What is a Navy Flight Officer?
In my Civil Air Patrol squadron there's a couple of older guys who do the training for mission pilots and aircraft checkouts. These two have egos that overpower everyone in the room and when I've asked about their flight experience they claim thousands of hours in F-4's and A-6's during their Naval career.
During a recent gathering at the local watering hole, I overheard one of these guys say to a current Navy Reserve F-18 pilot that he was a retired Navy Flight Officer. This is a title I'm not familiar with, but from the overheard conversation, it sounds as if the older guy with the huge ego wasn't actually a pilot but the guy in back (or the right seat).
Can anyone clarify this for me? Are crew members in two-seat, military aircraft pilots or are they systems operators?
(I mean no disrespect to the non-pilot crewmembers but it seems disrespectful for someone to claim to be a Naval Aviator when they actually weren't)
Thanks,
J
In my Civil Air Patrol squadron there's a couple of older guys who do the training for mission pilots and aircraft checkouts. These two have egos that overpower everyone in the room and when I've asked about their flight experience they claim thousands of hours in F-4's and A-6's during their Naval career.
During a recent gathering at the local watering hole, I overheard one of these guys say to a current Navy Reserve F-18 pilot that he was a retired Navy Flight Officer. This is a title I'm not familiar with, but from the overheard conversation, it sounds as if the older guy with the huge ego wasn't actually a pilot but the guy in back (or the right seat).
Can anyone clarify this for me? Are crew members in two-seat, military aircraft pilots or are they systems operators?
(I mean no disrespect to the non-pilot crewmembers but it seems disrespectful for someone to claim to be a Naval Aviator when they actually weren't)
Thanks,
J