Military vs. Civilian Training

[r22butters]

I heard once, that in the military, you get assigned a particular aircraft, and then do all your training in it (that is, if they put you in a Huey, you start from zero flight time, and get all your training in that Huey). As opposed to starting in something small, and working your way up (as we do in the civilian world).

 

Is this true?,...or do you all just start in Jet Rangers?

[akscott60]

We all start in the TH67. At a max gross weight of 3350, its plenty small, but it burns the right type of fuel. We fly them for Primary (8wks) and Instrument (8wks). Then fly the OH58AC for BWS. Then we track....

 

IERW used to start in Hueys, and I bet plenty of aviators kept on flying them.

[r22butters]

O.K.,...cool.

 

I had to Google those, and it seems the TH67 and OH58 are just two versions of the 206 (Jet Ranger).

 

Thanks

[NorCalHeliKid]

We all start in the TH67. At a max gross weight of 3350, its plenty small, but it burns the right type of fuel. We fly them for Primary (8wks) and Instrument (8wks). Then fly the OH58AC for BWS. Then we track....

 

IERW used to start in Hueys, and I bet plenty of aviators kept on flying them.

Exactly, but to clarify, the TH-67 is a Bell 206 Jet Ranger as you mentioned. You get about 45 hrs in primary (private pilot standards). Then Instruments is mostly in a 206 simulator (that would be approved by the FAA, its built by Flight Safety Intl, but the Army didnt spend the money to have the FAA come out and inspect them to have them cert'd.) The last two weeks is in the actual aircraft and the total hours there is about 30 hrs. Its similar to the IFR training in the civilian world and Primary phase is almost exactly like private pilot, except for the full-down autos. Then BWS is like a Commercial ticket but without the cross country time punching holes in the sky for no reason. Its learning to fly missions that you plan and navigation low level by pilotage and dead reckoning. Thats a 4 week course with 25 hours of flying.

 

Then you "track" or go AQC, in the airframe you choose/are assigned to. The hours and training vary largely on what you are training on from there. There is the Chinook, Kiowa, Apache, Blackhawk, Lakota, and several fixed wing aircraft.

[SBuzzkill]

If you fly fixed wing you earn your wings in a Blackhawk before heading over to Flight Safety.

 

Also, Navy guys start flying helos in the TH-57 which is also a Jet Ranger. I'm not sure if they go through the fixed wing initally or not.

 

The Air Force guys go through the T-6 training and then come to Fort Rucker and start flying UH-1s and TH-1s.

 

Couldn't tell you how the Coasties do it.

Edited July 31, 2011 by SBuzzkill

[Rob Lyman]

If you fly fixed wing you earn your wings in a Blackhawk before heading over to Flight Safety.

 

Also, Navy guys start flying helos in the TH-57 which is also a Jet Ranger. I'm not sure if they go through the fixed wing initally or not.

 

The Air Force guys go through the T-6 training and then come to Fort Rucker and start flying UH-1s and TH-1s.

 

Couldn't tell you how the Coasties do it.

Navy pilots start in the T-34C or T-6. I am not sure how they choose who gets what, but I think they are still transitioning from the T-34C to the T-6. At the end of primary, you select jets, props or helos. Jets move on to the intermediate jet (probably the T-45, but it used to be the T-2C. Then jets finish up in the advance jet, the T-45 (used to be TA-4). Helo and prop guys do intermediate in the T-34/T-6. Advanced helo is in the TH-57. Advanced prop is done in the T-44.

 

For a helo guy, primary includes basic pre-solo work, aerobatics, formation and basic instrument flying.Intermediate is all IFR airways flying in fixed wing. For advanced, you transition to the Jet Ranger and do basic helo stuff, basic and airway instrument flying, tactical flying, and may even land on a boat/barge. You get your wings at the end of advanced and select for your platform based on order of merit (grades). Then you go off to your fleet replacement squadron (FRS). It is sometimes referred to as the replacement air group (RAG), but that is the old name. In the Navy, you will pretty much fly a variant of the H-60. Here you will learn to fly your aircraft (Seahawk), learn tactics, land on the ship, do external loads, rescue training, etc. You come out the equivalent of what the Army calls readiness level one (RL-1). You a re a fully qualified copilot.

 

For the SH-60B Seahawk, the FRS was 8 months long. We learned acoustics, radar propagation, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare tactics, day and night shipboard landings, night over water rescues (unaided), and external loads.