Military Flying

[Metalhead731]

I've been browsing these forums for a few years now and I've seen several pilots talking about the "military way of flying". I've seen posts about how people with a lot of civilian aviation time can potentially be at a disadvantage because the "military way of flying" is very different. I've seen other posts of young guys heading to UPT without any flight time asking whether they should go out and get some hours and being told not to because they will be taught the "military way of flying" and not get mixed up with civilian training. I've been recently hired and still working on getting through MEPS. I have about 150 hours TT and working on getting my instrument rating. I've been wondering what does that actually mean? What is so different about military flying? I've seen these vague statements, but never really seen any specific examples. In the civilian world, you go through preflight, complete checklists, and you perform maneuvers to standards. I assume those are still applicable in military flying, but possibly more strict and more challenging. Just wondering if anyone can talk about any specific examples or stories that make military flying so unique. I want to get an idea as I'm getting started on this journey. 

[CPE1704TKS]

Here's my perspective as someone who entered UPT with few hundred GA hours (CPL w/instrument rating) and currently a T-6 IP.

For starters, ground ops (walking out to the jet, the preflight, getting the aircraft started and taxied) sound benign but in reality, the AF wants them done quickly and accurately. You won't have time to sit under the canopy in the heat or cold and go through the checklist item by item, especially when you're in a formation and you have a VHF check-in time. You'll need to create flows to make sure everything is in order and it helps to do things the same time, every time, so something will hopefully seem off to you if it's forgotten. The struggle between speed and accuracy is what some students struggle with, to include those with previous flying experience.

One large difference in UPT is the vastly different traffic pattern. In the GA world, you're used to a single rectangular box pattern. In UPT, you have several different patterns (overhead, straight-in, low pattern, high pattern, breakout/reentry, etc.) controlled by the RSU within the Class-D and things happen fast. You'll have close to a dozen other T-6s moving at 200 knots at its busiest, and you have to listen on the radios for every little detail while precisely maneuvering the aircraft. It's not uncommon to routinely pull several Gs in the pattern to follow the precise ground tracks. It takes several flights to build your SA bubble enough to be comfortable to solo... this is something you can't really prepare for in the GA world. It's also a blast once used to it.

The formation phase is obviously entirely new to most. As someone who occasionally flew formation with buddies in the GA world before UPT, it was nothing like military formation. For most with prior hours I'd say, this is where the playing field is generally leveled. I was a strong student in contact and instruments, but perfectly average in the formation phase and it was similar to learning to fly all over again in some ways. How so? Like in the pattern, things happen fast and you're maneuvering in relation to someone else while keeping up with precise, timely, and correct comms. As lead, you need to make the appropriate decisions for the formation and you're constantly under pressure to do so. But again, it's also a blast once used to it. 

Also, unlike on a GA training flight where you just fill the fuel tanks and typically don't have to worry about fuel, you will always have a set amount of time/fuel to accomplish each sortie in UPT. You simply won't have the time/gas to mess around. You need to be quick to accomplish your profile within these constraints, whether single ship or for the formation. It's added pressure. 

Those are just a few specific examples and I'm sure others will chime in with more. What helped me the most in UPT was having good stick and rudder skills from GA flying and my instrument rating. This allowed me to fly/trim the aircraft so I could focus more on what was going on outside and build an SA bubble. Previous flight time will set a foundation in terms of some basic general knowledge and hopefully some stick/rudder skills, but you will have to much to learn in terms of AF procedures and applying them while inverted/under moderate G/potentially being yelled at by the IP. Did I mention that it's a blast?

Edited February 17, 2021 by CPE1704TKS

[VMFA187]

You'll be at an advantage compared to someone with no or little prior flight time in UPT/Primary. You have experience in the air, flying instruments, and talking on the radio.

Once you get to jets (T-38/T-45) it is a wash from someone who selected jets with no flight experience prior to UPT/Primary. With that said, from my experience the dudes who made it to jets and struggled, all had a lot of flight time prior to the military which likely artificially raised their grades in UPT/Primary ultimately allowing them to select jets when they probably shouldn't have. 

[MCO]

Top 3 guys in my class had 200+ hours and their commercial. Top guy had 200 hours of formation time on top of that in jets. I saw other guys with a thousand hours struggle.

the key is to have the hours as a baseline but attack UPT like you haven’t flown before to build military habit patterns. The air sense you already have from hours will show through. If your set in your ways though it will get ugly, and those are the guys you usually hear about. Finally, some guys just can’t think quickly and having 1000 hours won’t fix that and they will struggle.

