Having recently completed both AF(T-6) and Navy(Advanced) training here is my view from a student's perspective.
The AF can be anal to a fault and the Navy can be relaxed to a fault. While you will hook a ride for something minor in the AF, I'm not sure what you would have to do to hook a ride in the Navy. Some of the things I did/saw happen, if I were the IP would have been instant hooks, but often times were minor debrief items.
In the AF you are a number, the schedule and Wx rule all, but you will finish on time and know that date before you even start. In the Navy your IPs will know and call you by your first name, the schedule is much more flexible (order of events, etc), and probably finish on time.
In the AF you will have long days in a flight room often time feeling like daycare, but will learn more from your fellow students or IPs not flying that go then you did in any class. You will also gain a sense of class pride, make some of the best friends you will ever have, truly care about how others in your class are doing even though you are competing against them, and fly up to 3 times a day. In the Navy you will only show up when you fly, often times having a day or more off between flights. You will mostly study alone, but whenever/wherever you want. You will also graduate with people you didn't even know were in your class.
In the AF your issued pubs will contain everything you are reasonably expect to know, and those pubs will be keep up to date, and verified page by page on checkrides. In the Navy the issued pubs will have most of the information you are expected to learn, however you will be quizzed on numbers/info out of pubs you don't have (FCF numbers for example). You will not have a pubs check until you go to turn them back into the bookstore, and probably find out there was a change posted that you never knew about.
In the AF you will do all your training at a select few towered airfields, often times never leaving the "training bubble" until going x/c. In the Navy you will land on just about every piece of concrete within range of base.
As to who produces the better product, that is impossible to tell. I think the AF sets and holds students to a higher standard, but the Navy does a better job of getting you outside the training bubble and gives a more real world experience. In my graduating class of 32 (9 AF), the top of the class was all AF, and none finished under a 50NSS. But that is only a token example, I'm sure there are classes where the AF students all finish at the bottom too.
The AF can be anal to a fault and the Navy can be relaxed to a fault. While you will hook a ride for something minor in the AF, I'm not sure what you would have to do to hook a ride in the Navy. Some of the things I did/saw happen, if I were the IP would have been instant hooks, but often times were minor debrief items.
In the AF you are a number, the schedule and Wx rule all, but you will finish on time and know that date before you even start. In the Navy your IPs will know and call you by your first name, the schedule is much more flexible (order of events, etc), and probably finish on time.
In the AF you will have long days in a flight room often time feeling like daycare, but will learn more from your fellow students or IPs not flying that go then you did in any class. You will also gain a sense of class pride, make some of the best friends you will ever have, truly care about how others in your class are doing even though you are competing against them, and fly up to 3 times a day. In the Navy you will only show up when you fly, often times having a day or more off between flights. You will mostly study alone, but whenever/wherever you want. You will also graduate with people you didn't even know were in your class.
In the AF your issued pubs will contain everything you are reasonably expect to know, and those pubs will be keep up to date, and verified page by page on checkrides. In the Navy the issued pubs will have most of the information you are expected to learn, however you will be quizzed on numbers/info out of pubs you don't have (FCF numbers for example). You will not have a pubs check until you go to turn them back into the bookstore, and probably find out there was a change posted that you never knew about.
In the AF you will do all your training at a select few towered airfields, often times never leaving the "training bubble" until going x/c. In the Navy you will land on just about every piece of concrete within range of base.
As to who produces the better product, that is impossible to tell. I think the AF sets and holds students to a higher standard, but the Navy does a better job of getting you outside the training bubble and gives a more real world experience. In my graduating class of 32 (9 AF), the top of the class was all AF, and none finished under a 50NSS. But that is only a token example, I'm sure there are classes where the AF students all finish at the bottom too.
