Training Aircraft Profiles

The T-6A Texan II is a tandem-seat, turboprop trainer whose mission is to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots and Naval Flight Officers.

Stepped-tandem seating in the single cockpit places one crewmember in front of the other, with the student and instructor positions being interchangeable. A pilot may also fly the aircraft alone from the front seat. Pilots enter the T-6A cockpit through a side-opening, one-piece canopy that has demonstrated resistance to birdstrikes. The T-6A has a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68 turbo-prop engine that delivers 1,100 horsepower. Because of its excellent thrust-to-weight ratio, the aircraft can perform an initial climb of 3,100 feet per minute and can reach 18,000 feet in less than six minutes.

The aircraft is fully aerobatic and features a pressurized cockpit with an anti-G system, ejection seat and an advanced avionics package.

The T-6B is a single-engine, two-place (tandem seat), pressurized, low-wing training aircraft manufactured by Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Wichita, KS.

The aircraft is approved for day or night VFR and IFR flight. The aircraft is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-68 free-turbine turboprop engine with a Hartzell four-bladed propeller. Each cockpit is equipped with an ejection seat. A single, side-opening, non-jettisonable canopy covers both cockpits. The landing gear is a retractable tricycle-type which is electrically controlled and hydraulically operated. Steering is through the use of rudder and differential braking and hydraulically operated nose wheel steering. The aircraft is fitted with electrically controlled and hydraulically operated split flaps and a single speed brake located between the flaps. The primary flight controls are operated manually and feature electric trim. All flight controls and avionics can be operated from either cockpit.

The T-44C "Pegasus" aircraft is a twin-engine, pressurized, fixed-wing monoplane manufactured by Beech Aircraft Corporation, Wichita, Kansas. The aircraft is used for advanced turboprop aircraft training and for intermediate E2/C2 (carrier based turboprop aircraft) training at the Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas.

The T-44C is powered by two 550 shaft horsepower PT6A-34B turboprop engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney of Canada. The aircraft is equipped with deicing and anti-icing systems and was recently upgraded with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 glass avionics suite. The T-44C is the premiere multi-engine training aircraft for the U.S. Armed Forces. Equipped with digital displays and an integrated Flight Management System, the T-44C provides future aviators with the platform to learn the advanced skills their future fleet aircraft demand.

The T-45C Goshawk is a tandem-seat, carrier capable, jet trainer whose mission is to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots and Naval Flight Officers. The T-45C aircraft, the Navy version of the British Aerospace Hawk aircraft, is used for intermediate and advanced portions of the Navy/Marine Corps pilot training program for jet carrier aviation and tactical strike missions as well as the Advanced Tactical Maneuvering Stage of training for Naval Flight Officers.

The T-45C has replaced the T-2C Buckeye trainer and the TA-4J trainer with an integrated training system that includes the T-45C Goshawk aircraft, operational fighter simulators, academics, and training integration system. The T-45C is built around a digital "glass cockpit" design representative of the fleet aircraft that trained Naval Aviators and Flight Officers will occupy upon the completion of their training.

The TH-57 is a derivative of the commercial Bell Jet Ranger 206. Although primarily used for training, these aircraft are also used for photo, chase and utility missions.

The Jet Ranger was initially designed to compete in a U.S. Army light observation helicopter competition. Bell lost that competition but the 206 was commercially successful. The TH-57 Sea Ranger provides advanced (IFR) training to several hundred aviation students a year at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida.

The TH-73A Thrasher is the military variant of the commercially available Leonardo TH-119. First delivered to Training Air Wing 5 Aug. 6, 2021, it will be used for undergraduate rotary and tilt-rotor pilot training for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

The TH-73A is the aircraft component of the Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS). AHTS will improve pilot training and skills by using current cockpit technologies and a modernized training curriculum that reflect tri-service maritime fleet capabilities.

The TH-73A is expected to be in service for approximately 30 years. It is the replacement for 35-year-old TH-57B/C Sea Ranger, which is scheduled to sundown in fiscal years 2022 through 2025.