Military Flight Aptitude Tests - USAREC - U.S. Army

14 Part I: Careers in Military Aviation
students fly the T-1A, a derivative of a twin-engine corporate
jet aircraft, in a course designed to better prepare them
in the specific skills required in airlift and tanker-type aircraft
operations. As the track name suggests, A/T students
go on to fly aircraft such as the C-130, C-5, and KC-135.
Students are awarded their wings on completion of the T-38
B/F course or at the end of the T-1A A/T course.
1. T-37
Currently lasts twenty-five weeks (nineteen days pre-flight
academics included). Contains 68 sorties and 89.0 flying
hours (8 solo sorties and 9.5 flying hours).
2. T-38 (B/F Track)
Currently lasts twenty-four weeks. Contains 96 sorties and
119.2 flying hours (approximately 17 solo sorties and 21.0
flying hours).
3. T-1A (A/T Track)
Currently lasts twenty-four weeks. Contains 73 sorties and
105.0 flying hours (approximately 4 sorties are flown
“team,” i.e., with another student observing). The T-1A
course includes practice airdrop profiles and practice
air-to-air refueling rendezvous exercises.
Advanced Training
After earning wings, the new aviator is assigned to an
operational aircraft. Although pilots are allowed much
latitude in selection of the aircraft they will fly, the needs
and requirements of the Air Force remain the determining
factor. Advanced training usually ranges from three to six
months and is designed to acquaint fliers with their
assigned aircraft and the characteristics of each.
After completion of advanced training, the pilot joins
an assigned operational flying unit made up of the aircraft
in which advanced training was received. A normal
assignment may continue for three to four years at the
conclusion of which the pilot may be considered for
transfer to a new aircraft and a new base.
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Women Pilots
There are no restrictions on the types of aircraft that women
pilots are allowed to fly in the USAF. All combat
restrictions were removed and women pilots may enter
combat aircraft training.
Helicopter Training
Some students are selected to fly helicopters following their
T-37 training. These pilot candidates complete their
advanced training at the U.S. Army Aviation Center at Fort
Rucker, Alabama, on the UH-1. This training lasts
twenty-eight weeks and involves approximately 115 hours
of flight instruction. Once pilot candidates have successfully
completed the undergraduate pilot training, these
officers receive their silver wings and are awarded the
aeronautical rating of pilot. (Helicopter pilot training is also
available to rated fixed-wing pilots.) Rated helicopter pilots
assigned to fly MC-130, HC-130, UH-1N, MH-53, or
HH-60 aircraft receive additional training at Kirtland AFB,
New Mexico.
Navigator Training
Aircraft location is the primary concern of the navigator.
The wind, the weather, the speed, the heading, and the
altitude must be considered and there is no margin for
error. To the educated eyes of the navigator, the
radarscope’s blur of light, lines, and shadow becomes a
clear indication of coastline, land contour, and position.
The trained navigator can guide the aircraft safely and
surely between points hundreds or thousands of miles apart.
Undergraduate Navigator Training
As a navigator trainee, you begin with the very basics of air
navigation: dead reckoning. You learn to maintain an
accurate record of time, speed, direction, and wind effect,
using them to determine the exact position of the aircraft
without reference to landmarks. You study map reading,
radar, day and night celestial, inertial, radio, and low-level
navigation. There are also courses in weather, aviation
physiology, flight instruments, aircraft flight regulations,
and integrated navigation systems.
Specialized Undergraduate Navigator Training (SUNT)
SUNT is conducted at Randolph AFB, Texas, and lasts
approximately forty weeks.
As a student navigator, your training begins in the
Core navigation phase (approximately seventeen weeks) of
SUNT. Studies in this phase include Aerospace Physiology,
Basic Procedures, Weather, Flight Regulations, Dead Reckoning,
and Integrated Navigation procedures.
Upon completion of the Core phase of SUNT,
students are placed in one of three specialized training
tracks (approximately twenty-three weeks):