Fast Jet Hours

[RAF]

does anybody know what a rough estimate for the number of flying hours fast jet pilots are getting in per month??
It would be intresting to see how much the government are allowing our front liners to practice!!!

[STANDTO]

don't know - bet it isnt many

[Danny Boy]

The number of hours per pilot per month will vary between forces and indeed sqns. Jags avarage about 18 per month but totals for the majority of pilots can be higher. Either way there are rumours of a 12 hrs a month cap so watch this space......

Danny Boy

[RotaDish]

Great!! 12 hours a month Cap!!

OK let's see, 3 on Monday, Tanking Wednesday ~ 4 Hours, Bit of "Harry-Doggas" Friday, Weekend..... Tanking Tuesday 4 hours.... Sorry Boss, I'll have to take 3 weeks leave.... Getting more like the airlines all the time!!

Rota

[Ali Barber]

Can't remember exactly, but doesn't 12 hrs put you below the A1 status declared to NATO. There was a big stink about a 1000 yrs ago when "they" tried to cut the hours to that sort of level for FJ.

[Danny Boy]

I must stress that 12 hrs per month was only a rumour. At the moment we are doing very well, thanks in no small part to very servicable jets.

Danny Boy

[Fat Dog]

So if most FJ pilots fly 12-18 hours a month, what else exactly do they do?

[MilOps]

Lots and lots of secondary duties, reading APs for the next tick, planning Trails, exercises, deployments and generally running a Sqn.

[opso]

They sit around complaining about not getting enough flying.

[Talking Radalt]

"Doesn't 12 hrs put you below the A1 status declared to NATO?"

Yes it probably does.
Nice one Tony. And to think El Pres wanted TWO 767s to fly him, his ego and all his henchpersons around when offering the services of the aforementioned hours-starved frontliners.

[Mowgli]

I remember this happened in the mid eighties - we were restricted then on fuel burn - not hours, but it still worked out with too few hours. The long term effects are not good - new people still get posted in and experience gets posted out - and the new guys have to be worked up . Trying to get formation leaders worked up is nigh on impossible cos it uses too many hours - it was very frustrating. At least when you restrict fuel you can manage it better than restricting hours - we changed the fit of the jets from 2 drop tanks to 1 centreline - reducing drag and therefore getting more mpg!

[chippy63]

Just curious, how much sim time can you generally get? I'm sure it depends on a number of factors.

[Swept]

in the dual seat mud world we are expected to get 30 hours every 3 months and believe it or not due to course (and crew outs!) some don't achieve it.

to answer the question of what we do the rest of the time. if you consider that every sortie takes approx 6-7 hours from start plan to ending debrief, add a few sqn secondary duties and a few middle management issues and believe me you can easily fill a 50 plus hour week!

[NoseGunner]

F3 world is similar to the others. It varies wildly across the year - lots getting bored over Iraq, generally lots in the Falklands (but can be poor) and then not much at home.
15 hrs is probably a good overall average.
And as stated above 15 hrs flying can easily equal a 50 hour week (not counting 24 hrs QRA on Saturday!).