I think what
@Birdbrain may have been thinking, partially correctly, and like so many other flight school students (including myself!) is that his IPs have so much knowledge because they got experience. That's partially correct. Eventually, all those things that
@wlawr005 talked about
do become routine. I won't tell you it's right, but you'll see guys do some startup or shutdown checks without the checklist beause they have done it so many times. You'll eventually fly around the boat without the various airspaces taking up much any mental thought; it will be natural to you without having to think hard about it. You'll eventually get through the software to find, fix, track, target, and engage your adversary correctly without having to think "ugh crap what do I click next?" What you and so many other flight school students may not realize though is that it's not just experience, it's a ton of studying. And just to get to those flights that give you the practice reps you'll have to prove yourself in the brief and debrief. For my sea story below, getting into the flight required extensive knowledge of MANPADS, RPGs, RADAR systems, how countermeasures work and why (I still remember the freaking value watts/steradian... no, I still barely understand what a steradian is), what the weaknesses of our countermeasures are, the way the sound of the helo travels at different speeds and AOBs, etc. etc., not to mention all the offensive pieces of how a HELLFIRE missile and the lasers we use work. After doing all the CAIs/CBTs/whatever we are calling them these days, then earning all those sign offs on my own time, that's when OPS said "ok, schedule
@DanMa1156 for the flight." I was paired with my XO as my instructor and a peer of mine as my wingman who was earning her flight as well.
Here is the "Sea" Story: One of my favorite debriefs of all time was from WTIs during Airwing Fallon. In the same debrief I was asked if the footage they got of me maneuvering and launching countermeasures during the Surface to Air Countertactics range could be used as the "textbook example" of what to do for future WTI classes, but 10 minutes later during my HELLFIRE shot, where my wingman was lasing for me, they called it invalid because they assesed we were within 1 degree (1 freaking degree!!!!!) of the limits of the safety fans for buddy lasing and they were asking us, not rhetorically what we were thinking, why we chose that angle to attack from, etc. etc. It was all sound to them, but the shot remained invalid because of the safety fan. (For those who care, the S can't or otherwise doesn't carry the pods that allow the range to track you so well, I forget what those are called... so they were using their radar and our transponders to figure out our position... I flew that flight with my XO as my instructor and his smirking face was like "c'mon guys, really?" because he knew we set up the safety fans correctly.)
What don't I remember at all? How we took off, joined up, checked in on the range, cleared the range, calculated our bingo, did PASST-Gas and Gauges checks, etc. because all of that had become second nature.
I was also mocked mercilessly (as should be done!) for a radio call I still have no recollection making of "break right, they're coming!" It literally brings my wing-woman to tears every time she tells the damn story.