Originally Posted by
oasis04
USMCflyr
By your estimation what is the avg. age and hr. total for your students when you punch them out of the frs?
Its been awhile but I seem to remember gettin nuggets into our squadron flyin Phrogs (HMM-162) with <500 hrs. Granted we had two pilots and a min crew of three, yet I would speculate that one of your Hornet drivers hits the fleet squadron with less than 1000 hrs total time. These pilots are often single pilot with dangerous stuff hangin from the wings and belly.
On average - I'd say they are 24-25 years old and have approximately 400 hrs of flight time. I base the age on a college graduate (22 y/o) and then 2-3 years through the pipeline to hit the fleet.
I base the flight hours on him having no prior flight experience and checking yesterday what a small sampling of our newest class of pilots have coming to the Hornet (250-280+) and then adding another 120 hours in the Hornet before hitting the fleet.
Now...those newly trained wingman hitting the fleet can be thrown RIGHT INTO a combat situation when they leave the FRS and find themselves sent to an already deployed squadron aboard USS Boat sitting in the Gulf flying OIF/OEF missions. They also are on someone's wing most of the time as you might imagine - but stranger things have happened. also - no one is on their wing when it is time for that night carrier approach with pitching decks and a dutch roll thrown in for good measure. What they are able to accomplish is amazing. My hat is off to them. Brave men and women are they.
USMCFLYR