ACE 2.0

[Clark Griswold]

So in the GA thread a tangent got started and a new thread I think is better

Background:
Accelerated Copilot Enrichment (ACE) was a program for tanker & bomber copilots to fly and develop Total Flight Time to get guys who sat a lot of Alpha Alert to Aircraft Commander upgrade in a reasonable timeframe, it ended in 91 when Strategic Air Command (SAC) was inactivated.  

It made dollars and sense as the T-37s and 38s were cost effective trainers to develop the aviation skills and airmanship you wanted in your future Aircrew Commanders.  The flying was different, no autopilot in a fairly nimble aerobatic aircraft, but that was the strong point IMHO, it maintained skills that flying their Primary Aircraft Assigned (PAA) you really couldn’t.   More flight time, more real world experience in cross country / off station sorties and the challenge of keeping qualified & current in multiple aircraft; excellent opportunities for a newly minted military aviator to quickly become a strong swimmer.

I’m not the target for a resurrected ACE program but looking for the two cents of COs and others serving now on what you would feel about it:

- Do you think you would benefit from this additional flying?

- If it was voluntary, would you volunteer for it?

- Do you think you could manage it while maintaining Combat Mission Ready (CMR) in your PAA and additional duties?

- If ACE were restarted, it would likely be structured, what program targets do you think it should have?  X hours solo, X hours formation, X low levels, etc…

- If you dual logged some of your training in an ACE platform with your PAA, do you think that would add or detract from proficiency overall?

- The communities that a new ACE program would serve might have different priorities for what skills they want to practice, do you think a single platform could meet enough of their requirements or would separate platforms be better?

- If the AF continues to send crew aircraft assigned UPT graduates straight to FTU from T-6s (until the T-7 is IOC), would first qualifying in an ACE platform before FTU be likely beneficial enough to justify (along with faster Aircraft Commander development)?

 

All rhetorical questions but curious what those serving think. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Clark Griswold