So, You Want to be a Pilot? (IFS)
With a sizeable portion of USAFA grads going into flying AFSCs, I thought it might be a good idea to talk a bit about the Air Force’s pilot training program.
The Air Force starts by sending every student pilot to Initial Flight Screening in Pueblo, Colorado. Pueblo is about an hour south of Colorado Springs and USAFA, so many grads end up visiting friends still at the academy at some point.
IFS is currently run through Doss Aviation. Doss has a full-service training complex at the airport. Lodging, dining, a gym, academics, and flying are all done out of the Doss facility. The building is fairly nice, but oddly, none of the hotel rooms have windows (most are on the interior of the building.) The lack of windows and a schedule that keeps most students either on the flightline or in the building for most of the week has earned Doss a few nicknames. I preferred the “USS Doss,” as it seemed almost like a land-bound aircraft carrier—everything in the building, except the flightline, and you don’t leave often! One good thing about the facility is the dining hall. The food is good, and you can get quite a lot of it, if you want. They usually have sandwiches, cooked meals, a short-order grill, and deserts. I never heard anyone complain about the food, so it was definitely much more appreciated than Mitch’s.
The program itself is a serious sprint for most students. IFS tries to introduce Air Force style pilot training to students in classic “fire hose” style. The first week is academics, and consists of long days of briefing after briefing, with some tests thrown in. The tests aren’t unfair, but they are not particularly easy either. Passing is 85%. For the first week, most students will get up, get breakfast, go to briefings for the day, and study in the evening. Most material is posted on the Doss system, accessed via loaner computers provided to every student. I HIGHLY recommend completing all online reviews to 100%, as they are very similar to the tests, even though it is time intensive. Failing out of IFS for academics is frowned upon (i.e. the AF might not give you another AFSC). Don’t be stupid (seemingly always good advice).
Once flying begins, things are structured much like Phase II of UPT (T-6As). Expect to have a mass brief with your flight 1st thing in the morning, including stand-up EPs. Stand-ups are where an Instructor will provide a situation for a student to analyze and solve. You will be expected to figure out what is wrong, apply the correct procedures, and describe how you will safely land the plane. Several emergencies have Boldface items—checklists that must be stated and completed VERBATIM from memory. Don’t stutter or try to change something part way through. It’s already too late, and you have failed the stand-up. After the mass brief, each student will study, go work-out, or fly. Each flight starts with an individual briefing with the Instructor Pilot. It will cover things like take off and landing distances (TOLD card), weather forecasts, the profile for the flight (where you are going, how you’ll get there, and in what order), safety topics, and a few other details. After this, you will go sign out an aircraft at the step desk, and step to the flightline.
One the flightline, students preflight the aircraft. This is about 90 items of checklist material before engine start. You’ll start slow, but be able to get it down in about 10-15 minutes by the time you have your checkride. Once you start, you’ll taxi to the main ramp, run up the engine, and depart. You’ll fly one of several departures to practice areas or auxiliary fields for your maneuvers. Each flight will include some pattern work and area maneuvers. None of the maneuvers are terribly complicated, but some of them have precise limits to pass (for example, some maneuvers will allow up to 10 knots of extra airspeed, but zero knots below the briefed airspeed). For students without much experience, the hard parts are knowing the procedures (altitudes, airspeeds, radio calls, headings, etc) well enough to recall them while trying to fly the aircraft and talk to the IP, and developing situational awareness. It is similar to learning to drive in 3 dimensions. Most people aren’t used to it, and don’t know what to focus on at what times. Having situational awareness allows you to plan and stay “ahead of the aircraft.” You never want to be reacting to what is happening around you, but rather be planning what to do in the next few minutes or how you will enter and exit the next maneuver.
As you progress, the requirements for how well you can fly each maneuver will increase. At first, you will just have to attempt things. After a short time, you will have to do them safely. By the time you hit your checkride, most things will have to be within a set of parameters, described for each maneuver. This is called MIF. Each maneuver will have a set MIF to make (U for unsat, F for fair, G for good, and E for excellent). U is a failing grade, but the expectation for most new maneuvers. F is what I would call “ugly but reasonably safe.” G is within maneuver limitations, and generally a pretty well done maneuver. E is usually awarded for maneuvers flown in “textbook” style.
