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CPT_Engel

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Folks, can anyone help me out with a list of pubs, flashcards, checklists and the like that will help me succeed at UPT? I have been an Army Aviator since 2002 and will surely have to "unlearn" as much as I will have to learn. The rote memorization required in Army flight school was obscene and I can only expect that the Air Force school will be a lot of the same. Anything I can start to study ahead of time I'm sure will be better than showing up cold. Thanks!

Paul

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Paul, there are no guides like that "Guide to Avoiding Retreating Brain Stall" like the sold in Daleville back in the day. Moosepileit's recs are good and of course, the boldface/caps and ops limits of the T-6 would be nice to have down, but certainly not mandatory on day 1. I think there is some good T-6 gouge here on BOPS. I would shoot for "familiarize" as opposed to "memorize" at this point.

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Coming from a FAIP, know the Boldface/Ops Limits sheet cold on Day 1 and make sure your class mates do too. You'll be filling those out constantly until your class gets them right. Other than that, you'll have plenty of time to learn everything. Especially if you've got prior flight experience. The toughest thing I've seen from helicopter guys get over is not book knowledge or even instrument flying, it's flaring. That, you'll have to figure out on your own.

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Boldface/Ops limits is the biggest thing. Memorize that so you can recall it on demand, and be able to write the page without stopping to think about it.

When you get your pubs, start looking at the pattern ops and departure/arrival procedures. Those tend to suck (sts) a lot of SA from students.

VFR/IFR weather limits and when to file for an alternate/what qualifies as an alternate are good to know, but that'll be several months into training.

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http://www.wantscheck.com/UPTPrep/UPTGouge/tabid/306/Default.aspx

http://www.baseops.net/militarypilot/

http://www.milpilot.net/gouge.php

There used to be an old church converted into a printing shop in Enid, OK (Vance AFB) where two older ladies reproduced JSUPT gouge. Not sure if they're still around. Notes, warning and cautions and Boldface/ops limits. Familiarization of anything you can get your hands on, even slightly out-dated.

Good luck at UPT.

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Caveat: not a pilot...but...

Don't sweat it. Especially with prior flight experience you'll be just fine. Enjoy some time off (if you're less busy now) and just be ready day one to excel.

Possibly some of the worst advice ever given on this site.

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Boldface/Ops limits is the biggest thing. Memorize that so you can recall it on demand, and be able to write the page without stopping to think about it.

When you get your pubs, start looking at the pattern ops and departure/arrival procedures. Those tend to suck (sts) a lot of SA from students.

VFR/IFR weather limits and when to file for an alternate/what qualifies as an alternate are good to know, but that'll be several months into training.

I wish someone had told me that sentence before I started UPT.

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Has UPT changed so much in the last 10 years that you need to study all of this in advance? I was told to learn the boldface and enjoy my time off prior to starting. Or does learning the pattern and general pilot regs prior to starting UPT give you that extra time in the evenings to bust out that masters prior to the O3 board? Unless that's the case, I recommend spending some time with your family/friends.

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Air Force UPT will be different from Army Helo training IRT memorization and recitation. I know you guys had to have Notes, Warnings, and Cautions and EP's down verbatim and recite them in front of classmates. You won't have to do that in UPT. Boldface will be recited, but that's like 7 EP's.

And a giant 2 on knowing pattern/local procedures vice every detail about the airplane. You can get that stuff as you go, but knowing the stuff you'll use every flight (IE when to request closed) will be much more valuable for you.

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I know you guys had to have Notes, Warnings, and Cautions and EP's down verbatim and recite them in front of classmates. You won't have to do that in UPT

I remember doing exactly that in UPT...only for the first month or so in Phase II, but still. Did they do away with that?

Caveat: Even if they still do this, I don't recommend even looking at that shit prior...memorizing words with little real understanding/meaning behind them has little utility.

Edited by brabus
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Paul, there are no guides like that "Guide to Avoiding Retreating Brain Stall" like the sold in Daleville back in the day. Moosepileit's recs are good and of course, the boldface/caps and ops limits of the T-6 would be nice to have down, but certainly not mandatory on day 1. I think there is some good T-6 gouge here on BOPS. I would shoot for "familiarize" as opposed to "memorize" at this point.

Yeah I hear ya brother... Even though it's been over a decade the "Ruckerisms" are still haunting! haha... So nothing like those ac specific yellow flashcard books?

