I assume that most HS seniors entering the USAF Academy or Annapolis (to fly) do not already have flying experience. Some may but on the whole, I would think most have never piloted an aircraft.
At what point do the cadets choose what they would like to fly? The process is described in detail in the above referenced thread but does it happen near graduation or much earlier on in their 4 years at the academy?
Let’s say I want to fly F22s, do I learn this at the academy or is it ‘post graduate’ training? What do I fly at the academy?
I am pretty certain you don’t learn to fly something like the F-22 until after graduation. During school you can learn to fly a small Cesna type plane if you don’t already have a pilots license.
For the Air Force for guys going to OTS before that program starts they send potential pilots to a class that teaches them to fly the Cesna. Some of them don’t pass that class so they go to OTS and pick another job in the Air Force. That pre-OTS program used to be called FishPots for FSPOT - flight screening program , officer trainee. (maybe they still call it that)
If you want to fly a fighter, you have to take the Introduction to Fighter Fundametals Course (see here for more details), during which you learn to fly a T-6 (prop trainer), T-37 (jet trainer), and finally a T-38 (supersonic jet trainer). All this comes after the academy.
After that, you get to apply to the various specific fighter programs. Getting into a Raptor is difficult, though. First, you have to be selected- there are a ton of applicants for Raptor training- and then you have to go through more training than usual because of the unusual g-load you experience in the F-22.
The mission of all of the service academies is to give students a university education while training them how to serve as an officer. Period. Part of the education involves exposure to active-duty units, but this in no way substitutes for the formal training pipeline necessary to get to that point, which takes place after graduation.
In short, you learn how to fly jets, drive tanks, and drive submarines and ships after graduation.
Regarding the USAFA, note that you are not guaranteed to fly anything. The air force also needs navigators, missile silo officers, etc.
Some of the guys who don’t pass the AF fishpot class end up as navigators. And some navigators later get jobs as pilots for airlines once they leave the AF or Navy - they get trained as pilots after they leave. The fishpot class is not easy to pass because it is real intense training in just a few weeks.
Just a side note here: there is nothing prettier than watching the traning planes taking off at the USAFA in Colorado Springs. The airport is right beside Interstate 25, and has the Front Range as a backdrop. Drop dead gorgeous thing to watch.
USAF Academy also has a gliding program for cadets. A decent way to start the pilots out, and a very cheap way for otherwise non-flying AF officers to gain an appreciation of what it takes to land and fly in formation (tow). Probably a good idea for any AF officer to know an aileron from a longeron, even if they spend thier career in a missle silo.
They stay longer because it takes a lot of money (investment) to train a pilot/nav, and the pull of the airlines is a hard thing to say no to. So if you put a large obligation on the backside of training, you get a better return on the investment. Add to that aviation incentive pay, which starts really kicking in around the time that initial obligation is over, and bonuses, which come into play around that time also, then you have a means to lure these guys back to the fold after their initial obligation is over. AFAIK, their initial obligation has nothing to do with training. The obligation begins upon winging, not upon commissioning as an officer.
My son is a senior and will be graduating from the Air Force Academy in May. When he entered the Academy, he already had his private pilots license, but this is not a requirement. In fact, most of the cadets do not have flying experience prior to entering.
The flying programs at the academy include: glider training, intercollegiate flying team, flying club, and jump (parachuting). My son participated in the glider training and jump programs (which he loved). The jump program is intense and, I believe, is the only program in the world where your first jump is solo free fall.
Each class at the academy has approximately 1000 cadets and typically half of them are medically pilot qualifed. Historically, roughly 500 cadets will attend Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT), following graduation.
UPT is 1 year in length. The aircraft for the first half of UPT is the T-6 (The T-37 has been retired). Following the T-6, students progress to either the fighter/bomber track in the T-38, the helocopter track, or the transport track in the T-1. There are relatively few fighter slots in each class so only the top students will get that opportunity.
At the the end of UPT, they have a graduation ceramony where the students find out what aircraft they will be progressing to. They only recently began to drop F-22 slots immediately from UPT, but they are far and few between. UAV’s assignments have begun to show up in UPT graduations. The active duty commitment for pilot training is 10 years (which begins after you get your wings)
The USAFA is a world class school with amazing opportunities for the cadets.
