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T 6 texan ii cockpit12/30/2023 ![]() You learn basic dogfighting, both one vs. You learn to fly tactical formation, how to drop bombs and shoot guns. Familiarization, instruments and then (for the Navy and the Marines) you go to the tactical side of aviation. Once you make your selection or you are assigned a jet, you go to the T-45 and you kind of repeat the process. For Naval aviation you have these options: jet, multi-engine, tiltrotor or helicopter. In the Navy you select the aircraft yourself, but again, it depends on the needs of the military. Then, if you are in the Air Force, you get assigned your aircraft during what is called a “drop night”. Then generally finish up with formation training in primary. ![]() Then you’ll go to aerobatics and instruments. You learn how to perform basic maneuvers, how to fly, how to land. Everybody starts in primary, flying the Texan. All branches fly the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II, except for the Army, where they fly a training helicopter. What actually happens in flight school?įirst of all you go to primary flight school. I would say, once you make it through the door, it’s no more than 20%. At every step is the saying “finishing one stage is just an invitation to the next stage”. Now they also have a pre-flight program, where before actually starting flight school you fly around in Cessnas or whatever with a civilian instructor just to make sure you can do it. We probably lost half the guys that started in aviation indoctrination along the way. It was the 80s, so the Vietnam era was kind of there. When I went through, they didn’t need aviators anywhere. She has already got her college degree, but she’s going straight to flight school with the Army. A lot of guys fall out during that. In the Army they have what they call a "high school to flight school" program. Once you get through that, you go to officer candidate school, for which which you have to be a college grad. What happens once you get through the physical? Another group of people just physically don’t qualify for many reasons. A lot of guys end up in the backseat because of eyesight. The army will give you LASEK and continue you in flight training, but this is branch-specific. ![]() They have loosened the standards a bit on eyesight, depending on branch. Next, which is a big hit for a lot of guys is the physical. A lot of the guys just don’t get it done. The big one is just getting the application complete. Standards do fluctuate but you’re going lose guys at every stage. When I was an instructor, we got orders from the command to figure out everybody’s grades and below a certain academic line we had to kick out everyone out of the program. So, when they don’t need people, they can really tighten the standards. Right now, there’s a big push for pilots in the Marines, but the Navy doesn’t need anybody. They asked his class who wants to graduate a week early to go to flight school right away. And this week he was asked to graduate Rifle School early. You know, we have a saying in the military side, which goes for being hired by the airlines as well. Oftentimes it depends on how many people they need. How many people applying to become pilots actually get to the cockpit? It requires constant studying and it’s not just an easy job in any sense. In aviation, any kind of aviation, you are going to be gone a lot from your family. If you grow up in a military aviation family, you know how to do it. For many people, especially youngsters, it seems like a mystery how to become a pilot. I think there’s a propensity for it, because you know how to do it. I know quite a few multi-generation families. Are aviation families common or is your story unique? He flew A-1 Skyraiders in Vietnam.Īviation has been a part of my life forever. My other uncle was in the Navy, that’s how I got interested. So, it’s been in my family for as long as I remember. I have two uncles that flew, and my grandfather managed an airline in the 1920s. All four of them have flown in some way, both as civil and military pilots. Every pilot (military and civil) has a story of why they came to aviation. In this exclusive interview with AeroTime, he goes into detail about the challenges that await young men and women reaching for the skies. Being a flight instructor and having raised four of his kids as aviators, Leland Shanle knows all the ins-and-outs of military pilot training. Believe it or not, getting your wings as a military pilot is a lot more complicated than passing a driving test.
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