do military navigators log PIC?
 

Do these guys fly the plane at all, just curious...

In the Air Force, the only time they "fly" is during training (depending on when they went through -- when I went through Nav school --now "CSO" school -- we got 7 or 8 hands-on rides in the T-34C). For me that was 16 years ago, so not sure of current curriculum. Other than that, Nav's (CSO's) get to fly the sim, and that's it (legally, at least)! All time is logges as MN, IN, etc.

Not sure about Navy NFO's, or F-15E WSO's (I don't know if there's a second set of flight controls in the back -- F-4's had dual controls, so the WSO's I knew got to fly the airplane at times).

Negative. Besides they have soooo much to do with all that mysterious navigation stuff.

Nope, but a good one would qualify for FA duties if they mixed the drinks while the rest of the crew puts the plane to bed. On the C-130 they were able to guide the plane through inputs to the SCNS but that was the closest I ever saw them to flying.

Something I was thinking about last night actually, how many NAVs are left in the USAF?

AFSOC will have them for years to come...that's about it.

The Strike Eagle will be around for many years to come. B-52s, RJs....what else?

Something I was thinking about last night actually, how many NAVs are left in the USAF?

That's kind of a trick question -- none, since they're all now "Combat Sytems Operators".

As far as reality, now that the C-130 AMP (for H models) got canx'd, they'll be around for a while on those as well. AMP was supposed to get rid of the nav's, the way PACER CRAG did on the tankers, but it was cut by the CSAF. I've attached a link to his message. Aside from mentioning the almost 300 airplanes they're going to cut in the next 4-5 years is a blurb about canx'ing the AMP program.

http://www.af.mil/shared/media/docum...120201-027.pdf

I was thinking of the slick cargo world, didn't consider the WSO, AFSOC, and other small niche areas. Thanks for the info.

RNZAF P-3 Navs get the opportunity to sign for the airplane every now and then. When the senior pilot is a "C Cat" aka First Pilot aka 2P and the nav (TACCO) is rated as a "Nav Captain" the navigator is PIC and logs "Captain" time.

This is rare and usually the senior pilot is a "B Cat" Captain or "A Cat" instructor.

KC-135s still have a nav requirement for certain missions.