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Wow!

That's inside baseball bro! Cannot show the math, because then the sacred cows would be at risk [the blue sacred cow = AD process and structure, the undisclosed non-negotiable. Not even historic pilot attrition has fatally cracked it. Superficially cracked, yeah. ]

In 2005-2007 pathway to wings was like: IFT your choice of civil school for PPL (40-50 flt hrs), then ENJJPT or JS/SUPT phases 1-3 (200-275 flt hrs depending upon Advanced turboprop track, T-1, or T-38) Later came IFT->IFS (reduced to solo). And ever since KPUB IFS has been a thing, right? Then chiefly came UPT-Next/2.0 (~55-65 in T-6) ultimately creating the present paper tiger. Winging at end of phase 2. Granted that ignores stray cats like XPW, etc.

Has anybody asked the AF to show their work with this number of required annual new pilots to be produced? The article quotes 1,500 as the required amount but if the FTUs can not intake that amount without a lot of waiting time after UPT or extended times when they are in training because they are operating with little to no margin then why the hell modify the UPT process to produce less than desired training received pilots? Produce as many required up to standards pilots as you can with the infrastructure and resources you have allocated then supplementing the force with ARC pilots already trained and go on. If you produce 900 fully trained pilots but need another 600 in a year to fly in the AD, use the ARC to meet that difference. It seems the 1,500 number is driving the AF to make decisions that are long term bad without really proving they need to do this

It's a done deal as far as DoD is concerned and in the hands of Congress. Good luck getting 218 goobers and 51 cats moving together in the right direction.

Your error is the reference to “legacy”. He referring the syllabus before IPT was thing. In that syllabus they got 70? Ish T-6 hours and then straight to the FTU if they didn’t get 38s. I flew with many of the initial IPT studs at CBM, the program is trash.

Not a done deal, lots of politics at play still. Boeing has connections...

bye bye E7, hello E2 E-2 Hawkeye Replaces USAF E-3 Sentry, E-7 Cancelled In New Budget

Remember legacy UPT could be the present UPT. UPT Next and UPT 2.0 was dubbed "UPT". So reverting back to Grandfather UPT, that snappy ole' reliable pappy, is to what they're refering?. ...the tried and true UPT version that stood for ~50 yrs!? That one, yes?

Yeah, this is concerning. "In the new model, pilots will earn a private pilot certificate, instrument, and multi-engine ratings in approximately 120 flying hours within a maximum of 139 calendar days. Pilots then complete military specific flight training, earning wings after 108 days—55 hours in the T-6A and 50 hours in simulators. Leard explained, 'Prior to implementing this new program, our fundamental challenge was getting enough flying hours in the T-6A to meet our goal. This new program ultimately provides our pilots with more flight time than the legacy system while exposing them to a greater number of aviation competencies.'" There's a lot in that little snippet that I'm not even sure is factually true. I graduated UPT (technically SUPT) with over 200 hours - most of them were in the T-38. These guys are going to graduate with 175 hours with most of them in some combination of Cessnas and Pilatuses? Hmmm. Not sure they're getting more flight time. Certainly they're not getting more relevant flight time. Maybe he was referring to the T-1 track? Can't speak to what the T-1 guys graduated SUPT with, hours-wise. Does anyone know approximately? My top concern is that this just seems to be trading quality for quantity. Instead of wings with a star on top, can we begin issuing wings with an asterisk? Also, I would like the statement "exposing them to a greater number of aviation competencies" to be substantiated. I doubt this is true. And if it is, what competency did we just discover in the year of our lord 2025 to which I have not been exposed?

Currently at Wright Pratt for my FC1. Thought I had perfect vision, but have failed the depth perception test 3 times (twice with the glasses they gave me) over 3 days. I've done the trying to un-foucs my eyes, shake my head, stare at the bottom, etc. Have one more shot at it tomorrow morning, if I fail that, I get to take an alternative test. I believe this is the test mentioned previously that has larger circles on the wall. Regardless of the results of tomorrow, I am not going to stop trying. This is my lifelong dream, and I'm prepared to fight this as long as it takes. Appreciate any advice that hasn't already been put in this thread. Additionally, what does this alternative test entail? If I pass that, do I still need a waiver? If I don't pass either test tomorrow, am I able to train and retest, or get surgery, then retest? When am I S.O.L.?

