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USMC Executive Flight Detachment (HMX-1 and Presidential Helo)
- Thread starter JZAB
- Start date
White House approves plan for 2nd Increment
OSD chief buyer has received White House endorsement for proceeding with VH-71 2nd Increment
OSD chief buyer has received White House endorsement for proceeding with VH-71 2nd Increment
limeyfish
New Member
One of my former classmates was featured in my high school's alumni magazine, with him in the pilot seat and GW Bush walking down the steps, exiting the helo. Besides impressing the heck out of me, it got me wondering how these jobs are filled. Can anyone shed some light on what it takes to end up as a pilot on the Presidential detail?
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
You have to be a pilot with HMX-1. It's very competitive and involves applying to the squadron, being selected, and then jumping through all kinds of hoops once you're there before you ever get to fly with the President. Even then, not everybody actually gets to do it, and only a very few ever become HACs for it.
HMX does a lot of other work besides just flying the President around. It's a prestigious job, but it's also a hell of a lot of work and ass-pain from what I've heard.
HMX does a lot of other work besides just flying the President around. It's a prestigious job, but it's also a hell of a lot of work and ass-pain from what I've heard.
I'm just wondering why anyone who uses Michael Bolton as his avatar would be asking the question. :icon_tong
The Marine One pilots must get some serious hours, they are constantly flying even when they are not doing excutive transport. I see them flying all of the time in DC, including a lot of pattern work at their field in the city.
I just spent the entire day in a meeting sitting under their final approach path. I felt like a diabetic at a chocolate factory.
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
Just for clarity, it's only Marine One when the President is on board. Otherwise it's just another chopper whose late for the wrong zone.
The other HMX aircraft (phrogs, shitters, 60's, and I think Hueys) do a lot more than just executive transport, and most of it isn't as moto, but you're right that there's a lot of flying involved. The vast majority of the helo lifts that you do at TBS are done by HMX-1, for example. Other than that, I'm not sure exactly why they fly so much. I guess because they can.
pretty interesting looking documentary on the subject http://www.austinsmithard.com/documentary3MARINE.htm
Just for clarity, it's only Marine One when the President is on board. Otherwise it's just another chopper whose late for the wrong zone.
The other HMX aircraft (phrogs, shitters, 60's, and I think Hueys) do a lot more than just executive transport, and most of it isn't as moto, but you're right that there's a lot of flying involved. The vast majority of the helo lifts that you do at TBS are done by HMX-1, for example. Other than that, I'm not sure exactly why they fly so much. I guess because they can.
Uh huh, thanks for clearing that up for me, I had never heard that before!
All I know about their other mission is that they do operational test and evaluation (OT&E) for Marine helos, the resident green whirly-bird pilots can chime in with any details. I don't think they have Hueys though, the Hueys aound here are flown by the USAF at Andrews who do executive transport as well (Congress and DOD). If you look close enough they are painted dark blue instead of green. You see the Phrogs and the 53's show up in DC when the President is going overseas or they have a big function in the area, like the summit that happened in Annapolis recently. One sure way to beat the traffic, get the Marines to fly you! They are probably the best looking helos in the Marines, shiny green paint with racing stripes for all my friends!
I'm not sure, but the avatar in question leads me to believe that he is either gay himself...or not straight.
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
Uh huh, thanks for clearing that up for me, I had never heard that before!
All I know about their other mission is that they do operational test and evaluation (OT&E) for Marine helos, the resident green whirly-bird pilots can chime in with any details. I don't think they have Hueys though, the Hueys aound here are flown by the USAF at Andrews who do executive transport as well (Congress and DOD). If you look close enough they are painted dark blue instead of green. You see the Phrogs and the 53's show up in DC when the President is going overseas or they have a big function in the area, like the summit that happened in Annapolis recently. One sure way to beat the traffic, get the Marines to fly you! They are probably the best looking helos in the Marines, shiny green paint with racing stripes for all my friends!
I know that you knew it. That was for all the rest.
I wasn't sure if they had Hueys, but I know that they don't have Cobras. They do still take Cobra guys into the squadron though. I think that they'll get you qualled on two aircraft while you're there. Typically it's the one that you normally fly and one other specialty chopper like the 60 or the 3.
By the way, all of these knowledges, such that they are, are proof that I did in fact listen to some of my MEU brethren in the wardroom from time to time. The HMX guys have some pretty interesting tales of different VIPs and cool places that they got to fly. They're probably the only chopper stories worth listening to outside of the skid kids.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
As far as I know, HMX-1 doesn't fly UH-1's. Only CH-46's, CH-53's, UH/VH-60's, and VH-3's. As Flash said, they do a lot of OT&E stuff and their motto is "Service to the Fleet." Good motto, considering how they've driven a part to me (a fleet guy) when I had to land in a farmer's field, and they could get me the part quicker than the fleet could (I was about a 2 hour drive from Quantico).
As Harrier Dude said, it's a highly competitive process to get into the "X". We had a number of pilots in my squadron that came from HMX-1 and they filled me in on how the process worked. Your reputation in the fleet counts for alot. You get 4 year orders to HMX-1, and they refer to them as freshman-senior years. Your freshman and sophomore year are spent "green side". You fly 46's, 53's, and 60's (that are painted green from top to bottom), doing OT&E and filling out frags that the fleet can't support (most of the TBS/IOC frags are flown by HMX). Your junior and senior years are spent "white side". That's when you're flying VH-60's & VH-3's (white on the top and green on the bottom). You may or may not fly the president, but you will fly a lot of VIP's. Every pilot spends two years green side, and two years white side. Since there's a chance to fly the president, you have to qualify for a Yankee White clearance. If you can't, you won't go there as a pilot.
Also, from what I've been told (one of the Maj's in my squadron was trying to get me to sign up for the X) everyone quals on everything. When you're green side, you'll be qual'd on 46's, 53's, and 60's - but most of your flying will be in what you fly in the fleet (i.e. a Phrog guy would fly the Phrog 2/3 of the time, and the other 1/3 would be split between 60's and 53's). The only thing that sucks about the deal is that you're gone for something like 300 days out of the year... And a lot of the guys at HMX-1 are tools.
As Harrier Dude said, it's a highly competitive process to get into the "X". We had a number of pilots in my squadron that came from HMX-1 and they filled me in on how the process worked. Your reputation in the fleet counts for alot. You get 4 year orders to HMX-1, and they refer to them as freshman-senior years. Your freshman and sophomore year are spent "green side". You fly 46's, 53's, and 60's (that are painted green from top to bottom), doing OT&E and filling out frags that the fleet can't support (most of the TBS/IOC frags are flown by HMX). Your junior and senior years are spent "white side". That's when you're flying VH-60's & VH-3's (white on the top and green on the bottom). You may or may not fly the president, but you will fly a lot of VIP's. Every pilot spends two years green side, and two years white side. Since there's a chance to fly the president, you have to qualify for a Yankee White clearance. If you can't, you won't go there as a pilot.
Also, from what I've been told (one of the Maj's in my squadron was trying to get me to sign up for the X) everyone quals on everything. When you're green side, you'll be qual'd on 46's, 53's, and 60's - but most of your flying will be in what you fly in the fleet (i.e. a Phrog guy would fly the Phrog 2/3 of the time, and the other 1/3 would be split between 60's and 53's). The only thing that sucks about the deal is that you're gone for something like 300 days out of the year... And a lot of the guys at HMX-1 are tools.