most useful flight training prior to entry

[pharaelga]

There is something you can do however..... I'm just finishing the BI stage and did fairly well. Block NSS in the 60's. I got picked on a little when people in the squadron found out... but... I bought X-plane bought and downloaded Jrollon's T-34C. I tweaked the engine settings to match the actual aircraft and did my BI manuevers on this with a joystick. I got 5's in airwork on all but one sim. One sim guy even asked me if I had prior instrument time. Get good grades early on while MIF is low. Using this method will improve your scan I promise you.
Edit: You can also shoot your instrument approaches on X-plane. Placing a NDB station over a VOR makes it like an artificial TACAN since X-plane doesn't support TACANs and the needles on the X-plane T-34 are ADF not VOR and TACAN. If anyone has questions on how to set this up you can PM me....
I am by no means associated with Jrollon but I will say his work is fairly accurate:

 

[bbf7b2]

words... Block NSS in the 60's. I got picked on a little when people in the squadron found out... but... more words....

While this can be an effective technique it does require a certain amount of the fundamentals to already have been learned. Also be careful throwing NSS numbers out, it's not that cool and it can lead to a pointless pissing contest which you'll probably always lose to someone out there.

If the OP is bound and determined to spend some money to go flying my advice is go have some fun. Get a couple hundred dollar hamburgers and just get a feel for being in the air.

 

[pharaelga]

LOL I have lost trust me... my CPTs block was like a 22.... I know block NSS's dont mean shit nor do I really care if I get jets.... I just love flying.

 

[Swanee]

I really enjoy flying gliders. I did it while waiting for API and Primary to start up- and did it some more on the weekend on Primary. I still do it here in Kingsville a bit. If you want to get some time in the air just to have fun then I would suggest finding a soaring club and going from there.

 

[81montedriver]

There is something you can do however..... I'm just finishing the BI stage and did fairly well. Block NSS in the 60's. I got picked on a little when people in the squadron found out... but... I bought X-plane bought and downloaded Jrollon's T-34C. I tweaked the engine settings to match the actual aircraft and did my BI manuevers on this with a joystick. I got 5's in airwork on all but one sim. One sim guy even asked me if I had prior instrument time. Get good grades early on while MIF is low. Using this method will improve your scan I promise you.

I'll actually second this except I used Microsoft Flight Sim X. I couldn't find an exact model of a T-6 so i used something similar. I practiced all of my BI manuevers on it, practiced flying approaches off of approach plates and practiced flying in the pattern. When the instructors said chair fly, I was actually doing it. As was quoted, Flight Sim doesn't have a TACAN either and some of the Nav instruments are slightly different than you will actually use but it helped me set up habit patterns.

I was asked by sim instructors as well if I had previous flight time and it was kind of tough answer back, No Sir, I'm just a fucking nerd who likes playing Flight Simulator.

 

[scoolbubba]

Drink beer. Chase tail.

 

[BarrettRC8]

Quite dramatic music for a T-34C - Sounds like it was pulled right out of Band of Brothers. Good memories though.

And to mirror what everyone else has said, save your money. An instrument rating would help you in Primary, but no further than that, and not much more than a solid work ethic would. If you do anything, pick up a flight simulator game and mess with it a bit like a few others have mentioned - I played them quite a bit when I was a kid because I thought they were fun and they apparently had another benefit of introducing me to some of the Primary material that I'd need to be familiar with 10-15 years later.

 

[SynixMan]

I'll echo what a bunch of folks have already said. Save your money. You'll either "get it" right away in primary, or it'll take you longer, or you won't (unlikely). The bar gets raised in each block as you progress, and you don't go on if you don't preform.

The Navy/MC has been teaching rocks to fly for 100 years now. You get racked and stacked against your peers in the very beginning for platform selection, that's just the nature of the game. Show up, fly hard, go home, study well, and you too can get some wings.

 

[Gatordev]

I am by no means associated with Jrollon but I will say his work is fairly accurate:

I'm sorry, but there's a huge problem with that model. The video was "shot" at night. I could clearly read all the instruments and labels in the cockpit.

Nice model, though. I have a feeling that when I can't physically fly anymore, I'll return to where I started, flying flight sims.

 

[pharaelga]

I'm sorry, but there's a huge problem with that model. The video was "shot" at night. I could clearly read all the instruments and labels in the cockpit.

Nice model, though. I have a feeling that when I can't physically fly anymore, I'll return to where I started, flying flight sims.

Haha. There were only a couple minor issues I encountered with it.... the turn needle deflects for 4 min turns vice 2. (I guess he was confused because our turn indicator does say 4 min turn on the bottom...) The throttle quadrant looks like it could have been a T-34B maybe, because instead of an EPL there is mixture.... (no mixture on a turboprop...) the CDI needle tracks and deflects nicely with VORs but the RMI needles will not track VORs only NDB stations... refer to above on how to fix that (btw the NACWS DME is well done and also reads accurate during flight). The torque settings out of the box make the aircraft far to powerful lol.. I gimped the engine so that the torquemeter reading corresponds to the proper speeds. Normal cruise nearly perfectly matches the 550-600 ftlb setting... fast/slow cruise are still about 5 knots fast. This definately puts the microsims and FSX T-34 to shame.... I know it doesnt take much to beat those out.... but he definately did his research on this... every single antenna and drain are in the right place. NERD out

 

[bunk22]

Going to jump on the band wagon here and say don't waste your time. I'm seeing guys in advanced training here with up to 1000 hours not do well, at least starting in formation flying. Forms is the great equalizer and it gets harder from here. Use the money wisely, like on beer and strippers!

 

[MIDNJAC]

+ 1 to bunk. I didn't really get comfortable flying formation until I got to Hornets, and even then it took a while. I wouldn't say that prior civilian experience hindered me there, but it was just something completely new that took me a little longer to "get" than some of my friends. No amount of civilian time, regardless of what it is, will prep you to be a good wingman. Formation was the biggest SA suck for me for such a long time, until it just became second nature sometime around the air-to-air phase in the RAG.

 

[BarrettRC8]

Show up, fly hard, go home, study well, and you too can get some wings.

Maybe "fly well... study hard"?

 

[Wingnut172N]

Just to pile on, 10-15 hours would be a waste. I'd say that my previous civilian flying experience helped me in some ways during primary, but I also had a lot more than 10-15 hours of it.

I agree with this. I think previous flight time helps a little bit, but mainly in knowing how to read instruments such as an HSI. To be honest the actual monkey skills of flying the aircraft are different, are are the military methods (initial/break vice downwind pattern entry, etc...) but knowing how to read nav instruments, having an instrument scan were all takeaways that I felt helped me significantly during the early stages of Primary. I did have a lot more than 10 hours though as well.

That being said, it's nothing that you couldn't get from playing Microsoft FSX either. While it may sound geeky, some FS addons are pretty detailed and the instrument scan and FMS setup were not difficult to grasp where some of my classmates struggled.

I don't think 10 to 15 hours would help much, put the money towards flight sim and use it like a training aid, not a video game. I helped a lot of folks chair fly with FSX and they found it very helpful in IFS.

 

[squorch2]

HSI = your heading is on top. There, I just saved you 10-15 hours of "training."