Boldface/Ops limits is the biggest thing. Memorize that so you can recall it on demand, and be able to write the page without stopping to think about it.

When you get your pubs, start looking at the pattern ops and departure/arrival procedures. Those tend to suck (sts) a lot of SA from students.

VFR/IFR weather limits and when to file for an alternate/what qualifies as an alternate are good to know, but that'll be several months into training.

Yeah in our AR 95-1 in chapter 5 they cover all of that stuff (weather mins etc.) I wonder if a lot of that will be the same.

I remember doing exactly that in UPT...only for the first month or so in Phase II, but still. Did they do away with that?

Caveat: Even if they still do this, I don't recommend even looking at that shit prior...memorizing words with little real understanding/meaning behind them has little utility.

I remember trying to do that before Army IERW and it was just that, senseless words and numbers... However, I figure this time around being a 1000 hour heli guy with a good amount of IFR, I figured I could get a little bit ahead on the airplane specific stuff... In IERW we were two students per IP and it was a grueling interrogation daily on oral knowledge.

I appreciate all of the help/advice folks!!

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Background: Current UPT instructor (FAIP)

Don't worry about the Boldface/Ops limits. You will have plenty of time in phase 1 (about 6 weeks) to learn it cold.

In fact, don't worry about much before phase one starts. Most of it won't make sense anyways. Once phase one starts, use that time to get ahead in three key areas. These areas will be much easier to work on once you have had the initial simulators, since they will give you some perspective.

The three key areas:

Checklists: in the T-6 there is a single-page document (often folded in half to have two sides) called the Consolidated Checklist or something like that. It starts at the cockpit check and ends with the Engine Shutdown checklist. Memorize it. Know every checklist, item by item, cold. Use your cockpit poster to help you memorize it, and when you are taught about the "flow and verify" method of running a checklist, use it.

Radio calls: they are listed out, generally put together in some sort of gouge document the Simulator Instructors hand out. Memorize them. Be able to spit the radio calls out, and know when to say them. Every single one for the various Contact profiles.

Departure Procedures. At CBM there are four you use in the Contact Phase. Memorize them. Cold. They are simple, and short. Know them like the back of your hand.

When you are first starting in UPT, every time you have to think or read anything, the plane takes an immediate vector into an UNSAT. Minimize the time you have to think and read by learning those three things before C4001. It will let you focus on more important things, like being pointed in the right direction, and staying on altitude. When you hit the flight line, you will have the opportunity to go to the UTDs on your own and practice checklists. Do this, many times. When I was a student I went about 3 times a week to the UTD. It helps, and not only does it help you fly better, it makes your instructor a lot happier when he/she doesn't have to spend 25 minutes melting in the summer heat waiting for you to fumble-###### through the checklists.

Caveat: There are other things you are responsible for learning. Those things should be made clear to you, and you will still need to know them. But don't neglect the three things above. IMHO, they will affect your flying more than anything else, other than raw skill.

Caveat II: Just my opinion. I am by no means the most experienced IP.

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When you are first starting in UPT, every time you have to think or read anything, the plane takes an immediate vector into an UNSAT. Minimize the time you have to think and read by learning those three things before C4001. It will let you focus on more important things, like being pointed in the right direction, and staying on altitude. When you hit the flight line, you will have the opportunity to go to the UTDs on your own and practice checklists. Do this, many times. When I was a student I went about 3 times a week to the UTD. It helps, and not only does it help you fly better, it makes your instructor a lot happier when he/she doesn't have to spend 25 minutes melting in the summer heat waiting for you to fumble-###### through the checklists.

Gigantic "2" on this. I don't have time to teach you both what the book says as well as how to do it. Book stuff is easy and one of the few things in UPT that you can control. Current leadership has zero tolerance for academic deficiency, so don't be that guy that can't get his book knowledge right.

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Gigantic "2" on this. I don't have time to teach you both what the book says as well as how to do it. Book stuff is easy and one of the few things in UPT that you can control. Current leadership has zero tolerance for academic deficiency, so don't be that guy that can't get his book knowledge right.

Dude UPT is simple. Study hard, know the things they tell you to know, and be good at the ground ops / goings and comings. They don't expect you to be good at the new stuff for each flight, but studying the departures and recoveries is easy, so is learning whatever acro you're going to do. Trust me, it only gets harder as you continue.

