Is this alleged F/A 18 pilot + CFI a fake?

dans2992 said:
I suspect that if he used to fly F18s, he could walk right in to a corporate job rather than work as a CFI?
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spot on, unless there was some type of discharge that would work against him. Nevertheless military pilots find a pool of contacts for flying jobs on the outside. My guess is this guy is fishing for attention and most likely has poor self esteem. You could entertain the idea or question his background some more.
 
As far as I know, there are no type ratings for any military fighters, because those airplanes are 'public use' and not FAA certified airplanes. I would not expect the average F-18 pilot to have any FAA type ratings at all.
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One interesting byproduct of being a back/side seater in a military jet is that if our WSO/EWO/NFO/CSO/XYZ has an FAA certificate in the same category and class then he or she can log all that sweet 'sole manipulator' time in his FAA logbook, assuming his seat has a stick.

In my experience anyway, I could hand fly 'out and back' pretty much anytime I asked.

I personally only took the stick if it was offered, but a lot of guys begged like pathic groupies for every second of stick time they could get. I always was embarrassed by those guys.
 
Matthew said:
You got the REAL pilot glasses.
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I was going to say... My sunglasses came from 7-11 and I have about a half dozen stashed away in my car, desk, flight bag, on top of my hat bill, or in (insert random place HERE). Aren't most pilots cheap asses like I am?
 
nimdabew said:
???

http://www.mauijim.com/shop/en/us/Repairs
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RotorAndWing said:
henning is special. Give him time and he'll tell you he knows the owner. :rolleyes:
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- Maui Jim previously had a lifetime warranty on their sunglasses.
- They no longer have a life time warranty
- However, if you bought a pair with the lifetime warranty, they still honor it today.

So to sum it up -- how about we stay friendly around here and instead of attacking someone about a warranty claim spend five seconds on Google like I did to research it?
 
Velocity173 said:
They can but they still have to take the written test (61.73G). You can also use your up chit (4186) for a class 3 now. I believe both of those changes occurred in late 2009.
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Most of us that are multi-engine jet IP's (18, 15, 22) can't get the multi-engine IP (or single engine IP) from the mil competency. They will give you Instrument Instructor only since they consider those jets centerline thrust. Afterwards you have to do add-on checkrides to get single or multi-engine IP.

I got the multi because I was an IP for 2 months in an MC-12W - because that was way more instructional than the 1000+ hours of IP time in the Eagle. :rolleyes:
 
nimdabew said:
I was going to say... My sunglasses came from 7-11 and I have about a half dozen stashed away in my car, desk, flight bag, on top of my hat bill, or in (insert random place HERE). Aren't most pilots cheap asses like I am?
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I go for walmart / amazon $8 specials because they will be forgotten somewhere with in the next several months.
 
EvilEagle said:
Most of us that are multi-engine jet IP's (18, 15, 22) can't get the multi-engine IP (or single engine IP) from the mil competency. They will give you Instrument Instructor only since they consider those jets centerline thrust. Afterwards you have to do add-on checkrides to get single or multi-engine IP.

I got the multi because I was an IP for 2 months in an MC-12W - because that was way more instructional than the 1000+ hours of IP time in the Eagle. :rolleyes:
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Yeah I suppose it's because of the whole Vmc rule with traditional ME aircraft. At least it's not like in rotorcraft. You get out with thousands of RW hrs and then still have to get 10 hrs dual in a little Robinson R22 / R44 to act as PIC.

I can't ever see me instructing again, especially as a civilian so I haven't even considered getting it. 7 yrs doing it in the Army was enough. Haven't even gotten the UH-60 type rating yet.
 
Velocity173 said:
Yeah I suppose it's because of the whole Vmc rule with traditional ME aircraft. At least it's not like in rotorcraft. You get out with thousands of RW hrs and then still have to get 10 hrs dual in a little Robinson R22 / R44 to act as PIC.

