![]() Many students go online to find the “gouge,” but fewer realize that the source documents on which they will be evaluated also are there. Unfortunately, I have encountered students who did not realize until late in the program that some of these publications existed online, much less where to find them. Some of these important documents will not be issued in paper form, but all are required knowledge. Many students, for example, might not realize that all Chief of Naval Air Training flight training instructions, wing standard operating procedures, Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) manuals, and other critical publications are available online-and can all be accessed before starting flight school. When they arrive at aviation preflight indoctrination in Pensacola, students have access to all the resources they need, but it is up to them to seek them out. Programs such as these, while well suited to a purely academic environment, do not promote the kind of independent thinking and action required of naval aviators. Naval Academy, resources such as the Center for Academic Excellence, extra instruction, and specialized tutoring programs provide the time and space for students to get extra help. High schools and colleges often have the flexibility to tailor learning methods, curricula, and support structures to individual students. Until this point, most students likely experienced a more collaborative teaching model. Students must be able to take the lessons from each training opportunity, digest them, and apply them quickly to the next event, which likely will occur the next (or even that same) day. Nevertheless, the lion’s share of effort still must come from the student. They will work through the weekends, flying right up to the limits delineated by Navy regulations, to ensure each student is afforded the quality training that we pride ourselves on and that he or she deserves. They gladly spend hours during predawn briefs or stay late into the night debriefing a flight. ![]() In my current tour at Training Squadron Three, I am constantly humbled and gratified by the commitment our instructor pilots devote to each student. However, more than a hundred students are training at each of the five primary-phase squadrons at any given time. It already has invested significant time and money just to get a student into the aviation pipeline. Nobody Cares More about Your Success than You Do How can students prepare for and succeed in this environment? What skills and attributes are needed to not only get through Navy flight school, but also perform well? The following are a few lessons I learned over more than a decade of military flying, lessons I wish someone had imparted to me earlier in my own career. In addition, they are expected to fly in both Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) environments, perform aerobatic maneuvers, fly formation solo, and navigate on cross-country missions while operating in some of the country’s busiest airspaces, such as New Orleans, Atlanta, Orlando, and Washington, D.C. Yet students are expected to solo this aircraft after only 13 flights and a little more than 20 total flight hours. The T-6B Texan II is an 1,100-horsepower, complex, high-performance beast that would hardly meet the definition of an entry-level trainer anywhere but in the military. The Navy has largely adopted a “sink-or-swim” model of flight training. Learning to fly requires broad academic knowledge, keen spatial and situational awareness, good judgment, and rapid decision-making abilities, as well as a level of maturity that enables all of those capacities to function well under pressure. Still others may have been surprised to discover that the skills and talents that enabled them to succeed previously were not the same as those needed to perform well as a student military aviator. ![]() Some found themselves unprepared for the commitment required to keep up with the pace and volume of training. Over each the past five fiscal years, about 1 in 5 students were attrited for various reasons. Navy flight training is unapologetically demanding. 1 Since then, the Naval Air Training Command has grown into one of the largest and most respected flight training programs in the world, producing more than 1,300 pilots and naval flight officers each year for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and numerous partner nations. Ellyson effectively became Student Naval Aviator #1, training under aircraft builder and aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss. Navy has been in the flight training business since 1911, when Lieutenant T. ![]() HOW HARD IS IT TO GET INTO THE COAST GUARD PROFESSIONALNavy flight school is a challenging and rigorous undertaking designed for one purpose: to transform newly minted officers into professional and competent combat-quality military aviators. ![]()
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