Army Flight School Changes

US Army Flight School is an ever changing beast.  It has to be.  The Army is always changing, technology is always changing, and our adversaries are always changing.  It's only been a little over 1 year since I graduated flight school, and there are already some big changes.  I'll try to list all of the changes that I have heard of here.

WOBC
WOBC started changing when I went through flight school.  It is now a 2 part process, whereas it only used to be 1 class that was taken before getting into flight classes.  Part 1 is still before flight, but part 2 is after advanced airframe, right before graduation.  Part 1 and part 2 are both 3 weeks long.   

Primary, Instruments, and BWS

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Back when I went through flight school (I feel like an old vet saying that, lol), we trained on the TH-67...the Mighty Creek.  However, the Army is now transitioning to the UH-72 Lakota.  They started this year (FY16) with 1 of every 4 classes starting in Lakotas.  In FY17, every other class will start Lakotas, in FY18, 3 out of 4 classes will start, and in FY19 the Army will be fully transitioned over to the new airframe.

Primary used to be 8 weeks, instruments was 8 weeks, and BWS was 4 weeks.  Primary, Instruments, and BWS are going away.  The following is the proposed new system for flight school:

• "Basic Rotary Wing Skills" (BRWS) will be up first.  It will be 6 weeks long and will include some simulator hours.  As you can imagine, this is your first time in a helicopter so it's all about the basics.
• "Basic Instrument Skills" is next.  It will be 4 weeks long and is all in the simulator.  It is similar to the first part of the old Instruments phase.  It is followed by:
• "Advanced RW and Instruments" (ARWS).  This phase will be 4 weeks long. It consists of IFR cross country flights, a couple of VFR cross country flights, and a few days doing EPs from both seats.
• "Basic Tactical Navigation" (BTN) - 2 weeks including learning to fly low level and learning Army warfighter tactics.
• "Day and Night Warfighter Skills" - 4 weeks which includes NVG time (which only used to be taught in your advanced airframe).

In addition to the change in aircraft and the course flow, with the new system, you would keep your IP the whole way through as opposed to having different IPs for each different phase like it used to be. 

Aircraft Selection
When I went through selection, they had just starting phasing out the OH-58.  It was available to select about a month prior to my selection.  The only options when I selected were the UH60, CH47, or AH64.  Active Duty UH60 students were all put through the M model course, CH47 students were put through the F model course, and AH64 students were still being put through the D model course.  64 drivers would get the E model transition if their gaining unit had E models.  In addition, some students got the opportunity to go to the fixed wing course, but it wasn't available for selection.  They selected UH60 guys and offered them the transition at some point during the 60 course.

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As of June 2016, the UH60 A/L model is available for selection again.  I guess the Army is realizing that a lot of units still don't have M models, and some units won't be getting them for awhile.  There are now AH64 E and D models available at selection.  Additionally, fixed wing is available at selection in the form of a C12.

Other Changes
The only other change that I know of that is somewhat related to flight school is the talk of changing time in grade (TIG) from 2 years to 3 years for the CW2 promotion.  Right now, you promote to CW2 2 years after you pin WO1.  The change would make it 3 years.  The other rumor that I've heard (not confirmed) is that they are looking at extending the first duty assignment by 1 year so that you have more time to make PC and track at your first unit.
 

Finishing Flight School and Some Thoughts

After finishing up the UH60 course, there was one more thing that had to be finished before we graduated.  WOBC Phase II.  It includes some academics followed by a multi day practical exercise.  To be honest, I don't remember what was included in the academics, but for the practical exercise it was planning and executing an Air Assault using the 72 hour Air Assault Planning Process.  It includes everyone who is in your graduating class across all airframes.  So, the first few days included getting the OPORD and threat brief, and then planning our air assault.  After planning we went into the AVCATT (simulators) and executed our plan.  The AVCATT was actually pretty cool.  It is basically a bunch of simulators linked together so that you can do multi aircraft training.  We got to see how the different airframes all work and coordinate together. It was actually very educational and I learned a lot.

Getting my Graduation/DHG Plaque

Once we finished that up, we were ready to graduate and get our wings!  The OML continues to be tracked throughout your advanced airframe course, and that determines who the Distinguished Honor Graduate (DHG) is and the Honor Graduates.  The DHG is the student with the highest grade, and Honor Grads are a top percentage of the class (I don't remember if it's 10% or 20%).  As it turns out, I was the DHG for our class, so that was pretty awesome.  My parents came to visit from Washington State for my graduation, and I had my wife pin on my wings at the ceremony.

Orders
At some point while you are in the advanced course, you will get an RFO (Request For Orders).  This will tell you where they want you to be going next.  It's generally going to be where you go, but don't get your hopes up, as it could change anytime before you actually get you orders.  My stick buddy got an RFO for one place, then they changed it, and then his final orders had him going somewhere else.  I never even got an RFO.  This happened to a couple of people in my class.  Somehow we slipped through the cracks.  Usually your official orders will come a few weeks before you graduate, however at times, they get behind.  I didn't get my orders until a few weeks AFTER graduation.  A few months after I graduated, whole classes didn't have their orders until after graduation.  It's a shitty situation, but you just have to be patient with it, because in all actuality there is nothing much you can do.  Whatever you do, DO NOT contact HRC yourself on this one.  The Student Management Office gets very angry when you try to bypass them, and there will probably be repercussions if/when they find out. 

