Winged, Takeaways

[PMPT]

So there are Marine F-35C boat-going squadrons in line at this point right? Are studs going that way not doing CQ until the FRS then?

Also, if it makes you feel better, I'd be much more worried being a Marine WSO right now, than a VMFA pilot worried about not getting enough "solo" time in his/her career (spoiler alert: I hope you don't like company in the jet, because you aren't gonna have any pretty soon)

I mean, at this point I don't give much of a care about the solo time because I'm in a single seat jet now, but I do lament having not gotten to do arrested landings on the boat. would have been a blast and a real aviation accomplishment imo. but hey, HQMC/TECOM gonna do what it does.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

They go to the boat once they select 35Cs, after they're done with the rest of the syllabus. It can be weird because they'll soft wing like all the other marines and may not find out till the day before winging and their families come in (but sometimes can have a good guess they're getting it in advance), but they don't officially wing till after CQ.

Which is weird, because the F-35 community in the USMC seems a lot more T/M/S agnostic. In my time in Lemoore, I’ve seen a bunch of B dudes (both IPs as well as nuggets) come through and get C quals. Last I heard the Marines were looking to go to an integrated RAG construct where everyone goes through the B RAG and then, if they’re going to a C squadron, goes through a C top-off to include CQ. I wonder how that will work if there are CAT-1s with no prior boat experience.

 

[PMPT]

Which is weird, because the F-35 community in the USMC seems a lot more T/M/S agnostic. In my time in Lemoore, I’ve seen a bunch of B dudes (both IPs as well as nuggets) come through and get C quals. Last I heard the Marines were looking to go to an integrated RAG construct where everyone goes through the B RAG and then, if they’re going to a C squadron, goes through a C top-off to include CQ. I wonder how that will work if there are CAT-1s with no prior boat experience.

my suspicion is someone saw a quick (and arguably foolish) way to 'save time' in training (we're talking about a few weeks, which is ridiculous when you consider how much time is wasted sitting around idly between TBS and winging) and hasn't thought through the implications

 

[whitesoxnation]

my suspicion is someone saw a quick (and arguably foolish) way to 'save time' in training (we're talking about a few weeks, which is ridiculous when you consider how much time is wasted sitting around idly between TBS and winging) and hasn't thought through the implications

The real foolish thing to do would be to slow down pilot production and waste money so that people could do something they’ll likely never have to do in the fleet.

Pilot manning crisis with a near/peer threat and funding/budget issues. Gotta be smarter than that.

 

[Python]

IDK why they take SLL and RR and pop flights from the Navy ... road recce is a good partial task trainer (in addition to being damn fun), SLL were just badass and sort of accurately model what a section attack would look like, and the Navy does pops too ... so idk why they take alot of the fun flights away from the Navy

From what I heard, the Navy is not teaching pops or roll-ins anymore in gray jets. As of at least a year ago IIRC.

 

[Eulenspeigel]

Pops no, roll ins yes

 

[0621 Hertz]

They go to the boat once they select 35Cs, after they're done with the rest of the syllabus. It can be weird because they'll soft wing like all the other marines and may not find out till the day before winging and their families come in (but sometimes can have a good guess they're getting it in advance), but they don't officially wing till after CQ.

They changed it again, if you select F-35C as a Marine, you will receive the slot prior to the end of flight training. They no longer soft wing after their last SEM flight. They soft wing at the boat.

Additionally Navy students who get CQ pulled are banned from selecting F-35Cs, since the CNATRA experiment is meant for the F/A-18 PLM. The F-35C RAG requires ungrad CQ.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

Man that would suck to select C’s only to find out you suck at landing on a boat.

 

[0621 Hertz]

SLL are for Marines only in Kingsville, as well as RR.

I can fill in with RR when I do them in early April. They should be my last flights.

As promised, I'll fill in for RR.

3 flights 1 solo. The first shall be the only hop of the day, and the other 2 will be an O/I to Palm Springs if you're in KNJK.

Meridian and Kingsville have their own RR routes, however Ops tries to get them done on det on the IR217.

The flights are very canned, because you do the same route 4 times. Chairfly the route with a buddy on Google Earth, Foreflight, or MSFS and you'll do fine, as they will help you find the targets. So the "target talk ons" from lead will feel more like a script that you're memorizing. Also memorize the targets in order and off headings (10 of them)

After 5 targets you'll swap lead with the other jet. Lots of fun overall!

 

[MIDNJAC]

I remember doing a weekend CCX through Palm Springs as a VMFAT-101 cone. We got to the hotel late on sat night after like 3 flights, and it was kind of a dump and I just went to bed. Next AM I had to pump the APU accumulator on my own, which sucks. I popped out from under the wheel well and somehow my huffing and puffing led to hiccups which led to me randomly having a small cough/barf on the ramp under the wing. From the Gulfstream parked next to us, comes an older man dressed in pilot uniform. He holds his hand out and says something like "Hey young man, I used to fly A-4s and I know how you feel this morning" with a big shit eating grin. I didn't depress him with the lame actual story