I can't ever see me instructing again, especially as a civilian so I haven't even considered getting it. 7 yrs doing it in the Army was enough. Haven't even gotten the UH-60 type rating yet.
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I once did a single engine transition for an active duty military multiengine pilot that freaked out about Vmc when we were doing stalls in a Cherokee 180. It took a fair bit of explaining before he understood why Vmc wasn't a thing in a Cherokee.
 
jesse said:
I once did a single engine transition for an active duty military multiengine pilot that freaked out about Vmc when we were doing stalls in a Cherokee 180. It took a fair bit of explaining before he understood why Vmc wasn't a thing in a Cherokee.
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Some of these transitions from military to civilian, I think a lot of basics are forgotten or possibly not reinforced by the CFI. I think in some cases the CFI automatically thinks the military student knows based on prior experience. When I got my FW IFR, the CFII just kept saying I was doing great but I knew I had things to work on. I was fine with the basics of instrument flight but wasn't up to speed on regs. I had too much Army crap jumbled in my head. The transition is more difficult than some imagine.
 
Velocity173 said:
Some of these transitions from military to civilian, I think a lot of basics are forgotten or possibly not reinforced by the CFI. I think in some cases the CFI automatically thinks the military student knows based on prior experience. When I got my FW IFR, the CFII just kept saying I was doing great but I knew I had things to work on. I was fine with the basics of instrument flight but wasn't up to speed on regs. I had too much Army crap jumbled in my head. The transition is more difficult than some imagine.
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Yeah, I assumed too much initially, his head about exploded when I told him to take me to two different airports that were within 25 miles of where we were departing. He really had no idea what the rules of VFR were, or that you could just fly to those airports without paperwork. How to do things without paperwork was really what took the most attention.

Really there was a LOT more freedom to how us GA pilots actually operate than he imagined.

I expected he would know more about the national airspace system then he really did. Mostly because what he did full-time was fly around a Kingair in the Army. Almost all in the U.S. I guess they must always be IFR. Not sure.

The FAA had given him a multi-engine commercial certificate with instrument based on his military experience. He was wanting the single engine so that he could take some family/friends flying. Really though he would have been in no shape to utilize his FAA certificate outside of the military without training.

He really wanted a plan on paper in advance for basically every detail. I appreciate that but the reality of what I knew the DPE would do would result in things not in the plan. So we focused a lot on changing up the plans while you're in the air.

Nice guy though, we got it done, not sure he really ever used his single engine certificate after he got it though.

My interactions with Navy and Air Force pilots have been much different. Overall they have a hell of a lot more knowledge IMO. Basic aerodynamics were never taught to this Army guy or he retained zero of it.
 
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jesse said:
Yeah, I assumed too much initially, his head about exploded when I told him to take me to two different airports that were within 25 miles of where we were departing. He really had no idea what the rules of VFR were, or that you could just fly to those airports without paperwork. How to do things without paperwork was really what took the most attention.

Really there was a LOT more freedom to how us GA pilots actually operate than he imagined.

I expected he would know more about the national airspace system then he really did. Mostly because what he did full-time was fly around a Kingair in the Army. Almost all in the U.S. I guess they must always be IFR. Not sure.

The FAA had given him a multi-engine commercial certificate with instrument based on his military experience. He was wanting the single engine so that he could take some family/friends flying. Really though he would have been in no shape to utilize his FAA certificate outside of the military without training.

He really wanted a plan on paper in advance for basically every detail. I appreciate that but the reality of what I knew the DPE would do would result in things not in the plan. So we focused a lot on changing up the plans while you're in the air.

Nice guy though, we got it done, not sure he really ever used his single engine certificate after he got it though.

My interactions with Navy and Air Force pilots have been much different. Overall they have a hell of a lot more knowledge IMO. Basic aerodynamics were never taught to this Army guy or he retained zero of it.
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Not sure why he was weak on airspace and aerodynamics. It's not only taught in basic flight school but he got another dose of it in the fixed wing course. Flight Safety takes him from the C-182, Zlin, BE-58 and C-12. I know they covered that stuff with him. Both aero and airspace are also annual eval requirements..

They do pretty much fly IFR everywhere they go. He's not used to just hoping in an aircraft and going off without filing a flight plan and doing detailed planning. That and the fact he doesn't fly single pilot, so all the planning duties are split up.

