Wheeeee!

[ProdigalJim]

Sarex today...three sorties, nearly five hours airborne. Three ELTs, some air-ground team coordination and direction, a bit of high-altitude message relay. I'm beat, but I had a great time. These are the days that really make me grin!     

[jeders]

That's great. Wish I were able to fly that much on SAREXs.

[davidsinn]

Sarex today...three sorties, nearly five hours airborne. Three ELTs, some air-ground team coordination and direction, a bit of high-altitude message relay. I'm beat, but I had a great time. These are the days that really make me grin! 

It has taken me 5 years to get that many sorties and I still don't have my scanner rating.

[ProdigalJim]

Sarex today...three sorties, nearly five hours airborne. Three ELTs, some air-ground team coordination and direction, a bit of high-altitude message relay. I'm beat, but I had a great time. These are the days that really make me grin! 

It has taken me 5 years to get that many sorties and I still don't have my scanner rating.

Wow. I figured with the AF-funded stuff most wings got a chance to get their flying in.

Is there any kind of rule that says people can't go fly with another wing, just as a way of getting the sorties?

[Private Investigator]

Every Wing is different and so is every Squadron.

Just as SAREX sorties are tough to get so is Cadet O-Rides. Be the squeeky wheel and you'll get the grease.

[davidsinn]

Sarex today...three sorties, nearly five hours airborne. Three ELTs, some air-ground team coordination and direction, a bit of high-altitude message relay. I'm beat, but I had a great time. These are the days that really make me grin! 

It has taken me 5 years to get that many sorties and I still don't have my scanner rating.

Wow. I figured with the AF-funded stuff most wings got a chance to get their flying in.

Is there any kind of rule that says people can't go fly with another wing, just as a way of getting the sorties?

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

[Eclipse]

For those scoring at home, neither SAREx's, nor Mission #'s are required to complete Es qualifications.

(Your neighbor to the NW is having a large mission next week, and an Eval in March, come and play.)

[davidsinn]

For those scoring at home, neither SAREx's, nor Mission #'s are required to complete Es qualifications.

(Your neighbor to the NW is having a large mission next week, and an Eval in March, come and play.)

Yes I know it's not required but an airplane is required for my last task... Just check WMIRS to see how much of a problem that is for me. Nearest airfield to my house is OXI.

I haven't worked in 15 months so coming over to visit is not an option unfortunately no matter how much I'd like to.

[EMT-83]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

[davidsinn]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

[Spaceman3750]

(Your neighbor to the NW is having a large mission next week, and an Eval in March, come and play.)

Technically speaking, it's his neighbor to the west, north west, and south west, unless Chicago is its own wing now .

</splitting hairs>

Capt Sinn, any chance of coming to play at NESA this year? MAS will get you set up .

[cap235629]

Just returned from an inter-agency SAR Training Weekend.  2 CAP Squadrons, 3 Fire Departments and 2 County SAR Teams.  3 operational periods over 2 days all conducted in the remotest of areas.  Overnight temperatures were in the 20's.  CAP ground teams were intermingled with other agencies and conducted ground Search and Rescue sorties over the rugged terrain of White Rock Mountain in the Ozark National Forest.  Air sorties included Air Search for missing hunter, missing hiker and flying an airborne repeater.  Air crew located targets and guided ground teams in using CAP and other agency radios.  Extremely successful!

[davidsinn]

(Your neighbor to the NW is having a large mission next week, and an Eval in March, come and play.)

Technically speaking, it's his neighbor to the west, north west, and south west, unless Chicago is its own wing now .

</splitting hairs>

Capt Sinn, any chance of coming to play at NESA this year? MAS will get you set up .

I haven't worked in 15 months...

[SarDragon]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

According to the MS SQTR, which is newer, and the controlling document, that is not a Scanner task. It is not something that a Scanner can accomplish on a routine basis, nor something that a Scanner does from the back seat.

It's an advanced Mission Observer task.

[davidsinn]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

According to the MS SQTR, which is newer, and the controlling document, that is not a Scanner task. It is not something that a Scanner can accomplish on a routine basis, nor something that a Scanner does from the back seat.

It's an advanced Mission Observer task.

I pulled that off the ops qual module right before I posted it. I then looked at the task guide to see what was required. It's stupid in fact, but it's there nonetheless.

[ßτε]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

Read the task guide carefully. You don't need to actually use the radio to successfully complete it.

[Spaceman3750]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

Read the task guide carefully. You don't need to actually use the radio to successfully complete it.

Very true. The way I read it, you could complete this task in the hanger.

