NFO Non-Flying Positions?

[gamechamp24]

Hi everyone! I swore in a couple of days ago as an SNFO. I'm really excited and can't wait to begin this awesome career! After I swore in, my recruiter gave me the standard goody bag full of NAVY info. Included was a dvd titled, "Navy Flight Officer". I watched it and recognized the several roles NFO's have in each aircraft. However, I noticed a short segment called 'NFO's on Aircraft Carriers' and they interviewed a shooter and what also seemed to be a safety officer in charge of aviation operations on the carrier. But seeing NFO's on the deck as non-flyers really confused me. I always thought NFO's were aviators (aircrew) flying in their respective aircraft and not specifically trained for jobs on the ground. Am I misinformed by this video? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[phrogdriver]

Long story short, most aviators will spend some portion of their careers doing non-flying jobs. Some of those are aviation-related, like shooter. Some aren't, like staff jobs or ship's navigator. Typically, one can expect to alternate flying and non-flying billets, but since your question was specifically about carriers, I'll defer to my friends from the women's section of the Department of the Navy.

 

[FlyBoyd]

Officer first...aviator second.

After your first shore tour the typical track is to go to your disassociated sea tour. It usually is a non-flying job... ship's company or staff type job. The more senior you get the harder it is to stay in the cockpit. There are plenty of NFOs coming in behind you. As you make rank the Navy wants you to be a leader not an aviator.

Do a search for "disassociated" and you will learn a lot.

 

[ltedge46]

Just the quick and dirty from P-3 NFO perspective, other communities will be different.

After your first tour in a squadron, you'll rotate to shore duty. This may or may not involve flying but you will normally be attached to a non-deployable unit. After your shore tour, as FlyBoyd stated, you will do a disassociated sea tour, where you will be assigned to a deployable unit (ship, squadron etc) but normally doing something that is outside of your specific community. A lot of P-3 guys, both pilots and NFO's, wind up on a carrier doing any number of jobs like Shooter, Asst Navigator, Ops Admin and others. Typically don't see tacair guys doing those jobs, although there are exceptions (had an F-14 RIO as a shooter with me). There are other disassociated tours out there as well that don't involve going to the boat (staffs etc). The Safety Officer on a carrier is usually a post DH O-5 aviator that has not screened for command, 2 of my P-3 DH's went on to be CVN Safety Officers. The boat tour fills the sea tour requirement for O-5's before they retire or move on to other shore tours.

You'll find a lot more on this topic throughout the forums.

 

[Superman1996ta]

As an NFO is monthly flight pay tied to being an NFO or is based on if you are in a flying billet/job? My terminology is likely off, but does flight pay follow your whole NFO career because you are an NFO or is it only when you are flying job/tour? Thank you. Sorry for the thread jack/resurrection.

 

[Brett327]

To distill a somewhat complicated issue down to the basics, you don't have to be on a flying tour to receive flight pay. Most people will have several shore tours where their orders say "in a flight status, duty not involving flying." They will draw flight pay just as though they were in a flying tour.

 

[Superman1996ta]

Awesome. Thank you sir.

 

[BusyBee604]

To distill a somewhat complicated issue down to the basics, you don't have to be on a flying tour to receive flight pay. Most people will have several shore tours where their orders say "in a flight status, duty not involving flying." They will draw flight pay just as though they were in a flying tour.

Does it still require a min. 4 hr/mo average for a 3 mo. period, to draw flight pay as it did for us back in the day?
BzB

 

[Brett327]

Does it still require a min. 4 hr/mo average for a 3 mo. period, to draw flight pay as it did for us back in the day?
BzB

Nope. They got rid of that mid 90s, IIRC.

 

[CommodoreMid]

To distill a somewhat complicated issue down to the basics, you don't have to be on a flying tour to receive flight pay. Most people will have several shore tours where their orders say "in a flight status, duty not involving flying." They will draw flight pay just as though they were in a flying tour.

And the best part of this is how much it pisses off the SWOs.