Forum: Future F-16 crew

No, not me, dang it, I am just a curious Viper fan... never even had the chance to give it a try...

Anyway, when a UPT grad gets assigned to Luke, how is the squadron assignment done? You know there are squadrons like 308, 309, 310, 63, etc, when a student pilot gets assigned to 308 for example, does he stay with that unit for the entire Viper Course, or every squadron has a specific mission and the student progresses through squadrons? How long is Viper Course right after UPT...

Thank you for taking time answering guys... I was talking to one of my pilots the other day and he said before getting combat ready they get about 90 hours in the Longbow... Probably not even comparable to Viper...

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I'm guessing there's no rhyme or reason to it, they just put you in a unit that is starting classes. For right now though, regaurdless of what squadron you begin with you'll spend sometime with the 310th learning the LANTIRN pod and NVG operations. I say for right now because the other squadrons are beginning to implement LANTIRN training, even the blosk 25 units that have never carried pods before (what a nightmare). B course I think is 51 weeks long. All squadrons (with the exception of the 310th) have basicly the same mission, to get you proficient with the air-air and air-ground capabilities of the jet. I'm not sure if the guys that start on block 25s fly with a block 42 unit for a while to get familiar with the CCIP stuff but it would make scense to me. This is the Air Force though and common scense seems to take a back seat quite frequently.

Thanks Fixin, I thought the Army was that way... wow UPT 52 weeks, B course 51, quite a training...

Excuse my noob questions, B course is the unofficial name of this entire Viper course, correct? I heard that some squadrons at Luke only trains foreign operators? Last but not least, B course is not to give a pilot all there is to the Viper, am I correct in that thought? For instance, if the pilot is assigned to a SEAD unit, or a unit that utilizes Sniper pod, etc... Training must continue at the unit of assigment I assume...

You are correct the unofficial name is B course. There are two foriegn squadrons here, the 425th "Black Widows" are a block 52 unit from Singapore and the 21st "Gamblers" are a block 20 squadron from Taiwan. Both foriegn units have US pilots flying for them (I know the 425th does and I'm pretty sure the 21st does also). You are also right in your assumption that B course is not an end all learn all course for Viper pilots. It's more or less an intro to the jet and become proficient enough to fly. When they get to their next base they will go through upgrade training and actually training for pilots NEVER stops. If they aren't at war they are training. This way when they go into a fight everything they need to do to accomplish that mission is second nature, they don't even have to think about it.

Forum Veteran Joined: Jul 01, 2007 - 07:22 PM Posts: 620

It's not 51 weeks anymore, it's only 7 months for the B-course. You're right about the assignment process though. They will just fit everyone into an upcoming class based on their report dates. A class here starts about every month. Those going to the block 25 will spend a couple of months after the B-course in the night systems course to upgrade to the NVGs and Targeting Pods. Nowadays, in that upgrade, we also get CCIP training. Total flight time between the two courses is only just less than 100 hours in the Viper. As a side note, once the AF is done with FalconStar and CCIP and the other band-aid programs all of the squadrons here at Luke will be able to do the TGP/NVG training.

Thanks I wan't exactly sure how long the course was but thought I had heard once that it was 51weeks. The NVG and targeting pod stuff was mentioned earlier though. The CCIP training would make scense, I would have guessed there was some CCIP traing before going to a block 40/50 squadron.

Forum Veteran Joined: Jul 01, 2007 - 07:22 PM Posts: 620

It doesn't really make sense though for a guy like me going to the KUN since they won't have any CCIPd jets in my squadron till Sep or Oct.

Capt. Tomas Young a friend of mine started out with the 63rd and then went to the 310th

You mentioned KUN, would that be Kunsan? Does every new viper driver out of Luke get assigned to Korea, or they get stateside too?

Not every new pilot goes to Korea. It just depends on the manning at each base. I would say the majority of them do go to either Kunsan or Osan but a few from each class will get bases like hill, shaw, misawa, spang, aviano, or even stay right here to be an instructor. Like I said it just depends on the manning.

We do dog pile for initiation, or throw people in a small pond across the street from our company building, what have you guys seen?

When I was in at MacDill ,all the single pilots wanted to go to Korea for the first assignment, they got to fly more and get the remote out of the way. The only guys I ever saw go from the B course to IP's was the Bahrainian's. Used to be that once thru RTU you were an F-16 pilot, flying different blk's was no big deal,just some more sim time and check rides . The initations were done in UPT,by the time you were in RTU you just drank alot of alcohol, at least the studs who lived next to me did.

Forum: Future F-16 crew

After assignment to Luke...