Unless we start it's own thread, I'll put it here as "Surveillance" popped up here in the search enough times. https://www.wired.com/story/airlines-dont-want-you-to-know-they-sold-your-flight-data-to-dhs/ I found this quote interesting: “It's clear the data broker loophole is pushing the government back towards a pernicious ‘collect it all’ mentality, gobbling up as much sensitive data as it can about all Americans by default. A decade ago the public rejected that approach, and Congress passed surveillance reform legislation that banned domestic bulk collection. Clearly it's time for Congress to step in again, and stop the data broker loophole from being used to circumvent that ban.”

Don't forget this protest accessory.

And, since we must make fun of everything...

If FUPT / IPT isn’t producing the right graduate and I give this 0.69% of happening… quietly recognize it and reconstitute ACE / post UPT shortish TDY assignments to build flying hours. ACE ver 2.0 - 100+ hours, jet, program designed to build flying skills, based not UPT bases maybe allocate program to the guard / reserve. Build a syllabus to complement other training programs and focus on diverse flying. Take the jet on the road, train with others as feasible/practical. TDY program - find a need, requirement, mission, legitimate training program, etc… and assign grads to before FTU if possible and fly a lot. Thinking at least 300 hours. Liaison, light transport, light mobility training platform could be part of an effort. Keep it out of the UPT enterprise as it sounds like that is maxed out, I’ve argued for this before, post graduate flying programs to help shape what UPT now might be leaving with rough edges and I’ll readily admit it’s not cheap but affordable if the leadership realizes that you’re preventing more expensive problems.

That dog don't hunt in Texas! Our governor has already given the order for the National Guard to deploy in advance of upcoming protests expected here, especially in San Antonio. The Austin liberals are shitting squares about it, but it's well within his rights to do so! Some gender-confused misfit toys with rainbow hair will show up, flanked by Mexican flags; but as soon as they start transitioning from "peaceful protests" to rioters there will be enough bubbas around to squash that shit quickly!! We don't put up with that crap for long down here in the Alamo City!

FUPA https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKut95ePnUJ/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng== What have they done to UPT?

You can thank Maxine Waters. She’s 86 by the way.

Recent visit feedback: Leard can’t read a room, was tone def, and avoided answering most questions. My professional concerns: 1. We don’t have enough applicants for UPT. Forcing more USAFA/ROTC grads to UPT will just result in more DORs. Problem not solved. 2. USAF doesn’t recognize FAA ratings and doesn’t seem to plan to do so. So to drop critical things like instrument training/checks is a massive failure on leadership. It is a wild abdication of our training and qualification that is unacceptable. 3. MAJCOMs don’t have the ability to absorb more inexperienced pilots. FTUs are backed up. Training is being pushed to ops units with wild experience-inexperience ratios. 4. IPT is not faster, cheaper, or better. Nor will it produce the 1500 pilots/year that they think. But as already stated on here, they don’t want to hear that. There is no backup plan for when this doesn’t work. 5. I expect higher attrition rates. Is AETC going to lower CTS when IPT isn’t producing the magical number of pilots? When everything else changes, that is all that is left. Unacceptable. Finally, and we are already seeing this, Q3s and accident rates are already climbing (this is before IPT even started). We are not flying enough nor experiencing pilots at a sustainable rate. SIMs are not a 1:1 equivalent. People need to fly. Throwing more inexperienced pilots at the problem isn’t going to help. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

exactly what i did. yellow ribbon makes it much more valuable

That doesn't appear to be an isolated issue, get the same feel from 19AF/CC. Expecting the average stud to make the jump from 110-140kt instrument crosscheck to 300+ kt in the T-7 is not a winning gameplan. Particularly when you are assuming they can do instruments because they have already done it, and cut it from the syllabus.

oh and Leard wants to cut instrument approaches from the T-6 FUPT checkride because “sps have instrument ratings.” The waiver was signed and then pulled because the 14th didn’t have a real chance to non/concur on it. All the GOs in AETC decided to do it without SME input. Anyone from the MAF have personal experience with him? He seems to only want data that confirms his decisions. CBM isn’t doing SGTOs because this is going to scale with no way to fail and TexanWorld at CBM is sounding the alarm. Feedback from CBM is the students are being short changed.

they don’t. they are ESAs right now. the actual ipt scale contract hasn’t been awarded

Don't be a Chad. And remember, Big USN thought it a good idea to hire this guy as a JAG. https://redstate.com/jimthompson/2025/06/10/active-duty-navy-jag-outed-on-x-after-threats-against-ice-agents-n2190285 SECDEF fired THE Navy JAG soon after taking office. I doubt it'll take long to eliminate one LT, jg.