I've been following this site for quite some time now and its been extremely helpful, so I figured I might as well share my primary experience with you all.
First off, as a Marine I had about a 1-2 month wait between finishing NIFE and checking into my squadron. Navy folk you can expect 11-13 months if you're staying at Whiting. My Recommendation for all SNA's is to enjoy your break, but prepare yourself as best as you can if you really want to crush the syllabus. I would show up to ground school knowing your EP's and Limits Cold as well as your course rules. I would then highly advise that you learn the Hollywood script ASAP and run through the checklist at least 100 times until you can run top to bottom in less than 20 minutes. (This is not an exaggeration) You can dive into the T-6 systems if you wanna get a better understanding of the aircraft as well, but I would do that after you've accomplished the other things listed. With that being said, I have heard stories of students showing up to their first sims not being able to run through the checklist and not knowing where switches are. DO NOT be that person. Again if you want to do well you need to take this seriously and put the time in. When you start running through checklist with others it will be very obvious who has been practicing and who hasn't. Once you have a decent grasp on the checklist and where all the switches are I would start practicing your Ep's in the static sims or UTDs as well. Your EP sims will surprise you if you've never rehearsed what you'll do when you actually have one. Once you've learned the basics I would suggest that you start doing full run throughs and then work your way up to doing a full contact profile. RoarkJr mentions these in his post so do yourself a favor and read it and start implementing it. It will seem like a lot at first so I suggest you take it piece by piece, but once you get the hang of it I promise it will pay dividends. Other then that, get the good gouge and you'll be fine for the ground school exams.
One thing I forgot to mention is My sim setup. If you are motivated then I'd recommend that you buy some flight simulator gear and use Xplane 11. The reason I say Xplane 11 and not MSFS is because I used the T-6b Flite Advantage software and it only works for Xplane. I put about 150 hours or so on my sim before I even started ground school and it really helped.
CONTACTS: Some people may dispute this but I personally felt that contacts was the most difficult phase of Primary. I say this because you are still brand new to aviation and you have no idea what to expect. The flying itself isn't incredibly hard, in fact if you were doing full contact flight sims before you even started ground school then you should be golden. What made it seem like the hardest phase to me was the amount of time and effort I had to put into preparing for the briefs. In the beginning you'll have a decent amount of discussion items that you need to study for and if you're lucky, you'll have additional discussion items as well. As you progress you will also start briefing entire systems. This is your time to shine, your chance to showcase your knowledge to your IP. Contacts will be EP heavy so dive into the Natops and make sure you know what can trigger a certain Ep and how to fix it.
The great thing about contacts is that almost every flight is done the exact same way, so at some point you should find a groove and feel a little more comfortable in the plane. Just always show up prepared for your brief and motivated to fly. IPs can tell within 30 seconds if you are wanting to be there and if you are solid. Enjoy your solo and DO NOT do anything stupid. People have been kicked out of flight school for taking a selfie and for doing dumb things. Do not throw away all of your hard work for 1 silly decision.
FORMS: I absolutely loved flying forms. If you get stuck on the standby train like us, then it may take a while to finish but most people finished within 1-2 weeks. I went to forms after contacts and I definitely think this is the best route because at this point you'll be really comfortable with your Eps, PELs and course rules which is great. If you go to forms after instruments then Godspeed. Whenever you get assigned your partner I would go ahead and start studying the brief together and start chair flying as much as possible because your flights will come quick and the forms brief is pretty long. Your first flight will most likely have a decent amount of demo because you're flying really close to another airplane so do your best to learn the visuals and get good at maintaining the right position. After your first couple of flights you should definitely be improving and getting more comfortable with being that close to your buddy. If you guys are doing pretty well then I'd suggest asking your IPs on one of your last flights to let you do a section takeoff as well as Tail chase. Tail chase is literally just pulling a ton of gs while doing aero and chasing your buddy, its a good time.
With that being said, I was fortunate to have a really good partner and we actually prof advanced together. Hopefully you and your partner click and are motivated to do well, if I remember correctly Forms is 35% of your grade and it is only 6 flights.
FYI: I recently heard that they are taking the forms solo out of the syllabus...…that's unfortunate because that was my favorite flight by far
INSTRUMENTS: Instrument ground school is going to make you feel like you know nothing. I was always as prepared as I could be up to this point in primary but even I thought that IGS was a beast. However, if you keep at it and study your butt off, one day it'll click. Out of all of primary, I think IGS had the most information in the shortest amount of time . BUT I loved instruments and found it to be fairly easy about 1/2 way through. Instruments seem complicated at first because they are so foreign to you and you're so used to flying off of the horizon or off of another T-6, but once you get enough reps you'll be amazed at how easily it comes. The biggest thing that I struggled with in the beginning was the comms. You are going to find yourself running through your ADBC's trying to finish them as quick as possible only to find out that you missed a radio call OR you got so busy and task saturated that you didn't know how to respond to ATC. TAKE YOUR TIME. Do not rush yourself, make sure that you are always aware of where you are located, where you are going, who you are talking to, and what your next move will be. There are a lot of moving parts but if you take a second to think about what's coming next, it will help. Do your best to listen to ATC, we all know that they speak insanely fast sometimes. If you do not understand everything that they said, just ask them to say again.
