Reasons why P3 Orion Pilots Washout in final phase of training??

[cujomomba]

Hi All,
I'm starting my civilian flight training soon but just learned of a girl who washed out of P3 Orion training during the last phase of training. She had a few months to go before wings. She got through basic flight, advanced flight, and now washes out 1/2 way through P3 training.

What do you think were the likely reasons for her being removed from the flight training so late in the game? She's not exactly talking and I understand given her military career is probably closing in on the water sanitation plant about now but I am curious.

Curiously (got the cat :E ),
CM

[Yozzer]

The reason why anybody fails a military flying course towards the end of their training is usually because their individual capacity has been reached and that it is insufficient for operational duties.

Final stages tend to apply tactics in addition to basic flying skills. Lateral thinking or an "out of the box" thought process are required with foresight and anticipation being particulary important.

Your friend may be able to throw an Orion all over the sky, but that is not good enough if she cannot give the rear crew the service they require to kill a submarine, or avoid an air to air jet threat, or for that matter a surface to air threat. That is where airliner driving skills stop and the military aviator starts. It is also where some find their final hurdle insumountable.

It is not unknown for military pilots to get chopped on their final flight of a course!

[Pontius Navigator]

Yozzer, agree, friend of mine eventually made a fine navigator after being chopped for not hacking formation flight in a twin-piston.

The training regime is shaped like a ski-jump. Gets steeper as you go on. As you said there suddenyl comes a quantum jump moving from basics to applied. I hit a wall like that in MOPS too.

Went on leave for a week, came back and they were talking a different language. Last week dropping sonobouys, next week spitting maypoles and pointers with bloodhounds instead of torpedoes. Lost me until I sat down with the books and learnt the new language. Years later I could talk namat with the best of them.

[cujomomba]

Yozz and Pontius, thanks for the info. It illuminates the difficulty of bringing everything together while on an air force mission. Gotta be able to manipulate the controls of the a/c automatically while employing all the weapons and radar systems at once. You've either got it or you don't. Getting chopped on the final flight of a course would be brutal to take. That would be one mind-warp I would like to avoid....one minute you're Top Dog and the next you're Dog Patch. :} That has to be devestating. Going home to face your friends with your tail tucked between your legs. :E Sorry...couldn't resist.
I bet the militaries would like to find a way of determining with precision who will make it and who won't to save on costs.
At least she got all that free turbine time. :ok:
Thanks gents and good luck,
Retiring to 747s must be so boring for you guys.
CM

[Charlie Luncher]

Maybe she didnt like having to cook in the galley or vacuuming the aircraft for the boys.:E
Charlie sends

[Pontius Navigator]

Cujomoba, I want to add that she probably has a great feeling of relief too.

Having seen lots of studes chopped they all look shattered and crumpled. They have been trying, and struggling, for so long that the chop message is crushing.

Then the stress comes off, the realisation sinks in, and they realise that the instructors did the best and they did too. There is the odd exception but most just feel relief. Later, when meeting their old instructors, they often express gratitude as they too have reconciled themselves with the truth that they were not cut out for that role.

Better to have tried and failed than never tried at all.

[BillHicksRules]

Cujomomba,

Has she been offered something else?

Perhaps transport?

After all she has had a lot of money invested in her to get her to this stage.

If you have the time look at the career of Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter.

Cheers

BHR

[cujomomba]

Charlie...maybe she was fluffing more than pillows in the back.:E :}

Pontius...absolutely. It's probably a process that she's going through. Now that you mention it she does seem relieved.

BHR...she's been cut from flight status permanently but she still has her contract to fulfill. I was surprised at that too but the military has its ways. 5 more years. Something like that...maybe less when she's moved into a new area of military work.

Gents. Thanks for all the info. I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a looker. She can always work at Hooters. :} As for me, I'm gonna be satisfied just baby-sitting the autopilot from airport to airport. :cool: It'll be good to know that the guy sitting in the left seat will probably be ex-military and actually know how to fly the plane....as long as he doesn't have any flash-backs.:E
CM