Some students will progress faster than others. The guy with 2300 hours (who flew professionally as a civilian) was able to skip most of the normal flights and proficiency advance very quickly. Others will hit occasional road blocks, and have to repeat rides or start the elimination process. If you fail three daily rides in a row or the checkride, you go to a “progress check” or “88.” The 88 is a one-time check to see if you have the skills to keep advancing. If you pass, you go back to training as normal. If you fail the 88, you go to an “elimination check” or “89.” Eighty-nine rides are things to be avoided! It is basically a pass/fail ride to see if you will continue IFS or wash out. That said, there can be multiple 89 rides. For example, if you fail daily rides and get sent to an 88 and 89, pass the 89, then fail your checkride later on, you will get another 89 ride. After the 89 ride, there is a final commander’s review. Generally, the CR goes with the results of the 89. Occasionally, there will be extenuating circumstances and the student will be allowed to continue training.
Most of the way through the program, students will have a chance to solo. The solo is a confidence builder for students, and demonstrates that the IPs trust them not to crash in the pattern. Solo sorties are generally 3 trips around the traffic pattern, then a full stop. It is nothing fancy, but exciting none-the-less. If it is your first solo, it will be something you remember for a LONG time.
For me, the DA-20 was the 2nd aircraft I soloed. I had done the powered flight program at the academy, in a DA-40. My solo was interesting, haha. We flew up to Butts Army Airfield at Ft. Carson, flew a couple patterns there, then taxied to parking, shut down, and my IP got out. He gave a few words of advice, then left for the control tower. I started the engine, requested to taxi to the runway, and take off. I got my taxi clearance, and started moving, only to hear something quite unexpected. “Tiger 54, Solo, confirm your flaps are set to Take-off?” …Uh…OK. I looked over at the flap indicator, only to see them indicating full up—Cruise configuration. Well, that’s odd!...(slam the breaks to stop taxiing). What the heck did I miss on the checklist?! Engine start went well. All those items are good. Let’s see…OH! THE ENTIRE ENGINE RUN-UP CHECKLIST! That would be good to do! Apparently, in my excitement, I had forgotten that since there was no Doss ramp/main ramp split, I had to do my run-up where I had originally parked…oops! “Tower, Tiger 54 Solo, holding on the ramp for engine run up.” “Roger Tiger 54 solo, let us know when you are ready to go again.” So, after take-off, things went better. Although, I did surprise myself by climbing 200 feet in the pattern when I dropped my flaps for landing. I guess having 240lbs less weight without the IP made a difference to the 1400lb plane!
At the end of IFS, each student takes a check ride. The check ride is one of the standard profiles, with a specific set of maneuvers to accomplish. The check IP evaluates rather than instructing. The student is supposed to run the sortie by themselves. Unfortunately, I lost situational awareness partway through my flight, and tried to enter the pattern for a runway 90 degrees off from the one I was supposed to land on. I hit the entry point, and realized something was odd (almost always an indicator that you lost SA). I kept going, until I saw another DA-20 climbing at an angle 45 degrees toward me, and turning into and behind me. “Well, that’s odd. Something’s definitely wrong here,” I thought. About that time, I heard what no student wants to hear on a checkride…”I have the Aircraft.” My IP took the aircraft, made a quick 90 degree turn, and said, “do you see the runway now?” “(sigh) Yeah, I see it,” I said, as the numbers became readable and it became more than glaringly obvious I had been going to the wrong one. Well, so much for the checkride! Fortunately, the 88 went just fine.
IFS is a sprint of a program. If you want to be successful, it is best to put in maximum effort every day you are there. There is not much down time during the week. (Wise students will take at least part of the weekend off, to prevent burnout.) Work hard, and try to have some fun, because the program is set on full-blast firehose.
