Yeah, HAL. You're just an NFO. What do you know anyway? 
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It’s called hearsay.
No scientific evidence to back it up, but I think I saw more DOR/washouts from the year I was a student in flight school than since becoming a primary instructor. (Been at VT-3 since 2011 minus the year or so I spent assigned to the FITU.) Point being, there seems to be very few.
Judge Q
Judging You
Can't DOR when you got nowhere else to go.
Wanted to add how helpful it was sitting in on buddies I3100 sims and practice sims. If you have friends a week or two ahead in the syllabus, see if you can sit in the back and observe. It's a huge boost to see how things play out, especially the comms. Same goes for sitting in on practice sims since you're limited to one per day. Some of the best habits come from watching your friends do the same things different ways. Constant exposure at the start of instruments is key.
Also, the T6-B Driver videos for the second set of BIs are game changers. They are the foundation of the FTI maneuvers in instruments. Watch those religiously during RI ground school.
Also, the T6-B Driver videos for the second set of BIs are game changers. They are the foundation of the FTI maneuvers in instruments. Watch those religiously during RI ground school.
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wileybe
No hook required
It always blows my mind to hear about people (allegedly) studying 12-15 hours a day, buying hundred dollar flight sim software, sitting in on RI sims before they even class up, etc. Good on people like that who bust their ass and wreck the NSS curve getting 80s. But Jesus. Maybe it says something about my work ethic, but I can’t make myself study anything for more than a 3 or 4 hours at a time before I get burned out.
The best advice I ever got (and this holds true even when you start flying grey airplanes) was to pick the brains of people ahead of you. Find out what they did or didn’t do. And if you are the guy being asked, hook your buddies up. Unfortunately, Primary can breed the zero sum game mentality, where people hold on to gouge or don’t help each other out. And while this may boost your NSS by a few points in the short run, people will always remember who was selfish and who was a good dude, and that reputation will stay with you for a long, long time.
The best advice I ever got (and this holds true even when you start flying grey airplanes) was to pick the brains of people ahead of you. Find out what they did or didn’t do. And if you are the guy being asked, hook your buddies up. Unfortunately, Primary can breed the zero sum game mentality, where people hold on to gouge or don’t help each other out. And while this may boost your NSS by a few points in the short run, people will always remember who was selfish and who was a good dude, and that reputation will stay with you for a long, long time.
I don’t think anybody is studying 12-15 hours a day. And very few are actually buying (let alone spending hundreds of dollars) flight sim software.
Your advice about gouge is spot on though.
Anyone who pulls that shit needs to be called out on it publicly and regularly . . . so they can hopefully fix themselves before they run the risk of becoming the backstabbing douchebag no one wants in their squadron.
Nah, I disagree with this. I had a guy I went through in primary with who would never come out because it could mean he could have been studying. He was the kind of guy that would do the CAI's over and over and over again just to show he had a perfect 100 on every.single.one. He would post screenshots of himself "in the break" or flying the predicted approaches he would get on MS Flight Simulator X on his Facebook page with captions... he bought a software package that included the T-34C cockpit with working gauges. He'd poo-poo on any of us for doing anything but study, and the second I selected helo's and he got Harriers, it was total vindication to him. To him, I was 100% the failure, despite wanting to fly Navy helicopters. Today, he's a very disgruntled and disappointed Harrier pilot who constantly bitches on Facebook about how poorly the Marines treat their pilots.
In my mind, every class has one guy that's at least somewhat like this. I remember finishing up primary, being near the cockpit trainers just helping a friend who was starting up, when a guy who was just classing up with him asked me for help, but right before I started going through the checklist with him he asked "so what did you select?" When I told him "helicopters," his face literally soured and he said "Ah, I think I'd rather have help from someone who was more successful. I will become a Blue Angel one day." He has no idea, but I've remembered his name all these years and he ended up on my deployment as a C-2 guy, which, by all accounts the dream life, but it's pretty far removed from the Blue Angels... I always felt vindicated seeing him.
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The feelings that washed over me as I read your post are typically only triggered by such experiences as:
1. Smelling freshly cut grass accented by the aromas of the morning's first brew as the sprinkler tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tptptptptptpt-tat-tat-tats its mist across the lawn
2. Logging in and seeing green numbers on my investment accounts
3. Clicking the last unread email in my Outlook inbox and watching the blue number go away
4. Hearing the last resolving note at the end of a symphony
He still has a few possible paths to the Blues via lateral transfer (PAO, Supply, AMDO, NFO).
I feel like that guy is an exception. Sure you’ll have a motivated guy in every class. You’ll have an extreme hard charger every season. But the guy you’re talking about...I feel like that’s one in a thousand. Behavior like that has to overwhelmingly be the exception, even for the most highly motivated.
You get a higher NSS by picking up on flying concepts quicker and meet the syllabus ramp up earlier in the blocks. Don’t overthink this. Show up prepared and make progress in the flights. Don’t be a shitbag, help your buddies, and don’t get a DUI. Even helo pilots become airline pilots eventually.
WORD!