Something that I found extremely handy was a well prepared kneeboard card. I used the one off of T6b driver but I just added things that served as reminders when I was Enroute or in the terminal area and it always worked like a charm.
I found that the briefs were fairly easy for instruments because you already know all of the information. The only big thing here is that you come with a plan on where you want to go and what approaches you'd like to shoot. Its a 50/50 shot that the IP will switch up the plan but you definitely want to bring a plan regardless. I always texted the IP the night before with my plan that way they knew beforehand.
Also for Sims, you will get double pumped so make sure you are locked in and do your best to crush them because they are a decent amount of your grade.
Some notes for Whiting SNAs: For Instrument Out and Ins go to Stennis, they have the best food and everyone goes there anyways. At the end of instruments I would 100% without a doubt try to find an IP you like and go on a CCX somewhere fun. Not only will you have a blast, but you will get to experience what its like to fly outside the local area which is extremely important IMO.
NIGHT CONTACT and NAV flights: These are awesome and for the most part laid back. Do not stress to hard but come prepared as always.
GRADES: Now when it comes to grades, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't stress myself out pretty often. Its perfectly normal to want to know how you are doing and how others are doing. My advice is that if you want to have the highest score possible then you're just going to have to want it more then anyone else. You need to use your time wisely and never get behind. Ask questions and do your best to learn from your mistakes. You will make way more mistakes then you'd like but that's how you learn and become a better pilot. I will say that PATE/Prof advancing should help your score out a decent amount so try your absolute best on the PATE trigger events if you're wanting a high NSS. I advanced 4 flights and I think it helped my score for the most part.
When it comes to studying, everyone normally says to study in groups of 3-4. Personally, I always studied by myself because I found that I got more out of my time in doing so. What I can say is just do what works best for you, play to your strengths the best you can. If you benefit the most from studying with a couple people then definitely do it. Like I said earlier, for foms you need to get together with your partner and start studying ASAP because you will most likely have limited time.
At the end of the day I was fortunate enough to get my #1 choice Jets!!
I’m so damn excited and can’t wait to get started
If anyone has any questions at all don't hesitate to reach out and message me!
S/F
First off, as a Marine I had about a 1-2 month wait between finishing NIFE and checking into my squadron. Navy folk you can expect 11-13 months if you're staying at Whiting. My Recommendation for all SNA's is to enjoy your break, but prepare yourself as best as you can if you really want to crush the syllabus. I would show up to ground school knowing your EP's and Limits Cold as well as your course rules. I would then highly advise that you learn the Hollywood script ASAP and run through the checklist at least 100 times until you can run top to bottom in less than 20 minutes. (This is not an exaggeration) You can dive into the T-6 systems if you wanna get a better understanding of the aircraft as well, but I would do that after you've accomplished the other things listed. With that being said, I have heard stories of students showing up to their first sims not being able to run through the checklist and not knowing where switches are. DO NOT be that person. Again if you want to do well you need to take this seriously and put the time in. When you start running through checklist with others it will be very obvious who has been practicing and who hasn't. Once you have a decent grasp on the checklist and where all the switches are I would start practicing your Ep's in the static sims or UTDs as well. Your EP sims will surprise you if you've never rehearsed what you'll do when you actually have one. Once you've learned the basics I would suggest that you start doing full run throughs and then work your way up to doing a full contact profile. RoarkJr mentions these in his post so do yourself a favor and read it and start implementing it. It will seem like a lot at first so I suggest you take it piece by piece, but once you get the hang of it I promise it will pay dividends. Other then that, get the good gouge and you'll be fine for the ground school exams.
One thing I forgot to mention is My sim setup. If you are motivated then I'd recommend that you buy some flight simulator gear and use Xplane 11. The reason I say Xplane 11 and not MSFS is because I used the T-6b Flite Advantage software and it only works for Xplane. I put about 150 hours or so on my sim before I even started ground school and it really helped.
CONTACTS: Some people may dispute this but I personally felt that contacts was the most difficult phase of Primary. I say this because you are still brand new to aviation and you have no idea what to expect. The flying itself isn't incredibly hard, in fact if you were doing full contact flight sims before you even started ground school then you should be golden. What made it seem like the hardest phase to me was the amount of time and effort I had to put into preparing for the briefs. In the beginning you'll have a decent amount of discussion items that you need to study for and if you're lucky, you'll have additional discussion items as well. As you progress you will also start briefing entire systems. This is your time to shine, your chance to showcase your knowledge to your IP. Contacts will be EP heavy so dive into the Natops and make sure you know what can trigger a certain Ep and how to fix it.
