Sarahritchie17 
It’s hard to believe it’s already been 2 years since I went through Primary flight training. I wish I had written more while I was going through the program, but I just didn’t have the capacity in that season.
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Today, Coast Guard flight training is evolving more than it has in the past 100 years. Since Elmer Stone earned his wings in 1917 and became the first Coast Guard Aviator and 38th Naval Aviator (https://cgaviationhistory.org/historical-narrative/elmer-stone-aviation-visionary/), Coast Guard pilots have gone through the same initial training as Navy and Marine Corps pilots. However, as several-month-long training delays have become the norm, the Coast Guard has begun to explore other contract options to produce mission-ready pilots faster.
The entire flight training program from checking in to NAS Pensacola to earning your wings of gold is supposed to take only 18 months, but when I went through, it took 28 months. I waited 4 months to start NIFE, 3 months between NIFE and Primary, and 3 months between Primary ground school and my first T-6B flight. These wait times were due to back-ups caused by weather, aircraft availability, and residual delays from the pandemic and hurricanes in 2020.
Class sizes are limited to assure quality training, and the Coast Guard contract only provides 2 seats per class. Now, the service is exploring options with the Army and Air Force and having students who will be career helicopter pilots complete Primary training in the TH57 instead of the T6. You can read more about the changes here (https://www.dvidshub.net/news/463304/tomorrow-looks-different-naval-helicopter-training).
While some of my experience is already outdated, I believe there is still value to be gained from sharing my stories.
The big picture
Primary is where the real military flight training begins. While NIFE is designed to see if students are cut-out to be pilots, Primary is where they start spending the big bucks on making you a military aviator. There are still people who get “weeded out” during this phase, but it’s usually people who DOR (drop on request). Another way to not make it is to get three pink sheets. A pink sheet is something you get when you fail a test or a flight or have an incident of misconduct. I know people who have gotten more than three pink sheets and still become successful pilots in the fleet, but you have to go through multiple interviews with leadership to prove you have the attitude and aptitude to continue training. I remember that on a tour at the Naval Aviation Museum, the guide showed us a pink sheet that belonged to none other than Neil Armstrong. A quick search online shows that he also was challenged during his own Primary training (https://www.airwarriors.com/community/threads/neil-armstrongs-primary-grades.23061/).
Jets and NSS
NSS stands for Navy Standard Score and is a measure of your overall grade throughout flight school. It’s a comparison metric against other students going through the program at the same time. From my general understanding, it’s a statistical measure where 50 represents the current average. I was not great at college statistics, but I imagine a bell curve is a good representation where most people will be around 50 or just above or below. People who have the highest NSS when it comes time to select are competitive for jets. In that way, some people say that Primary is designed to see if you are cut out for jets. Depending on the students going through around the same time as you, that could look like a 70 or 80 NSS minimum, although Commodore guidance online says that generally an NSS in the 50s indicates aptitude for the intense program (https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/tw1/commodore-statement.asp#:~:text=Generally%2C%20if%20you%20have%20achieved,the%20number%20of%20available%20opportunities.).
If you’re not dead-set on flying jets though, ahem Coast Guard folks, NSS really doesn’t matter. Selection is still awarded based on NSS—the highest NSS gets their first pick, second highest NSS gets their first pick if it’s still available, and so on and so forth. However, most other communities are not so competitive. You still want to give your best effort and try to establish a good reputation for working hard, but you don’t need to stress about the numbers.
What it was like flying the T6
Flying the T6B was exhilarating. With a cruising airspeed around 240 KIAS, you have to think fast to “stay ahead of the aircraft.” This was a huge challenge for me going from the Cessna which typically cruises slower than half that speed. Emergency procedure practice and precautionary emergency landing procedures are introduced early in the syllabus which adds to the “helmet fire.” One of the most rewarding and equally terrifying experiences of my life was soloing the aircraft. Being entrusted to take out an aircraft worth so much money and do aerobatics with fewer than 100 hours of experience on my own was surreal.