To get into the AF Academy, does a prospective student have to meet the requirements to be a pilot? For example, my eyesight is so bad that I assume I would never have been allowed to fly. Could I still have attended the Academy with the intention of going into Materiel Command or some other support role?
(This is all hypothetical questioning. I’m 41 years old.)
No, you do not have to be pilot qualified to enter the academy. Your chances for admission are greater if you are qualified, but typically only half of them meet the (very stringent) conditions for pilot qualification.
The entrance physical to get into the Academy is performed by DODMERB. This physical exam is nothing compared to the graduation physical that cadets must endure. In fact, it only tells you that you are "potentially pilot qualified, (PPQ). The graduation physical, is started during the second year and is the exam that ultimately determines if you will attend UPT or not. The medical process is long and a PITA. Some cadets will require waivers in order to pass.
Some cadets with bad eyes will be allowed to have PRK surgery, (fully paid for by the AF), to enable them to pass the grad physical.
Some cadets may even enter the academy as PPQ, but then something happens during their 4 years that makes them lose their qualification. These cadets will move on to Air Force careers in something other than pilot, navigator, etc.
In other words (or so it sounds if I’m parsing your words correctly), all medically qualified academy cadets who want UPT will get it.
Given the unofficial pecking order among military officers in pretty much every service (i.e., the appropriate Academy grads are at the top of that pecking order), it wouldn’t suprise me if every medically qualified Academy grad were allowed to go to flight school, especially in the USAF where flying is, after all, the primary mission.
This is correct. There have been an average of 500 UPT slots per year from the academy, so most medically qualified cadets will get a slot. This is not guaranteed, however. There have been years in the past with much fewer pilot slots. It is all determined by the needs of the Air Force each year.
An Academy graduate told me that you are required to “get your wings”. For instance, that can be done through glider training or jump training. He said when he graduated he wasn’t qualified to fly anything but did get his wings. His major contribution was playing on the basketball team.
I understand that at the Naval Academy you have to “learn to sail”. However, that could mean learning how to maneuver a small sail boat. It doesn’t mean that graduates are qualified to captain a destroyer or an aircraft carrier.
Hell, before you can even issue steering orders on a warship’s bridge you have a whole 'nother school to go to (Surface Warfare Officer’s School (Basic)/Submarine Officer’s School (Basic)), and then spend a whole lot of time as a watch officer under instruction. IIRC, it’s six months to a year after academy/NROTC graduation before one gets to one’s first ship, and a few months after that before one can qualify as a watch officer underway. And then it’s years of experience and at least another couple schools before one is qualified for command at sea.
Those of you who’ve actually done it, feel free to correct me.
For submarine officers, starting from commissioning (following graduation from college):
[ul]
[li]6 months at Nuclear Power School (classroom instruction)[/li][li]6 months at Nuclear Power Prototype Unit (qualification on land-based nuclear power plant)[/li][li]3 months at Submarine Officer Basic Course (SOBC)[/li][/ul]
This all takes about 18 months from commissioning, due to gaps between schools and moving from base to base. (I went from Orlando, FL to upstate NY to Groton, CT).
Once I got to a submarine, I had to qualify as EOOW (Engineering Officer of the Watch), DOOW (Diving Officer of the Watch), followed by Officer of the Deck (OOD) both surfaced and submerged. All of these qualifications were combined with actually standing watch and doing my job. (I was the Electrical Officer.)
It took nearly a year after reporting to my submarine before I finally stood watch as the OOD and had the Conn by myself (i.e. not “under instruction”). At that point I was the most junior OOD on board.
You don’t have to worry about Command-at-Sea quals until you return to sea as a Department Head (second sea tour).
Hell, before you can even issue steering orders on a warship’s bridge you have a whole 'nother school to go to (Surface Warfare Officer’s School (Basic)/Submarine Officer’s School (Basic)), and then spend a whole lot of time as a watch officer under instruction. IIRC, it’s six months to a year after academy/NROTC graduation before one gets to one’s first ship, and a few months after that before one can qualify as a watch officer underway. And then it’s years of experience and at least another couple schools before one is qualified for command at sea.
Those of you who’ve actually done it, feel free to correct me.
Cheers,
bcg[/QUOTE
I stood JOOD watch 8 months after graduating from CMA with an engineering degree on reserve duty. Depending on the ship junior officers are not going to stand OOD watches.
By the way it was mistake putting me on the bridge, I am color blind.