UPT is finals week for 54 weeks. It's a marathon. Stay strong, be in on top of or in front of the threat and you'll succeed. So to speak.

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Did the T38 IP thing a long time ago and had many former Army helo drivers. Never had a complaint, they had their feces co-located and kept the big picture while having a good time. Or at least as good a time as can be had given the situation. Read and heed the advice from previous posters and good luck.

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Folks, can anyone help me out with a list of pubs, flashcards, checklists and the like that will help me succeed at UPT? I have been an Army Aviator since 2002 and will surely have to "unlearn" as much as I will have to learn. The rote memorization required in Army flight school was obscene and I can only expect that the Air Force school will be a lot of the same. Anything I can start to study ahead of time I'm sure will be better than showing up cold. Thanks!

Paul

Someone previously alluded to this, so apparently it is still an option these days: go to a KINKOs or other print shop near the UPT base and ask for the UPT gouge. They will have a stash. In my experience, they had a stack of gouge about 3 feet high. When I showed up I did not know that the boldface and local area procedures and graphics were what I really needed, so I emptied my wallet and bought the whole stash. I'm glad I did it though, it was better than not having anything. In that stash were sample EP tests, EP scenarios, GK tests, flight profiles, and even a fold-out of a T-37 and T-38 dash.

I think if you go into UPT with the attitude that you have now, you will be good to go. I did not think flight screening or UPT was easy. You are ahead of the game with your prior experience, keep the attitude you have now. We had a dude in our class who was prior Navy and claimed that he washed out of carrier landing training or something. I'm not sure how he ended up in UPT - if I remember correctly he was going to fly tankers in the guard. He told the class on day one that he was probably going to do better than the rest of us because of his Navy flying experience, and we should not be jealous of the fact that he would not have to study as much as the rest of us. He was gone after the contact checkride.

Edited by sweet I'm SOF
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Someone previously alluded to this, so apparently it is still an option these days: go to a KINKOs or other print shop near the UPT base and ask for the UPT gouge. They will have a stash. In my experience, they had a stack of gouge about 3 feet high. When I showed up I did not know that the boldface and local area procedures and graphics were what I really needed, so I emptied my wallet and bought the whole stash. I'm glad I did it though, it was better than not having anything. In that stash were sample EP tests, EP scenarios, GK tests, flight profiles, and even a fold-out of a T-37 and T-38 dash.

I think if you go into UPT with the attitude that you have now, you will be good to go. I did not think flight screening or UPT was easy. You are ahead of the game with your prior experience, keep the attitude you have now. We had a dude in our class who was prior Navy and claimed that he washed out of carrier landing training or something. I'm not sure how he ended up in UPT - if I remember correctly he was going to fly tankers in the guard. He told the class on day one that he was probably going to do better than the rest of us because of his Navy flying experience, and we should not be jealous of the fact that he would not have to study as much as the rest of us. He was gone after the contact checkride.

Yeah a lot of our prior enlisted crew chiefs had that attitude and struggled. We even had a guy who allegedly had 500 hours in the Bell Jet Ranger which is what we do most of our flying in and he washed out.

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I wouldn't bother with anything before I showed up if I were you, ESPECIALLY T-6 specific stuff. You will not be expected to know anything when you start UPT, and everything you need to know will be provided to you.

The other thing to consider is that there is a LOT of bad gouge out there. Pubs change ALL THE TIME, and most third party gouge does not keep up, nor does it usually reflect a "current as of" date.

Enjoy your free time while it lasts. UPT is a 52 week kick in the junk. You will have plenty of time to study and learn at UPT, but it is substantially harder to un-learn bad info than it is to initially learn something.

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Possibly some of the worst advice ever given on this site.

Although there seems to be quite a few other dudes saying basically the same thing...

Has UPT changed so much in the last 10 years that you need to study all of this in advance? I was told to learn the boldface and enjoy my time off prior to starting.

Caveat: Even if they still do this, I don't recommend even looking at that shit prior...memorizing words with little real understanding/meaning behind them has little utility.

I wouldn't bother with anything before I showed up if I were you, ESPECIALLY T-6 specific stuff. You will not be expected to know anything when you start UPT, and everything you need to know will be provided to you. Enjoy your free time while it lasts. UPT is a 52 week kick in the junk. You will have plenty of time to study and learn at UPT, but it is substantially harder to un-learn bad info than it is to initially learn something.

Agreed with all.

Edited by nsplayr
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