NFO Blueprint / Advice

[Fom]

What makes an effective flight officer, or just a good one vs. an excellent one?

Active duty / veteran NFOs, what advice or knowledge do you wish you could give to the younger inexperienced version of yourself?

Who are some notable (non-fiction) NFOs? It's easy to look up "famous pilots" or similar and get a pile of results. Hell, when I search for "notable flight officers," I still get pages of pilots. Curious if there's anyone considered the "gold standard" of flight officers

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

What makes an effective flight officer, or just a good one vs. an excellent one?

Active duty / veteran NFOs, what advice or knowledge do you wish you could give to the younger inexperienced version of yourself?

Who are some notable (non-fiction) NFOs? It's easy to look up "famous pilots" or similar and get a pile of results. Hell, when I search for "notable flight officers," I still get pages of pilots. Curious if there's anyone considered the "gold standard" of flight officers

I just googled "Famous Naval Flight Officers" and found a list, easily.

 

[Fom]

I just googled "Famous Naval Flight Officers" and found a list, easily.

I just googled "Famous Naval Flight Officers" and found a list, easily.

That's just the wiki list though, right? It's sandwiched by aviator lists

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

That's just the wiki list though, right? It's sandwiched by aviator lists

Yes, the list is from Wikipedia. What other type of list or criteria are you looking for?

 

[Uncle Fester]

What makes an effective flight officer, or just a good one vs. an excellent one?

Active duty / veteran NFOs, what advice or knowledge do you wish you could give to the younger inexperienced version of yourself?

Who are some notable (non-fiction) NFOs? It's easy to look up "famous pilots" or similar and get a pile of results. Hell, when I search for "notable flight officers," I still get pages of pilots. Curious if there's anyone considered the "gold standard" of flight officers

Once you reach the squadron CO level, whether you have one anchor or two is, largely, irrelevant. It’s more about your leadership abilities, though of course demonstrating profesional competence in the airplane is a part of that.

Best guy I’ve ever worked for, in the Navy or outside, was my first squadron XO, later fleeted up to CO. I was also his on-wing since I reported aboard as an O-3 thanks to my prior Blackshoe time. Not only was he an awesome officer all around, but a great instructor in the plane and really had his shit together as a mission commander. I learned a ton from him. It’s pretty common for VAW CO/XOs to only rarely fly CICO since they have all their CDR shit to do and not much time for mission planning, but he took his turn in the center seat like the rest of us.

Whatever your community, however many anchors on your wings…actually pretty much any job in the military…you can run with whatever leadership style you want, but the one thing you absolutely cannot be an effective leader without is professional competence.

 

[Fom]

Yes, the list is from Wikipedia. What other type of list or criteria are you looking for?

I was surprised in all of US aviation history, it only listed about 50 people.
But good point, I'm not sure how many I think I needed exactly lol
Big brain dreams

 

[Brett327]

Once you reach the squadron CO first tour JO level, whether you have one anchor or two is, largely, irrelevant. It’s more about your leadership abilities, though of course demonstrating professional competence in the airplane is a part of that.

FIFY.

 

[Brett327]

What makes an effective flight officer, or just a good one vs. an excellent one?

Active duty / veteran NFOs, what advice or knowledge do you wish you could give to the younger inexperienced version of yourself?

Who are some notable (non-fiction) NFOs? It's easy to look up "famous pilots" or similar and get a pile of results. Hell, when I search for "notable flight officers," I still get pages of pilots. Curious if there's anyone considered the "gold standard" of flight officers

The answer to your question is this: The same qualities that make for a great pilot also make for a great NFO. Problem solved.

 

[Waveoff]

Be good at your job, be good in the plane, and be good in the wardroom.

You’d be shocked how far “being a good dude” will get you. And you become a good dude by not being a dick, doing work on time, looking out for others, and being a good officer. That’s true for every job ever, not just being an NFO.

 

[JTS11]

Be good at your job, be good in the plane, and be good in the wardroom.

The conventional wisdom has always been that you have to be good at 2 parts of that 3-legged stool to succeed in squadron life. I think it's probably true.