"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On 07 Sep 2004 19:10:58 GMT, (OXMORON1) wrote:

George asked:
Since you've already done the research, did you happen to come across an
explanation as to why the 500 hour desired minimum that could routinely be
waived wasn't waived in his case?

One point of view, 500 hours was a "magic" number in a lot of a/c during the
60's. If you got to 500 hours in unit assigned aircraft you were thought to be
proficient in the airplane.
An example, in some units you had to have 500 hours to go cross country solo
vs
a two ship deployment with a qualified flight lead. BUT if they needed someone
to go XC to pickup some parts, the 500 hour requirement could/would be waived.
I don't know if the 500 number was an AF Reg or lower mandate.

Rick Clark

And, upon completion of 100 combat missions over North Vietnam (a tour
that claimed 60% of those who started it), I amassed a total time for
my Form 5 of 404.9 hours in the F-105--training and combat total.

Of course, that allowed me to enter combat in the F-4 with 28 hours in
the F-4C and ZERO flying time in the F-4E before my first combat
mission over NVN.

Getting back to my still unanswered question, I'd have been satisfied with a
simple "I don't know" instead of the self-serving smoke. Thanks anyway. If you
were fishing for compliments, you were undoubtedly a hero and deserving of the
accolades that came your way, but I never questioned that and you didn't need to
defend yourself that way.

Unfortunately, I can't give you high marks for sticking to the subject; my
question and its answer had nothing to do with you or your experiences. You
still haven't told me if you knew why they asked for 500 hours for that
particular program or why they didn't accept 300 hours when, as you pointed out,
first of all, that they could have easily waived the 500 hour requirement and
then that they obviously didn't have a problem with tossing you into combat
without any time at all in the F-4E and only 28 hours in the F-4C.

I don't know about you but I have the impression that their requirements for
that program were probably unrealistically high and I can't help but wonder why
it was done that way. I don't have a clue....do you?

George Z.