Winged FO's Start Talking! (please)

[mid1510]

CVW-14 is now de-activated, so that source is probably on longer reliable.

-ea6bflyr

For good or just until a carrier gets out of drydock? I always wondered how that happens.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Until further notice. I doubt that it'll be re-activated anytime soon.

-ea6bflyr

 

[HalfBreed]

Prior to their last deployment, CVW-14 swapped fighters with CVW-11.

 

[Uncle Fester]

For good or just until a carrier gets out of drydock? I always wondered how that happens.

Carriers and air wings aren't tied together now like they were back in the day. CVW17 was a wing without a boat for several years, when JFK went away.

 

[helolumpy]

There's 11 carriers and 10 airwings. Since one carrier is usually undergoing long-term maintenance (3 years), Most airwings may do a couple of deployments on one carrier and then a big shuffle happens.

 

[OscarMyers]

When I was in VFA-131 we cruised on the IKE 06-07 with CVW-7 then turned around some seven months later and took the GW around south America as a part of a composite CVW-17.

 

[MasterBates]

And for the 09-10 Iked Part One / IKED PART DEUX cruises, 131 and 121 were back in CAG 7.

Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk

 

[exNavyOffRec]

When I was in VFA-131 we cruised on the IKE 06-07 with CVW-7 then turned around some seven months later and took the GW around south America as a part of a composite CVW-17.

So you were there during the fire I take it.

 

[BusyBee604]

When I was in VFA-131 we cruised on the IKE 06-07 with CVW-7 then turned around some seven months later and took the GW around south America as a part of a composite CVW-17.

When I was in VA-55 in '62, we took half of CVW-5 (A-4s/F-8s) from CA to NorVa "round the Horn" on the then new CONNIE, to her first homeport in SanDogg. The other half of CVW-5 (A-1s/F-3Hs), brought LEXINGTON around the other way to be the new TRACOM CV in P'cola. Hope you enjoyed liberty as much as we did (4 days each) in: Trinidad, Rio, Valparaiso, Panama City & Acapulco! Grrr8 cruise!
BzB

 

[desertoasis]

Prior to their last deployment, CVW-14 swapped fighters with CVW-11.

CVW-14 swapped fighters with a group now in CVW-17 before the most recent cruise, then handed them off to CVW-11 after cruise. CVW-14 cruised with VFA-22, -25, -81, and -113 in 08 and Surge 09. First cruise with the new folks was RIMPAC '10.

 

[OscarMyers]

So you were there during the fire I take it.

They gave us the option to fly home on our own dime from Chile and I took them up on it for the wife's college graduation. That being the second mishap I barely missed on that ship. I was in 106 when the arresting wire broke on the GW and on the list for that CQ det, they sent me to Key West at the last minute instead in place of another guy having family problems. We only hit valpo and Rio, but we did shoot the straights of Magellan, that was awesome.

 

[A$AP]

As someone who was medically qualified for Pilot and chose the NFO route, my 12 years of experience as an NFO has validated that choice. There's a lot of discussion in several threads on AW about SNFOs fleeting up to SNA based on performance in API. This kind of thing ebbs and flows with requirements, so don't count on it if you've set your sights on being a pilot. I had the benefit of being enlisted Aircrew in the VP community where I could see the roles of both Pilots and NFOs. I'm also now in a community that is very NFO-centric (and will continue to be even with the designator pairity for the Growler).

Whether SNA or SNFO is right for you depends on you. There's obviously a lot of designator bravado that occurrs in the training environment (even from your instructors), so take things you hear with a grain of salt. If you're fundamentally wed to the idea of being at the controls of your aircraft, then perhaps SNA is what you should strive for. After being in this business for almost 22 years, I know that moving stick, rudder and throttle are just one of many skillsets that all aviators employ in the completion of their assigned missions. Much of the time, flying the aircraft is more of a background, autonomic task that takes second seat to mission oriented tasks. Communications, weapons employment, systems knowledge, decision-making and critical analysis of information are the foci of what Naval Aviation is actually all about. What gets done with stick and rudder is just incidental to all of that.

Brett

Very informative sir, thanks for the insight! Like OP, I was curious about why there seems to be a lack of winged posts on the NFO side. My packet is in for the December '13 board, and I applied for NA, NFO and SWO.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Fleet NFOs are currently too busy loading AMU's and shooting cool selfies from the back seat to respond

I keed I keed

 

[wink]

Very informative sir, thanks for the insight! Like OP, I was curious about why there seems to be a lack of winged posts on the NFO side. My packet is in for the December '13 board, and I applied for NA, NFO and SWO.

NFOs are confident and secure enough to not require the constant recognition of unknown internet forum readers.

In reality, if you consider the threads on AW, most are not pilot or NFO specific. Either a NFO or pilot can have offer a definitive answer or qualified opinion. That is really what it is like in the fleet. Sure, when the CAG LSO comes by the ready room after the recovery that is a pilot thing. The nerdier elements of mission planning are going to be a NFO thing. But the lines really do blur in the fleet, especially in TACAIR. But if you are referring to very specific subjects like NFO training, there are some fine sticky threads on those subjects. I can't imagine that you guys mean you have asked questions or started threads regarding NFO that have been ignored by winged NFOs. If you have a question regarding NFO you will get a NFO to respond with a reliable answer. Just ask.