Not trying to make excuses for the guy though. It sounds like he was clearly in over his head. Must have been a National Guard guy. :D
 
Velocity173 said:
Not sure why he was weak on airspace and aerodynamics.
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I'm not surprised by the lack of knowledge about airspace. I once worked with a Super Hornet guy who honestly thought that civilian aircraft were not allowed to enter a Whiskey area (he thought that when he was out there flying in them, that they were like Restricted areas.
 
They do pretty much fly IFR everywhere they go. He's not used to just hoping in an aircraft and going off without filing a flight plan and doing detailed planning.
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I was a mere navigator, and that was a long time ago. Still, I feel bad if I don't do detailed planning for every flight, even if it's just to hop over one airport for cheap fuel or a burger.

This fetish even extends to riding my motorcycle!
 
JimNtexas said:
I was a mere navigator, and that was a long time ago. Still, I feel bad if I don't do detailed planning for every flight, even if it's just to hop over one airport for cheap fuel or a burger.

This fetish even extends to riding my motorcycle!
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One thing I enjoy about EMS is the lack of red tape involved. No flight plan requirement, detailed route planning, mission approval process, AF WX brief, range notams etc, etc. Obviously we still have planning requirements but nothing like I had in the military.
 
jesse said:
So to sum it up -- how about we stay friendly around here and instead of attacking someone about a warranty claim spend five seconds on Google like I did to research it?
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I didn't attack you, I was just curious what the difference between what you said and what their company stance is.
 
Unregistered said:
Recently, I wanted to rent a plane and had to get checked out by one of the flight school's CFIs.
This guy looked like the comic of a CFI: Big Ray-Ban sunglasses, acting VERY important, leather jacket with a fur collar and, of course, a dozen or so patches on it including one saying 'Top-Gun'. I would think that he is in his mid 30s.
We talk, we fly, we chat a little bit. As we are chatting, he tells me that his goal is to work as a corporate jet pilot and that he will only work as a CFI until the right opportunity comes up. He also tells me, that before he became a CFI he was a F/A 18 pilot and that he gained quite some experience landing on aircraft carriers.

I looked him up on LinkedIn: All he has listed under 'education' is the flight school at which he did his CFI. Under employment he only mentions the flight school he was previously working for. I would expect, that if somebody is serious about finding a job as a corporate pilot, he would also list all of his aviation related experiences on LinkedIn!? I would also think that some time as a fighter jet pilot wouldn't hurt in the resume!?

I feel a little bit like a jerk, sniffing around like that, but my gut tells me this guy is a fake. What do you think? Are there more people like this around? What is the typical route military jet pilots take, assuming they are looking for a job in the aviation industry?
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You weren't at N57 by any chance were you? This resembles on of their instructors from a while back..

Back in the mid 90's I went there to rent planes... I was on a temp work assignment in the area that had me there for weeks at a time...

They had Tomahawks and that is the plane I got my primary in... After 30 minutes of listening to him talk about himself during the checkout, and the smell of the mushroom farms wafting through the cockpit @ 2500' I was getting a little nauseated... I had asked him to pull his seat forward as far as he could while I started a turning climb to 7000, leveled off, and then did the same... At that point I had noted to him I was not comfortable with the "approach to landing stall" and wanted to try in again.... If he had a clue he would have known what I was setting up for and then... heeeeeeeee haaaawwwwwwww spin time!!! :goofy::yikes::lol::hairraise:

I had us recovered and back in level flight before he could even say my name...

I think this guy S***T his pants because the cockpit smelled worse at 5500 than it did at 2500 and he pretty much kept his mouth shut for the rest of the flight which was pretty short after that...

Some of the best instructors I have flown with you would never know they were pilots unless you asked them...
 
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I met a young man yesterday who turned out to be a F18 pilot and is going to attend test pilot school. I had to extract it out of him :wink2: .
 
weilke said:
I met a young man yesterday who turned out to be a F18 pilot and is going to attend test pilot school.
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Next time you see him tell him, "You'll be sorry." A week or so in he'll get the joke. ;)

Nauga,
drinking from a firehose
 
nauga said:
Next time you see him tell him, "You'll be sorry." A week or so in he'll get the joke. ;)

Nauga,
drinking from a firehose
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lol! I had friends who went in the Army. Hardest school you can go to. They got a kick out of going supersonic in T-38s and F-18s. That's about where the fun stopped and the hard work began. :wink2:
 
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