Airforce fixedwing transition course ???

[walmartwannabe]

Next year, I will attend the fixed wing transition course for an Air Force Reserve B-52 pilot position. I flew helos for the Army Guard , but have over 4,000 hours fixed wing piston, turbine and jet. What can I expect at Vance AFB...???? Training time, aircraft specifics or any other important info ???

I would appreciate any info available

 

[HoursHore]

Be prepared to be treated like a retard. seriously. Go in with a sense of humor, know that 300 hour FAIPS are going to talk down to you, and suck it up, cause it blows. Talk to some of your army bretheren about it. Lots have gone through.

 

[HoursHore]

I read your post a little closer. Are you sure you have to go through with that much fixed wing time? Is it civilian time? regardless, a sense of humor is your best defense.

 

[walmartwannabe]

response to horshore

My fixed wing time is all civilian... I have always been humble around other pilots. I will deffinatley go through with a good attitude, after all I am there to learn right ??

Thanks for your input....

 

[46Driver]

Since everything is going "joint", there are some Navy and Marine instructors there - who more than likely flew helos as their primary fleet aircraft (I have a couple of buds instructing there now.) Be upfront about your flight time - they aren't going to care one way or the other, unless you try and hide it. Congrats on getting a B-52 slot - that looks like a lot of fun. And to PatMack18, remember the wisdom of Homer Simpson: "The Navy was a fine organization until the Village People ruined it....." Now its off to Whiting to fly a triple....

 

[CCDiscoB]

The last I knew the AF did away with the fixed wing transition course. The syllabus required so many rides the AF figured they might as well send the student through the entire UPT syllabus. I maybe wrong, but to continue my train of thought, you are basically starting from scratch. You are a UPT student. Don’t go in there saying “This is fixed wing transition for me, I’m already a pilot.” That won’t get you anywhere. You might be a pilot, but you're not an AF pilot.

We will however expect more out of you. In the flying department and the officership department.

Are you a former warrant officer or commissioned officer? If you’re a Captain then you’ll most likely be the SRO. My UPT SRO was an Army Captain. He was top grad.

As for all of your flying time, I’ve already written, in other posts, about the pitfalls of too much flying time and military transition.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Fixed Wing Qual is alive and well

As of last month, fixed wing qual folks went through ground school with everyone else and then split to a separate flight on the flightline. Don't try and hide any flight time and disregard any patmack18 advice-he's spent zero days on the flightline. You will mostly fly with seasoned IP's. No FAIPS are assigned to fixed wing qual, but that doesn't mean you won't get one as a guest helper...not that there's anything wrong with that-they fly circles around me. The Flight Commander is a straight-up guy and will be looking to do everytyhing to make your transition as painless as possible. Don't expect to be talked down to, but you will get honest assessments of your performance and what you need to do to pass your checkride. Nobody is going to treat you like a retard unless you happen to be one, then that's another story. Good advice from CCDisco regarding the experience attitude...Remember, you have to temporarily become a "Tweet Pilot" and play by a funny set of rules that will be foreign to you-not hard at all if you go with the grain instead of against it. They washed out an Army Major a couple of months ago and I've seen a (very) few others have trouble there. They don't feel a bit obligated to pass someone through that doesn't make the grade, but the majority of folks have no significant problems. Expect several months in the tweet and I am guessing you will go on to fly the T-38 for a few months as well. Most of all have fun and congrats on a sweet buff deal. If you like, PM me and I can email your questions directly to the fixed wing guy if you like. I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any Q's you might have.

 

[walmartwannabe]

Thanks Guys

I appreciate all of the info you guys have offered. I certainly feel that I have the right attitude for the course. I have been in a similar situation in the airline industry and after being furloughed, I feel very blessed to have an opportunity to fly again. Fortunetley, I am already commissioned (O-2) promotable to
(O-3)... I was prior enlisted, OCS, followed by IERW at Ft. Rucker.... Got out of the guard after six years (state ran out of money) no AFTP's... Commuting to the airline job and the guard job was a huge burden..... Some great friends at Barksdale Air Force Base helped me get the B-52 job...

