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Flight School backed up
- Thread starter Cowgirl
- Start date
Yikes. I know everyone’s giving the advice to enjoy the wait, the Navy will get theirs etc etc but that is pretty lame. Sorry dude
Thank you for noting that…I’m thinking this is a clear disaster but everyone else is, like, “meh, it’s just time.”
It is a disaster in the making. From what I understand, the primary training wings are down to just 15% aircraft availability, and the USAF ended the contract for supplying parts to maintenance without having another one in place. So, no new aircraft parts for a while.
It doesn’t look good for the backlog of students upstream of Primary.
So I'd love to hear opinions about the T-6B and why the low availability? The airplane was built for high cycle use. I remember the presentations way back in the day that it was a "touch less aircraft" in between phased maint. So what happened along the way?
In short, nothing. What I'm being told is this is about parts availability and qualified maintenance support. Not the airplane's fault, and even guys actively involved in the TRACOM acknowledge that point.
It turns out no matter how good the airplane is (and it is a good airplane), they still have to be maintained. Especially in a hot environment, near the water, stored outside.
The other piece I have also been told is the USAF has twice the available aircraft per sortie that the USN has. So canceling the parts contract didn't hurt the USAF as much, and may actually help them preserve some life on their older T-6A fleet, as compared to the USN where they're hurting for ready-up aircraft. A strike against "one size fits all" joint acquisition policies, or at least an argument for each service being able to handle their own flow of parts and people.
But the USN "made" their production numbers this year, so if anyone asks for more resources, people plug their ears.
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FWIW, those of us who asked for Corpus went a little faster:
Commissioned: April 2021
Reported to Pensacola: April 2021
Finished NIFE: December 2021
Reported to Corpus: December 2021
Started Primary: April 2022
Currently forms complete, just started instrument ground school.
Commissioned: April 2021
Reported to Pensacola: April 2021
Finished NIFE: December 2021
Reported to Corpus: December 2021
Started Primary: April 2022
Currently forms complete, just started instrument ground school.
I would think that the RBA number is getting reported to CNATRA and it's being noticed. For FY22, the fleet as a whole took a big hit on funding to help with JSF, so I wonder if CNATRA is suffering from this, as well...along with the logistical problems that have always plagued the T-6B since it stood up.
I would think you are correct. However, the fix to this is above CNATRA.
Damn I though you 21 guys had a much shorter wait for NIFE, but not really the case. My timeline:
Commissioned: March 2022
Reported to Pensacola: June 2022
Still 220+ in line for NIFE. Which translates to another ~6ish months
Edit: Nevermind, I missed the finished part. Yeah so it's only gotten worse.
To add, late-May/ very early June were the final OCS grads checking in before the swarms of ROTC and USNA started coming down. There was already a 7-8 month wait time before the masses began descending.
It no surprise they paused the check in process and are sending people off to squadrons.
There are worse places to wait than Pensacola. I chose Corpus for Primary because I heard the wait was shorter and the course rules were easier - both proved to be true, but this place has no other redeeming qualities to speak of.
For sure, which is what I was getting at, although I didn't quite finish the thought. CNATRA can have the metrics and beat the drum, but if the bosses above him want to pay for other stuff, not much he can do.
WannaFlyHigh
Well-Known Member
100% agree. I don’t want to spend the early part of my career waiting around doing nothing and not advancing forward in a timely manner. Seems the problem just continues to get worse.
Congress doesn't want you to, either. Keep yourself healthy, and score as high as you can on everything. I suspect there may be higher front-end attrition coming.