Air University Review, September-October 1968
A young Air Force lieutenant looks around from the cockpit of his
airplane. Through the windscreen in front of him, he sees a runway. He is on
final approach for a landing. He doesn’t have much flying experience, but then
that is what he is here for: to learn how to fly in the Air Force. On this
final approach everything looks right; he’s sure it will be another good
landing, his fourth in a row. Suddenly a voice from the seat next to him comes
through on the intercom, “Make this one a full stop!”
The lieutenant thinks, “That’s it; that’s my instructor pilot, and he is
ready to let me fly alone. He wants me to stop the airplane so he can send me
solo. He has been watching me fly, and now he thinks I am good enough to go up
without him. . . but how does he know? . . . I wonder
if I’m really good enough. I guess I should be sure I can do it alone; after
all, he is sure that I can. But how do I know? Can he really tell if I’m
proficient enough to fly solo? How do I know he knows
if I know how to fly?”
Relax, lieutenant, you can be sure he knows. That primary instructor
pilot sitting next to you is a professional in the Air Force’s undergraduate
pilot training program. He has been trained in the school that grooms T-37
instructor pilots for the Air Force. In this school he has learned to evaluate
your ability to fly. He has even learned how to help you with everything from
strapping yourself into an airplane to counseling you on your problems. He is a
graduate of T-37 Pilot Instructor Training (PIT).
T-37 PIT is conducted by the 3251st Flying Training Squadron at Perrin Air
Force Base,
Nearly every future instructor comes to PIT on temporary duty from one of nine undergraduate pilot training (UPT) bases. These students are officers of varied backgrounds. Some of the younger men are second lieutenants with fewer than 300 hours of flying experience. Others rank as high as full colonel, have thousands of hours of flying experience, and are veterans of several wars. Still a very few others are foreign officers who are learning to teach flying in the T-37 so that they can aid the pilot training program in their own countries.
academic instruction
PIT classes at Perrin have approximately 12 students each. In a departure from the usual flying school format, academic instruction is given to them before the T-37 flight phase begins. This academic training consists of 47 hours of classroom instruction, presented in eight and one-half training days, and includes classes in aerodynamics, T-37 engineering, flight instruments, principles and techniques of instruction, Air Force flying publications, and T-37 performance charts.
In aerodynamics class, the future instructor pilot learns to explain in technical terms why an airplane flies, as well as why it sometimes doesn’t. The theories of aerodynamics are discussed first. Then, in contrast to the traditional approach, the trainee goes one step further and learns how to apply these theories to obtain practical results. All issues are discussed from a pilot’s viewpoint, to better enable the trainee to explain them to his students.
At T-37 Pilot Instructor Training, the subjects of flight instruments and engineering are combined into one instructional block called “aircraft systems.” In systems class the trainee learns, first through a platform lecture, how the different parts or systems of the T-37 operate. Then through the use of one of the more modern educational methods, the programmed text, the trainee actually teaches himself the specifics of each system. The instruction is enhanced by the use of nine large training aids, including a full-sized mockup of the T-37 nose gear and cutaway engine. The class examines 25-30 actual T-37 components, including valves, instruments, fuel probes, and pumps.
Thus the trainee learns to answer such questions as: How does the T-37 landing gear extend and retract? How is the fuel quantity measured in the T-37? How does the starting cycle progress in a jet engine? What components are available to a pilot of a T-37 if certain systems fail? The answers to these questions, and many others, are necessary knowledge to enable a pilot to fly the T-37 safely and to equip an instructor pilot to handle his student’s questions effectively.
The classes in principles and techniques of instructing enable the would-be instructor pilot to fire the ammunition he receives in the rest of his training at PIT. Here he is taught the principles of Air Force instruction and is shown how students learn as well as how he can aid them in the learning process. Although this class does discuss some theory, it primarily presents a practical approach to instructing. Concepts are converted into realities by the use of many situations that have happened to instructors during pilot training. When a theoretical point is made, it is immediately clarified by relating it to one of these actual examples.
In principles of instruction the trainee also learns to grade, critique, and communicate. He even learns to counsel through a series of counseling situations where he plays the counselor role and attempts to get at the heart of certain problems. The problems used in the counseling situations are all based on actual student experiences.
The main contribution which the classes in principles of instruction make to future instructors is a positive attitude. Here the trainee is given the desire and motivation he needs to be an effective instructor. This positive attitude prepares him for the position of leadership he will assume with his students, and it especially prepares him to accept his responsibilities to the Air Force.
In the flight planning course, the PIT trainee reviews T-37 performance charts and Air Force flying publications. Through a variety of attention devices, the trainee is taught how to use the charts and graphs which allow him to precompute the exact performance of his T-37. He also reviews the rules and regulations that govern flying in the Air Force. As with all his academic training in PIT, this course is operation-oriented. The trainee is given only the information necessary to be an effective instructor pilot, not insignificant information.
After finishing the classes in aerodynamics, systems, principles of instruction, and flight planning, the trainee completes his academic instruction by passing a four-hour comprehensive examination. He is then ready for the second part of his training—learning to fly and instruct in the T-37.
flying instruction
Flying training for PIT trainees is in four phases: formation, contact (acrobatics, landing, etc.), instruments, and navigation. These correspond exactly to the phases which the trainee will eventually teach to pilot training students.
Formation. In the formation phase, the trainee learns to teach the basics of keeping one aircraft flying near another one. He learns to teach a student how to fly the different formation positions as well as how to rejoin with another aircraft. He also learns how he can prevent his students from flying into dangerous situations while in formation.
