Tag Archives: Aircraft

UAV Operators Get Wings, Flight Pay

A previous post noted that the Air Force graduated UAV pilots who had no prior flight experience.  More recently, the Air Force announced [updated link] that those pilots will wear the following wings, designed by public affairs Staff Sergeant Austin May in the UK:

(By comparison, you can see traditional Air Force pilot wings in the ChristianFighterPilot logo.)  The wings were awarded to the first class that just graduated.  This is not an insignificant step for the Air Force, which is characterized by a culture that closely guards those who it permits to wear wings.  The Air Force also announced that the UAS pilots Read more

Possible Changes in Air Force Pilot Training

Gen. Stephen Lorenz, commander of Air Education and Training Command (AETC), which is the major command under which pilot training falls, recently indicated the potential for changes in Air Force pilot training.

His proposals included delaying the “specialization” of pilot training students until they were closer to, or already had earned, their wings.  Currently, pilot training students “track” into specifically-geared training programs six months into their 12-month program.  Read more

Air Force Graduates First non-Pilot Pilots

The Air Force has graduated its first class of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) pilots that included officers who had never attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT).  That is, they are the first UAV pilots who were not formerly a pilot of some other military aircraft.  The class was composed of 10 pilots and 9 sensor operators.  Eight of the pilots were non-aviators; there is a second similar class in training behind them.

The increasing demand for UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan–as well as the desire to keep military pilots in cockpits–led to the “experiment”  Read more

Navy ROTC Adds Year to Commitment

The Navy has added a year of active duty service to the previous 4-year requirement for those who use NROTC scholarships.  This makes the service commitment from ROTC equal to that of those who attend the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.  The new commitment applies to those who begin their freshman year under the NROTC scholarship in the fall of 2010.

Interestingly, those who attend college on an NROTC scholarship but are commissioned in the Marines will still have a 4-year commitment, as will Read more

The REAL Meaning of Military Acronyms

The Colorado Springs Gazette recently got taken by a USAFA euphemism.  In an article about the new Air Force Academy program that helps cadets learn about UAVs, the paper said

The F-35 fighter now in production may be the last fighter the Air Force buys that carries a pilot.  That doesn’t mean the remote planes are super stars at the Air Force Academy, where the cadet wing’s favorite acronym is IHTFP for “I’m here to fly planes.”

The cadet wing’s favorite acronym may be IHTFP (though it would be in close running with BOHICA), but that’s not what it stands for.  Read more

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