KC-135/C-130 Typical

[TankerPuke]

Typical month for me is to fly 4 times a month on my days off. Usually local 2.5 to 4.0 sorties equalling about 10 - 20 hours a month. My unit tries to get large ship formations (4 or more) during UTA weekends and if they are going I will generally be on one. Mission types are refueling F16's from Hill AFB, B1's from all over, C130's and A10's from Boise, C17's from McChord, and the occasional BUFF from Barksdale. After refueling we will do about 1 hour of touch and go's.

Every now and again I will take MIL LEAVE and go TDY somewhere. For example, I just returned from Geilenkirchen, Germany where we trained with NATO AWACS doing AR missions over the North Sea and Frankfurt. Rough job ain't it

As far as requiring more time - don't know. My unit just asks that we stay current.

PUKE

 

[DHPope93]

FWIW, after a casual comparison of schedules between a Reserve -135 pilot friend and myself, they were quite similar (frequency, duration. etc). The only major difference was the addition of simulator training (5-7 different profiles that each have to be done once a year) interspersed throughout the month/year as need be. I believe these are 4 hour blocks, but I may be mistaken. His R-model unit has a simulator on base (associated unit), whereas we E-model guys get them all done at once in a 3 day stint at American Airlines in Dallas TX (for the time being, anyway).

4 flights/month seems to be the Gold Standard for what is expected of part-timers. These days, there's enough Bums around to pick up any extra flights, so we (Da Bums) actually like it when the guys with real jobs have to drop off of the schedule. There are also alert tours (either telephone/cell phone/beeper standby or on-base alert) that have to be manned. Depending on the unit, you may be expected to do 1 or more of these a month. For example, in my unit, the 1st type covers 2 days of commitment, while the 2nd would be a 24 hour tour.

The only other tanker TDY missions I can think to add are Coronets, Guardlift, and Business Efforts. Coronets are "fighter drags" to various places overseas (i.e. we'll join up with a formation from our sister fighter unit and "drag" them to Hawaii). Guardlift is basically carrying Guardsmen/Space A pax/cargo to a particular location. Business Efforts are when we send a tanker to a base for them to use for their training (i.e. sending a tanker to Hulburt Field, FL so they have a dedicated tanker for a series of training missions). Obviously, the better the location, the more plentiful the volunteers. Most of our trips tend to be no longer than 3-4 days since they work the best for the airline pilots/part-timers in the unit. However, the major deployments (Op Northern Watch, Red Flag, etc) usualy require 2-week commitments.

By the way, there may be an initial period of "Active Duty" for mission-qualification training to help you get spun-up in the unit. (My unit does 45 days).

Hope this helped.

Peace & Happy Kwanzaa,
DP

 

[RichO]

Don't forget to check out a website called www.baseops.net

Great info on Reserve/Guard units hiring.........