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Senior Observer

Started by N6RVT, October 03, 2018, 05:46:25 PM

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N6RVT

Question for Senior / Master observers:

How many of you had 100 hours flying time before you got to 3 years?

cnitas

I've been an observer for about 5 years and I am at about 85 hrs right now.  Senior observer seems to be fairly rare to see, and i do not recall ever having seen a master observer.

Mark A. Piersall, Lt Col, CAP
Frederick Composite Squadron
MER-MD-003

Eclipse

Quote from: cnitas on October 03, 2018, 06:02:06 PM
I've been an observer for about 5 years and I am at about 85 hrs right now.  Senior observer seems to be fairly rare to see, and i do not recall ever having seen a master observer.

I think it's more a combo of people not knowing about the additional ratings or not caring.

Pilots log their time as a matter of course, I don't know too many other aircrew, including myself, who
care enough about it to bother.

"That Others May Zoom"

Paul Creed III

Took me just under 4 years to reach 100 hours for senior and I should knock out the last 12 I need for master around the 5.5 year mark.
Lt Col Paul Creed III, CAP
Group 3 Ohio Wing sUAS Program Manager

etodd

Its never occurred to me to keep a log of the times I've been a MS, MO, AP, or MP, as aircrew. Since you are given one of those when entered into a Sortie seat, wouldn't that be tabulated in WMIRS somewhere? Can a report be pulled that shows how much of each "job" a person has?
"Don't try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on ..."

N6RVT

Quote from: etodd on October 03, 2018, 10:24:07 PM
Its never occurred to me to keep a log of the times I've been a MS, MO, AP, or MP, as aircrew. Since you are given one of those when entered into a Sortie seat, wouldn't that be tabulated in WMIRS somewhere? Can a report be pulled that shows how much of each "job" a person has?

The report in WMIRS is easy to get to, all it doesn't do is give you is a total.  It does let you export the entire report to a spreadsheet and calculate it that way.

N6RVT

Quote from: cnitas on October 03, 2018, 06:02:06 PM
I've been an observer for about 5 years and I am at about 85 hrs right now.  Senior observer seems to be fairly rare to see, and i do not recall ever having seen a master observer.

I have never seen a senior observer either, and the two master observers in my squadron got those ratings decades ago.

N6RVT

Quote from: Eclipse on October 03, 2018, 06:09:42 PM
Quote from: cnitas on October 03, 2018, 06:02:06 PM
I've been an observer for about 5 years and I am at about 85 hrs right now.  Senior observer seems to be fairly rare to see, and i do not recall ever having seen a master observer.

I think it's more a combo of people not knowing about the additional ratings or not caring.
Pilots log their time as a matter of course, I don't know too many other aircrew, including myself, who care enough about it to bother.

Which, following the intense arguments I see about the uniforms themselves, Is nothing short of Bizarre.

Bayareaflyer 44

It took me 5.25 years to get to Senior Observer, then it took an additional 2 years to hit Master Observer.

CD and Disaster Assessment in CAWG really helped accelerate things from Senior to Master.


Earhart #2546
GRW     #3418

N6RVT

Quote from: Bayareaflyer 44 on October 03, 2018, 11:10:54 PM
It took me 5.25 years to get to Senior Observer, then it took an additional 2 years to hit Master Observer.

CD and Disaster Assessment in CAWG really helped accelerate things from Senior to Master.

Honestly I never gave this a lot of thought until I started doing CD missions.  I was only getting at most 3 hours out of an entire weekend Sarex and senior observer wings were just not something I was going to have anytime soon.

Then I went from 25 to 81 hours in the space of two months, and its pretty much given I'll pass 100 this weekend.

Bayareaflyer 44



Earhart #2546
GRW     #3418

N6RVT

Quote from: Bayareaflyer 44 on October 03, 2018, 11:48:52 PM
(pre-) Congratulations!

Hit 100.3 hours coming home today.

After seeing how many CD crews are two pilots instead of a pilot and pure observer, and that such crews trade places after every sortie, I am convinced at least some of the pilots in my squadron are also senior observers, they just don't care (because they are pilots).

etodd

Quote from: Dwight Dutton on October 08, 2018, 12:01:26 AM

After seeing how many CD crews are two pilots instead of a pilot and pure observer, and that such crews trade places after every sortie, I am convinced at least some of the pilots in my squadron are also senior observers, they just don't care (because they are pilots).

Correct. Some of us see ourselves as co-pilots when right seat.
Might be doing CAP duties of Observer, but in our minds, we're still a pilot.  ;D
"Don't try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on ..."

Bayareaflyer 44

Meh.  Some, but not all.  I keep two log books.  I'm proud of my piloting as well as my observing.  Two different animals during a search, and I appreciate both seats.  Takes a lot to keep the dirty side down, but it also takes just as much to provide reasonable and lucid command of the search to meet the specified goals.  Get a capable individual in either seat, and their weight is in (aviation) gold!
My hats off to all that keep the mission objective in mind, and achieved!


Earhart #2546
GRW     #3418