AIRR ?'s

Haasino · 03-19-2013, 11:27 AM

Here's the blunt truth of it, as delivered to us by two AWS2s and a Marine 53 crewman:

53s crash... Helos in general have a higher likelihood of a catastrophic Class A Mishap because they're closer to the ground... less time to fix a problem if one comes up. Both of my instructors have been injured in a mishap... one also lost a good friend when the 53 he was supposed to be flying on went into the water off Hawaii. We lost 2 MH-53Es last year alone... one with the loss of 2 aircrewmen. The last fatal P-3 mishap was in 1991. 53s are also only stationed at Norfolk, and mostly deploy to Bahrain and South Korea, because those are the two regions that need a mine countermeasures helo. Per diem is possible, but not as common.

Fixed-wing has its perks because you take off and land at a NAS. When you deploy, it's often on per diem... that means you sleep in a hotel and get paid an extra ~$150/day. Our AWV1 told us about his last deployment to Sicily where he made enough per diem to fly his wife out 3 times and take several ~$4k weekend vacations to mainland Italy.

It's all about personal preference though... I love helos, but I don't like 53s. That's why I'm happy I'm going AWO!

03-19-2013, 11:27 AM	#18
Haasino Active Duty Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 1,439 Rep Power: 0	Here's the blunt truth of it, as delivered to us by two AWS2s and a Marine 53 crewman: 53s crash... Helos in general have a higher likelihood of a catastrophic Class A Mishap because they're closer to the ground... less time to fix a problem if one comes up. Both of my instructors have been injured in a mishap... one also lost a good friend when the 53 he was supposed to be flying on went into the water off Hawaii. We lost 2 MH-53Es last year alone... one with the loss of 2 aircrewmen. The last fatal P-3 mishap was in 1991. 53s are also only stationed at Norfolk, and mostly deploy to Bahrain and South Korea, because those are the two regions that need a mine countermeasures helo. Per diem is possible, but not as common. Fixed-wing has its perks because you take off and land at a NAS. When you deploy, it's often on per diem... that means you sleep in a hotel and get paid an extra ~$150/day. Our AWV1 told us about his last deployment to Sicily where he made enough per diem to fly his wife out 3 times and take several ~$4k weekend vacations to mainland Italy. It's all about personal preference though... I love helos, but I don't like 53s. That's why I'm happy I'm going AWO!