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.