FNAEB outcomes

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

One of my friends was winged a 1310, but then had an incident during the FRS and was FNAEB'd. He ended up successfully redesignating to AEDO and his first "tour" was going to NPS and getting a free MS engineering degree. He ended up finding his then-girlfriend, now wife in Monterey.

Today, he's got a very nice contracting gig and still does the reserves thing.

Sometimes, actually often, things happen for a reason. Maybe you're better suited elsewhere, it might just take some times for things to be more clear.

 

[Swanee]

If it's lack of the monkey skills that got you there then the drone world is a good one to land in as long as you're okay with not being in the airplane.

I'm not sure of RQ or MQ options in the Navy as a primary career field for an unrestricted line officer, but it's something to consider as well.

 

[zippy]

This is a tough thing to post. The long story short is I’m being FNAEB’d for performance issues. My chain of command felt they had no choice given my struggles and that while my attitude and work ethic were excellent I just couldn't reach the proficiency I needed. While I’d like to remain a pilot and fly in another community, I understand that that is both unlikely due to my performance and may still be a nonstarter for flying commercially when I leave the Navy. I was presented with the option of a pilot to NFO transition and returning to my current community. I’d appreciate some input on the subject of changing platforms and flying commercially after a FNAEB. Happy to be dm’d for additional details.

FNAEB won’t be an issue long term for flying commercially.

 

[UMichfly]

If it's lack of the monkey skills that got you there then the drone world is a good one to land in...

Dafuq man!?!
🫶 Your fellow robot warriors.

 

[Waveoff]

If it's lack of the monkey skills that got you there then the drone world is a good one to land in as long as you're okay with not being in the airplane.

I'm not sure of RQ or MQ options in the Navy as a primary career field for an unrestricted line officer, but it's something to consider as well.

Not a thing. VUP is a shore tour gig for VP.

 

[zippy]

Dafuq man!?!
🫶 Your fellow robot warriors.

I mean if the dude‘s stick monkey skills weren’t cutting it for jets and he wanted to prioritize tactical relevancy for the remainder of a career, ANG robot pilot isn’t a bad choice. The times I’ve been at the gym and seen that some high profile asshole got whacked, usually one of my drone buddies was involved. I’d probably recommend the ANG robot path along with going to fly commercial to and making it to the airlines over staying active duty and becoming an NFO.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and some NFO jobs seem to be distinctly better than others. The OP has to decide if he’s going to become a pilot attrite who transitions to a successful NFO career without having a chip on his shoulder. If he can’t, he shouldn’t stay.

Considering 2nd year FO pay at a legacy is right around O-6 >26 years, the pilot hiring wave, the time suck to get winged as an NFO and the commitment, how anti QOL the fleet has been in recent history (7-9 deployments, poor/out of touch leadership, covid lockdown stupidity etc,), how great QOL is at airlines compared to it, if the someone isn’t 100% in love with their potential future as an NFO they should save themselves (and those who’d have to deal with them) the misery and gtfo.

 

[Swanee]

Dafuq man!?!
🫶 Your fellow robot warriors.

If he's having trouble behind the boat its one thing. If he can't hold and time or hit a TOT it's another.

 

[WhiskeySierra6]

One of my friends was winged a 1310, but then had an incident during the FRS and was FNAEB'd. He ended up successfully redesignating to AEDO and his first "tour" was going to NPS and getting a free MS engineering degree. He ended up finding his then-girlfriend, now wife in Monterey.

Today, he's got a very nice contracting gig and still does the reserves thing.

Sometimes, actually often, things happen for a reason. Maybe you're better suited elsewhere, it might just take some times for things to be more clear.

You've got to be a 1310/1320 to redesignate to AEDO. I could be wrong but I was under the impression is an SNA.

 

[IKE]

You've got to be a 1310/1320 to redesignate to AEDO. I could be wrong but I was under the impression is an SNA.

Also, AEDO isn't taking folks from POCR boards, to include 1310/1320s who don't make 3710-required fleet quals.

We'll take 1300s (med-down) if you were qualed before the downing, and I know of at least one FNAEB-driven 1300 who got AEDO, but that was a post-HAC incident.

 

[whitesoxnation]

If your end goal is airlines and the Navy or another service won’t let you be a pilot you should do everything you can to get out of your contract w/o it coming across negatively - ie do something else honorably for the min amount of time rather than 7 years as a NFO

Get out ASAP, use your GI bill to get your flight training, then go commercial. NFO time won’t mean anything. They want PIC, specifically turbine PIC, and even better 121 turbine PIC.

I don’t know if people realize it but the peak airline hiring bonanza is over and the combination of Spirit/Pratt/Boeing issues are making a lot of people nervous. There is still a lot of hiring going on, and the fastest way there is probably going to a regional and getting a lot of time there, not being an NFO. Why do UAV stuff if you can get ATP mins quickly, go to a regional, upgrade fast, and then start racking up the hours. I don’t know how true it is for every CFI but the ones I flew with were flying ~100 hours a month.

Even if you were to stay a pilot, I know dudes that are reaching their MSR in TACAIR and don’t or barely have unrestricted ATP mins even though they’ve been flying their entire time. Its wild.

 

[Waveoff]

If your end goal is airlines and the Navy or another service won’t let you be a pilot you should do everything you can to get out of your contract w/o it coming across negatively - ie do something else honorably for the min amount of time rather than 7 years as a NFO

Get out ASAP, use your GI bill to get your flight training, then go commercial. NFO time won’t mean anything. They want PIC, specifically turbine PIC, and even better 121 turbine PIC.

