Lt. Col. Ryan Riley, left, commander of the detachment that conducted the second and third versions of Pilot Training Next, greets 2d Lt. John Scullion as he graduates in 2019 at Randolph. The Air Force taught Scullion to fly by leveraging technology, particularly simulators, to allow individuals to learn faster than their peers. Today, the service teaches all its novice pilots that way.The revamped system took effect at all three training bases for novice pilots on Nov. 1.
As the coronavirus pandemic erased commercial airline pilot jobs, however, the Air Force pilot inventory steadily improved and the shortfall dropped to 1,650 by 2021. But airlines, a major lure for military flyers, started hiring again and the competition today is as sharp as ever. “It is like relating it to the professional coach-athlete model in today's collegiate sports environment. It is not self-paced, it is learner-centric,” Capt. Lauren Woods, an AETC spokeswoman, said in an email. “Our pilot instructor training curriculum added focus on learning styles, feedback, using immersive technology and how to analyze student errors and provide instructional fixes.”
The makeover was driven by a combination of emerging technology and tech-savvy aviation students. It was in the works even before 2017, when Gen. David Goldfein, then the Air Force chief of staff, ordered the new head of AETC, Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, to develop a way to end the pilot shortage. But the program moved, in the end, to Hangar 71 at Randolph during the second of its three versions. Altogether, 42 students graduated by 2019, producing enough data to develop a modified Undergraduate Pilot Training course at two Air Force installations called UPT 2.5.
“They grew up in a digital world, they’re digital natives, they have different expectations,” Wills said. A Fort Walton Beach, Fla., native, he is now flying the C-5M Super Galaxy transport plane at Dover AFB, Del.Lts. Aaron Sless and Jim Brittingham learned to fly gliders at the Air Force Academy, where they also accumulated more than 100 hours on sims.
Until fairly recently, novice pilots sat in front of a posterboard display of the cockpit of a T-6A and kept a hand on a broomstick or toilet plunger, running through checklists, takeoffs, maneuvers and landings.Students now also study 360-degree videos for virtual pre-flight walkarounds. Local-area flying orientation was detailed enough to locate high-tension power lines and landmarks like water towers, to anticipate what it will look like when aloft.
It was a huge step from such older tools as printed instructions, maps, lessons on CDs or large task trainers housed in giant buildings that are limited to basic “switchology” and no visuals. Capt. Christine Durham, a PTN instructor pilot in Austin who had taught aviators the old way at Vance AFB in Oklahoma, thought the biggest difference wasn’t in how quickly students could solo, but in their freedom to shape the training program.
Scaling up Pilot Training Next to the three UPT bases was important. PTN cost about $42 million, but it was a boutique program that ended in a year when 1,255 students were earning their wings in regular UPT. It used to be somewhat commonplace, however, for high school grads to join the military and fly. They included the, a fighter ace in World War II who broke the sound barrier in 1947 and retired as a general.
For all its promise to harness talent and expand the numbers and diversity of the pilot corps, Pilot Training Next took flak from an important segment of the aviation community — seasoned Air Force instructor pilots.Capt. Donald “Donny” Nguyen is chased down by fellow airmen and tossed in a small kiddie swimming pool after soloing in Pilot Training Next, an experimental novice pilot instruction program that has reshaped the way the Air Force teaches people to fly.
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