will likely continue to y the P-3 until at
least 2021.
Typically, the new students come here
direct from multi-engine training on
the T-44C at NAS Corpus Christi. LT Jake
‘Knifehand Jake’ Lumsden is an instructor
on the Orion. ‘On the P-3 side, a typical
class comes in about once a month: pilots,
NFOs and ight engineers and di erent
types of [mission] operators, but we see
pilots and engineers as one group. The
total training pipeline here is about eight
months long.’ As you’d expect, this kicks
o in the classroom with ground school.
This leads into the cockpit procedures
segment, which, interestingly, isn’t
completed in a P-3 simulator but in a
real cockpit.
‘From there they go into a full motion
simulator’, continues ‘Knifehand Jake’.
‘Then they go into the aeroplane. They
always practise new stu in the sim and
then move to the airplane, but these guys
are no strangers to ying — they’re all
winged aviators now. Basically our syllabus
is teaching them the basics of ying [the
P-3] and its use as a warfare platform.’
The remaining ‘Jax’ P-3s are all
maintained by civilian contractors thesedays and a decreasing parts inventory is
one of the major headaches that they face.
The navy still operates two prominent
variants of the P-3C — P-3C AIP (Anti-
Surface Warfare Improvement Program)
and the P-3C BMUP (Block Modi cation
Upgrade Program). From 2006, 55 AIPs
went to AIP+ standard under the C4 for
ASW upgrade — command, control,
communications and computers for
anti-submarine warfare — that integrated
Link 16 and the INMARSAT broadband
connection, denoted by the hump on
top of the fuselage behind the cockpit.
The BMUP models have recently been
u pgraded with a tra c collision avoidance
system (TCAS).
‘The two [versions] are very similar’,
comments Lumsden. ‘The main di erence
between an AIP and an AIP+ is just
di erent types of radios; most ight lines
are a mix of sub-types. That’s actually one
of the hardest things to train here, because
we show them a cockpit but the next P-3
they y could have a completely di erent
layout, radios, or way to input radio
frequencies. Even though we have both
types here, our training stays within the
realm of NATOPS [Naval Air Training andOperating Procedures Standardization],
which is our set of standard operating
procedures for that type of aircraft.
‘Our goal from here is to give them the
baseline — how you safely operate this
aircraft. They get specialized training in
their squadrons. We’re talking about the
small intricacies, like on the BMUP you’ve
got the APS-115 radar, so you’ve got to
train the operator on how to use it, versus
the APS-137 on the AIP.’Poseidon pupils
The P-8 syllabus runs concurrently, and
although it follows the same general
format, there are some subtle di erences.
For one, the P-3 classes are getting smaller,
mirroring the slimming of the eet.
Whereas the typical P-3 class now includes
10 students, a P-8 equivalent typically
involves around 25, including pilots and
NFOs specializing in weapons and sensors.
A new P-8 student can expect more
than two months of classroom time
to kick things o , before the meat of
the simulator work begins. ‘You have
student sensor operators and tactical
operators learning to work together as
a crew’, explains P-8 instructor LT KrisOne of VP-30’s
P-3C AIP+ Orions
gets airborne from
NAS Jacksonville.
The squadron
is planning to
relinquish its
Orions in 2019.http://www.combataircraft.net // May 2018 59
58-61 NAS Jax C.indd 59 20/03/2018 11:03