P-8A Poseidon in the Navy

Originally the P-3 Orion was THE maritime patrol aircraft for the U.S. Navy. It's unique requirement of needing more non-flying aircrew (naval flight officers & enlisted aircrew) than flying aircrew (pilots) and its ability to be land-based rather than aircraft carrier-based made it a solid choice for naval flight officers (NFO). It requires several naval flight officers because of all the maritime capabilities that it provides, such as anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence gathering, and much more.

However, in 2000, a request was made for a replacement to the P-3 that would have a reduction in the operating and support costs. Boeing was selected with their P-8A Poseidon design, which was based after an already reliable aircraft, the 737-800 airliner. The Poseidon reduced the crew requirement from 12 to 9. Since then, Boeing has provided 13 Poseidons to the U.S. Navy with an additional 16 in production. By 2019 it is projected to have 117 P-8As in the fleet, thus rendering the P-3 useless.

The Poseidon has provides glass cockpit avionics and slightly more comfortability for its operators than its predecessor. As a future NFO, all of the factors discussed previous greatly impact my decision of which aircraft I want to fly in. Since the P-3 will still be in service when I receive my wings, there is a strong chance if I chose maritime aviation I could receive the older beat-up (but still fashionable) P-3, or jump into the fancy all glass P-8A. As an NFO, the glass cockpit interface will help to provide better results at a much faster rate and less mental wear and tear on the aircrew. In addition with the P-8, there will be more flight-time than ground-time due to less heavy maintenance downtime.

As graduation rapidly approaches, I am struggling to narrow down which flight platforms I would like to choose as my top 3 choices to fly in as an NFO. The integration of the Poseidon, as well as the E/A-18 Growler, the passed few years has given me more opportunities, but has thus added to my decision-making problems. Before the P-8A, I had not given maritime aviation a second look, but now I'm looking and I'm kind of liking it. Decisions decisions.