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IFS for boat school

statesman

Shut up woman... get on my horse.
pilot
Schoolbubba made this comment in a thread thats now closed:

IFS...but only Boat School bubs get to knock it out while they're still middies at Canoe U.

Everyone else waits till P Cola, or if you're of the green variety, some do it in NOVA.

It's been said a million times on the forums that USNA types go through IFS up in Annapolis, but I couldn't find anything that specifically answered the following:

As mids USNA guys go though IFS sometimes during their firstie year if there is room in their schedule etc. but if you don't get it knocked out while still a mid do you have to wait up in Annapolis to get it out of the way after commissioning, or can USNA grads elect to do IFS down in P'Cola?
 

D_Rob

Lead LTJG
... but if you don't get it knocked out while still a mid do you have to wait up in Annapolis to get it out of the way after commissioning, or can USNA grads elect to do IFS down in P'Cola?

I went through IFS with an Academy Grad at Bay Minette.

Edit: Which is one of the local PCola IFS locations...
 

HH-60H

Manager
pilot
Contributor
FYI for any Boat Schoolers looking for IFS in Annapolis. The flight school at BWI has gone out of business.

I have no idea if/how that will affect you, but I do know that it was one of the schools that USNA used.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
As of right now they still plan on offering IFS to us as a summer training exercise... I'm debating that and plebe summer cadre... We'll see.
 

S3b_viking

New Member
Wow. If Tipton and BWI closed than that leaves Lee and Rt 50 as the only IFS approved places. Good time to be an instructor at one of those schools. Do IFS during the summer if you can because then you don't have to worry about it with classes. Otherwise I still know lots of grads that waited or were told to do it down in P'cola.
 

cfam

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
If you don't have it done when you graduate then you either stick around and get it done at one of the schools still open up there (Lee, Freeway (rt 50), and Trident (bay bridge airport), or you get sent down to do it in pensacola.

The people that got sent down this year didn't have a choice to stay or go, they were just sent down here as a group. According to the IFS coordinator at the Academy, this happened because the overall OIC of IFS turned over, and the new OIC wanted everyone (Academy/ROTC/OCS) to complete IFS in Pensacola.

She didn't think that new policy would last, and apparently it didn't, if Danmav says they're still offering it up there.

It was a good thing tipton and bwi went out of business. I heard from classmates that went through those schools that they were both poorly managed, and they had a really tough time getting scheduled to fly.
 

PropAddict

Now with even more awesome!
pilot
Contributor
Yeah, I heard BWI's instructors were crap, too. All young guys just trying to rack up hours in the hopes of making it to the majors.

Freeway was awesome, though. And (as of last month) they're still doing IFS there. Shortest runways I'll probably ever land on in my Navy career.
 

cfam

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Freeway was great! They really made sure you knew your stuff, and the instructors were great. Runway is tiny...my instructor there said that they weren't allowed to do IFS there until they widened it fiveish years ago, which makes me wonder how freaking narrow it was before.
 

Clux4

Banned
They are probably charging $10 - $13K or more for a PPL because it is the DC area.
Flight schools come in shapes and sizes.
 

CommodoreMid

Whateva! I do what I want!
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I can't imagine doing IFS at a class B airport that's as busy as BWI; there's enough to think about at an uncontrolled airport for someone who's never seen the inside of a cockpit before, but I guess it's good practice.
 

wingsB4rings

Four fans of freedom, all day long
None
BWI IFS going out of business = good riddance. I did mine there in January 2006 and thought the instructors were less than helpful with anything, would bitch you out for a legit cancelation (death of a family member), and were just overall pricks about just about everything. And on flight #2 they expected you to know everything about operating in class B airspace and around the washington adiz. I remember asking other classmates who went through BWI and we all had the same opinion of the training there.
 

HH-60H

Manager
pilot
Contributor
And on flight #2 they expected you to know everything about operating in class B airspace and around the washington adiz.

That's weird... by my second flight there, I did know everything about operating in class B airspace and around the Washington ADIZ.

All kidding aside, I had a pretty good experience. Probably because I met my instructor on here first and he was a 60B guy turned T-34 IP turned T-34 ITU IP. I haven't seen him around here for awhile, though.
 

Morgan81

It's not my lawn. It's OUR lawn.
pilot
Contributor
I can't imagine doing IFS at a class B airport that's as busy as BWI; there's enough to think about at an uncontrolled airport for someone who's never seen the inside of a cockpit before, but I guess it's good practice.
I think it would help a lot. One of the major helmet fires for me in the first few flights was getting used to flying, talking to approach/tower, looking for traffic and trying to do it all in the right way. The sooner you get used to multitasking the better.
 

ricecold

New Member
pilot
I did it at BWI in early '07 and even though the peeps in charge were jerks, my instructors ended up being cool. I'm glad I had all that experience talking on the radios in B airspace though...made it easy in Primary.
 
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