2loud

This is important to note. Timing is everything. Remember the early '90s when 1/2 of the UPT grads were getting banked and the washout rates increased? We lost over 1/3 of our class and a couple of them washed out of T-38s in the last few weeks prior to graduation. Some classes washed out up to 50%-very rare but happened. Fast forward a decade...it took an act of God to wash anyone out. I remember flying with a kid who had failed 3 rides in a row for the second time (the old 3 and out program); I think it was called the "89 ride". I had to make the final call on whether he stayed or took a hike. It was one of the most difficult decisions of my life but I had to fail him. In reality, the decision was a no brainer since he didn't know his $hit and was the biggest hamfist I had ever flown with. On top of that, he puked right into his mask so I had listen to the "slurping" sound for the rest of the sortie. But still, it's a tough thing to crush someone's dream. Fyi, in my entire time in AETC, I only failed 2 students. Anyways, the kid meets the FEB and miraculously gets reinstated! Shortly thereafter, I got out of AD and I never found out if he had made it through the program.
Though I believe that SUPT does a good job producing the finest pilots but if there was one flaw that needs to fixed, it would be the "every sortie is a checkride" mentality.