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My FNAEB Experience (or How I Let My Personal Issues Get In The Way)

TheBubba

TheBubba

I Can Has Leadership!
None
I figured I'd share my experience with you guys for two reasons:

1. I think the newbies can learn from it and maybe not make the same mistakes as I did if their personal life hits the fan a month after they hit the fleet.

2. If any of you guys' lives have gone to shit, you can realize that it isn't the end of the world, even if the end result is that you no longer get to fly grey jets into combat.

PART 1: Facts of a FNAEB

There are a few different reasons that an aviator can go to a FNAEB: Failure to meet syllabus goals or complete a syllabus, mishap, established trend of unsafe behavior, actions discrediting Naval Aviation. There are others, but I haven't read the instruction in a while. Keep in mind that just because you are recommended for a FNAEB doesn't mean you're done flying. It's also not punitive. It is an administrative process to determine two things: If you are eligible to continue in a flight status and if you can retain the right to wear your wings. Most likely, you'll retain the right to wear your wings unless you've specifically done something to bring discredit on the Navy and Naval Aviation.

Once your skipper starts the FNAEB request, you will be grounded until the FNAEB is completed and the end result is that you remain in a flight status. Situational dependency allows for a waiver to be granted to remain in a flying status for the duration of the process, but that waiver isn't the norm. You may or may not be allowed to continue your ground job in the squadron, depending on the reason why you've been recommended for a FNAEB. In my case, I was allowed to remain with my squadron while the board was conducted.

PART 2: The Process

In my case, my skipper requested a FNAEB due to my failure to complete the PWTP Level 3 syllabus, which means that I failed to attain my mission commander qual in the prescribed time.

As I stated above, once your skipper sends the letter to the Model Manager requesting a FNAEB, you'll be removed from flight status pending the results of the board. At that point, you should be notified by the skipper, XO, or Training-O that this process has been started. You'll get a copy of your FNAEB letter. Your chain of command should have notified you that this was going to happen before the process started.

If the FNAEB was requested due to performance, you should have been counseled on your performance issues in the past with a plan to improve and an ultimatum of what will happen should you fail to meet your training goals. This is key, as if the command fails to create the proper paper trail, the FNAEB can, and sometimes will, be invalidated due to administrative reasons.

Once the FNAEB letter is forwarded up the CoC, a presiding member will be named. This person will usually be a PXO or a random, not very busy CDR from the FRS. In my case, it was one of the senior SAU IP's. Most times, they will try to get a CDR that wears the same wings as you do (Pilot for a pilot, NFO for an NFO). If not, it is not a huge issue, as the majority of the board will wear the same wings as you. The presiding member of the board will conduct a preliminary interview with you. This interview isn't a place for you to start explaining what happened. It is an administrative meeting to ensure that all of the administrative elements are in order and that you understand the process and your rights. You will also learn who is going to be on the board. Here, you can object to the make up of the board. The board will be the presiding member, 2 or 3 aviators (from the same platform as you) senior to you and a flight doc.

If any of you have ever been to an HFB, then you already have an idea of how the board is conducted. You'll talk to a flight doc and get a physical. The results will go into the documents that the board will review.

Once the board convenes, the members will read and discuss the information provided: Skipper's inputs, NATOPS & Training jackets, miscellaneous grade sheets (if your squadron does them - mine does), log book, flight docs write up and anything else that was included. Once they call you in, the FNAEB is like an HFB spanning your whole career.

You will get asked everything from why you didn't study harder in college to what you were thinking during certain flights or incidents. You can also be asked for clarification on grade sheets spanning from your IFS flights to the last flight you had in the fleet. Here, the board is just trying to establish who and what you are and any mitigating circumstances. Your personal life will be examined in depth as well. Marriages, divorces, relationships with parents, friends, squadron mates, kids, etc. If you've had a training plan put in place, that will get examined as well.

You and the board also have the right to ask members of the squadron and others that you have worked closely with to submit statements on your behalf.

Once this process is complete, the board will inform you of its decision and forward its findings to you and your skipper. All of this needs to be complete within 14 working days.

