Yes initial qual would be in the FRS and obviously there's a cost to doing that. CNAFR ultimately picks up the tab for those quotas, but in some cases I have seen the FRS soak up the overhead for the CAT III/IV syllabus. In fact one of the AF dudes I know in NOLA is back at the FRS doing his initial CQ(he did not obviously CQ in the TRACOM) so this will be his first time going to the boat and it will be in a gray jet.

Some good advice on here for the original poster in terms of what options are out there.

To include night? :eek:

Indeed...rumor has it the squadron in NOLA will be part of an upcoming deployment much like they did with CVW-8.

My nephew is in CVW-8, helos. I'll ask him to keep an eye out when flying plane guard. :D

GF

In Kingsville, we have a former active USAF T-38 and U-2 pilot as a T-45A/C IP. He is a Delta pilot and reserve instructor. I think Huggy knows him, it's Horny.

Maybe...
... but let's face it: they let Ensigns/2Lt's do it.

Yes,... and he got carrier qual'd too.

I'd guess its tougher as the funding gets tighter.. That being said timing is everything (the squadron is hiring) & ultimately how well connected are you? I flew with a dude that went from F14s to 16s in the the reserves but that was a while ago. I think he ended up retiring as a Major.

My comment about "harder" wasn't the 'act' of CQ'ing, but the logistics of it. Time spent in training, TDY, and the cost associated.
Yes - if someone with 150 hrs TT can do it, then I'm sure a transition from another aircraft could do it too ;)

I'm glad to hear that he was able to do that. Hard to teach SNA's how to land the jet on the boat if you've never been there and don't understand the importance of 'on speed' and the landing pattern.

The wing tries to get even the few P-3 bubba's that instruct, at least one shot at the boat. It certainly does help to have an understanding when teaching the landing pattern.