Flight School Timeline - Student Aviator
Wednesday, October 19 • adventure, aviator, florida, milso, quick guide
Hey everyone! I wanted to write this post about the flight school timeline because when my man first started, I googled everything but couldn't seem to find a good timeline. All of the following info is my personal experience and you must know that everyone has a different experience! Also, each person's timeline is different. They may tell you 6 months and it takes 10 months; so don't expect your timeline to look exactly like this!
When the aviator graduates from Officer Candidate School, they are usually given a couple weeks to get their things together before reporting to NAS Pensacola. My aviator was given 4 weeks to come home and pack his life up then drive down to Florida.
After they check in in Pensacola, they wait to start IFS (this process can be anywhere from a week to 4 months).
IFS - Introductory Flight Screening: This portion of training takes place in Pensacola, Florida and is where the pilot learns to fly a Cesna or Piper Warrior airframe. Some aviators get to skip this portion if they have already obtained their private pilots license. During IFS, the aviator has a series of flights and tests to become FAA certified.
API - Aviation Preflight Indoctrination: This is the "fun and easiest" part of flight school according to my hubby. They spend four weeks learning about weather, aerodynamics, aircraft engines, systems and other things needed to fly the T-6. After the classroom work, they learn basic survival skills. This includes the infamous helo-dunker where they are tipped upside-down in a cockpit, submerged underwater and told to get out. Overall, this process takes about 6-8 weeks.
Primary: Primary is held in either NAS Whiting Field or NAS Corpus Christi (I highly recommend staying in Pensacola - especially if the aviator wants to go Helos!) Primary took about 9 months to complete. Primary is by far the most challenging part of flight school. Its here that aviators learn to fly the T-6 Texan. They have multiple tests, simulations and flights to go through before they are done. I wasn't with my aviator as he was going through this (I was finishing up college) but he seemed to be stressed out to the max! This is a time to really support your aviator and do what you can to help them because its a crazy amount of work. If you aviator makes it through then they will select their airframe. This is an exciting time yet still stressful because you have to pick the airframe you want to fly in the future.
Advanced: Once the aviator is selected for an airframe you will have to move to where that airframe's location is. (If anyone has any questions about where advanced is held, send me an email and I'll tell you - I don't want to put all the training bases on the internet.) Advanced has been pretty busy and stressful this far. Not quite like primary but still challenging. My aviator selected Helos so he is having to re-learn how to fly a rotary aircraft. We were told that advanced takes about 6 months but its looking more like 8 months before we get sent to the fleet readiness squadron (FRS). After that, we don't know whats going to happen but thats part of the Navy life! Adventure is out there!
If anyone has any questions, please send me an email. I know what it it like to be a confused student aviator significant other so I'm happy to help anyone else out.
When the aviator graduates from Officer Candidate School, they are usually given a couple weeks to get their things together before reporting to NAS Pensacola. My aviator was given 4 weeks to come home and pack his life up then drive down to Florida.
After they check in in Pensacola, they wait to start IFS (this process can be anywhere from a week to 4 months).
IFS - Introductory Flight Screening: This portion of training takes place in Pensacola, Florida and is where the pilot learns to fly a Cesna or Piper Warrior airframe. Some aviators get to skip this portion if they have already obtained their private pilots license. During IFS, the aviator has a series of flights and tests to become FAA certified.
API - Aviation Preflight Indoctrination: This is the "fun and easiest" part of flight school according to my hubby. They spend four weeks learning about weather, aerodynamics, aircraft engines, systems and other things needed to fly the T-6. After the classroom work, they learn basic survival skills. This includes the infamous helo-dunker where they are tipped upside-down in a cockpit, submerged underwater and told to get out. Overall, this process takes about 6-8 weeks.
Primary: Primary is held in either NAS Whiting Field or NAS Corpus Christi (I highly recommend staying in Pensacola - especially if the aviator wants to go Helos!) Primary took about 9 months to complete. Primary is by far the most challenging part of flight school. Its here that aviators learn to fly the T-6 Texan. They have multiple tests, simulations and flights to go through before they are done. I wasn't with my aviator as he was going through this (I was finishing up college) but he seemed to be stressed out to the max! This is a time to really support your aviator and do what you can to help them because its a crazy amount of work. If you aviator makes it through then they will select their airframe. This is an exciting time yet still stressful because you have to pick the airframe you want to fly in the future.
Advanced: Once the aviator is selected for an airframe you will have to move to where that airframe's location is. (If anyone has any questions about where advanced is held, send me an email and I'll tell you - I don't want to put all the training bases on the internet.) Advanced has been pretty busy and stressful this far. Not quite like primary but still challenging. My aviator selected Helos so he is having to re-learn how to fly a rotary aircraft. We were told that advanced takes about 6 months but its looking more like 8 months before we get sent to the fleet readiness squadron (FRS). After that, we don't know whats going to happen but thats part of the Navy life! Adventure is out there!
If anyone has any questions, please send me an email. I know what it it like to be a confused student aviator significant other so I'm happy to help anyone else out.
