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Best and worst experiences with flight instructors

KBayDog

Well-Known Member
And me and Kbay are permanent O-3s.

Strength and Honor!

jopa.JPG
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
I think FTS O-4s are more like JOs than some JOs.

We don't really have a whole lot to lose.

Note: I may have memorized the -60 checklist and don't always do the C-R-R. I'm sure you guys will tell me how I've failed.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Memorized checklists in the T-45. Just read through real fast when done with the "Sweep".

In the E-2, if I am the left seat pilot, I get in, do every prestart check, and tell the copilot to "hit it" then he reads through everything and I reply as fast as I can. (this is beyond the "make sure switches are in right spot for start".

All the post start checks are done from memory, and the checklist is reviewed while we have out hands up for the hell hole checks.

All the "normal" E-2 checks are on one 8.5x11 laminated sheet.

The PCL only comes out for emergencies.

Totally NOT how we did shit in 60s, which boggled the minds of the E-2 RAG IPs because they think EVERYONE does it their way.
One of the nice things about getting out of your community and getting exposed to the way others do business is that you get to see how everyone else does business and after a few different exposures it becomes almost funny as to how dogmatic different communities can be about something that everyone else does just as well but in a completely different manner. More than one way to skin a cat, you know?

There's no shortage of Great Debates at my current squadron between the HSL guys and HS/HSC guys on how to fly around the boat a night. Each community thinks the other one is the one that's fucked up. These debates become Nature Show level of fascination when you hear how completely disparate communities, like P-3s and E-2s do their business.

I've seen 60 guys with laminated sheets to limit the amount of crap in the cockpit. I've seen 60 guys lose their mind over the thought that someone would dare to start an aircraft without the natops checklist in front of them.

I can see why jet guys don't do challenge -reply-reply style. There's no one else to reply. Does this maybe result in mistakes that kill people or break jets? Sure. Is their mishap rate any higher because of this than helos or E-2s? There have been plenty of folks in the helo world who have fucked away checklists even though they're supposed to always read them.

So what does it mean? Flying aircraft is complicated. Even the best thought out system has holes that can kill you, either through laziness, complacency, poor reading ability, being rushed, stuck pages, distraction, and so on.
 

Morgan81

It's not my lawn. It's OUR lawn.
pilot
Contributor
One of the nice things about getting out of your community and getting exposed to the way others do business is that you get to see how everyone else does business and after a few different exposures it becomes almost funny as to how dogmatic different communities can be about something that everyone else does just as well but in a completely different manner.
This was one of the hardest concepts for me to wrap my head around when I went through multiengine. I was used to ripping through the checklist on my own and getting the jet going as fast as possible to slowed down pace where the IP would ding you if you had the gaul to say "checked" instead of "checked-set" for a response. One of the things I never got right while I was there. Personally, I really like the way the checklists are handled here in hawkeye-ville, its a nice hybrid. I don't miss anything but I don't execute a checklist for the shear pain of executing a checklist. Get it done 100% accurately, but get it done fast.
 

MasterBates

Well-Known Member
I will say the Hummer way has grown on me, and is how we "unofficially" ended up doing a lot of shit in BravoLand.

However, the sheer obtuseness of VT-120 on "everyone does it this way in the fleet" with many things causes some friction with about every person that is a retread (be it NFO-Pilot, or Pilot from another airframe) or prior enlisted aircrew. Not sure how the VRC-120 side is.

(Yes, I know it's all VAW-120, but in my experience, the E-2 side was a HAZE-EX for pilots, and the C-2 side was more like "Hakuna Matada! We all friends!!" )
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
However, the sheer obtuseness of VT-120 on "everyone does it this way in the fleet" with many things causes some friction with about every person that is a retread (be it NFO-Pilot, or Pilot from another airframe) or prior enlisted aircrew. Not sure how the VRC-120 side is.

There's also some value to being the gray man and "when in Rome, do as the Romans." If you're in the squadron equivalent of a border town where different cultures intersect and all are equal, then some latitude can be expected. If you're in the Imperial Capitol, the very throne of The Model Manager, than discretion may be the better part of valor.
 

MasterBates

Well-Known Member
Yeah, but a lot of the conflicts arose from the "EVERYONE DOES THIS" (as in all NAVAIR, not just E-2s) and the Imperial Guard treating you like a captured Carthage soldier for telling them not everyone does this. A few of us retreads got whacked for not knowing the E-2 way without being taught, because "the whole fleet is like this" in their eyes.

-120 was a strange place.

I'd rather go back to HSL-40 or HSM-41 as a Cat-1 than there as a Cat-2.
 

NavAir42

I'm not dead yet....
pilot
... the "EVERYONE DOES THIS" (as in all NAVAIR, not just ....

Of all the things I may find annoying about the P-3 world, I don't think I ever ran into the assumption that how we did things was how everyone in naval aviation does things. Maybe there's a built in recognition that we are the ugly duckling in the pond. Then again, coming up as a youngin' I didn't have anything else to compare to so maybe the topic never had a chance to come up. I'm curious if the S-3 guys that transitioned to the P-3 ever ran into that view.

Seems like the variety of experience here in primary land tends to cancel out the mindset that there's only one correct way to do something when it's a matter of technique. Just one more thing I like about primary.
 
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