Job responsibilities/Switching

[JonBob23]

OCS will be the only route for you, as a college senior. Typical applicant does NOT have a 4.0. Yours is low, like mentioned above. But it is in engineering and your chances would depend on lots of other factors both in your application and what the Navy's needs are the day your app comes to the board. You could increase your chances by totally rocking the ASTB (entrance test). If serious about giving it a shot, take advantage of this forum to prepare for the test. BTW, as a retired NFO, and 10K hour airline pilot, I don't think I missed anything being a NFO during my Navy career. Different strokes.

Wink, I am curious how you took your NFO experience and wound up with a commercial airline job after the Navy? I was recently selected for SNFO and will be attending OCS next month. Your story sounds intriguing and a path that I would be interested in following if you are willing to shed some insight. Did you get your logged time flying for fun or as a NFO?

 

[wink]

Wink, I am curious how you took your NFO experience and wound up with a commercial airline job after the Navy? I was recently selected for SNFO and will be attending OCS next month. Your story sounds intriguing and a path that I would be interested in following if you are willing to shed some insight. Did you get your logged time flying for fun or as a NFO?

Although I didn't aspire to be an airline pilot I had most my pilot training done before I entered the Navy. Saved money on my first cruise and bought a plane on return. Just flew for fun. Not consciously building time. Took shored duty orders back in my home town where college buddies were at the point in their civ careers they flew at a small commuter airline based locally. They asked me to apply for some up coming classes. I was skeptical. I had the bare minimums and it simply wasn't a life goal. The pay would be bad. I had already arranged to go back to the cockpit in the Reserves and that satisfied my professional flying bug. But my brother in law was a USAir pilot and my bride liked the lifestyle and travel benefits her sister had. She encouraged me to pursue the airlines. So I got my ATP. My friends saw that I got hired flying turboprops in a Part 141 commuter. I was in class two weeks after separating from active duty. The pay cut was huge, but my wife made good money. I flew a lot. Two years later I was in the Show. I didn't plan this route. I was lucky to have some friends who got me that first paying job. It was local which was easy on the new family, and my wife's job paid most the bills. Although rare, there are other NFOs and USAF Navs who have gone the airline pilot route. A former AW member went from VP NFO to the airlines. Three NFOs from my reserve squadron went airlines. Guess I was inspirational. The bottom line is you will essentially be treated like a civilian applicant. That means you pay for all your training and have to build time, a lot of it these days. It means a shitty (probably) very low paying job after you get out and a couple years doing it, minimum. GI Bill will help. Honestly, I don't know that I would recommend it these days based on the investment required and potential payback. If you want to go that route then make it a serious hobby to start with and see where it goes. Keep all your other options open. Whatever you want, whatever you do, be a great NFO first!!! Your pilot squadron mates will not appreciate a NFO that is all about his airline dreams and up in their monkey skill shit and not getting the mission done.

 

[JonBob23]

Although I didn't aspire to be an airline pilot I had most my pilot training done before I entered the Navy. Saved money on my first cruise and bought a plane on return. Just flew for fun. Not consciously building time. Took shored duty orders back in my home town where college buddies were at the point in their civ careers they flew at a small commuter airline based locally. They asked me to apply for some up coming classes. I was skeptical. I had the bare minimums and it simply wasn't a life goal. The pay would be bad. I had already arranged to go back to the cockpit in the Reserves and that satisfied my professional flying bug. But my brother in law was a USAir pilot and my bride liked the lifestyle and travel benefits her sister had. She encouraged me to pursue the airlines. So I got my ATP. My friends saw that I got hired flying turboprops in a Part 141 commuter. I was in class two weeks after separating from active duty. The pay cut was huge, but my wife made good money. I flew a lot. Two years later I was in the Show. I didn't plan this route. I was lucky to have some friends who got me that first paying job. It was local which was easy on the new family, and my wife's job paid most the bills. Although rare, there are other NFOs and USAF Navs who have gone the airline pilot route. A former AW member went from VP NFO to the airlines. Three NFOs from my reserve squadron went airlines. Guess I was inspirational. The bottom line is you will essentially be treated like a civilian applicant. That means you pay for all your training and have to build time, a lot of it these days. It means a shitty (probably) very low paying job after you get out and a couple years doing it, minimum. GI Bill will help. Honestly, I don't know that I would recommend it these days based on the investment required and potential payback. If you want to go that route then make it a serious hobby to start with and see where it goes. Keep all your other options open. Whatever you want, whatever you do, be a great NFO first!!! Your pilot squadron mates will not appreciate a NFO that is all about his airline dreams and up in their monkey skill shit and not getting the mission done.

Wow! That is quite the path. Thank you for sharing your story, I do appreciate it. My main objective is going to be the best NFO that I can be. I am not downplaying this opportunity by any means and I don't even know if I will attempt to make the switch to become a professional pilot; I might really enjoy being a NFO. I was just looking for options later on down the line that could stem from this opportunity. Thanks again!

 

[Uncle Fester]

...I was just looking for options later on down the line that could stem from this opportunity. Thanks again!

That's a good approach. There's quite a few hopefuls who show up on this board terrified that they might not get their dream job on their first try and that their life will somehow consequently be doomed.

 

[Mos]

Really? I object to this hijack of VS heritage. The VS community and Lockheed coined COTAC for NFOs and it meant Copilot/ Tactical Coordinator. It was the NFO that flew in the front right seat. He could accomplish all TACCO duties (a bit more difficult than from in back due to displays and buttons) and provided traditional copilot duties. He wasn't a CO-tactical coordinator. When we flew two sensos in back, the front seat NFO was still a COTAC, not TACCO. When pilots flew in the right seat they were copilots. I guess I can see why the second NFO isn't called a nav/comm in the P-8 these days. Is that true in P-3s as well? In your new job you should recommend a new name/qualification for the second NFO in VP crews that is unique to your community. In keeping with the same convention for pilots, I propose 2T .

In P-3s, the junior NFO is still called the NAV/COMM or NAV because he/she still handles navigation duties in addition to tactical communications in this old as sh*t aircraft. Pilots can easily handle navigation when in range of VOR/TACAN navaids, but once we're out at sea, the NAV is responsible for maintaining situational awareness of the aircraft's position. P-3 NAVs still carry charts and FLIPs to the aircraft and have to maintain a periodic update of posit on them in case the aircraft computer and tactical situation displays fail (they do on a regular basis). Additionally, the NAV carries the comm box with all the crypto books and loader. Together with charts, pubs and crypto, and his/her own personal sh*t, the NAV is essentially the packhorse of the VP world. A rather advantageous byproduct of this practice is that NAVs generally want to get qualified TACCO as quickly as possible so that someone else becomes the mule. The addition of CNS/ATM has to some degree minimized the impact of mission computer failures and also brought even more pilot involvement in trans-oceanic navigation, but as per instruction, the NAV's job still prioritizes navigation and airmanship because the VP community still has no faith in the P-3's avionics.
The P-8, on the other hand, is the silver bullet to the ASW/MISR problem. Provided that there are no slight dents in the aircraft skin, corruption of the media, mild weather/turbulence, or chipping of the TF blades, the Poseidon will be there as the eyeball of freedom supporting the Global Force for Good.