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Newbie Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 10 Status: Offline

Hey all, I've been around this site for awhile but I just haven't posted very often. I'm currently a maintenance scheduler (P&S) with the 55th AMU at Shaw AFB, and I just got accepted for retraining into the Flight Engineer Career Field. This has pretty much been a dream job for me since I joined the USAF, and now I have a few questions.

Given my limited maintenace background (havent extensively worked on the F-16s here) will FE give me a lot of problems? I'm pretty maintenance inclined and I have a aviation maintenace background on cessnas and such, but nothing like a 130 or C-5

What does the USAF water survival course actually consist of? I'm not the best of swimmers.

and finally, will my skills that I'll learn as a FE translate into something in the civilian life?

Thanks all for you're help!!!!

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Mirk congrats bud,

Hey man I went to flight school with guys who didnt even know what an aircraft was before showing up and they got wings just like me. As an FE your pretty much perform functions that a pilot does in other aircraft, you will be fine. Maintenance experience will help but is not necessary, they will teach you what you need to know at school and then you will get your baptisim by fire when you get to your unit. Water survival , fun fun but i didnt go to the Air Force version.

Check out my post (http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-7079.html) in the "Careers" section, titled "So you want to be a Flight Engineer". That will cover the bulk of basic flight engineer school, which has moved to Lackland AFB, TX by now. The basic stuff in the class couldn't have changed too much, but expect minor differences from what I described.

Not having a strong military maintenance background won't hurt you too much- if you're familiar with airplanes you should do ok. The main reason it comes in handy is in knowing "airplane" language, and understanding the principle of operation of various things like pumps, engines, and instruments. Once you get out in the world as an FE, you will be responsible for understaning how all the aircraft systems work, work together, and what you can (or can't) do when something fails. You're officially refered to as the "Systems Expert" on most Air Force literature.

Regarding the survival schools: Air Force Water Survival is a good time (if you're there in the summer months)! It happens at Pensacola NAS, FL, and is four days long. You'll learn how to parachute (parasail, actually), land in the water, get in your raft, and survive with what you have and what you can improvise. Land Survival (commonly called "SERE" school) is tougher. It is actually three weeks (not two like I said before), and is up at Fairchild AFB, WA. There is quite a bit of academics, and you'll spend about a week and a half out in the woods learning how to survive on the enviornment and any items you may have after bailing out of an aircraft. It is a good physical workout, with plenty of walking up and down the mountains up there. The other week and a half is academics and "resistance training", which is classified. The whole package is a phenominal school, the best AF course I've seen. Regarding the resistance training- don't bother asking people who've been details of what it is like. You won't get nearly as much out of it if you think you know what to expect. If people try and tell you, turn the other shoulder, for your sake and theirs.

The aircraft specific part of the FE school is good fun. I can only speak for the C-130 school at Little Rock, but I imagine it isn't too far off from the other airframes. The first few days are going to be a whirlwind of information, and you're going to feel totally overwhelmed. Imagine spending all of 1.5 days to learn about an entire electrical system, then about the same for the whole fuel system, two days for the engines, etc. It is very fast paced, but the instructors are good at what they do and will really bend over backwards to help you out. As you go on you'll absorb what you need to get through the school. Once you get into the simulators is where they seperate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. That is where the systems knowledge really comes into play. You will be running checklists, troubleshooting problems, and working around failures to keep the airplane flying and the mission going. Once you make it to the flightline you will feel completely lost again, because you're going to be in the airplane and no longer have the "freeze" funtion of the simulator, but again the instructors will be there to help you out and keep you from bending the airplane.

As for FE skills applying to the civilian side: it is like anything else in the AF, you will find many skills that apply on the outside. If you actually want to be an FE on the civilian side your military experience won't count for squat- you'll still have to take an FAA approved formal course, and from what I understand it'll cost anywhere between $5,000-$10,000 dollars or more. If you go guard/reserve some companies (ARINC. for example) will hire you on without the FAA license, as long as you have current aeronautical orders. Experience with the flight manual and performance charts will get you in the door at various places, as well as the systems knowledge you'll gain. Sometimes just having the "aircrew" smell on your name will get you hired into things. Overall it is much like P&S- it may not grant you a "free ride" into a company or job, but it can give you skills that push you just above the "other guy".

If you're still awake after all that, and have any more questions, send me a PM with specifics and I'll help you out. Oh- and Congradulations, you're going to love the job Very Happy

Newbie Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 10 Status: Offline

Thanks for the info sweetpete and VPRGUY, hopefully I can get thru the water survival ok and I'm pretty confident I can meet the rest of the class reqs with no problems, its just that swimming part i'm worried about.

There isn't a whole lot of actual "swimming" that you'll have to do- most of it is covering a few feet to your liferaft, and you'll be wearing a bunch of crap anyway (life vest included) so being a good swimmer isn't really too much of a player.

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