Folks,

Been retired and out of it (mostly) since '94. I remember 130 training for navy (tacamo then) and marines was always done at Little Rock. My son is about to transition to FTS for 130s and was told he would do Fort Worth for about a month. Has the training changed/been truncated that they can get away for a month away from base to fly a brand new airplane? I remember RAGS going from 5 months to 8 months back in the day. Is this really quality training comparable to Little Rock or a diff animal altogether? Any drawbacks/advantages to the new system?

TIA

Pilot7576

Correct. He's going to TX. All he needs is a NATOPS qual, everything else he'll get will be OJT. The Air Force runs an RTU, this means the full spectrum of C-130 flying (and USAF pain). VR does nothing tactical and in true Navy fashion all schools are "Big Boy" rules. Show up, execute, leave. Drawbacks? Can't think of any. Advantages? Quality of life, less time away from home, quality training, etc.

Grumble...

Thanks for the quick reply...makes sense with the mission. I guess he'll have his hands full with the transition...at least he won't have to spend months away from home.

Pilot7576

7576,

Training is airline style training. LR flew AF airplanes with AF checklists and AF rules. Even commercial sim vendors training was lacking. In FW they fly a T model sim using Navy checklist. Way more focused training. PM me if you have questions. Very familiar.

Both maintenance and aircrew training (pilot/flight engineer/loadmaster) training are all done at the ALTC in Fort Worth. Depending on what curriculum he is going through depends on the length of training. 4 weeks is short for an FTS.

pitpilotc9...

He quoted me "about a month" in FT Worth followed by a week somewhere in CA for DH school. To me, "about a month" is anywhere from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 weeks...he's just happy to stay in a cockpit and build some heavy ME time....

Pilot7576

If you don't mind me asking, what was his background before FTS? I just put in for this Spring's board (convened today) and hoping to pick up VR. What squadron is he headed to?

kb8018...

Without getting too specific, his background is H60s and T6s. He's been the high time guy for the most part in his sqn. He got FTS for VR off the Xmas board and will start training June/July. He was hoping for 73s out of San Diego, but a former VR commodore told him that the 130s were doing a lot more flying than the 73s. He hopes to get enough heavy multi time to qualify for Fedex.
Pilot7576

Awesome, good deal. My background is H-60 and C-12, so that gives some hope. It will either come down to VR FTS or SELRES VR plus a regional job, depending on how things go.

Well, that's certainly relative when juxtaposed to invol individual mobs (non-flying to boot). Refer to the "MOB'd while swimming" thread for a case study. Frankly, I don't know how the NavyRes keeps their TR billets staffed. In the AF side we couldn't keep the shop open if TRs were tied to individual invols. Must be a Navy thing. As ARTs or AGRs (what you navy types call FTS) *maybe* I could see them pushing it through without instant bailout, but as TRs? Nope. Not in the QOL column for me, if my civilian full time job was on the line....