So what exactly is SUPT? In a nutshell, it's a twelve month long intensive flight training program designed to transform ordinary people into highly trained Air Force pilots. SUPT is broken down into three phases of training:

Phase I- Academics
Phase I is a five-week long program consisting of classes and computer-aided instruction (CAI) in a host of subjects including systems, aerodynamics, flying fundamentals, weather, and flight physiology. During this period, you learn much of the information you need to jump in a Tweet and crank it up. While you do stay busy, this is the easiest phase of training in terms of workload and stress.

Phase II- Tweets
The proverbial you-know-what hits the fan when you hit the flight line, which signifies the start of Phase II. Throughout this phase of training, you will complete several sub-phases of T-37 flight training, to include contact, navigation, instument, and formation. You'll spend around 255 hours of ground training, 28 hours in the simulator, and 89 hours in the Tweet in the 23 weeks of Phase II. At the conclusion of Phase II, you'll discover what aircraft you'll be flying in Phase III, based upon your performance, your desires, and of course the needs of the Air Force. If you're a Air National Guard member or Reservist, you'll already know what aircraft you'll be flying, so track select will be pretty anti-climatic for you.

Phase III- T-1 or T-38 (or T-44 or Helo)
Phase III finds students heading in different directions based upon their track. Fighter-bomber folks head to the T-38 Talon, tanker-transport people head to the plush environs of the T-1A Jayhawk, future C-130 drivers head to the beach at NAS Corpus Christi, TX for training in the T-44, and helicopter students relocate to Fort Rucker, AL for a long stay to learn the complexities of flying rotary wing aircraft.

There's a lot more that could be said about everything that goes on here at SUPT, but you should now have at least a very basic understanding of the overall process that turns ordinary people into well-trained pilots in a little over a year. To find out more about us and our experiences, use the buttons to the left.

This page has been visited

times since 3/18/00

Email the Webmaster


All accounts, images, and original information Copyright © 2000 All Rights Reserved
If you would like to use any images, accounts, or HTML code from any of these pages, please email the webmaster

DISCLAIMER:
Absolutely nothing within these pages represents the views of the USAF, Columbus AFB, or any other officials or organizations.
The opinions expressed, however warped, are purely those of the members of Class 01-04.