A pilot's take on ECMO land and 129
Disclaimer - I'm a pilot but I beat our resident ECMOs to the punch. You'll go to AVEWS first, which is a 2-month course for ECMOS (1 for pilots), straight up classroom work. Standard Navy 80% pass multiple choice, yadda yadda yadda. Easy peasy. Open mouth, insert firehose. You've done this before. DFIU.
Class up, do a week of FAM/NAV. This is a very basic intro to systems and NATOPS. You'll have a weekend to learn all the boldface. Class up Friday, EP/Limits test that Monday. 100% on the boldface is passing, 80% on the limits. Don't start off with a pink sheet. Please. There's a course rules/SOP exam in that week somewhere as well. After the week of FAM/NAV and a few other requirements, you'll be ready for your SF-0, which is the first backseat flight in the jet. Don't expect it right off the bat though.
Then you split off from the pilots in your class and roll into Systems, during which you learn how the backseat works and do your first backseat (NT) sims. I think that's about a month or so long; ECMOs jump in if I screw something up. After that is Tactics, which contains your last NT sims and a basic intro to tactically employing what you learned in Systems.
At some point you will begin to be scheduled for backseat hops, as you need 20hrs in the back before you do your front seat flights. Basically circuit breaker watch and learning the flow of an actual flight. Log your hours and keep them up to date, or Ops will get cranky. Well, crankier.
You'll do front seat sims, which are basic intro to the jet, EPs, and then a stalls & falls/Low Level Awareness sim.
I have seen more ECMOS get pinked on stalls and falls than any other sim, and it's all in the brief. There are a hell of a lot of maneuvers to know. Know these maneuvers COLD the minute you even THINK you could be scheduled for this sim! You have been warned! You'll also have a HARM sim (live by the gouge, die by the gouge. Again, you have been warned), an instrument check, and a Basic Air Maneuvering sim.
Once you finish Stalls and Falls, you will be eligible for warmbody sims. These are pilot graded sims where you will fill in as ECMO for a student pilot. They're not graded for you, but as always you can SOD (fail) them if you are clueless. Moral of the story, don't screw your buddy! These are freebies by the good graces of Ops; you aren't entitled to any minimum number of them and as far as the syllabus is concerned they don't exist.
You will end with front seat flights; you have less than the pilots do just as their Systems and Tactics phases are abbreviated. You will have a NATOPS check as one of your last events. There will be a warmup sim, which is compound EP hell. Then your check, which may or may not be the same thing, depending on who gives it. The flight in the jet is a CRM evaluation. You will also have a backseat NATOPS check in the backseat sim as well, to find out if you remember all that stuff. Oh, by the way: You need to observe three NATOPS checks before your own. Don't blow this off; it's a stupid reason to do a carpet dance in STUCON. You will also have three backseat flights in the jet.
General admin stuff for 129: Big boy rules now apply. Expect to get given a stack of books and get told to go forth and do good things. Instructors are for the most part great people, but there is no handholding here.
You are expected to learn the syllabus as well as the material in it. Events will not always come in numerical order. Know the prereqs and what you are up for!
Know the sources of info your are expected to draw from, including NATOPS, SOP, the Student Guides, the Maneuvers Guide (
BIG FOOT STOMP, remember what I said about stalls and falls), the TACMAN, the WSOM, AFTTP 3-1, etc. etc. etc. Talk to the classes ahead of you. The general flow of the syllabus will not change, but the timing might. I thought I was going to start flying in June. Then bang, one guy breaks his arm and another blows out his sinus. Five bears in the bed and the OpsO says “roll over!”
You are being graded on the above/below scale now. People will say grades don't matter now.
Don't believe them. There are 3 phases for you guys: NT (backseat sim), NW (front seat sims), NF/SF (front seat flights). If you get net 4 below average in any of these phases, you'll get a Human Factors Board. This is NOT the same as a PRB in flight school. They are looking to help you, not attrite you. That said, you don't want to be there. SODs are earned from a net 3 below in one flight or a single UNSAT. One will get you a talking to. Two and you will probably get an HFB and a conversation with the Skipper. Three and you are likely to get a FNAEB/FNFOEB. More and it's certain you will. Keep your game face on.
Ways to be a Blue Falcon: As I said, screwing up warmbodies. Your classmates are getting graded. Help them out. New guys will have to do FOD walkdown. It sucks, we've all done it. Please don't be the guy who skips out, pisses off the Line DivO, who bitches to STUCON and makes it mandatory for everybody because the officers are setting a bad example for the troops. Just suck it up and deal. Lastly, DON'T DORK UP CLASSIFIED MATERIAL. This is the easiest way to ruin your career and/or bring pain down on you, your class, the students as a whole, the Security Manager, and possibly even the CO. People's careers are at stake from that stuff; they will make it hurt if they have to.
For God's sake, don't commit a security violation. 'Nuff said!
Oh, and let me pass on my biggest pet peeve about student ECMOs and warmbody sims: student pilots are not voice actuated autopilots. It's nice having you there, but please stay on the right side of the cockpit and don't jump in the pilot's lap unless he's irrevocably FUBAR. We hate that.