The great thing about contacts is that almost every flight is done the exact same way, so at some point you should find a groove and feel a little more comfortable in the plane. Just always show up prepared for your brief and motivated to fly. IPs can tell within 30 seconds if you are wanting to be there and if you are solid. Enjoy your solo and DO NOT do anything stupid. People have been kicked out of flight school for taking a selfie and for doing dumb things. Do not throw away all of your hard work for 1 silly decision.
FORMS: I absolutely loved flying forms. If you get stuck on the standby train like us, then it may take a while to finish but most people finished within 1-2 weeks. I went to forms after contacts and I definitely think this is the best route because at this point you'll be really comfortable with your Eps, PELs and course rules which is great. If you go to forms after instruments then Godspeed. Whenever you get assigned your partner I would go ahead and start studying the brief together and start chair flying as much as possible because your flights will come quick and the forms brief is pretty long. Your first flight will most likely have a decent amount of demo because you're flying really close to another airplane so do your best to learn the visuals and get good at maintaining the right position. After your first couple of flights you should definitely be improving and getting more comfortable with being that close to your buddy. If you guys are doing pretty well then I'd suggest asking your IPs on one of your last flights to let you do a section takeoff as well as Tail chase. Tail chase is literally just pulling a ton of gs while doing aero and chasing your buddy, its a good time.
With that being said, I was fortunate to have a really good partner and we actually prof advanced together. Hopefully you and your partner click and are motivated to do well, if I remember correctly Forms is 35% of your grade and it is only 6 flights.
FYI: I recently heard that they are taking the forms solo out of the syllabus...…that's unfortunate because that was my favorite flight by far
INSTRUMENTS: Instrument ground school is going to make you feel like you know nothing. I was always as prepared as I could be up to this point in primary but even I thought that IGS was a beast. However, if you keep at it and study your butt off, one day it'll click. Out of all of primary, I think IGS had the most information in the shortest amount of time . BUT I loved instruments and found it to be fairly easy about 1/2 way through. Instruments seem complicated at first because they are so foreign to you and you're so used to flying off of the horizon or off of another T-6, but once you get enough reps you'll be amazed at how easily it comes. The biggest thing that I struggled with in the beginning was the comms. You are going to find yourself running through your ADBC's trying to finish them as quick as possible only to find out that you missed a radio call OR you got so busy and task saturated that you didn't know how to respond to ATC. TAKE YOUR TIME. Do not rush yourself, make sure that you are always aware of where you are located, where you are going, who you are talking to, and what your next move will be. There are a lot of moving parts but if you take a second to think about what's coming next, it will help. Do your best to listen to ATC, we all know that they speak insanely fast sometimes. If you do not understand everything that they said, just ask them to say again.
Something that I found extremely handy was a well prepared kneeboard card. I used the one off of T6b driver but I just added things that served as reminders when I was Enroute or in the terminal area and it always worked like a charm.
I found that the briefs were fairly easy for instruments because you already know all of the information. The only big thing here is that you come with a plan on where you want to go and what approaches you'd like to shoot. Its a 50/50 shot that the IP will switch up the plan but you definitely want to bring a plan regardless. I always texted the IP the night before with my plan that way they knew beforehand.
Also for Sims, you will get double pumped so make sure you are locked in and do your best to crush them because they are a decent amount of your grade.
Some notes for Whiting SNAs: For Instrument Out and Ins go to Stennis, they have the best food and everyone goes there anyways. At the end of instruments I would 100% without a doubt try to find an IP you like and go on a CCX somewhere fun. Not only will you have a blast, but you will get to experience what its like to fly outside the local area which is extremely important IMO.
NIGHT CONTACT and NAV flights: These are awesome and for the most part laid back. Do not stress to hard but come prepared as always.
GRADES: Now when it comes to grades, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't stress myself out pretty often. Its perfectly normal to want to know how you are doing and how others are doing. My advice is that if you want to have the highest score possible then you're just going to have to want it more then anyone else. You need to use your time wisely and never get behind. Ask questions and do your best to learn from your mistakes. You will make way more mistakes then you'd like but that's how you learn and become a better pilot. I will say that PATE/Prof advancing should help your score out a decent amount so try your absolute best on the PATE trigger events if you're wanting a high NSS. I advanced 4 flights and I think it helped my score for the most part.
When it comes to studying, everyone normally says to study in groups of 3-4. Personally, I always studied by myself because I found that I got more out of my time in doing so. What I can say is just do what works best for you, play to your strengths the best you can. If you benefit the most from studying with a couple people then definitely do it. Like I said earlier, for foms you need to get together with your partner and start studying ASAP because you will most likely have limited time.
At the end of the day I was fortunate enough to get my #1 choice Jets!!
I’m so damn excited and can’t wait to get started
If anyone has any questions at all don't hesitate to reach out and message me!
S/F
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