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TRAWING 5 Initiates Training on T-6B Texan

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100421-13
4/21/2010

By Lt. j.g. Michael Daharsh, Naval Air Station Whiting Field Public Affairs

WHITING FIELD, Fla. (NNS) -- Training Air Wing (TRAWING) 5 initiated its first class into ground school training for the new T-6B flight syllabus April 19 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field.

The 14 students are beginning a 26 week syllabus that is the first phase of the year-and-a-half to two-year process it takes to become a naval aviator.

The T-6B Texan II is the newest training aircraft to hit the flight lines replacing the T-34 Turbomentor. This aircraft has twice the performance power of the T-34 and is equipped with a digital display (glass) cockpit, heads-up display, and ejection seats. TRAWING 5 currently has 18 T-6B aircraft and are anticipating a complete transition of 156 aircraft by 2013.

"The T-6B is a package program which includes sophisticated simulators and capitalizes on simulator training," said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Persky, pipeline training officer. "Its improved capabilities and the glass cockpit make it relevant for the next 30 years."

Exemplifying the joint nature of aviation training, the 14 students are comprised of: six Air Force, four Navy, two Marine Corps, and two Coast Guard officers.

Training Squadron 3 is the first squadron to transition to the T-6B. The process of transitioning one squadron usually takes nine to twelve months. The first group of flight students to take on the mission of learning the new aircraft will be spending the next four weeks in ground school and simulator training learning the basic systems, operating procedures, and basic maneuvers.

"These student pilots are the future of naval aviation," said TRAWING 5 Commander Capt. James Vandiver. "They are our student plankowners and will help us set the tone for future T-6B classes."

One benefit to this new program is a heavy emphasis on simulator training in the Operational Flight Trainer (OFT), which allows the students to gain more experience before taking flight. Additionally, elements of training that have been done exclusively through cockpit hours may now be replaced by simulator training due to the realism of the new tools.

"Every skill set is introduced in the OFT," Persky said. "Daytime visual flight, aerobatics, visual navigation, low level flight, and formation are all first introduced in the simulators."

The 26-week program will train flight students in the basic foundations of aviation. By the time a student completes the phase of training they will have flown 75 aircraft hours, and 37 in the simulator. The program prepares students to move on to advanced aircraft and later into a fleet aircraft.

After primary training, students will be selected to one of three pipelines strike, helicopter, tiltrotor, or maritime. If a student is placed in strike they will remain at Whiting Field to receive an additional 12 hours of flight instruction in formation and single-seat flight.

Regardless of which pipeline in which the students are selected, the foundations learned in the first 26 weeks of flight school will carry the students through the rest of their careers. While Training Squadron 3 leads the transition, Training Squadron 6 and Training Squadron 2 will soon follow suit.

Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, another location for primary flight training, will be receiving their first batch of the new aircraft in late 2012.

In four weeks, instructor pilots will be taking the first students in the T-6B into the sky to begin the next generation in flight training.