Forum: Future F-16 crew

Anyone on any active or prior aircrew come through Whiting? I head off to Whiting for Joint Service UPT in late Sept and was wondering what everyone's experince was or if there was any kind of gouge on things to know. Not very much info exists on it it seems. Thanks!

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I have a buddy going there right now. As far as I can tell he loves the location and the T-6B. What sucks is how slow their pace is, for whatever reason. He commissioned the same time I did in May 2009. I'm headed off to RTU this summer and he still isn't done flying the T-6 in Phase 2.

It's not far from Pensacola and Eglin AFB. There's a ton of beautiful beaches and a couple of racetracks around if you are in to racing.

I went through in the T-34 in 05...awesome place! I was pretty upset about the slow pace when I was there (saw friends at other bases advancing way ahead of me), but in retrospect, I wouldn't give it up for anything. You'll make the time back, and when everyone else is burned out from years of very intense training, you'll have had that somewhat relaxing/different atmosphere to change your perspective. I lived between Pcola and Whiting in King's Mill apartments...when I went through, the first few months were @ Pcola (40 min drive), and the flying was @ Whiting (40 min drive). Living too far to either side might make life a little less enjoyable. I had a ton of 34 gouge, but that's obviously obsolete now. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Roger I aprreciate it. I'm moving my fiance down there next week for her to start. She goes strait out to IFS. I have to go to ASBC in August (ugh), IFS in Oct, and API/Phase 1 in December. I had a small house in Milton that I had my eye on. I've heard alot about the pipeline issues with some peopel taking two years and some blasting through in 6 months. Just depended on weather, IPs, and open cockpits. I think I'll definately like it down there. Also unofficial rumor is that coming out of Whiting kind of dings your chances at tracking 38s. Any truth to that?

When I went through, there was no truth to that. In fact, for someone who performed well, it was easier to get 38's. A lot of Navy/Marine pilots fly Helos, and being trained by them tends to get helos on a lot of people's minds...at a USAF base, helos are generally last choice; they are fought over @ Whiting (amongst AF people). It was all about timing, though. At a USAF base, you go through with a class, and your individual fate is, while completely in your hands, also somewhat tied to your class. At Whiting, you are technically part of a class, but people move along at different speeds. So you might be finishing up at the same time as someone who was 'two classes' before or after you. As I remember it, whoever finished by noon on tuesday of a given week was the graduating 'class', and their plane allocation was divided accordingly. So, people strategically 'DNIFed' themselves to finish up with other people who they thought were weaker swimmers. I'd advise against that; if you are a strong pilot, they have 'x' number of 38s, T1s, per quarter, per year, etc, and they will put you in the plane in which you belong. Now, here's the other truth: if you get 38s, when you show up to Vance, you will be behind your new classmates, and your fate (i.e. what jet you go to after 38s) is VERY dependent on how well you do, as well as how well they do. They have been studying the crap out of all AF flying regs, AF procedures, etc. for the last 6 months in a VERY rigid environment. I felt like the beach hippie showing up with no clue (we used Navy regs, and a distinct Navy approach to flying @ Whiting). But that is later on down the road...baby steps.

Wow, thats interesting. Glad I posed the question, I had no idea. There is zero knowledge about how things operate at Whiting among the ROTC rated community. It's one big mystery unless you get first hand experience like this from someone who went through already. Im moving my fiance down this week for her RNLT date on friday. She heads to IFS in July. I have to go through ASBC first :/ in August. then IFS in October and API/Phase I in December. She starts API/Phase I in October I believe. Any chance I could catch her in the pipeline with 3 months between our start dates if I hit all the contingencies right? (Weather, IPs, open cockpits etc.)? We want to track select together if possible so that we can have the best chance of staying together. We've been told our best bet is to hit T-1s and go for heavies. Any truth? I know the track select ebbs and flows but further on it seems that heavies are pretty consistent whereas fighter cockpits are very much in flux

When I was there, I entered "the pool" in July. "The pool" is where you show up every single day, show someone (usually someone else waiting to start, but in the Navy) your ID, and then go to the beach for the rest of the day. Basically, that is how they manage the flow of incoming people. Eventually, you'll be told when your API start date is. I think that I was in "the pool" for at least a month...can't remember. We basically just showed up for 2 minutes, went to the gym, and then hung out on the beach all day. Eventually we started API, but I can't remember how long that took. Once you finish API, you re-enter "the pool", except it is now Whiting's pool. Same deal, except you only have to 'muster' once a week, I think on mondays. I really can't remember how long it took, but I want to say another month of waiting. My point in all of this is that if you plead your case to the guys who control the pools (there is a navy officer who runs the API 'pool', and I think the same at Whiting), he can probably move you up, move her back and get you closer. Then, with the flying, you can probably get close to each other. Once you finish up Phase 1, you don't ship out to Vance immediately. Once you get to Vance, though, you enter another pool, and wait until the Vance class that you've been tagged onto finishes their phase 1 (they would only put 2 Whiting people in a T38 class to keep it even, so if there are more, you'll wait in line for the next Vance phase 1 class to finish up and track select).

So, you're saying that you don't care what plane you fly, you just want to fly the same thing as your wife? Good luck. They'll hook you up with join-spouse once you're rated, but I will tell you this: If you or your wife gets a certain track or plane because they work to keep you together, it may end up being at someone else's expense. Don't expect them, or the rest of your class to be happy about that. That being said, there are a few F-16 couples out there, and while difficult, they manage to get the same assignments, or close. The toughest thing is when one is fighter, one heavy...it works out somehow, but there aren't a ton of bases with both fighters and heavys.

Ya, we are going to try and be as flexible as we can. We both agree that we think (from IPs and SQ/CCs we've takled to) that heavies is our best best. T-1 seems to be a catch all, and I know we'd both be more than happy with C-17s or 130s. Just got a call yesterday, apparently ASBC is no more as of now. All remaining classes are standing down. This will put me and her very close in dates. Also, we just PCS'd her and got her inprocessed last week and they said it is typically 6 months between IFS and API depending on the pipeline because when they class up for API, only one AF LT goes through per class. Currently, the soonest slot for the guys that are stashed is october

Forum: Future F-16 crew

NAS Whiting Field?