I will deffinetley be honest, not boast and roll with the punches through my training. I love the military and cant wait to get started. By the way, The Air Force will recognize my Army experience and grant me my wings before I go to school. It is my unserstanding that the fixed wing transition course is to qualify me as a military fixed wing pilot. The B-52 course will follow the Q course..

Wish me luck !!!!!

 

[Troll]

To get the real scoop on FW Qual course go to http://trss3.randolph.af.mil/bookstore. You have to be on a Gov computer. Select T-37 and look under FV-5A-Q Fixed Wing Qualification Course.

 

[HueyPilot]

I knew a few that went through the FWQ course, and as far as I know, it still exists.

I disagree with this statement:

"Don’t go in there saying 'This is fixed wing transition for me, I’m already a pilot.' That won’t get you anywhere. You might be a pilot, but you're not an AF pilot. "

I'm an "Air Force" pilot now, I suppose. But prior to that I was an Army pilot. No, I didn't walk in acting like I had my **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** together and snubbing any instruction. But I didn't particularly enjoy the "attitude" of some of the IPs, notably the FAIPs, some of whom had alot of hearburn with me wearing my Army wings on my chest. They felt the same way you did....hey, you're a UPT student, you don't deserve to wear wings.

Bull$....I earned 'em, and they're mine. And I was a *RATED U.S. MILITARY PILOT*, period. I respected the IP code, and they should have respected my military wings, but some felt the need to be idiots and get all upset because a student dared to wear a set of wings on his chest. Again, ironically, I had more time that some of the FAIPs I flew with. I played the game, but I spent some time biting my tongue quite a bit.

The PQP instructors were alot more professional about the issue. And I'm not trying to rail on any particular group, but all of the FAIPs that took issue with me wearing wings were Tweet dudes with fighter follow-ons.

When I got to the T-1 squadron, one FAIP actually would sit down with me and ask me questions so he could broaden his knowledge base....he wasn't afraid to ask a rated military pilot who had twice as much time as he did a question simply because that pilot was in a student status......

"We will however expect more out of you. In the flying department and the officership department. "

To be honest with you, the officership department is just as demanding as it was when I was in the Army. And as for the flying department....UPT was easier than Army flight school. By far. I'm not saying that it's easy, but in comparison, UPT didn't measure up. Learning to hover and perform autorotations was many times harder than learning to solo the Tweet. The sim rides in UPT were easier....the schedule was less demanding, and you didn't have to worry about learning the 17-some-odd boldface procedures for the Huey, and being able to at least paraphrase all the rest of the emergency checklists from memory.

Now back to walmartwannabe's questions:

Despite my above rant, I would still remain humble and ready to learn. In fact, you should ALWAYS have that attitude, whether you're in UPT or not. Don't argue with your instructor, because even if he's a young 300-hour FAIP, they know more about the Tweet than you do. Not to mention that the Air Force does do a few things differently, and you'll have to change some habit patterns. But if you stay open minded and ready to learn, you shouldn't have any problems.

As for the syllabus, it's similar to UPT, but with a few changes. I think some FWQ slots are just Phase III, but most are both Phase II and III. You won't undergo alot of the initial training as the UPT students do. You won't have to deal with EPQs and stand-ups either, because (again) YOU ARE ALREADY A RATED MILITARY PILOT and you technically aren't supposed to deal with the retarded harrassment crap that the UPTers deal with. But that's not to say you won't be lumped into that category by some of the instructors anyways.

Just to let you know.....the Air Force culture has a very low opinion of helicopter drivers, especially within the fast-jet communities. Unless, of course, they have had the pleasure of flying a helicopter (or attempting to do so)...then their attitude changes considerably.

P.S......the Huey is still my favorite airplane!