API Curriculum Mod

When I was an RAG instructor and a cone started building a helmet fire for the first time, I would stop them and ask if they were actually on fire or plummeting towards Mr. Ground. When they said no, I would remind them that they could therefore slow down on the stress level.

They still need the same number of warm, winged, bodies at the end of the day. Your chances of success have not dropped (think about the math - the same number of people will get winged vs. the same number of people wanting wings). Chill out and if you absolutely need to have something to worry about then buy stock in an investment bank.

cool story, good to hear

Probably somehow related to John McCain.

I have my drop sheet from Naval Nuclear Power School framed. I was let go due to "lack of academic aptitude". Turns out that I am not as stupid as they thought, I just did not have the math/physics background out of high school to make it through that program. No hard feelings though, it worked out pretty well for me.

There is a senior cheif who works down the hall who was giving me that "don't I know you from somewhere" look a few weeks ago. He was my math instructor back in 1996 at nuke school in Orlando. He filled out my "single subject failure" paperwork when I failed the 2nd math test. The last time he saw me, I was an E-3 on my way out of nuke school. It would be an understatement to say that he was surprised to see me as an officer/aviator. I do kind of owe the guy though. The extra math that I learned in nuke school prior to flunking out helped me kick-ass on the SAT, and get into the ROTC program.

How will the 3 week API change affect those on the swimming, if at all? I'm comfortable in the water and swam recreationally all my life, but never a mile or in a flight suit. Will this negatively affect preparation for that event or any other swim event in API?

Thanks.

I was stashed at the pool for 6 months during my API wait last spring, the instructors there did everything possible to get everybody through it. The only people I ever saw fail ANY swim evolution were those who QUIT swimming during the evolution, and mostly it seemed they started to panic and grabbed the nearest wall.

I spent way to much of my A-pool time in the gym, and as a result I did not have a very buoyant body for the swimming portions of API. My advice: drink lots of beer and eat a lot of chicken wings. The mile swim was easy. Treading water in all of that gear was the one that I had hell with. The underwater swim was cake.

If you are truly comfortable in the water, you will not have any problems. People that psyche themselves out and/or do the strokes wrong are the folks who have to re-do swim events.

First,
Name stealer.

Second:

I would LOVE to see the real stats about a guy who finishes in the bottom 20% (sans bottom 5%) being a predictor of failing out of flight school. I think the total bottom feeders will probably have some issues, but those guys getting 85 v. 90+ on their tests? Give me a break. It is API, not the real deal flight school. I know plenty of guys who did poorly in API who rocked the rest of flight school.

If they started dropping 20% in API, I bet the flight attrites would go down like 3% based on performance alone. In other words they wouldn't really be weeding out the people who are sucking in Primary. It is a different skill set for the most part.

But if it does go to 20% performance alone won't be the issue. The attrite standards will probably change. It will probably be HARDER to attrite.

Unfortunately, if it does go to 20% out of API, they probably won't have the ability to attrite everyone who sucks in Primary and it will end up that more sub-standard pilots make it through because the Navy is hurting for pilots.

Seems to be a slight misunderstanding of the "20% attrite" magic number. That's a projection, not a goal. Nobody's trying to attrite 20%. If this curriculum change still results in less than 20% attrition, fine; it's not going to result in the skipper picking names out of a hat until he gets there. If it results in more, then this change will probably get re-evaluated spiffy quick. Since the current actual number (both overall and API) is much lower than that, it means the Powers That Be have some room to make the curricula tougher without completely screwing up the aviation accession numbers.

I know that all sounds like heartless math to some of you students and wannabes, but it's how it is. Big Navy has to look at the numbers. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake (or your fucking khakis), you're just another potential aviator.

sorry mate, need to teach AW phonetics.

YES!, The "MAGIC BUTTON" is that you have to want to be there. If you truly want to be there you wont get that career ending DUI and you wont let the academics get the best of you. You will do whatever it takes to learn the material cold so that you will know when the test is trying to trick you. The gouge in API will only give you more crap to study. The gouge in primary is a much bigger help. Again the key is the desire to be in the pipeline. Just having that attitude wont necessarily get you perfect scores, but will prob keep you from attriting. Plus giving IFS the same large effort that you will give to your API classes should pay big dividends in primary.

Does anyone know with which class exactly this new system is supposed to start?

As an "upper classman" in the schools of Naval Aviation, I would offer the following:

1. The brevity of the new API will help as much as it will hurt, so it will probably be a wash in the overall student experience. Knowledge will be fresher for the tests, but you won't have much of a life outside of class. (I recall many API "study nights" that involved beer and procrastination due to too much spare time)

2. Faster pace will be better for follow on training -- for those in A-pool, go ask some one in Primary how intimidated they were the first few weeks of Primary Ground School. It never really seems to let up or get easier. Like Noze said, each new school is challenging in its own way. Having a more intensive program is a good wakeup call -- one many of my contemporaries didn't get until the VTs.

3. Having now survived the RAG, I think the best advice I've ever received is that you never really stop having to prove yourself to someone. First its wings, then the RAG, then quals quals quals. Especially in a multi-crew aircraft, senior crew members are going to remain skeptical of a junior's abilities until they prove themselves. People think that getting the wings is the end all, but there were plenty of days in the RAG where I felt like I was flying Fam 4 in Primary all over again. A number of friends (all in different aircraft/communities) and I have often joked that you might as well leave the wings at home in the RAG, because you rarely are given much credit for having earned them.

Regardless of why this is happening, realize that it will probably help you better appreciate what you have gotten yourself into -- a lifetime of dedicated, hard work. If the thought of that is already getting you nervous, perhaps it's time for a gut-check.

Thanks for the thoughful insight. I look forward to being in your shoes in a couple years

Below is a good point and it can last awhile depending upon what you do - get into the acquisition/test world and we rarely see anybody with less than a thousand hours and wouldn't trust them when/if we do.

I agree with the rest of your post, but this part I haven't seen at all. In fact, I think it's the exact opposite.

Other's mileage may vary, that may just be my community.

Ok, take this as you want. This is what I know based on where I am currently working in talking with the people there.

API is a separate entity from the swimming & water survival stuff. API consists of the 4 week academics which is concurrently run w/ swimming and other stuff. This includes your weather/systems/aero 1&2/FR&R stuff (sorry if I missed anything). That syllabus is being shortened to three weeks. According to others the water survival and swimming are technically under a completely different code. I don't know what the plan is wrt the water survival, and the people here working on the shortened API syllabus have not discussed it. I do know that if you class up this summer, and probably this calendar year, you will be going through the current syllabus.

When you say the current syllabus, do you mean the four or three week version you mentioned? I'm cool with it either way, but just trying to get an idea of what to expect in two months.

So it's about that time. Any knowledges from instructors, JOPA or LPA making its rounds out there as to when this is going to get moving?

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

I asked one of my friends who just finished API. He said that it was still a 6 week syllabus and that they hadn't heard anything to the contrary.

I think we can all breathe easy for a little while.

There's been some issues in working out the 3-week syllabus; specifically, getting the pool/survival times divvied up, since those facilities are shared with RSS, Aircrew, Air Force, etc.

I wouldn't worry about it happening any time soon. Ops normal for now.