What a day looks like
During ground school you can expect a combination of online trainings and in-class instruction between 0800 and 1600, usually not full days. Once you get to sims and flights, the schedule is dynamic and ever-changing according to weather and aircraft/instructor availability. Typically the schedule is released by 6 PM the night before, but you can predict what you’ll be scheduled for next by following the syllabus and being prepared for the next two events. Sometimes, you’ll be “double-pumped” where you’ll do 2 simulator events in one day. Simulator briefs are typically scheduled for 30 minutes prior to the training event. Flight briefs are typically scheduled or an hour and 45 minutes prior to takeoff. Briefs are all around 30-45 minutes and the rest of the time before the flight is used to walk over to the paraloft, grab gear, and do a preflight inspection of the aircraft. For the brief, you should show up early and prepare a whiteboard with your event’s briefing items. Once you’re done with your scheduled event(s) for the day, the rest of the day is yours to study and prepare for your next event.
Phases of training
Ground School:
The entire Primary syllabus I went through was designed to last 6 months. You start with a couple weeks of ground school learning about aircraft systems. There are both online trainings which continue throughout the entire syllabus and in-person lectures. Then its on to the simulators. There are two types of simulators, one that has the controls and screens of a cockpit interior and one that’s more like a mini imax theater that has exterior imagery integrated. You get practice in both before heading to the aircraft. The sim events are run by civilian instructors, but most (if not all) of them are retired military aviators.
Familiarization:
After the initial set of sims, you’ll have a couple of trainings on how to preflight the aircraft and operating rules for the local airspace and then be scheduled for your first flight. The first few flights are for familiarization, but the knowledge expectation is still super high. There is a brief before each flight with a list of items to discuss with your instructor. You can expect them to sit down and say, “Tell me what you know about xyz,” and you are expected to rattle off as much as you can remember from what you’ve studied. They’ll help you fill in the gaps and expand your understanding, but you should be prepared to lead the discussion and have questions prepared. You’ll learn how to fly a T6 pattern and how to respond to emergency procedures.
Aerobatics:
Once through your familiarization flights, its on to aerobatic training. You’ll learn to do things like loops (which feel like the rollercoasters that take you upside down) and aileron rolls, barrel rolls and more. It’s a fun phase of training to fly, but there are a lot of procedures to learn.
Instruments:
Instrument training gives you the skills to fly when there are no visual references outside the aircraft, for example when you’re in the clouds. You rely on the aircraft’s instruments and air traffic controllers to get you safely to your destination and avoid other traffic. It requires another phase of ground training to learn Instrument Flight Rules, a basic instrument scan, how to read approach plates, and how to use radio navigation aids.
Navigation:
Navigation is divided into VNAV (visual navigation) and INAV (instrument navigation). In this phase, you’ll learn to find visual checkpoints and timing to navigate. Once you have done your Instrument and Nav sims, you become eligible for a cross-country. Cross-country flights during Primary look like weekend trips outside the local area. I went to Asheville, North Carolina for mine with a few other flights of instructor/student pairs. You complete 3 legs on Friday, have Saturday off, and complete 3 legs on Sunday, accomplishing 6 syllabus events. It’s a great way to make progress in the syllabus and fun trip too.
Formation:
The final phase of the Primary syllabus I completed was Formation training. During Forms, you are paired with another student. You’ll brief together with both your instructors and learn how to fly near each other safely and accomplish lead changes, crossunders, and break-up and rendezvous.
Selection
Selection is an event where you and the students who complete Primary training in the same week find out what type of aircraft you’ll continue training in. Options for Coasties are fixed wing (HC144, C130, or C27) or rotary wing (MH60, or MH65). Fixed wing pilots go to Advanced training in Corpus Christi, TX. Rotary wing pilots continue across the base to South Field for their Advanced.
Tips for success
-Find peer mentors – Someone who’s just ahead of you in the program can give you the best advice on what’s coming and what to get ahead on.
-“Live by the gouge, die by the gouge” – The law of primacy says that you’ll remember information you learn first. If you learn something incorrectly, that’ll be what you recall later. For that reason, use official pubs to study first and then use gouge from other students and instructors to review.
-Chair fly – It can feel like a waste of time to rehearse instead of book studying, but going through the motions before you get in the aircraft can make a huge difference.
I hope this post takes some of the mystery out of Primary flight training for you. If you have questions, you can reach me @genuinesunshineblog on Instagram or in the comments section on this post. You can find my other flight school posts here and stay tuned for the rest of my recaps.
Cheers!
Sarah