Before your package gets submitted to your skipper, you'll have an opportunity to review the documents and clarify anything that you feel didn't come across the right way during your time in front of the board. Once you and the presiding member sign the paperwork, it gets forwarded to your skipper, then up the chain of command, all the way to CNAF.

Depending on the circumstance and your squadron's schedule, you may or may not have an follow up chat with each endorsing member of the chain of command.

Once it gets to CNAF, you will have to make a trip to San Diego to meet with the Admiral. You'll sit down and have a fairly informal chat with the Admiral, and he will inform you of his decision and put his final endorsement on your paperwork.

The ways that this can end:
1. Retention of flight status, retain the right to wear wings
2. Retention of flight status (probationary), retain the right to wear wings
3. Retention of flight status, limited to UAS, retain the right to wear wings
4. Termination of flight status, retain the right to wear wings
5. Termination of flight status, termination of the right to wear wings

I think there are a few others, but those are the main categories that you can be placed in.
 
TheBubba

TheBubba

I Can Has Leadership!
None
PART 3: My FNAEB

I was recommended for a FNAEB for failing to get my mission commander qual. Many of you know about my divorce and some of the issues that stemmed from it, and that I'm still fighting it.

Basically, I let my personal life get too much in the way of me flying and doing what I needed to do to continue my career in a flying capacity. Because of that, my chain of command recommended me for a FNAEB in accordance with the PWTP (Prowler Weapons and Tactics Program - our tactical syllabus) instruction.

While I won't get into the details, I will give a few lessons learned from this for the new guys or those that have issues that are getting in the way of the job.

1. Don't be afraid to ask for a time out. Most squadrons will let you have some type of time out if you're having sever personal issues that can or are getting in the way of flying. I would suggest that you ask, and use the time to get your head together and at least begin to solve the parts of the issue that you can do something about. It is better to take the time and get together than say "I got this" and over stretch yourself between everything you have to deal with.

2. Ask for help. If you're having trouble with anything, personal or professional, ask for help. Peers, seniors, counselor, parents, whatever. Don't go at it alone. Chances are, if you're having issues with something, someone else is or did, and can help you through it. Or they have experience with it. The bottom line here is that your squadron and friends want you to succeed and will help you if you ask for it. Along these lines, ask more experienced people for an honest assessment of your performance. It WILL help. Tell them to be blunt and not to sugar coat anything.

3. Have a plan and stick to it. Same as the above. Whether its something you develop from an HFB, talking with your squadron mates or friends, write it down with manageable goals and milestones and stick to it. If you find yourself drifting, ask for help to get back on track. Be proactive about it.

4. Conduct periodic self assessments. Know where you stand, your strengths and weaknesses. Know some areas where you can improve and use points 2 & 3 to work on them. Keep doing it.

Remember, these all apply to personal and professional issues. Above all, don't ignore your personal life for your professional life, and don't ignore your professional life for your personal life. They need to balance.

In the end, I was classified B1, which is termination of flight status, retention of the right to wear wings. In other words, my flying days are done, but I keep my wings.

PART 4: My Thoughts

Yes, I am very disappointed with not being able to fly. But the way I see it, it was my qual to get or not get. Not my skipper's, not my ex-wife's, not my friend's, not anyone's. Mine and mine alone. And as I told the board, I was there through no one's fault but my own. Yes, there were mitigating issues that took my mind off of flying, but in the end, I could have handled things differently, but there's nothing I can do about it now.

In my mind, the process was the "system" working the way it should. I didn't meet the standard, and the result, per the instructions, is a FNAEB. My board was conducted fairly and reached what I feel is a fair and unbiased conclusion. Were I in the position the board was in and I was evaluating someone that was in my position, I would have arrived at the same conclusion.

I am definitely not bitter about this. As they say, when one door closes, another door opens. Remember, just because you go to a FNAEB and your flight status gets terminated, you are not finished in the Navy. There are plenty of people who could not continue in Naval Aviation that have found success in other communities. I plan on doing just that.

In the end, I feel very lucky to have been afforded to opportunity to fly for the Navy and employ an airborne weapons system against the enemy in support of ground troops. I had fun, I learned a lot and got to work with a great group of probably the most professional and honest people on Earth and I'd do it again in a heart beat.
 
helolumpy

helolumpy

Apprentice School Principal
pilot
Contributor
Good gouge here. Having sat on a FNAEB as the senior member there is another point I'd like to include.