Almost nobody got a duty station that was on their list at selection.  Like I said before, I think the list is just a way to make people feel good if by chance they get a duty station that is on their list.  There was a guy in my class that requested Korea and got Alaska, and another guy that was the opposite.  Why didn't they just stick those two at the duty stations they had on their list?  I guess when it comes down to it there are hundreds of students a year that graduate and need a duty station, and from my understanding, there is one person that processes all of the assignments for flight school.

A Look Back
After graduating, I was so ready to be done with flight school and get on to my first assignment and start doing some real flying.  However, looking back I wish I would have spent a little more time just enjoying flight school.  So, if you are reading this getting ready to go to flight school, remember that.  It is the only time in your career that all you have to do is fly and study.  You don't have to worry about additional duties, OERs, whether or not you're going to be getting flight time, deployments, RL Progression, making PC, APARTs, or anything else.  Just fly and study.  Go to the beach and enjoy your family.  Enterprise and Dothan really aren't that bad, especially when compared to some of the other "Army towns" out there. 

As far as selecting an aircraft goes, I think I thought about selecting every available aircraft at some point before selection.  I went to WOCS wanting to select Apaches.  During flight school I realized that I liked the mission of the Blackhawk.  However, before selection I entertained the thought of selecting Chinooks, and after BWS I really thought I would select Kiowas.  My advice would be to select the aircraft that you want based on their mission.  Ask around and start to understand what the mission really is and whether or not that is something that you would enjoy. 

That's about all I can think about right now.  I'll continue to update this blog with my experience as a street to seat Army Aviator post flight school.  

Advance Airframe - UH60M

After instruments in the A/L course came the M model course.  The flow is like the A/L course only shortened.  We started in academics for a week or two.  Most of the academics focuses on using the avionics since most of the other systems are the same as the A/L.  Basically we learned all of the differences between the A/L and the M for a few days and then worked with the FD/DCP (Flight Director/Display Control Panel) which is essentially the autopilot controller, and the FMS (Flight Management System) which is a very robust flight computer that integrates into almost everything.

After academics we went back to the flight line for contact which was about 2 1/2 weeks long.  Again, there was a 5&9 test on day one.  Everything else was about the same (table talk, daily questions, etc).  Since we already knew the standards for all of the maneuvers we were supposed to perform, all we were really learning was how to use the systems (FD/DCP and FMS) to do it for us.  It was about learning how to use the "autopilot" system in the helicopter and the quirks that go along with it.  In the M model you become more of a systems manager than a pilot.  At the end of contact, of course there is a checkride.

Instruments in the M model course was extremely short and extremely easy.  I think it was 2 days in the sim and 2 days in the helicopter followed by a checkride.  Again in instruments, it's about learning to use the system to fly instruments for you, since you already know how to fly instruments.  The M model instrument checkride was the easiest checkride of my life.  All I had to do was an ITO (instrument take off) on the controls, and then I didn't touch the controls again until I was ready to land.  The M model will do everything else for you.  It is an amazing helicopter with amazing capabilities.  Unless you really screw up a procedure, they're really testing you on using the systems.

After instruments is the night/tactics phase.  It's about 3-4 weeks.  Again, we started with academics.  this time it was NVG (Night Vision Goggle) academics to learn about and how to use the NVGs.  After that we went to the flight line and started flying "nights".  Depending on the time of year, nights can be pretty late.  I went in the winter so I don't think we ever left after about 11pm or midnight.  However, in the summer when the days are longer, you can expect to be there until 2-3am.  There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to flying with the NVGs.  Distance estimation and depth perception are much harder under NVGs. Nights is a mix between going to the stagefield and planning routes and going to RTs (like in BWS).  However, unlike BWS, flying a route is much easier since you have autopilot and a moving map in the cockpit.  At the end of nights there is the final checkride.  This checkride is very comprehensive.  The oral evaluation can cover anything you've learned throughout flight school, but will have a large focus on night/NVG stuff.  The flight consists of manuevers at the stagefield, and a tactical route to a couple of RTs.

Overall, the Blackhawk course was a lot of fun.  I obviously built a base foundation for what I will need to continue to learn throughout my entire career.  I spent a lot of time at the tech library studying and it really helped me out.  I didn't score lower than a 91% on any of my checkrides.  As I was writing this I was trying to think of a few things I could pinpoint to tell you to really focus on for the course, but honestly, I can't.  I don't really think anything is skimped on.  You have to study and try to understand everything at least at a base level.  I guess if there was one thing it would be EPs because those could save your life.  But as far as the course goes, everything will be evaluated. 

So, I was done flying at Fort Rucker for flight school, but I couldn't graduate yet.  There were a few more things that needed to happen, and I'll get into those in my next post.