T-45C Replacement

[jointhelocalizer]

Could not find the the perfect thread for this tidbit - but there was a DAF wide briefing on USAF UPT Vision last week. T-6 and T-1 retired. Introductory flight training to be conducted in single engine piston platforms with instruction delivered by GA civ marketplace - to include earning FAA Private Pilot rating. Then to T-7 for tracks that today involve T-38. Everyone else goes right to sim in their operational aircraft to learn jet/turbine transition and multi-engine and then to the normal training syllabus for that make/modell/type. Target is to have this syllabus fully converted by 2035. Retiring the T-6 outright is surprising.

I feel this might work out just like PTN or Avenger. There is no bypassing experience. I think one of the beauties of Advanced was I learned single engine stuff in a relatively simple airplane, and got to practice it a lot in the plane itself. Plus, you would be sending studs to a very complex aircraft while they still have a lot to learn about flying in general. I feel a fast and complex aircraft is not the place to learn the basics of instrument flight and other fundamental flying concepts. Maybe the Air Force has higher fidelity and more numerous sims than the Navy, but this will also increase the load on simulators. It is already a battle to get sim time in my community between the FRS and the operational squadrons. Having undergrad pilots would make sim time even more scarce.

 

[SynixMan]

That just screams contractor money grab to me. Scaling up pilot training takes money. IPs, Fuel, Planes, Parts. There's no cheap way to do it.

 

[Griz882]

The last time the USAF tried something this radical in T-6 UPT land, it crashed and burned spectacularly. -cough Pilot Training Next cough-. There’s a reason that said program (and Naval Aviation Next, AKA project Avenger) were both discontinued by the USAF and the USN. They both didn’t work.

And didn’t the USAF already look into the T-6 to F-16 concept and decided it was infeasible? This would be a similar jump in aircraft performance, no?

I believe, and I could be mistaken, that the AF went from Pilot Training Next as an experiment to UPT 2.5 as a test to full operation as just UPT…in other words, you wing at completion of the sim heavy T-6 initial training.

 

[ChuckMK23]

I believe, and I could be mistaken, that the AF went from Pilot Training Next as an experiment to UPT 2.5 as a test to full operation as just UPT…in other words, you wing at completion of the sim heavy T-6 initial training.

Which includes, I'm told, only 35 actual hours in the plane.

 

[sevenhelmet]

Which includes, I'm told, only 35 actual hours in the plane.

I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for- the new pilots, or the squadrons that have to train them from a lower level...

 

[Swanee]

I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for- the new pilots, or the squadrons that have to train them from a lower level...

In the MQ-9 community word is they're moving all tactical training to what we call Mission Qualification Training, (MQT) which is conducted by the fleet squadrons. So the first time we find out if you can actually be trusted to shoot anything will be after you complete the FTU.

I don't like it. Neither does anyone else.

 

[ChuckMK23]

I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for- the new pilots, or the squadrons that have to train them from a lower level...

Freshly winged pilots are showing up at the C-17 squadron next door to my office with ~100 hours total pilot time in an actual aircraft. They do have considerable sim experience. That flight time is in Cessna 172, A Piper Seminole, a T-6 and that's it as far as real aircraft time.