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Hornet vs F35

blackngold

blackngold

Active Member
Good evening all, I'm Marine stud in advanced and starting to consider platforms, if you were in my shoes would you be trying for a Hornet slot? I've talked with a few prior Hornet IP's and some of my friends at 501, but am curious to hear more opinions. I understand the odds are slanted towards going Bravos, but I suppose someone has to fill the last few slots.

My "long term career goals" are:
1. Getting wings
2. Flying as much as possible

I'm pretty impartial towards location and mission set.

Thanks in advance.
 
Brett327

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
johnpauljones1776 said:
If I was in advanced I would go for F18s 100%. With F-18s phasing out you will be able to train on two fleet platforms easily within your career and being qualified on the hornet later in your career may open up doors for adversary or post grad flying billets.

Disclaimer:
I know nothing about Navy careers or communities, this is just my view and understanding
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Strongly disagree. Flying a tired, old legacy platform can come with a lot of headaches. The Marines are notorious for fucking their people over during platform transitions, and I would never recommend subjecting yourself to that. Most of the Hornet adversary jets are gone. On the other hand, the F-35 is an amazing platform with cutting edge capabilities. Pursuing that as your first choice is a no-brainer.
 
G

gk4921

Member
blackngold said:
Good evening all, I'm Marine stud in advanced and starting to consider platforms, if you were in my shoes would you be trying for a Hornet slot? I've talked with a few prior Hornet IP's and some of my friends at 501, but am curious to hear more opinions. I understand the odds are slanted towards going Bravos, but I suppose someone has to fill the last few slots.

My "long term career goals" are:
1. Getting wings
2. Flying as much as possible

I'm pretty impartial towards location and mission set.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I’m currently a maintainer on f35 have been for 4 1/2 years. I’m pending MECEP fY24 board 2 announcement, you can message me if you really want to get into the nitty gritty. I’ve worked on bravos and Charlie’s
 
Hair Warrior

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Brett327 said:
Strongly disagree. Flying a tired, old legacy platform can come with a lot of headaches. The Marines are notorious for fucking their people over during platform transitions, and I would never recommend subjecting yourself to that. Most of the Hornet adversary jets are gone. On the other hand, the F-35 is an amazing platform with cutting edge capabilities. Pursuing that as your first choice is a no-brainer.
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Would you recommend a Marine pilot go for the B or C variant, if given a choice?
 
G

gk4921

Member
Hair Warrior said:
Would you recommend a Marine pilot go for the B or C variant, if given a choice?
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From the officers and students here at VFA-125, most of them told me they made the choice for Charlie’s because of the amount of squadrons we have on the west coast that are Charlie’s and the deployment circulation here in Miramar because they are the only f35s, they train with 125 and the navy and usual get orders to Miramar and are guaranteed deployment. Most of the bravo guys from 501 said to me they are lucky to get detachments, they get stationed in Yuma and execute WTI and that’s about it, if you want to deploy a lot as a bravo pilot you need to go to Japan. The bravo just isn’t utilized much currently. That being said 542 is standing up in North Carolina with predictions for 2 more to follow so deployments will follow out of Norfolk as they are both Charlie’s and that’s where I want to go. Charlie’s deploy a lot more on a regular basis due to the lack of squadrons, bravos have a long cycle. I hope that helps. If you want deployments go Charlie’s, if you want more stateside time go bravos, ether way you will fly a lot.
 
navyterp67

navyterp67

Well-Known Member
pilot
Brett327 said:
Strongly disagree. Flying a tired, old legacy platform can come with a lot of headaches. The Marines are notorious for fucking their people over during platform transitions, and I would never recommend subjecting yourself to that. Most of the Hornet adversary jets are gone. On the other hand, the F-35 is an amazing platform with cutting edge capabilities. Pursuing that as your first choice is a no-brainer.
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Navy perspective here, but as a guy who has deployed in Hornets, Rhinos, and F-35C, I agree with @Brett327.

There was a time to select Hornets and get experience in an older platform, and that time was 10 years ago. While it was my first and in some ways still favorite gray jet, they were definitely showing their age when I last flew them 2 years ago. Nozzles not opening on takeoff, compressor stalls, multiple TFOA, and my personal favorite was the wing unlock caution at a merge. A great airplane for sure, but at this point it’s tactically irrelevant… I also dropped one off at Davis-Monthan.

If you were going to transition to Rhinos, that would be a different story. There’s a couple differences to watch out for, but overall pretty low threat.

For the OP’s current situation, you wouldn’t get many Hornet hours to start, and then you’d be spending a significant amount of time at the F-35 FRS. Even if you got quals in the Hornet, none of those translate to F-35 world, which means you’d be starting over in LTWS and all the other Marine-specific quals. My advice is to go F-35 if you can and start building that foundation early.

As far as B vs C… the C has 45% more fuel and a bigger wing. Longer flights with more tactically useful gas means more training. Either way the B and C are both game changers and make the entire CVW better, but for overall capability I’d take the C if I had the choice.
 
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MIDNJAC

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
I can't even imagine what state the USMC Hornet community must be in at this point. It was bad enough in 2010. I loved the chariot, and the 7 years I spent flying her, but the first time I flew a Rhino with APG-79, I was pretty much in shock. I haven't flown anything other than a high lot Rhino or Growler in the last 8+ years, and I can't imagine going back (though if I did, I'd still nail the shutdown switching valve checks thank you). Don't be a dummy, do the F-35
 
Odominable

Odominable

PILOT HMSD TRACK FAIL
pilot
OP, you’re overthinking this. 35 of either flavor would be a superior choice. New guy in a sundowning community is a very _not cool_ place to be. Is it even an option anyway at this point? Good luck with the rest of advanced.
 
W

whitesoxnation

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
You’re valuable to the USMC as an F-35 pilot. You are of lesser value as an F-18 pilot, and that value will only continue to decrease as sundown approaches.

There is no guarantee that you would ever be able to transition from 18 to 35 when it eventually goes away… and then you have a NATOPS qual in an airplane no one flies any longer.

Not to mention, the F-35 qual may help greatly with things like going to the Guard or various reserve jobs later on if you pursue that path. The F-18 qual will not.

If I were you, I’d go F-35C > B > F-18. Although I don’t know for sure, I’d guess that anything you can do to get closer to the Navy will help with better flight hours and quality of training, if that’s what your priorities are.
 
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