I don’t know if people realize it but the peak airline hiring bonanza is over and the combination of Spirit/Pratt/Boeing issues are making a lot of people nervous. There is still a lot of hiring going on, and the fastest way there is probably going to a regional and getting a lot of time there, not being an NFO. Why do UAV stuff if you can get ATP mins quickly, go to a regional, upgrade fast, and then start racking up the hours. I don’t know how true it is for every CFI but the ones I flew with were flying ~100 hours a month.

Even if you were to stay a pilot, I know dudes that are reaching their MSR in TACAIR and don’t or barely have unrestricted ATP mins even though they’ve been flying their entire time. Its wild.

Apologies for the poss thread Jack, but you guys make getting and airline job sound like it’s a piece of cake. For a flying intrigued NFO, I get the GI bill for initial training, but everything after “then go commercial” seems like a mystical pipe dream. What would that even entail?

Not to be combative but every NA turned airliner seems to say “get you pilots license then PILOT HARDER and then boom your a regional FO.”

I ask because if we are giving these kids advice, I imagine it comes with a lot of hidden stipulations like getting a bunch of roommates, staying single, grinding the hours, and having a low earnings to expense ratio while you build hours and ratings even as a CFI.

 

[Griz882]

Apologies for the poss thread Jack, but you guys make getting and airline job sound like it’s a piece of cake. For a flying intrigued NFO, I get the GI bill for initial training, but everything after “then go commercial” seems like a mystical pipe dream. What would that even entail?

Not to be combative but every NA turned airliner seems to say “get you pilots license then PILOT HARDER and then boom your a regional FO.”

I ask because if we are giving these kids advice, I imagine it comes with a lot of hidden stipulations like getting a bunch of roommates, staying single, grinding the hours, and having a low earnings to expense ratio while you build hours and ratings even as a CFI.

For non-military aviators the answer is simple…some kind of ATP school and a bag of money. The GI Bill easily covers the education aspect and some hours (assuming they are part of the course of study). Most of these schools then utilize their “students” as “instructors” to get their hours in. The real cost is in living expenses. I know one poor fellow back in Maryland who is “working toward the dream” to get 1500 hours and fly for the bigs and he is on his sixth year of flight instructing because there isn’t a continuous flow of students.

 

[zippy]

Apologies for the poss thread Jack, but you guys make getting and airline job sound like it’s a piece of cake. For a flying intrigued NFO, I get the GI bill for initial training, but everything after “then go commercial” seems like a mystical pipe dream. What would that even entail?

Not to be combative but every NA turned airliner seems to say “get you pilots license then PILOT HARDER and then boom your a regional FO.”

I ask because if we are giving these kids advice, I imagine it comes with a lot of hidden stipulations like getting a bunch of roommates, staying single, grinding the hours, and having a low earnings to expense ratio while you build hours and ratings even as a CFI.

If this person is getting FNAEB’d vs flight school attrited I’m guessing they have wings, being a winged military hour reduces requirements for an ATP for military pilots to 750hrs TT. Somewhere in the FRS places them around 250-300hrs. OPs profile placed them in intermediate jets so that means some fixed wing single engine jet time and maybe some multi engine jet time.

Last year I helped mentor Rhino pilot who got medically DQ’d during work ups and medically retired. He had around 400hrs. Didn’t want to CFI because it pays 💩 so he looked around and got a job flying right seat in a king air for a medivac company. He’s approaching 750hrs after 9 months working. His options are stay to upgrade to CA at his Gig, or go to regionals where his fixed wing jet time will stand out amongst 1000-1500hr CFIs and. 750hr R-ATP helo pilots.

There are plenty of part 91/135 King Air/ Jet SIC jobs that would benefit by someone who flew fixed wing military and vice versa. RJ FO gigs pay 80-100k a year now to start.

It won’t be super quick (18-24 months to RJs another 18-36 months to a legacy) but if his ultimate goal is to be a pilot, he’ll get to the Legacies far quicker than going through NFO flight school and spending 8 more years non logging pilot time and then starting over.

 

[cfam]

I could have misread the original post, but I think the OP is already in the FRS or the fleet (two seat tacair). They also owe the remainder of their winging commitment (7 years). There’s some great advice here, but some of it seems geared towards the OP being able to get out now.

Having to fulfill the remainder of the commitment adds another layer of complexity and limits their options to a platform transition (if offered/approved), transitioning to a non-flying career field, or switching to NFO. @colonial-aviation correct me if I’m off base.

All that being said, if your goal is to fly for the airlines push hard for that platform transition. If you can’t get that, then clarify your overall service commitment for going NFO before going back through the pipeline. The goal would be to avoid additional time for getting NFO wings on top of what you already owe. Like you said, flying is definitely better than not flying, and your quality of life for your remaining time in the Navy would be improved versus the alternative. Final option would be redesignating to another community, but that process will literally be a crapshoot, and I wouldn’t recommend it. You’d still have to build pilot time on your own dime and not have the opportunity to fly.

PM if you end up needing to go the resdesignation route. While the process is slightly different than laterally transferring, some of the gouge I picked up along the way might be useful.

 

[SynixMan]

I’ll echo what @cfam said almost 100%. I’m assuming if it’s a FNAEB then you’re winged and in the FRS or first fleet squadron. I’ve known plenty of pilots who went through FNAEBs for not making HAC/PPC/section lead/sucking behind the boat.

You’re being cagey, I guess I respect that. My suggestion is reach out to Primary/Advanced on-wings if they’re weren’t jerks. I’ve helped a few of mine navigate similar situations.