First Shore Tour Flying Experience

[U-Aviation]

Looking to compare some of the more desirable first shore duty options. How often do developmental test pilots fly? How many of their hours are maintaining currency vs conducting test programs? Would it be fair to say that someone in the strike aircraft test or weapons test community spend less of their time in the air than their counterparts instructing at the RAG or in the SFTI program?

 

[Renegade One]

Um...unless you are TPS qualified, I'd shoot for going home to "Mother"...your FRS squadron as an instructor.

 

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

And if you’re not TPS qualified (Calc is a hard requirement and I never took it), there’s Operational Test. Fly your butt off, have fun, go on det, get some of that Acquisition and DAU stink on you to set yourself up nicely for post Active Duty gigs.

 

[Brett327]

Um...unless you are TPS qualified, I'd shoot for going home to "Mother"...your FRS squadron as an instructor.

That’s not what the OP is asking, Spike.

 

[hscs]

Need some of our resident TPS types to chime in, but I would say that I flew far more as an FRS bubba than my TPS counterparts at the time.

It all depends on what you want to do and what you think you would enjoy.

 

[sevenhelmet]

Need some of our resident TPS types to chime in, but I would say that I flew far more as an FRS bubba than my TPS counterparts at the time.

It all depends on what you want to do and what you think you would enjoy.

That’s probably true. USNTPS year itself was around 120 hours IIRC, and I flew about 140/year on my test tour as a fixed wing VFA/VX bubba.

I’m actually flying more (and staying proficient in more types) as a civilian test pilot than I did on active duty, at around 200hrs/yr.

It’s interesting work, but it is not about racking up huge numbers in your logbook.

 

[U-Aviation]

That’s probably true. USNTPS year itself was around 120 hours IIRC, and I flew about 140/year on my test tour as a fixed wing VFA/VX bubba.

I’m actually flying more (and staying proficient in more types) as a civilian test pilot than I did on active duty, at around 200hrs/yr.

It’s interesting work, but it is not about racking up huge numbers in your logbook.

Was your flight time during the test tour exclusively running test programs or are you needing to put in hours to stay current between test flights? I imagine test flight frequency is dependent on the program but would it be a fair to say your doing an average number of developmental flights a months?

 

[sevenhelmet]

Was your flight time during the test tour exclusively running test programs or are you needing to put in hours to stay current between test flights? I imagine test flight frequency is dependent on the program but would it be a fair to say your doing an average number of developmental flights a months?

Mostly test flights, and some currency flying. I’d say it was an 80/20ish mix during my tour. Not sure if any of my numbers are still valid, this was 8-10 years ago now.

We fly each others’ programs, so you aren’t just limited to your assigned project. My flying was fairly steady at 12-15 hours a month, which I personally preferred to the massive swings in flight time I saw in the fleet.

 

[U-Aviation]

Thanks for the info.

 

[U-Aviation]

Need some of our resident TPS types to chime in, but I would say that I flew far more as an FRS bubba than my TPS counterparts at the time.

It all depends on what you want to do and what you think you would enjoy.

What does a week at FRS look like? How many hops are your doing?

 

[MIDNJAC]

I don't think you'd go wrong at TPS, FRS, or as and SFTI. They're all challenging, rewarding, and competitive paths. I really sound like a detailer right now. But I don't think you could be unhappy in any of those. At least I haven't been (I was never a TPS guy though so I can't speak from experience there).

 

[hscs]

What does a week at FRS look like? How many hops are your doing?

depends on quals and personal life. You build more quals toward the end of your time.
I didn’t do a masters degree while at the FRS and didn’t have the current paternal leave policy, so the skeds guys liked me. I was mostly always available and my logbook showed. I was clearing 40 plus hours a month but that was a while ago.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Looking to compare some of the more desirable first shore duty options. How often do developmental test pilots fly? How many of their hours are maintaining currency vs conducting test programs? Would it be fair to say that someone in the strike aircraft test or weapons test community spend less of their time in the air than their counterparts instructing at the RAG or in the SFTI program?

Just out of curiosity, what kind of book are you writing?

 

[U-Aviation]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of book are you writing?

The book is about the history of naval aviation in America from a prospective of innovation and development. Starting with Glenn Curtis and Eugene Ely aboard the Birmingham in 1910, I’m telling the story of how naval aviation as we know it today was built by some very intriguing (read crazy) engineers and some intrepid (read insane) aviators.

I’ve also been pulled into a research project as a contributing author regarding the challenge of retention in the naval aviation community. Specifically my bit deals with whether or not it would be more sensible for long-term retention as well as a better return on investment to keep aviators in the cockpit longer and eliminating the dissociated tour from a standard career track.

 

[Brett327]

eliminating the dissociated tour from a standard career track

You may have sifted through the various threads here covering that idea ad nauseum. Even if I were to agree that eliminating the disassociated tour was a good idea, the real question is, who will fill those billets if second season tour aviators don’t, and will those people have the necessary experience to perform those critical jobs (like shooters) to the satisfaction of senior leadership, CAGs, CVN COs, CDREs and CNAF AB.