This group in particular compared to military non rotary, CFIs, and Part 135 guys is overall routinely struggling with basic instrument stuff..[/QUOTE]

..This exactly.. After 30+ years of flying, in 3 continents, the best pilots I've seen were those with the most variety under their belts..Experience counts..

​​​​​​Fly safe,
B757

 

It likely also depends on the branch of the military they served in, Army does a lot of VFR flying in the helo, so may not have as much IFR training. Navy does a lot of night IFR missions at sea in the helo and many Navy pilots also fly fixed wing, in fact training is fixed wing before the helo. So you potentially do rotations in both helo and fixed wing during your career. You can come out of the service with multiple type ratings depending on your assignments.

 

I was at Mesa 2003-05 and flew with some San Juan graduates. Great pilots to have on a Sim checkride or flying an IFR approach just like in the sim. But knowing when to turn downwind to base when getting slam dunked on a visual is a different story. They had no sense of energy management. I had one 500hr 22yr old F/O just off IOE. They only got one or two landings in the CRJ200, everything else was 700/900. They were assigned to PHL which only had 200's. Their first leg they flew was fine until we got slam dunked into 18R (now 18C) in CLT. I had to suggest some corrections, nothing major. Then they flared 50 feet too high and the airspeed was diving below vref. That was the only time I had to take the jet away from a copilot. Hated to do it because it wasn't their fault, the landing picture on the 200 vs. 700/900 was very different. But I also hated to stall and crash.

 

My Navy/USMC helo buddies admit they are terrible IFR flyers. They never do it. A good-deal buddy checkride once per year. The night flying ya do in the navy/marines is 99% VFR on goggles. Yeah, sure 65 hours of fixed wing time in primary, entirely VFR, proves the point further. People don’t show up to airlines without any fixed wing time. The point was one group shows up weaker with instrument training and experience. Most will overcome it to varying degrees, right?
I say again, folks from every background cover the whole spectrum of weak and strong abilities and personalities. It’s honestly all good.

 

My point which may have been lost is that even though they are weak IFR they admit it and are teachable.

 

Perhaps in some cases but that does not apply to all. My good friend who was in the Navy for approximately 10 years flew helo when at sea and flew fixed wing C12 when stationed at base. So he left with a decent amount of fixed wing. He also said they did many night missions in the helo, which were IFR. So I think it really depends on the experience in the military and how you are assigned.

 

So I read about ‘energy management’ and ‘slam-dunk’ and ‘this-n-that’ that new FO’s can’t do.
Those are all skills that need to be learned in type.
I went from one type to another that was almost exactly 10x heavier.
Now I fly a plane that has a fuel capacity which is TWICE the MTOW of the one that was 10x heavier then the previous one.
The sim is canned, the rest you need to learn in real life.
If you expect me to handle a slam-dunk as well as you can while I’m just off OE and my previous airplane was 1/10th the weight, you need to calibrate your reality/expectation meter a little bit.
I’m being nice.

 

Of course not. New people are new. There’s a lot to learn. But keeping the airplane close to the middle of the runway on the takeoff roll is a low bar that isn’t always being met.

 

Touche, very true.
You made me chuckle.