[SarDragon]

At my unit, we decided that it was among the many errors in the task guide, and go only by the SQTR, since that's what gets signed off to qualify you for a specific rating. Some SQTRs have been revised twice since that task guide was published.

[a2capt]

Basically, I use the SQTR - and the Task Guide as a reference for the line items. Though on some of them, I swapped the SQTR's into the PDF, to get rid of the "confusion".

[RiverAux]

According to the MS SQTR, which is newer, and the controlling document, that is not a Scanner task. It is not something that a Scanner can accomplish on a routine basis, nor something that a Scanner does from the back seat.

Depending on how your plane is set up, the scanner can sometimes talk on the radio from the back seat. 

[JeffDG]

According to the MS SQTR, which is newer, and the controlling document, that is not a Scanner task. It is not something that a Scanner can accomplish on a routine basis, nor something that a Scanner does from the back seat.

Depending on how your plane is set up, the scanner can sometimes talk on the radio from the back seat.

That's not sufficient to the task...you need to set frequencies and the audio pannel, which is very difficult to do from the back seat.

The only item I can see that requires actually keying the radio is "Demonstrate the proper use of the CAP aircraft call sign" which can easily be simulated on the ground too.

[davidsinn]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

Read the task guide carefully. You don't need to actually use the radio to successfully complete it.

Very true. The way I read it, you could complete this task in the hanger.

True. That's what I intend to do. The problem is there are no aircraft closer than 100 miles of me...

Sent from my HTC Incredible 2 using Tapatalk

[RiverAux]

According to the MS SQTR, which is newer, and the controlling document, that is not a Scanner task. It is not something that a Scanner can accomplish on a routine basis, nor something that a Scanner does from the back seat.

Depending on how your plane is set up, the scanner can sometimes talk on the radio from the back seat.

That's not sufficient to the task...you need to set frequencies and the audio pannel, which is very difficult to do from the back seat.

The only item I can see that requires actually keying the radio is "Demonstrate the proper use of the CAP aircraft call sign" which can easily be simulated on the ground too.

I didn't say it was enough for the task, just that you can do some radio work from the back seat in some planes.

[Eclipse]

At my unit, we decided that it was among the many errors in the task guide, and go only by the SQTR, since that's what gets signed off to qualify you for a specific rating. Some SQTRs have been revised twice since that task guide was published.

That's not something that your unit has the authority to do, and higher HQ would be well within their rights to deny those sign offs
if and when they found out that was what you were doing.

The SQTR is not enough to accomplish the tasks, and should not be used as the sole "question".

"Complete Task O-2018 (Operate the Aircraft Communication equipment"

Requires that you:

Evaluation
Performance measures  Results
1. Demonstrate how to enter a frequency and use the aircraft communications radios.
2. Discuss the importance of listening before transmitting, and basic message format.
3. Demonstrate proper use of the CAP aircraft callsign.
4. Demonstrate how to select a frequency and use the CAP FM radio.
5. Demonstrate setting up the audio panel to transmit on an aircraft radio.

Student must receive a pass on all performance measures to qualify in this task. If the individual fails any
measure, show what was done wrong and how to do it correctly.   

I fully agree, however that this could be done in a hangar, or even with a demo comm panel sitting on a desk.

[ßτε]

It's a logistics issue for me. For years the nearest SAREXs were held 3+ hours away. This past year and a half they've had some local to me which is where I picked up my sorties. I also made the mistake of being too good at FLS so they didn't want to pull me off of that. The thing that's holding me back is talking on the radio from the back seat. I never had the chance the first sortie and the other two were in the Airvan which doesn't have the capability to let the scanners talk to the ground.

Someone's jerking your chain. That task is not required for Mission Scanner.

You're right, I don't need to do it from the back seat. I need to do it from the front.

Complete Task O-2018
OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

According to the task guide I need to work the comm panel and the VHF radio.

According to the MS SQTR, which is newer, and the controlling document, that is not a Scanner task. It is not something that a Scanner can accomplish on a routine basis, nor something that a Scanner does from the back seat.

It's an advanced Mission Observer task.

You are mistaken. O-2018 is most certainly a task on the SQTR for Mission Scanner.

[SarDragon]

You are mistaken. O-2018 is most certainly a task on the SQTR for Mission Scanner.

That's what I get for posting when tired. I looked at them both, and still got it bass ackwards.

As for Bob's comment about the SQTRS - we use the task guide to evaluate the individual, but when there are discrepancies (and they may have all been corrected by now) between task assignments within achievements, we use the SQTR. There used to be several mis-assigned tasks in the task guide. E.g. the description said it was an MO task, but it was on the MP or MS SQTR.