Contact. In the contact phase, the trainee learns how to teach pilot training students the fundamentals of flying: turns, stalls, acrobatics, climb and dive recoveries, landings, and spins. These are the very basics of flying and are representative of the task future T-37 instructors must perform—teaching the art of flying to students who know little or nothing about it.
Instruments. In the instrument phase, the trainee practices teaching the methods of controlling an airplane without any reference outside the cockpit. Pilot training students are required to fly the T-37 simulating weather conditions so bad that neither the ground nor the sky is visible. A visor or eyeshade is placed on the student to block out everything but the aircraft instrument panel. He is eventually required to be able to take off and fly a mission all the way to landing without ever looking outside. In the instrument phase of PIT, the trainee learns how to teach this unfamiliar procedure.
Navigation. In the navigational phase, the instructor trainee learns how to teach students to use an airplane as a means of transportation. He practices teaching how to compute fuel consumption and the time it takes to fly to different check points. He learns how to teach map reading and to land at unfamiliar fields. In short, he learns how to teach pilot training students to apply their talents to mastering the tools and techniques of flying.
methodology
The formation, contact, and instrument phases are taught differently than the navigation phase. In the first three phases, PIT uses a gradual four-step educational approach.
Step 1. In each phase, the future instructors first fly several missions, in which they practice only piloting skills. A successful instructor pilot must be able to concentrate almost entirely on what he is saying, carefully choosing words that best convey instructional techniques. To do this, flying must become second nature and require little concentration; most of his attention then can be devoted to instructing. In this flying proficiency step, each trainee is assigned to a PIT instructor pilot. These are the most experienced men in the Air Force at flying and instructing in the T-37. They average over 2000 flying hours and four years’ experience as T-37 instructor pilots.
Step 2. Once the trainee has gained the flying proficiency required to demonstrate “perfect” flying, he is ready to begin instructing while he flies. This is the second step of his flying training and is where he begins to gain the most from his own instructor’s experience.
In step two, the trainee is taught the elements and instructional points of all the maneuvers he will eventually teach to pilot training students. He first reads a study guide that is a compilation of many proven instructional points and techniques. He then engages in seminars where trainees discuss, among themselves and with experienced PIT instructors, all the maneuvers to be taught. In these seminars an atmosphere of academic freedom prevails. Trainees exchange experiences and concepts among themselves as well as with their experienced instructors. They talk not only of the correct instructional techniques and different ways to present them but also of incorrect techniques and why they are not acceptable.
After the study guides and seminars have laid the groundwork, the trainee flies missions with his instructor. He learns mission planning, proper timing, and methods of organizing in-flight instruction. He practices maneuvers over and over again. He “teaches” his experienced instructor the proper techniques, and the PIT instructor corrects and guides him toward developing an effective presentation.
As the trainee learns how and what to teach while he flies, his PIT instructor gradually begins to say less and less in the airplane. He finally reaches a point where he tells the trainee little or nothing during a mission. Instead of acting as an instructor pilot, he begins to assume the role of an undergraduate pilot training student. This is the transition into the third step of flying instructor training, error analysis.
Step 3. During error analysis, experienced PIT instructors simulate problems, mistakes, and errors just as if they were novice pilot training students. The trainee first explains the various techniques involved in flying a certain maneuver; he then flies each maneuver as a demonstration for his “student” (the PIT instructor). The “student” then attempts to perform the maneuver himself, committing the same errors that pilot training students make and often going so far as to appear dangerous. The trainee develops his skills as an instructor by trying to analyze his “student’s” errors and even by relieving him of control of the aircraft in “dangerous” situations. The trainee then attempts to analyze the errors that were committed and reinstruct his “student” on techniques that would cure his poor flying.
When the trainee is capable of precisely flying the T-37, accurately instructing in all maneuvers, and correcting common student errors, he is ready for the fourth step of his training, an evaluation flight.
Step 4. The evaluation flight is a complete test for an instructor pilot. Before the flight, the trainee is questioned by an experienced evaluator for approximately one hour. He must explain about the T-37 and flying in general. After the questioning, the trainee flies with the same evaluator and instructs him just as he will instruct his pilot training students. During this mission the trainee must fly and instruct at the same proficiency level as a fully qualified instructor in undergraduate pilot training. When a trainee successfully completes this evaluation flight, he is qualified as an instructor in the phase tested: formation, contact, or instruments.
In the navigation phase, steps one and four (proficiency flying and the evaluation flight) are eliminated. Navigation is completed during a weekend cross-country flight, when the trainee and his “student” fly to several different bases. During this weekend the trainee learns to teach navigation at night, in weather conditions, and in simulated weather conditions. He learns to teach strange-field landing procedures, map reading, and everything that a pilot training student must know to fly an airplane from one place to another.
When the navigation phase is complete and the trainee has passed evaluation flights in the other three phases, he is graduated from Pilot Instructor Training. He has spent ten long weeks learning, and he is finally ready to begin teaching. He goes to a pilot training base as a fully qualified instructor pilot, ready to train Air Force pilots.
So, lieutenant, you see that your instructor can evaluate your
ability to fly. He has been trained in the best instructor pilot school in the
Air Force, T-37 Pilot Instructor Training. He knows you know how to fly.
Perrin AFB,
Captain Allen K. Taylor (B.A.,
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this
document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression,
academic environment of
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