RIO study

[Tdaffy]

I’m just not in a real life position to commit to a squadron right now. I’m not sure it would be fair to them lol. Just a crazy year here…..BUT….lately I’ve started to realize a new interest in the RIO seat. One, my eyes and reflexes are probably more like a ten year old mountain Feist today than they are like mavericks, and two, there’s a lot going on in that seat. It’s like a sim in itself. And I can have a great ride, and a fun fight, and what’s awesome is that I can make up for m eyes not being as quick as my pilots by adding some love to the aircraft’s eyes and ears. 
offline is ok. I’m learning stuff. Got controls and stuff assigned. (Starting to). Beginning to at least understand the theories and why this does that and how. But offline gets limited. Maybe it’s good for me!  But I’m interested in some mp where everything’s not on rails. 
what’s the standard out there?  Is it rude to join a position in the role selection?  I have the comms but don’t get a response a lot of times. Are there pilots out there who welcome a spontaneous addition? 

[draconus]

On 5/3/2023 at 11:08 PM, Tdaffy said:

what’s the standard out there?  Is it rude to join a position in the role selection?  I have the comms but don’t get a response a lot of times. Are there pilots out there who welcome a spontaneous addition?

There's no standard as there are different pilots out there. RIOs are generally in short supply so you're definitely very welcome to ask any Tomcat squad if you fit in. Some may even let you learn on the go, some experienced pilots who know the RIO stuff could even tell you and teach you what to do, there are training squads too. My advise is to learn the basics offline: cold start procedure, wpts input, radar operation, IFF, CMs, nav fix, etc. but don't hesitate for too long to jump online.

Since the RIO is able to spoil all the fun by misbehaving (messing the systems and bail out) you may have a hard time to be allowed to jump into a random Tomcat though. Just ask nicely, tell them your intentions and see how it goes.