Wings are earned in flight school. Real wings are earned after night carrier landings. I'd save the gift for that event.
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wings gift
- Thread starter EAY05
- Start date
No difference. How about after landing at night on a small boy. I don't know about helos, but we had about 10 percent in jets who couldn't make it at night. I have to believe it is similar for night quals in helos.
I applaud everyone getting their wings, pilot or NFO, but there is a lot more to earn going through the RAG. I know; I've earned both sets. I don't think wings of gold are tarnished if someone washes out of the RAG, but I think they shine brighter when you've qualified to be in the fleet. That's when a gift is due IMHO.
While I echo your sentiment regarding experience, I don't think that negates the "value" (bad choice of word, but I can't think of something better) of a set of wings as a gift after winging. I agree, there's so much more to learn after the VTs/HTs, but the wings let you sit at the grown-ups' table and actually join the conversation, and are still pretty special.
I guess I look at it this way: do I not deserve to wear my wings until after I landed on the boat (in whatever aircraft it might be), or after I made HAC, or took my first nugget to the boat on goggles as a NVG instructor, or as an IP back at the school house? I don't think so.
All that said, I really do see where you're coming from, I just respectfully disagree.
Maybe that's true... but you don't graduate from the FRS. You only earn your wings once. It's what you do with them afterwards that defines what kind of pilot you are.
Maybe it's semantics. You are awarded your wings once. You earn them every day you keep them. I suppose if I had a son or daughter who successfully completed flight school, any flight school, I may give them a gift, but I'd save the big gift for successfully completing naval aviation grad school which, IMHO, is the night element around the ship.
This post is a little confusing. Is "grad school" completed the first time you operate around a ship at night, or each time you operate around a ship at night?
If it is the former, you are "awarded" them once.
If it is the latter, you are only complete with "grad school" after the last time you operate around a ship at night.
Or maybe it's semantics?
Night, low-light, bounces on the ship are not the pinnacle of aviation. If that were the case, then why don't they make that part of getting your wings?
And yeah, I think you're splitting the hair on semantics there pretty thin with Awarded VS Earned.
Yeah, you're "Awarded" your wings after you complete a designated syllabus in flight school. You "earn" your wings everyday you do your job. But, I don't see my wife showing up after I do my first night flight at the boat just to say good job. I see her rolling over and going back to sleep wondering why in the hell I woke her up.
And yeah, I think you're splitting the hair on semantics there pretty thin with Awarded VS Earned.
Yeah, you're "Awarded" your wings after you complete a designated syllabus in flight school. You "earn" your wings everyday you do your job. But, I don't see my wife showing up after I do my first night flight at the boat just to say good job. I see her rolling over and going back to sleep wondering why in the hell I woke her up.
Look at my original post. My view of 'grad school' is the RAG (for gift purposes, the original theme of the thread).
However, each and every night trap, I personally felt I had earned them all over again. Not that day traps weren't part of the pride, but everyone who has been behind a boat (jet or helo) appreciates the delta between day and night.
This argument has no logical conclusion. It's a personal thing. It's like arguing carrier aviation with an Air Force pilot who's only seen a carrier's ass end on the Military Channel.
However, each and every night trap, I personally felt I had earned them all over again. Not that day traps weren't part of the pride, but everyone who has been behind a boat (jet or helo) appreciates the delta between day and night.
This argument has no logical conclusion. It's a personal thing. It's like arguing carrier aviation with an Air Force pilot who's only seen a carrier's ass end on the Military Channel.
That is in the off-chance that your wife is actually home at the time, and not underway
Agreed.
I think I see the beginning of the circle again.
I think I see the beginning of the circle again.
That is in the off-chance that your wife is actually home at the time, and not underway
yeah... like the 2 weeks she's about to spend in Korea... and the 3 weeks in May that she gets underway.... :icon_rage
Amen to that. I once diverted off the ship over 200 miles at 0100 with 3 of 4 hydraulic pumps gone and single engine, and all my wife unit said was "why in the hell did you wake me up to come get you? Couldn't you just spend the night at the BOQ?" First wives.......
my wife is a navy SWO... she would have told me to find my own way home...
Devil's Advocate: Perhaps if she knew more about what you did, she would realize just how close you came to permanently departing the pattern, and she would have been more than happy to pick you up, take you to breakfast, etc, etc, etc.