Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
I have a question that no one has addressed yet. I see alot of people talking about instructing in T-6s or T-1s, but very little about instructing in the RTUs. Are those tours desired in the AF? ......
In another thread there was discussion about life experiences, flying experiences, etc.... when a civilian goes to ATP and goes from no flying to CFII/MEI in 90 days and then is instructing. The point was that this person has never flown outside of the training environment from their home base, have possibly never flown in really bad weather or shot other instrument approaches than the local ones to home field, etc......
.....I'd rather have that instructor who has been out in the "fleet" and has some real world experiences to bring to the brief/flight.
Far as RTUs--different subject entirely I think. Nothing wrong with thread creep but RTU instructing is worlds away from UPT. In my world I wouldn't mind teaching our RTU--but for the fact that it's located in Altus OK, a place I'd be too happy to never see again.
Far as lack of experience in FAIPs--tough question, and one the AF bounces around on repeatedly. They've had FAIPs, gotten rid of them, brought them back, repeat. Kind of like everything else in AF come to think of it.
Drawbacks to FAIPs are clear, you have very inexperienced guys teaching.
On the other hand, you get guys who are young and hungry and whose minds aren't clouded with memories of flying other planes other places. They're statistically less likely to have families that will mind 12 hour days. And, any tribe needs Indians. If you don't have an Lt's, who does the Lt work/jobs? Sounds funny, but it's a real concern. If everyone is a Capt, now it's a fight for Flt CC, you got some dudes that can't get the resume they need, you're hurting careers.
Far as experience "in the fleet" goes. Hard to say, I'll just disagree I guess. I repeat something I wrote above, if it comes down to passing a checkride, students are invariably better off talking to guy who has lived and breathed AETC in this particular jet than the MWS guys. If you want to know what life is like in a particular plane, or what combat is like, or any of a million other UPT questions, of course you talk to the MWS guy.
I was a FAIP, so my opinion is skewed. I was also a flying 'ho, by the end of my second year I had more PIC time than vast majority of guys coming from MWS. I had more total time than quite a few actually. Of course, I had more experience flying a Tweet in bad weather than they did too.
So, what's the right answer, I don't know. I think UPT would be disastrous if it was nothing but FAIPs, but I think doing away with it would also be a mistake. In a flight room you have a wide range of experience for the students to soak up.