biggest thing to get used to is the curriculum guide which outlines what you need to know for each flight and that was not hard at all. Once you select and you get to your next duty station whatever it is, get with somebody you know or somebody who will be in your class and ask them specific questions. But again, I would not sweat it too much. If you have any other questions send me a PM. Good luck!
 

Reconjoe

Active Member
So u finally pulled the trigger on the selection debate....cool. Like to hear the final thoughts, call me sucka
 

PhrogLoop

Adulting is hard
pilot
For as long as Navy guys have been attending Vance for Primary (at least 13 years now) there have been instances of studs stumbling in their first few events in the advanced HTs and VTs while they get accustomed to the VERY different environment and expectations. I fell for it myself. I remember going into my first TH-57 CPT with a crusty retired instructor and he goes, "Show me a Hot Start" and I go a "Hot What?" I very nearly bought a pink sheet. I went into it thinking that the first event of each block was all instructor demos and I was sorely mistaken. Basically, the biggest difference is you should go into each brief knowing COLD every procedure, note, warning, caution, indication, and systems info for every maneuver or EP you might encounter on your card. The MCG won't steer you wrong. When a system is a briefing item, be able to give all its associated limits, trace a drop of fuel or a molecule of air, and draw that system out. By now, you're understanding that your brief is where you make your money and where the instructor evaluates how well you've prepared for the event and how much he's willing to help you get through the rest of it. Another big difference is that since your day is much less structured than it was in Enid, you'll have to work hard to self-regulate study vs. beach time. Since you no longer have a band of brothers-style class structure to work with, you'll have to reach out to other studs to make study groups and share what you learn. And finally, go HSC-Expeditionary.
 

xmid

Registered User
pilot
Contributor
They were putting all the Vance guys on SMS automatically when they got to the HT's when I was there. Not really a big deal in advanced though.
 

RedFive

Well-Known Member
pilot
None
Contributor
Hey, that is really some good information! Thank you!

go into each brief knowing COLD every procedure, note, warning, caution, indication, and systems info for every maneuver or EP you might encounter on your card.

Memorizing Notes, Warnings, and Cautions? This sounds like 15 day program? Can you elaborate?

They were putting all the Vance guys on SMS automatically when they got to the HT's when I was there. Not really a big deal in advanced though.
For those who have no clue (like me), SMS is "Student Monitoring Status." I guess it would sort of be like CAP at Vance. You can read more about it here: https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/pubs/folder2/1542.156B.pdf

Can anyone explain what "course rules" are? I read about it on here every now and then, but nobody explains it. Is it equivalent to flying cormi/delta/pods stereo?
 

C420sailor

Former Rhino Bro
pilot
Memorizing Notes, Warnings, and Cautions? This sounds like 15 day program? Can you elaborate?

For every memory item/boldface EP, memorize the boldface verbatim along with the applicable notes/cautions/warnings in the EP. In other words, don't just memorize the boldface steps and ignore the note/caution/warning bullets.
 

PhrogLoop

Adulting is hard
pilot
For every memory item/boldface EP, memorize the boldface verbatim along with the applicable notes/cautions/warnings in the EP. In other words, don't just memorize the boldface steps and ignore the note/caution/warning bullets.
Agreed. That said, a Navy IP will forgive you for not knowing the Note/Warning/Caution verbatim as long as you don't miss any key points and demonstrate a good understanding of the answer to his next question - "and why is that?"

To answer your other question, Red5, course rules are the arrival/departure instructions for an airfield usually published in the Base Ops Manual. In Vance, most of your flights are stereo routes filed and flown IFR and then cancelled, like when you drop in to Dogface (Kegelman OLF) for pattern work. At South Whiting, most of your flights will be VFR so there are detailed arrival/departure procedures to deconflict the very busy traffic in and out. See and avoid!!!
 

RedFive

Well-Known Member
pilot
None
Contributor
Okay, that makes more sense now. Thanks sir.

Should I have been logging instrument time on all those stereo routes...?
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Okay, that makes more sense now. Thanks sir.

Should I have been logging instrument time on all those stereo routes...?

An instrument flight plan does not equal instrument time. You can fly VMC on an IFR flight plan all day.
 

HAL Pilot

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
An instrument flight plan does not equal instrument time. You can fly VMC on an IFR flight plan all day.
And you can fly IMC on a VFR flight plan - at night, over a dark landscape with no lights/no horizon, etc. (And sometimes during the day, just ask JFK Jr....oh wait....)
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
And you can fly IMC on a VFR flight plan - all night, over a dark landscape with no lights/no horizon, etc. (And sometimes during the day, just ask JFK Jr....oh wait....)

Exactly. I would always try to take out Studs on their NFAM1 and fly over the beach into the black abyss of the Gulf just to show them what life was going to be like for the next 4 years of their career. It usually was an eye-opener. Oh, and of course, we were operating under VFR at the time.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Exactly. I would always try to take out Studs on their NFAM1 and fly over the beach into the black abyss of the Gulf just to show them what life was going to be like for the next 4 years of their career. It usually was an eye-opener. Oh, and of course, we were operating under VFR at the time.

And for all of you who wonder "what's point of BIs?", there's your answer.
 
Top