[Guardian]

Yeah. It’s not about how many hours are in the log book. It’s about the effort, attitude, and ability. People with zero hours can finish ahead or number one in a class. And vice versa. The thing is. Take what you learn in civ world if you choose to build experience and use it to your advantage. Don’t be the guy telling everyone your thoughts on flying because you have 200 hours and did well in your first 10 flights. Humble approach and lots of effort will get you where you want. I personally think that combined with exposure to civilian flying (the more experience the better) equals to what you define for yourself as success. Keep your head down, try hard, help the bros if they need it. Be a good friend. And you will do great.

[Metalhead731]

I should have probably specified that I got selected for heavies so I won't track T-38/T45, but I'm sure a lot of this is still the case with the T-6 and T-1. Thanks for the comments! I'm excited to have that planned for the future.

 

[raimius]

Having some air sense and basic skills will help.  If you get stuck in old habits, it will hurt.

[TreeA10]

Did the T-38 IP thing for a few years and performance varied with the guys with flying experience. One of my better students had @1500 hours with a Commercial Instrument rating and did great. Formation flying was the only thing he had not seen but adapted quickly. Other guys with flying time who thought they knew it all with their 200 hours in a 172 and would not adapt got hammered.  Air under your butt in anything is always great training, just know you MUST do it the AF way because they care nothing about where you came from. 

[hindsight2020]

2 hours ago, Metalhead731 said:

but I'm sure a lot of this is still the case with the T-6 and T-1. 

what do you mean T-1? You're too young to have seen it. (UPT 2.5 joke, too soon?) 😄

 

[jazzdude]

It's like playing a sport with some friends for fun on the weekend, versus playing a sport competitively.

Higher standards and expectations, you're on someone else's time/schedule, more time studying ahead of the flight, and more focused debriefs following the flight (again, on a timeline). So it can be a lot more like work than a leisurely activity. Especially compared to flying as a private pilot going out to go sightseeing or get the $100 hamburger on your own schedule.

Not to say it loses its excitement or can't be fun; you'll still find moments where you look out and take in the view and enjoy having one of the greatest jobs you can have. But then it's back to the mission/work.

Big thing is to keep an open mind, and learn the techniques the AF wants you to use (for example,max relax roll vs relax level power for stall recovery, or time-turn-throttles-twist-track-talk for IFR turnpoint actions). But the air sense from your previous flying will help, and a lot of it is adjusting to operating at the pacing in the cockpit expected of a military pilot.

[guineapigfury]

If I had the money prior to joining the Air Force (I didn't), I would have spent it on getting an instrument rating.  Much of what you're going to do in UPT is completely different from what you'd do in civilian flying.  What doesn't change ... an ILS approach is an ILS approach.  Knowing the concepts before starting UPT would be a big help IMO.  We had a guy who was a CFII and he cruised right through the instrument phase (and everything else).  I cannot even comprehend showing up to UPT with literally no flight time.  Just my two cents as a guy who showed up to UPT with a PPL.

Edited February 20, 2021 by guineapigfury

[HossHarris]

We’ve also had plenty of folks show up with hours and ratings that just couldn’t adapt to the “af way” of doing things. They struggled. 

[Bergman]

I could probably write a book on this topic; it’s an interesting question.

My short answer is...a student pilot pays a civilian instructor, so there is an inherent conflict of interest there.  A student never gets the 100% unvarnished truth (typically) because the CFI doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds him.  IPs at UPT don’t have that worry. 😂

 

My second thought is that the expectations are just higher in the military, as pilots are allowed access to far more advanced equipment with far more challenging missions with very little experience.  Example...250 hour pilots flying F-22s solo or globe trotting on a C-5.  Hell, even a KC-135 is the size of a 757.  Not many opportunities for a low time pilot to fly something that big/complicated (relative to GA).

[ViperMan]

In addition to the many valid comments already posted, I would say the amount of preparation that needs to go into each sortie is far, far greater than anything I experienced in the civilian world. If you show up and can't talk your way through each maneuver, precisely, you're doing it wrong. If you don't know the sequence of what you're going to do ahead of the brief, you're already behind. Civilian instructors will probably take you up and treat the cockpit as a classroom. Mil instructor may no-step you. My approach in UPT was to treat the every sortie as a time when I was going to "demonstrate" maneuvers to my IP, not expect they would walk me through the things I hadn't adequately prepared for - there's not the luxury of time on any given UPT sortie.

[jazzdude]

If you don't know the sequence of what you're going to do ahead of the brief, you're already behind. Civilian instructors will probably take you up and treat the cockpit as a classroom. Mil instructor may no-step you.

That's because the civilian instructor gets paid to take you up. Also, if they are a lower time instructor who also gets the bonus of logging time towards the ATP requirement. Not prepared? That's okay, just will cost you a couple hundred bucks.

Military is producing on a timeline with a quasi-fixed number of hours allotted, and had no problem cutting their loses if a student isn't performing.