What UPT Base should I not put at the top?

[CobraKai]

Laughlin retired their last T-37s at the end of last year. CBM is probably close to half and half. Vance and SPS are still all T-37s, last I heard. Just remember if you go Navy or even to Moody you will have to move halfway through training, which will wash you back one class, giving you about three extra weeks of no flying right in the middle of UPT. The Navy is more laid back, but you also have to be more proactive with your training to finish in a decent amount of time. I just spent 4 years at Laughlin and if you don't like Mexico for blowing off steam you will have to drive 2.5 hours to SAT or a little over 3 to Austin, but the squadrons did seem to be a little closer and do more together (everyone invited) type of things. The experience that I have is that the guys from the navy do have to do a little catching up with their classmates (Air Force regs that you would normally get in Phase I and II, like AFMAN 11-217 and AFI 11-202v3) once they get to the Air Force side. hope this helps a little.

 

[Viper Guy]

Laughlin retired their last T-37s at the end of last year. CBM is probably close to half and half.

Nothing could be farther from the truth regarding CBM. They have ZERO T-6's and won't get their first ones until sometime next year.

I don't have any experience training with the Navy. I can say I know a couple guys who went through there and did just fine. While the first part of UPT was a major pain, I could not imagine getting better training any where else in the world. And as far as flying Navy T-34's go, do you really want to fly a prop without an ejection seat in an aircraft that has been having wing spar issues (at least in the civ world)?

CB wasn't a bad location at all. Atlanta is 4 hours (kickass city). Memphis is 2.5 (kickass city). B-Ham is about 2.2 and Tuscaloosa is 1.5 hours. There's a lot within a short drive. For the longer weekends you can drive 6 hours to either New Orleans or to see your bro's at Pensacola who are 2 months behind you.

 

[Huggyu2]

I UPT'd at Laughlin (DLF), and loved it. Sure, lots of folks complain about it, but if you get out and meet the locals, you are set. There are some great times to be had there. Good flying WX too.
In my current capacity, I see a fair number of pilots that have come out of the Navy track, and based on what I've seen, and their comments, I would say you would be better off steering clear of Pensacola. Sure, beaches,... whatever. You want to be a USAF jet pilot? Then train to be a USAF jet pilot.

 

[T1bubba]

THat's crap. . . I"m in pensacola right now. . selecting next week. THere have been WAY more people go from here to T38's and MAKE it than not. And the numbers we have all seen from our IP's show that the wash rate is no higher for studs. comming from the Navy Primary program.

The wash out rate may not be any higher but that doesn't mean there's not a difference. The studs who wash are too small of a sample to draw much of a conclusion.

Grades, on the other hand, are lower for Whiting grads in both T-1's and T-38's. Several master's degree research projects have been done on this (including mine) and have shown that the T-34 folks start out at a significant disadvantage. They catch up eventually but overall their grades are still significantly lower than the T-37 students.

Of course that doesn't mean much to any one particular person, most T-34 trained folks do fine. But if you're set on flying fighters, I'd skip Pensacola. Just my opinion from watching three years of assignment nights, but it seemed like the T-34 to T-38 folks rarely got fighters.

 

[jimpilot]

A million years ago I went to Moody. It was great then. Small town but JAX nearby, you could stay home and study or go to the big city on long week-ends.

But since then Moody has become an operational base and I understand it's now back to a UPT base. Just proves, the more things change, the more they end up the same.

 

[Malter1]

Bottom line is: Do you want to be a fighter pilot or fly heavies?

If you want to fly fighters, go to Sheppard. Everyone but the bottom 1 or 2 per class gets a fighter. (Warranted or not). Beyond that, all the UPT bases are the same. All in crappy towns with a 2 hour drive to any fun.