WhatPilot

What is a "Pilot"?

   One thing we ran into is "What is a pilot?"  A "Pilot" is someone who singlehandedly operates a 3-dimensional vehicle.  Vehicles which operate on two dimensions need a "Driver" for land vehicles and a "Helmsman" for water vehicles.  Airplanes, helicopters, and space vehicles which operate in three dimensions all need a "Pilot".  The pilot is trained in vehicle operation, but also in responsibility.  He or she may have assistants for navigation or communication, but the pilot operates the flight controls and assumes sole responsibility for what the vehicle does.
   For Marine troop carriers designed to support ground attacks, such as assault shuttles (something heavily armored that might serve in the role of an M2 Bradley or a Warrior MICV -- but must fly from orbit to be deliverable to target and to deliver troops) we decided that, like tanks and personnel carriers, they are organic to the Marine formation and could have what are essentially 'drivers'.  They're pilots, I grant you, but they're not pushing lightly-armored weapons platforms across space or atmosphere at near-relativistic speeds.  Marine pilots would be conducting close air support and air superiority operations; Navy pilots would tend to work in orbit and above, with some arguable overlap.
   This would tend to make the Marine pilots a somewhat elite force, since maneuver in atmosphere at high velocity is more challenging than it is in space...

What Needs a Pilot?

   Any single-operator vehicle capable of traveling in three dimensions needs a "Pilot".  A large and complicated vehicle such as a large airliner may have other crew including a co-pilot, a flight engineer, and seven stewardesses, but there is only one person at the controls at a time.  That's the pilot.  If the vehicle requires more than one person at the controls at the same time, they are not pilots.

Pilot Rank and Position

For the Confederacy Marine Corps we go with enlisted grades from E1 to E9 and the officer grades from O1 to O10.  We ignore warrant officers and just assign their positions to the specified grades.
   Navy and Marine officers who fly generally follow the following command progression:

• Ensign and Lieutenant - Basic pilot, promoted after a little experience
• Commander - commands a flight of 3 to 4 aircraft
• Major - commands a Squadron of 4 flights
• Lt. Colonel - commands a Wing of 3 to 4 Squadrons
• Colonel - commands a Group of 2 to 3 Wings -- A Carrier Air Group

(Someday this will be a navigation template.  It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links.  Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))