You have the right to be present for the questioning of everyone. A FNAEB is not like a Mishap Board when it comes to questioning people.
A Mishap Board (which I've sat on also) meets in private and questions personnel in private, the Mishap crew is not privy to what is said by other individuals. A FNAEB is completely open to the personnel involved. You sit in the room while the board asks questions and then you have the opportunity to ask questions or rebutt what the individual just said.

The FNAEB I sat was due to a mishap. A helo got "'prang'd" and the squadron thought it may be a Class BRAVO or higher. (Some structural members inside the skin appeared to be damaged, but until the Tech Reps could NDI the area, no one knew how bad it could be). In the end, the NDI revealed no structural members were damaged and the Safety folks somehow worked it down to a Class CHARLIE, so even though we completed the board and paperwork, the results went into the Skippers safe to never see the light of day again.
 
B

bert

Enjoying the real world
pilot
Contributor
helolumpy said:
Good gouge here. Having sat on a FNAEB as the senior member there is another point I'd like to include.

You have the right to be present for the questioning of everyone. A FNAEB is not like a Mishap Board when it comes to questioning people.
A Mishap Board (which I've sat on also) meets in private and questions personnel in private, the Mishap crew is not privy to what is said by other individuals. A FNAEB is completely open to the personnel involved. You sit in the room while the board asks questions and then you have the opportunity to ask questions or rebutt what the individual just said.

The FNAEB I sat was due to a mishap. A helo got "'prang'd" and the squadron thought it may be a Class BRAVO or higher. (Some structural members inside the skin appeared to be damaged, but until the Tech Reps could NDI the area, no one knew how bad it could be). In the end, the NDI revealed no structural members were damaged and the Safety folks somehow worked it down to a Class CHARLIE, so even though we completed the board and paperwork, the results went into the Skippers safe to never see the light of day again.
Click to expand...

Post-mishap FNAEB's aren't really mandatory - there is a waiver process. For my "A" our boards were waived and my crew cleared to fly less than two weeks after the mishap and well before the SIR came out. The "mandatory" post-mishap FNAEB was prompted by a failing aviator who slipped through the cracks after his first mishap.
 
Pugs

Pugs

Back from the range
None
bert said:
Post-mishap FNAEB's aren't really mandatory - there is a waiver process. For my "A" our boards were waived and my crew cleared to fly less than two weeks after the mishap and well before the SIR came out. The "mandatory" post-mishap FNAEB was prompted by a failing aviator who slipped through the cracks after his first mishap.
Click to expand...

Yep - my crew was on the schedule the next day.
 
TheBubba

TheBubba

I Can Has Leadership!
None
To clarify for those of you who are not familiar with the acronyms:

FNAEB: Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board.

HFB: Human Factors Board. This happens when your squadron identifies some personal issues that may affect your flying. This, too, is purely administrative in nature. The idea is to identify and discuss factors that are causing you issues and come up with a plan to mitigate those issues.
 
M

MasterBates

Well-Known Member
Oh, kind of like how it took my squadron's guys who jumped out of 601 MONTHS to fly again.. Nevermind we were on cruise, it was a more or less obvious mechanical malfunction, and we were short THREE pilots on top of the two we were short when we left. (One died in mishap, One FNAEB, and I got sick enough to be MEDEVAC'd off the IKE to be put in a hospital in Bahrain)
 
Brunes

Brunes

Well-Known Member
pilot
OP- Good on ya. I know you don't need a pat on the back for this-But lots of the boards and admin procedures are unknown to folks until they have to learn them for 1) a collateral or 2) their own issue. Sorry that you found out for reason #2...but thanks for sharing the facts!!
 
M

MasterBates

Well-Known Member
Gatordev said:
MB, have you ever actually completed a deployment?
Click to expand...
Three, actually..

I came home early from Det 8 in 2004.. Other than that, I have finished every deployment.

Of course, the come home once for family issues stigma has followed me everywhere. I was in the ICU at one point.. But hey, I was malingering, right?
 
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