Tactical387
New Member
I feel like this is probably almost as stupid as "what percent get jets" but i havent seen it discussed so I thought i'd throw it out there. How does the carrier qual work, and how many marine aviators go through it?
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Looking for gouge? Ask your Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation here (Part 1)
- Thread starter Nose
- Start date
- Status
Ahhh ... TEXACO. Someone went down to the local gas station and got enough patches to outfit most of the squadron's flight jackets. Not as glamorous as bombing, but great for time, traps, and the satisfaction of saving someone's butt at night when it's his turn in the barrel..... unfortunately you were the last one down at night regardless of the conditions w/ no airborne fuel if YOU screwed the pooch ...
"Sinker" ... ASW call for a sub that's pulled the plug and is diving, from what I remember ... ??? I'd never heard that one until my B/N (who flew as a young enlisted air gunner in WW2) started yelling it on the radio when we caught a Rooskie sub on the surface and did our mandatory 5' and 500 KIAS "rigging pass" to ID him ....
http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?p=353725
Hmmm, never really thought about thatAhhh ...... unfortunately you were the last one down at night regardless of the conditions w/ no airborne fuel if YOU screwed the pooch ...
…..and glad I didn't have to.I assume on the really bad nights you had already given away any excess gas too.
I never met a Texaco I didn't like (except for the AF's stiff boom-hose contraption).
We never called 'em "shoes" ... just "Blackshoes" .... in fact, that's what they called themselves, sometimes even with pride.
The "shoe" thing must have come about as a result of modern day, can't pronounce the whole word, we're too cool for school laziness ....
Right, Brah??? I mean, Bruddah???
I think your post demonstrates why it changed to "Shoes." "Back in the day," SWOs (or whatever they were called back then, since they didn't really have the warfare pin) were proud of their tradition and reveled in their community. Nowadays it's so splintered w/ limited esprit de corps that the aviators have taken over the nickname, and therefore turned it into something that's only really derogatory. That's my take, anyway.
Hmmm, never really thought about that
I assume on the really bad nights you had already given away any excess gas too.
I never met a Texaco I didn't like (except for the AF's stiff boom-hose contraption).
There were times flying the last event tanker where we gave our fighter buddies more gas than we should have to the point that we realistically had a max of two looks at the deck, and that was with a short pattern if the deck was foul (we never boltered in the last event tanker). Why? Because they were our fighter buddies, and we might need them one day coming out of Indian Country.
Not stupid at all.
I'm gonna let someone else talk about training command CQ, because that was 20 years ago for me in a jet that doesn't fly anymore on a ship that is gone...
RAG CQ is where you make or don't make the varsity. Night Traps.
As part of your syllabus, you will begin FCLPs. Some communities do more than others. In E-2s, our syllabus for FAMS (which was basically all we did) was so short, we tried to get 120-150 FCLP passes on a student before they saw the ship. Hornets were less because they were easier to bring aboard and the RAG Cones in VFA had a lot more time in the jet before they went. Prowlers are somewhere in the middle.
If you "field qual" (you will probably never hear that term, but it is possible to field disqual), you will go to the ship. Your requirements are 2TG/10Traps day and 2TG/6Traps night.* (Unless you are in a ghey West Coast CVW flying Hummers, that should be the only time you ever do a night TG)
You must have 2/6 day before you can go at night.
In RAG CQ, there are certain grades/boarding rates you must attain, but the bottom line is it is a subjective call by the LSOs. Our policy was that by the time you were finishing CQ, you should be good enough to get aboard in the daytime with no help. Nights we were a little more lenient.
You should have an improving trend, and you should answer LSO calls with a timely and appropriate response.
One thing about CQ - you may think the LSOs are pricks, and they may be, but they are on your side. No LSO wants a student to go to the boat and look bad. When you go to the boat in CQ, the Airlan/Airpac Force LSO is out there too. He is the boss of your LSOs and decides if they get to be CAG LSOs or not - mostly based on the performance of his students. I never took a student to the boat if I did not think they would qual. If one of my guys disqualed at the boat, it was a surprise. I field disqualed a bunch of guys but in my opinion, that was better than letting them go to the boat and show their ass. A field disqual means you probably still get two tries at the boat. A boat disqual took away one of those chances.
More than once, years after we had left the RAG, I had old students THANK me for disqualing them. It AIN'T the end of the world, but don't take it lightly.
*If you are Navy going to a deployed squadron or CVW-5 in Japan, you will get 2 extra traps day and 2 extra night, so you will be 2/12 and 2/8.
If you have more questions - keep asking. This is the good stuff.
AJB37
Well-Known Member
What happens if you shit the bed on both tries after a field disqual?
Don;t ask the question you don't want the answer to.
AJB37
Well-Known Member
So bad things...
The Master Jet Bases with carrier based aircraft have Outlying Fields* for Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) where LSOs assess the aviator performance while aircraft fly the pattern hence term "Field Qual". You don't go to boat until you've done the requisite number of passes day and night AND LSO tells CO you're ready.
*OLFs are painted, lit and configured with Lens and LSO "shack" expressly for FCLP.
VFA-11 jet during recent FCLP at OLF Fentress near Oceana
Photo by HJ
Boy, how time flies. I remember being an ensign watching VF-11 bounce at Fentress in their F-4's.
Now you're really dating yourself as that had to have been almost 30 years ago.
- Status