The pivotal reason for the change is the Air Force's incompatibility with the Army's new training concept called Flight School XXI, which stresses increased flying hours in combat helicopters, such as the Black Hawk, the CH-47 Chinook, the Apache and the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior.
In the old schoolhouse model, both the Army and the Air Force used the Vietnam-era UH-1 Huey to teach students combat skills. Beginners would learn flight instrumentation on the Bell TH-67 Creek, and then switch to either the Huey, or the OH-58A/C Kiowa (solely Army) to touch on combat maneuvers. After that, pilots would move to advanced courses in combat helicopters.
But the Army, as part of Flight School XXI, decided to scrap the Huey and the OH-58A/C from its training, because they proved too old, were plagued with maintenance issues and were not representative of the Army's newer combat aircraft.
The Air Force, meanwhile, finds the Hueys suitable for its initial pilot training, said Lt. Col. Robert Abernathy, commander of the Air Force's 23rd Flying Training Squadron. This unit is the Air Force's only specialized undergraduate pilot training organization for helicopters.
When the Army decided to scrap its Huey fleet, the 23rd Flying Training Squadron acquired the helicopters from the Army, he told National Defense.
While still a tenant of Fort Rucker, the Air Force has developed its own independent training syllabus, separate from the Army's new flight school model, he said.
Air Force helicopter students start off with six months of fixed-wing aircraft training at either Air Force or Navy bases, he said. Once they get to Fort Rucker, they already have six months of flying under their belt, Abernathy said. Therefore, the Army, under the previous arrangement, considered them in a graduate program because of their previous experience, he said.
"The students that the Army receives here do not have any flight experience, and the program is tailored to new people," Abernathy said in an interview. "The Air Force needs to tailor a program that looks at, and includes, the progress that students have made."
Flight School XXI is an "outstanding program," he said, which focuses considerable attention on moving to tactical aircraft. "We, too, would like to have a tactical mission focused program, but we are starting at a different level," he added.
That is why the Air Force Education and Training Command, the parent organization of the 23rd Flying Training Squadron, has decided to develop a syllabus to provide its pilots with that tactical training, said Abernathy.
"There are some significant differences between the way they [Air Force] have decided to train and the way that we have decided to train. It is a function of culture and of the total throughput requirements of different directions in modernization efforts," said Army Col. Steven Semmens, commander of the aviation-training brigade at Fort Rucker.
"The Air Force has decided not to buy into Flight School XXI. The primary reason is that our flight school model-going directly from our training aircraft to our war aircraft-is not compatible with any of the Air Force go-to-war aircraft or their mission profile," he noted.
Once they receive their initial training, pilots move to Kirtland Air Force, N.M., where they attempt to qualify in one of these three aircraft: MH-53 (special operations), HH-60 (combat search and rescue) or UH-1N (missile site support and distinguished visitor airlift missions), said Abernathy. After that, they move to their operational bases, he explained.
For example, even though it is the same family as the Army's Black Hawk, the HH-60 Pave Hawk's mission is "significantly different," Semmens said.
Meanwhile, the Hueys salvaged from the Army, are slated for upgrades, said Abernathy. "All the Hueys that we fly now have 'USAF' on the side, and we are going to modify those to bring them up to date," he said.
The reason for that is that Air Force students consume more power and need more maneuver space, he explained. "The Huey provides the best platform in terms of versatility and of power maneuverability and longevity. It is a forgiving aircraft, given what the students tend to do with it."
Because the service wants the UH-1 to be a long-term training platform, the Air Force is looking to modify the tail boom, tail rotor, rotor head, engine and avionics to ensure the "long-term viability and success of the Air Force's training program," said Abernathy.
The Air Force is in the planning stages of that upgrade program, he said. "The folks at the Air Education and Training Command are looking into a course of action."
Once modernization plans are solid, the Huey simulators will need to be upgraded as well, he added. "The simulations that they are currently flying are the same as we used when we were training with the Army."
Under the Air Force's new training plan, once students come to Fort Rucker, they take a block of academics after which they transition to learn basic maneuvers in helicopters, such as take off and landing.
They also learn emergency procedures and spend time in simulators to understand instrument operations. Armed with that knowledge, they step back into the actual helicopters to hone their skills, Abernathy explained.
"Following the instrument training we move to the remote training areas where they train in single-ship and formation-flight and night- vision-goggles flight, which comprise the majority of missions that they might see when they get to their operational units," he said.
There are a good number of similarities in the Army and Air Force training, he said. "We make sure that the students understand the tactics, techniques and procedures specific to the Air Force's roles and missions."
With the growing number of deployments, the Air Force has worked to "raise the bar" in its pilot training, said Abernathy. The training squadron at Fort Rucker now lays considerable emphasis on the students' proficiency in low-level formation training and with night vision goggles, he said. Up until recently, students who went through the schoolhouse both at Fort Rucker and Kirtland stayed for an extended period of time with their operational units before being deployed. This helped them hone their skills.
"Now, we do not have the luxury," he said. "As they get to the operational unit, they are asked to deploy. There is very little train-up time available for students, and we want to make sure they get enough."
One of the goals is to continue bringing instructor pilots fresh from the field to share their experience with the students, so that they receive first-hand accounts.
The Air Force trains 66 students a year at Fort Rucker. It conducts 11 classes with six students in a class. Pilots spend 25 weeks there, after which they move to Kirtland to train on the MH-53, the HH-60 and UH-1N. Depending on the airframe, that portion takes four to nine months of training.
Despite having its own syllabus, the Air Force continues to work closely with the aviation-training brigade and the Army aviation center because "we share facilities, and airspace and resources to execute both of our missions," said Abernathy.
The Air Force will continue to train at Fort Rucker and will do so for the indefinite future, said Semmens.