ECMO's

[Chubby]

Quick question, how does the ECMO job work? I.E.-Is there a progression like P-3 NAV's to TACCO's? Do you start in the front seat then work your way back or vice versa? What exactly do yall do? How's life in the squadron with 3x's as many FO's as pilots? How do the pilots seem to like the aircraft and squadron life? Etc. Just kinda bored and plain curious. Thanks.

 

[Pat1USMC]

Well, i'll try to answer some of them. I'm only at the RAG though. We learn both the front and back seats at the RAG. In the fleet you'll alternate between the front and back. We do radar and comm jamming and electronic surveillance in the back seat and do HARM, comm jamming, nav, and copilot duties in the front seat. The overall attitude right now is that we know our plane is not the fastest or coolest looking, but most of us understand that our mission is very important and look forward to doing it in the fleet. Of course the big plus is that the ECMOs are the ones that run the mission. We''re not self loading luggage or do tasks that the pilot could easily do. It is really good that ECMOS are the majority also, I can see that already. I also like the four-man crew.
On another note, a lot of the stuff we do in the backseat is classified. Most people don't understand it anyway. So that can be a pro or a con, whichever way you look at it.
And from what i can tell so far, the pilots are happy here too. Of course, they know they were handpicked for the platform because of their boat skills so i'm sure that helps. And the Navy guys have the EA-18G to look forward to as well.
Hope this helps a little...

 

[Flash]

Yeah, what he said. When you are on deployment you get assigned to a crew and you play musical chairs as an ECMO, once every three flights you sit in one of the ECMO seats (usually). As for the pilots being happy, I think that it is more like accepting their fate. Most of the guys still want to be Hornet types but they are fine flying a jet, even if it is pig. As for being in a community dominated by NFO's, it is nice (I am an NFO).

Progression through your qualifications is quite a bit different than P-3's. The biggest diffference is that you are already qualified for the aircraft when you get out of the RAG. You work at getting your Mission Commander qual like you do in P-3's though, that is the ultimate goal. It does not quite entail the same things though. As a P-3 MC you are often times alone and unafraid and it is up to you to determine the mission and how you are going to do it. In Tacair, you are often a part of a strike package and the Strike lead is the one who calls the shots.

All in all, it is a pretty good deal. To best describe how the rest of Tacair feels about the Prowler I will use a quote one of my RAG instructors "Prowlers are like the fat kid who knows karate, no one wants to bring them along until they get in a fight".

 

[ea6bflyr]

Nicely put, Flash!
I was going to say something along the lines of being the fat kid with all the TOYS....
LOTS of mission planning in the EA-6B world, so you get pretty good at timelines, etc.
ea6bflyr

To best describe how the rest of Tacair feels about the Prowler I will use a quote one of my RAG instructors "Prowlers are like the fat kid who knows karate, no one wants to bring them along until they get in a fight".

 

[Dunedan]

I'm a SNFO in primary right now, and am praying for Prowlers...any advice from anyone?

 

[TurnandBurn55]

Yeah, study your ass off, get to VT-86, and don't attrite.

Let's see... spend a lot of time in the TB47s to get ready for airnavs.

Have ALL your VNAV charts done well ahead.

Get in the form books as soon as you take the class and sit in on form briefs as much as you can.

That takes me about where I am right now

 

[ea6bflyr]

Stop praying and study so you can get good grades....
ea6bflyr

I'm a SNFO in primary right now, and am praying for Prowlers...any advice from anyone?