Whats the current wait for Primary out of API?

[torpedo0126]

Now that they are trying to push through SNAs and cut down on the 400+ people in A-pool, whats the [wait] at Primary looking like?

Will I have the summer to myself or can I expect to get right after it?

Thanks!

 

[john1513]

A couple of my friends who just started Primary at Whiting waited a little over a month - no idea about Corpus these days. You'll have some time to yourself, but count on some watch and studying. (Odds aren't good for having the whole summer to yourself)

 

[Brunes]

If the new class up policy is moving folks out of A-Pool so they can pool at the VTs...The wait will most likely change...

Be Flexible- enjoy the time off you are getting and be ready to work when you get told to... (I know it doesn't really answer your question- but it's not worth worry about stuff you can't do anything about...)

 

[MettGT]

In case you're a Marine and you're reading this thread, the current wait at Whiting has been around 3-4 months. YMMV.

 

[redmidgrl]

For Ensigns in Corpus, the wait is 3-4 weeks to class up.

 

[UpstateSouthpaw]

I guess what the real question is... is whether there is room for a large influx of students at the training squadrons? If not, it would seem that the wait time would increase but if there are open cockpits and extra instructors they could increase the amount of students going through at one time. But maybe it doesn't work like that, I don't know (only in API). So does anyone know if there is room or not?

 

[e6bflyer]

I guess what the real question is... is whether there is room for a large influx of students at the training squadrons? If not, it would seem that the wait time would increase but if there are open cockpits and extra instructors they could increase the amount of students going through at one time. But maybe it doesn't work like that, I don't know (only in API). So does anyone know if there is room or not?

No. It is very complicated. There is an entire room full of dudes smarter than all of us combined who are using their combined brain power and a lot of computers to forecast this shit out a decade ahead of time. The long and short of it is dudes are being pushed through the pipeline slower than they are showing up. There is no shortage of guys waiting around ready to go, at least here at Whiting. The VT squadrons are almost always operating at full capacity. If you try and add a few students, then you get too many students in training, dudes are sitting for days at a time when they should be flying, and poor performance and unwanted warmup flights slow things down even more. It is (believe it or not) a lot better than it was a decade ago. Dudes used to wait around for 6 months for the next phase of training and not bat an eye. When I got winged (as an ensign), a winged ensign was a rare thing.

 

[UpstateSouthpaw]

No. It is very complicated. There is an entire room full of dudes smarter than all of us combined who are using their combined brain power and a lot of computers to forecast this shit out a decade ahead of time. The long and short of it is dudes are being pushed through the pipeline slower than they are showing up. There is no shortage of guys waiting around ready to go, at least here at Whiting. The VT squadrons are almost always operating at full capacity. If you try and add a few students, then you get too many students in training, dudes are sitting for days at a time when they should be flying, and poor performance and unwanted warmup flights slow things down even more. It is (believe it or not) a lot better than it was a decade ago. Dudes used to wait around for 6 months for the next phase of training and not bat an eye. When I got winged (as an ensign), a winged ensign was a rare thing.

Thanks for the insight!

So I guess the fact that they're shoving more guys through API means there will just be a bigger back up at the training squadrons instead of A-Pool which in turn will just increase the wait time to start up primary (i'm assuming this is a possibility, correct me if I'm wrong). Or like you said, increase the time it takes to complete primary. Which scenario is more likely or will it be a mix? Oh, by the way, what is a 'warmup flight' and why would it be unwanted?

 

[Pilot123]

Warm up flights are ungraded. After 7 days out of the cockpit you get an optional warm up flight. If you pass then you pass. If you unsat then it counts as a warm up. After 14 days you get a mandatory and an optional warm up flight. Doesn't matter how well you fly the mandatory warm up, it is going to be a warm up.

 

[MIDNJAC]

^ And to answer why they suck....

1) For the Navy, they cost extra money cause the airplane doesn't care if it is an ungraded event.....it still costs money to fly/maintain/clean relief tube.

2) For the student, it can suck if you are just wanting to get done with training and you don't really need the "refresher". I know when I came back from Christmas break I had a mando warmup sim and that almost screwed up my schedule for doing a cross country the next weekend. Most of the time though, a free flight is a welcomed thing, at least from my (student's) perspective.

 

[e6bflyer]

^To piggyback on that (yes, piggyback for those of you playing AOM bingo)
Warmups suck the life out of the entire process.

Students - It just means they are going too long between flights. Primary VT students need to fly about three times a week to maintain decent proficiency (mileage may vary, obviously). While your buddy is flying his warmup flight, you are sitting on your ass because you didn't get scheduled that day and then you fall into...wait....here it comes....the warmup window. It is a vicious circle.
Squadron - Warmups are not an advancing X, and therefore are pointless as far as the squadron is concerned. Ops cares about just a few bottom line numbers, and advancing X's is big on that list.
Instructors - Get worn out by warmups due to the same reason - the students usually suck at least a little, and the stud doesn't advance, so the IP just has to fly the X on the next flight.

If you put too many students in training (I don't remember what the magic number is, but somewhere around >130), then there aren't enough lines to schedule them all and you start putting studs in the warmup window, especially when you consider weather, aircraft, etc, etc.

Depending on where the rat is in the snake (usually the formation block is a big one in the VT squadrons), you may be stroking and then just hit a brick wall waiting for your turn up to bat.

I suspect that NASC is just getting sick and tired of all the A pool buffoonery, and is trying to get guys moving so that they can go make someone else's life miserable.

 

[Flash]

I suspect that NASC is just getting sick and tired of all the A pool buffoonery, and is trying to get guys moving so that they can go make someone else's life miserable.

And that is the key, why have someone be your problem when they can easily be someone else's?

 

[Heloanjin]

If you put too many students in training (I don't remember what the magic number is, but somewhere around >130),quote]

The magic number varies depending on who you are talking to and what your resources are (IPs, a/c, etc), but with about 100 T-34's to work with each VT is pretty much limited to 110 to 120 studs. It quickly spins out of control when the number goes anywhere above that.

 

[UpstateSouthpaw]

Wow, that sounds like things could quickly get out of control if all of the incoming students from API have to be classed up ASAP. I'm getting ahead of myself but is there something students should be doing to avoid getting wrapped up in this vicious circle?

 

[incubus852]

Yea, wait till you get to advanced. They've got us stuffed into these sim boxes on a saturday like 48 poop machines latched onto Nadya Suleman's teet. And the dumb part, I'm on recall for a practice sim that doesn't count for diddly.