Some of the other summaries seemed a bit dated, so I wanted to pass along what's currently happening. For those that are coming through Intermediate, don't brain dump all the forms stuff: you will fly a lot (and I mean A LOT) of form flights. The sooner all the forms stuff becomes second nature, the easier it will be to concentrate on all the other things you have to do. Advanced can be broken into five major stages: Contact, Strike, CAS, BFM, and AWI.
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Contact: Two weeks of ground school followed by 9 sims, which are the same type of 30 minute briefs that you had in VT-10. After the sims, it is 4 flights including checkride. If you're lucky, you'll get to go on a cross-country and knock out all of your flights in a weekend.
Strike: Learning to put bombs on target, on time. One week of ground school followed by a chart prep/self-study day. You will be making lots of charts which need to be checked by an instructor. From now on, sims are flown with a civilian instructor at the controls and a military instructor providing feedback. Students will now brief on the big boards with the military instructor 1 hour prior to getting in the sim.
The first "Strike" sim will be carrier ops. Marines are still required to do that sim. Strike is then broken into two stages:
Strike I: 5 sims, 7 flights focusing on low-level procedures, radar mechanics, and section work
Strike II: 5 sims, 5 flights including checkride. More in-depth, now considering possible threats, EW, and real-world timing.
CAS (Close Air Support): One day of ground school followed by a self-study day. Focuses on the fundamentals of leading a division and integrating 9-lines into your plan of action. Concentrate on having clean, crisp comms and quick, accurate data entry. 4 sims, 5 flights including checkride
BFM (Basic Figher Maneuvers): Get into the realm of dogfighting, uncalled D's, sight pictures, offensive and defensive perch sets, and finally high-aspect BFM that takes you to the merge. If you like pulling Gs, this will probably be your favorite part of the syllabus. One day of ground school. 1 sim, 5 flights including checkride
*Highly recommend you do some neck stretching exercises prior to starting BFM, which will help when you're defensive* Remember: "Lose sight, lose fight"
AWI (All Weather Intercepts): Approximately one week of ground school with a self-study day to introduce the concept of air-to-air intercepts as well as using the A/A radar. It will require hard work to memorize a lot of new material. AWI is also broken down into several stages: stern conversions, 1v1, 2v2, 2vx, and self-escort strike. Between each of these stages, there will be a day or two of ground school and self-study.
You will also fly 2 approach hops to keep instrument procedures fresh. Overall, looking at about 15 sims and 15 flights. After the last SES flight, you're done!
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I hope this helps the students that are going to be coming through. Feel free to add anything that I missed.
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Contact: Two weeks of ground school followed by 9 sims, which are the same type of 30 minute briefs that you had in VT-10. After the sims, it is 4 flights including checkride. If you're lucky, you'll get to go on a cross-country and knock out all of your flights in a weekend.
Strike: Learning to put bombs on target, on time. One week of ground school followed by a chart prep/self-study day. You will be making lots of charts which need to be checked by an instructor. From now on, sims are flown with a civilian instructor at the controls and a military instructor providing feedback. Students will now brief on the big boards with the military instructor 1 hour prior to getting in the sim.
The first "Strike" sim will be carrier ops. Marines are still required to do that sim. Strike is then broken into two stages:
Strike I: 5 sims, 7 flights focusing on low-level procedures, radar mechanics, and section work
Strike II: 5 sims, 5 flights including checkride. More in-depth, now considering possible threats, EW, and real-world timing.
CAS (Close Air Support): One day of ground school followed by a self-study day. Focuses on the fundamentals of leading a division and integrating 9-lines into your plan of action. Concentrate on having clean, crisp comms and quick, accurate data entry. 4 sims, 5 flights including checkride
BFM (Basic Figher Maneuvers): Get into the realm of dogfighting, uncalled D's, sight pictures, offensive and defensive perch sets, and finally high-aspect BFM that takes you to the merge. If you like pulling Gs, this will probably be your favorite part of the syllabus. One day of ground school. 1 sim, 5 flights including checkride
*Highly recommend you do some neck stretching exercises prior to starting BFM, which will help when you're defensive* Remember: "Lose sight, lose fight"
AWI (All Weather Intercepts): Approximately one week of ground school with a self-study day to introduce the concept of air-to-air intercepts as well as using the A/A radar. It will require hard work to memorize a lot of new material. AWI is also broken down into several stages: stern conversions, 1v1, 2v2, 2vx, and self-escort strike. Between each of these stages, there will be a day or two of ground school and self-study.
You will also fly 2 approach hops to keep instrument procedures fresh. Overall, looking at about 15 sims and 15 flights. After the last SES flight, you're done!
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I hope this helps the students that are going to be coming through. Feel free to add anything that I missed.
