Your John Hancock

[Gatordev]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, and just haven't gotten around to it. When you guys are studs, how much of your Jet flying is as a solo? Is it 20%, 40%, 50%? When you guys solo, you are signing for the aircraft. Do you get "Aircraft Commander" time? I would doubt it, as I'm guessing you're not desginated by the CO yet. In primary, I never had any A/C time when I soloed in VTs or HTs, so I'm guessing it's the same for you all.

When you are winged, when do you get designated as an Aircraft Commander? Is it after the RAG or is there a syllabus at your fleet squadron. Some of this is probably in Opnav, but to be honest, I'm too lazy to look, but since all the pointy nose guys are single piloted, it would seem that you would need the designation almost immediately. Just curious about all this because of the demands of being the only pilot in the aircraft would require different requirements than the helo guys, who usually don't make A/C until after a deployment or some extended period of time.

 

[squeeze]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, and just haven't gotten around to it. When you guys are studs, how much of your Jet flying is as a solo? Is it 20%, 40%, 50%? When you guys solo, you are signing for the aircraft. Do you get "Aircraft Commander" time? I would doubt it, as I'm guessing you're not desginated by the CO yet. In primary, I never had any A/C time when I soloed in VTs or HTs, so I'm guessing it's the same for you all.

When you are winged, when do you get designated as an Aircraft Commander? Is it after the RAG or is there a syllabus at your fleet squadron. Some of this is probably in Opnav, but to be honest, I'm too lazy to look, but since all the pointy nose guys are single piloted, it would seem that you would need the designation almost immediately. Just curious about all this because of the demands of being the only pilot in the aircraft would require different requirements than the helo guys, who usually don't make A/C until after a deployment or some extended period of time.

I would venture a guess that between 30-40% of our flight time in advanced was solo and logged as pure FP. We don't log AC time at all. I can look through my logbook, but seeing as it's not logged seperately as solo, I'd have to go back and see which flights were solos and which were FP time just b/c we were at the controls -- something that would be a pain.

I can't really say for sure in the RAG (not that far along yet), but I would venture a guess that at a minimum it's not until you're conditionally natops qual'd (first solo) and more than likely it's after your natops check (last syllabus flight) and on your way to a fleet squadron.

 

[zab1001]

uh...it's HERBIE Hancock...

 

[HooverPilot]

In flight school, I did not log a/c time on solo's. When I was in the S-3 RAG I logged a/c time if I was flying with an Instructor NFO up front with me (Of course I didn't log the a/c time if I was flying with an Instructor Pilot). Once in the fleet, all flights (except NATOPS checks) were a/c time for me because the S-3 was single piloted. If I signed for the aircraft, it was my time to log. Now in the C-2 world, it will be a while until I log any more a/c time.

 

[Texan]

this is probably kinda dumb, but in the civillian worl, you log anytime you're at the controlls - if you're with an instructor, it's "dual recieved" and if you're solo or sitting left seat with someone not an instructor it's PIC.

why would you not log time that you fly in military planes?

just curious.

-Texan

 

[squeeze]

this is probably kinda dumb, but in the civillian worl, you log anytime you're at the controlls - if you're with an instructor, it's "dual recieved" and if you're solo or sitting left seat with someone not an instructor it's PIC.

why would you not log time that you fly in military planes?

just curious.

-Texan

No one said you didn't log flight time. You don't log Aircraft Commander time. There is still First Pilot, Co-Pilot, and Special Crew time that is all logged.

 

[Gatordev]

Yeah, think of A/C time as a form of PIC time in the civilian world. Except it would seem that as a solo, you wouldn't log it as "PIC" in the training command, even though you do as a civilian student solo. On the military side, A/C is a qualification, unlike solo, which is a check in the box. On civil side, solo is a quall, since you get a license for it.

Thanks for the replies. It would seem that the wings thereby make you "qualified." Guess I should really open up Opnav to see what it has to say.

 

[Fly Navy]

To fully answer your flight time question, the syllabus calls for:

157.5 hours of flight time before completion, 40.0 hours of which is solo.

About 25% of your time is solo in the TS program.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

On civil side, solo is a quall, since you get a license for it.

Dev, I have to disagree with that. "Solo" is an endorsement you get in your logbook. Your medical certificate in conjunction with your solo endorsement are your ticket to fly solo (with restrictions), but there is no solo license per se.

 

[Gatordev]

Hmm, maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I thought your medical was a "student license." I understand what you're saying, I just thought it was slightly more "official." Then again, that was 12 years ago, so I may be out to lunch.

EDIT
Actually, now that I reread your post, that does sound familiar.