Flight Training Application & Aircraft Rental Agreement: Fill & Download for Free

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the statistics, but for Naval aviation training (Navy and USMC), it was around a 75% “street to Fleet” completion rate. The program isn’t designed to wash out students; more emphasis is placed on trying to screen applicants. It wastes time and resources if you bring in students and then try to fail them. Most fall out in the initial stages of flight training - they can’t or don’t adapt to the fast pace of training and sheer volume of material to master, or get hopelessly air sick, or simply decide it isn’t for them. Statistically, if you make it through your Safe for Solo check ride, you’ll probably make it to a Fleet squadron.

The more common reason for many was their eyesight. To become a Naval Aviator, one must have at least 20/40 vision correctable to 20/20. (In my day it was a strict, uncorrected 20/20.) To become a Naval Flight Officer including RIOs, the eyesight requirement was not as strict. Therefore many who wanted to become a pilot but could not because of their eyesight, opted to become an RIO instead.I have known some F-14 RIOs, either because their eyesight improved or perhaps they received a waiver, went back though Navy flight training to become pilots. We jokingly called these guys, “retreads.” Of course with their F-14 RIO experience, pilot flight training was in many phases much easier for them.1.6 STUDENT NAVAL AVIATOR APPLICANT (SNA) STANDARDS Last Revised: April 2016 Last Reviewed: April 2016 All applicants for pilot training must meet Class I standards except as follows: Visual Acuity, Distant and Near: Uncorrected visual acuity must not be less than 20/40 each eye, correctable to 20/20 each eye using a Sloan letter, crowded, eye chart (Goodlite). Vision testing procedures shall comply with those outlined on the Aerospace Reference and Waiver Guide Physical Exams section.Refractive Limits: If uncorrected distant visual acuity is less than 20/20 either eye, a manifest refraction must be recorded for the correction required to attain 20/20. If the candidate’s distant visual acuity is 20/20, a manifest refraction is not required. Total myopia may not be greater than -1.50 diopters in any meridian, total hyperopia no greater than +3.00 diopters in any meridian, or astigmatism no greater than -1.00 diopters. The astigmatic correction shall be reported in minus cylinder format.1.8 APPLICANT STUDENT NAVAL FLIGHT OFFICER STANDARDS Last Revised: March 2015 Last Reviewed: April 2016 Must meet Class I standards, except as follows: Visual Acuity, Distant and Near: No limit uncorrected. Must correct to 20/20 each eye. If the AFVT or Goodlite letters are used, a score of 7/10 on the 20/20 line constitutes meeting visual acuity requirements.Refractive Limits: Manifest refraction must not exceed +/-8.00 diopters in any meridian (sum of sphere and cylinder) with astigmatism no greater than -3.00 diopters. Refraction must be recorded in minus cylinder format. Must have no more than 3.50 diopters of anisometropia in any meridianhttps://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmotc/nami/arwg/Documents/WaiverGuide/01_Physical_Standards.pdf

I enlisted in the Army in 1966 for the Warrant Flight Training Program. I went to rotary winged flight school following basic training. Upon completion of flight school I went to the Aviation Maintenance Officers Course at Fort Eustis, VA, then to Vietnam, Jul68-Jul69. During the early part of my career I noticed considerable resentment toward us aviation warrant officers, mostly from older commissioned officers. I believe they “felt” we hadn’t earned our bars because we could go from being an E1 in basic to being a Warrant Officer-1 in less than a year.Previously, warrants usually didn’t get their bars until much later along in their careers. I once heard an automotive maintenance warrant taking to his buddies, telling them it took him fourteen years to become a WO-1. That was the way things worked prior to the Vietnam War. The Army was going to an airmobile concept for combat in Vietnam, and it needed helicopter pilots, lots of them and it needed them quickly.Around the 1963–66 timeframe there were advertisements about high school graduates becoming Army helicopter pilots in a lot of magazines if memory serves me correctly. A high school diploma was the minimum educational requirement, but the individual had to pass a Flight Aptitude Test as well as passing a Class I Flight Physical. Passing the flight physical kept a lot of interested applicants from being accepted into the program. More than a few commissioned officers wanted to be helicopter pilots, but failed the flight physical.I believe that was the source of some of the resentment, plus getting our wings and bar in less than a year had to rub some of the more senior officers the wrong way. Sometimes the commissioned officers’ attitude came across as they just didn’t like us…whether they knew how we performed our duties or not.I figured they had the same opportunity to apply for flight school as I did, I couldn’t help it if they weren’t physically qualified so why be angry at me or the other warrants?