Weekend Roundup: Seafood Festival
Sunday, October 2 • adventure, florida, photography, quick guide, review, round up, southern belle, travel
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This past weekend, Daniel and I ventured into Pensacola for Seafood Festival. We had a lot of fun at this festival downtown! Apparently October and November are "festival season" in Pensacola because it actually cools down enough to be outside during the day. If anyone finds themselves in Pensacola during Seafood Fest, I highly recommend it! Here is a little photo round up of the weekend...
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| I had Mahi Mahi tacos with a classic Bud Light |
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| Daniel had 3/4 lbs of shrimp with corn and potatoes. He also tried one of Pensacola's draft beers. |
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| Sitting on the curb enjoying Seafood Fest |
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This weekend we also spent some time decorating our house for Halloween and planting flowers in our front garden. Even though we don't get real Fall in Florida, it has been cooling down lately which is so nice! It makes me happy to finally be planting flowers and decorating our house for the holidays. Happy Fall Y'all :)
Name Change After the Wedding
Social security: Do this first thing because it will take awhile. Bring marriage license, old social security card and birth certificate or passport.
DMV: Be sure to update your license and voter registration. Bring your marriage license and old drivers license.
*Military only* Dependent ID Card: This is huge! Make sure you go into the base ID office and get your ID card as soon as possible. This will get you enrolled in DEERS. Bring your marriage license, birth certificate and drivers license or passport.
Auto Licensing: Update both your registration and title. If a bank owns your title make sure you contact them to get it updated. You will need your original registration, marriage license and drivers license.
IRS: Make sure you update all of your information at work to match your new name. Update the pay system and your tax exemption status to make sure you have no issues when tax season comes. Your company will notify the IRS of the change. Supply them with your new social security card.
Passport: This will need to be done at your local post office or through the mail. You need a photo, birth certificate, marriage license and either a license or current passport.
Loans - student, car, mortgage: I'm not totally sure how to change your car loan or mortgage name but I know for student loans you need to mail in a copy of your marriage license and new social security card.
Bank Accounts: It is much easier to do this in a branch. Just take your marriage license in, show your new ID and get a new debit card.
Other: These are other things you need to change your name on but I'm still in the process so I don't know exactly what is needed. For insurance we ended up changing companies so I just needed my new license number. Bills, subscriptions, airline frequent flier miles, reward cards and social media should just need your license and possibly marriage license.
Well, if you are reading this because you just got married then congratulations!! If you're reading this for fun, I hope you enjoyed it. If anyone has any questions, shoot me an email and I'll try to help you to the best of my ability. Thanks for reading y'all!
MILSO - good and bad
Wednesday, September 21 • milso, quick guide
Benefits:
Support system - The military, affiliations and many companies are very good to service members, especially their families. It's nice to see companies like SimpliSafe Security working with the Jackson In Action 83 Foundation to help military families feel safe and connect with each other. SimpliSafe created a wireless security system you can see here; and it's perfect for military families because there's no binding contract and it can be easily picked up and moved to another home. It is nice to know that if we have to be away from our house for awhile, it will be secure. There are also significant other clubs that are there to support each other. I'm personally affiliated with a spouse group in my current town and the ladies are the best. We meet once a month for coffee, volunteer in the community and have a page where we can connect. I know that no matter where I am with the military there is a group, company or association somewhere around me.
Locations - There are Navy bases all over the world so we could get to live over seas if we want. Also, most bases are on the water so no matter where we go, we will be by the water!
Draw backs:
Married vs Not Married - While we made it work, it's very challenging not being married and living in the military. When you aren't married, you don't get any of the insurance benefits so make sure you have insurance on your own. You can't live in base housing (unless the housing is off base like ours is) which means that you might be living in a less safe area. When we looked at houses, they weren't too bad but I am so glad we were able to get base housing. Also, when you aren't married, you can't go on base or buy anything from the commissary without your sponsor. This was probably the most frustrating part as I couldn't go grocery shopping at the commissary or even go on base to pick my pilot up from work.
Deployment - While we haven't been through a deployment, it is looming on the horizon. I am not looking forward to having to say goodbye to my man for 6-8 months at a time. It is very challenging to be away from your loved one for that long. We don't have children yet so deployment won't be bad in that perspective but I can't imagine how it is for families with children. This is where Jackson in Action 83 comes in.. Their mission is to provide support to military families, focusing on the children, whose parents are deployed. If you want to learn more about their mission, click here.
Careers - Like everything else, having a career as a MILSO can be a challenge. However, I found that a few national companies are willing to work with you and get you a job as you move around.The company I work for, Navy Federal, is a wonderful company if you want an occupation that can follow you, no matter where you go. There are also companies that allow you to work from home and thus move around. A few spouses have brought up the difficulty of finding a job for military spouses who move every few years and are working on getting a panel set up to answer different questions. I will update this post if I get more info on the panel.
Overall, I enjoy the military life. While it has drawbacks, it is great at the same time! I wouldn't trade my lifestyle for anything. I will be posting more, now that I'm finished with college and the wedding, so stay tuned for more posts on life!
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