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CQ Notes from an old paddles

Python1287 said:
Already been that way in the F-35. Will be that way soon in Rhino/Growler. Last I heard was within a year but that could’ve changed.
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On the Rhino side, expect the FCS OFP upgrades later this year. The FRS is planning on a 40% reduction in FCLPs for their initial CQ requirements, and the fleet squadrons are already dialing back FCLPs. PLM is awesome, but you can still fuck it away. You still have to fly a good pattern and get to a good start and I saw several scary screaming power call PLM passes at the boat during my last cruise. It will be interesting to see what effect PLM has on FRS DQ rates. I suspect they will be significantly reduced.
 
Brett327 said:
On the Rhino side, expect the FCS OFP upgrades later this year. The FRS is planning on a 40% reduction in FCLPs for their initial CQ requirements, and the fleet squadrons are already dialing back FCLPs. PLM is awesome, but you can still fuck it away. You still have to fly a good pattern and get to a good start and I saw several scary screaming power call PLM passes at the boat during my last cruise. It will be interesting to see what effect PLM has on FRS DQ rates. I suspect they will be significantly reduced.
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The issue is more complicated in CNATRA, no one seems to know what the final answer is going to be now. No matter what, E2 guys still have to qual at the boat. Whether that gets pushed to the E2 rag as well is a hot topic of debate. Ultimately, T45 CQ and FCLP is a huge part of the syllabus. From a cost standpoint it's obviously the most expensive part of training when you factor in the boat. And the most time consuming. And boats are hard to come by these days.

Do we need T45 CQ? I don't know...from a cost standpoint, no. In my opinion kids are mostly successful at initial CQ but they have Training Qual'd paddles, strict day only weather requirements, and wide margins for error in a cheap and forgiving airplane.

Until someone with 3+ stars on their shoulder is willing to give a kid his first shot behind the boat in a Lot 42 AESA Rhino or an F35, then I think people are going to continue to value the reward of T45 CQ as a mitigation to not losing a more expensive airplane. Additionally, LSO and FCLP requirements can only be reduced in the FRS because guys have already had the extensive training in CNATRA. If you remove that, then the FCLP and LSO quals would probably get pushed back up to the FRS.
 
I know its not apples to apples, but exchange pilots from the USAF and other countries just go to the boat in their final platform, correct? How many bounces do they get prior to a qual? What is their performance?
 
Exchange pilots in CNATRA do the same CQ syllabus as the American students. I've heard of a handful of USAF pilots at a Navy FRS going to the boat, but that is not a standard or required.
 
A viper pilot went to the boat shortly after me at VMFAT-101. He had the same boat syllabus as the other Cat 1s. He did not do anything in a T-45.
 
We had quite a few non-carrier guys with zero traps (helo, P3) as IPs in our VT, and a Venezuelan exchange pilot, we took them all to the boat, so I know how that works out.

We had a USAF exchange and a German exchange pilot (Tornados to flying A6) in our airwing deployed. They CQ'd directly in the RAG. Wondering how that typically works out.
 
I think it's important to note that even though we have PLM, you still have to get to a good start and fly the ball to get good grades. You can salvage a shitty start in PLM but you're still gonna highlight yourself to Paddles. You can still bolter. You can still run outta gas. PLM is a 97% solution once you're in the groove, and it still has some demons that should be fixed with the new software. You still gotta do the other things around the boat to be a good Naval aviator.
 
It's not a thing. Right now some air wings require a minimum of 25 night traps before you're PLM eligible. That's only because the new FCS software isn't out yet and PLM hasn't reached the redundancy level required to consider a manual pass a degraded pass. Once the appropriate software is released and PLM reaches max redundancy then manual passes will be similar to NO HUD, etc. Maybe you practice one at the field but you'd never do one on purpose at the boat. Additionally, this is F18 specific. There is no "manual mode" in the F35.
 
Creates a direct lift system for the F18 by utilizing the flaps and ailerons to control up and down vice power corrections while maintaining a specific glideslope automatically. Additionally it decouples power corrections from attitude corrections.

Basically you center the ball and touch nothing except to maintain centerline. If the ball goes a little low you pull back on the stick and the ball goes up. Let go of the stick and jet recaptures a 3.5 degree glideslope. That is a very simplified version of what it does but you get the idea....it's magic.
 
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