Frequently Asked Questions

There is no attrition quota in the Strike Pipeline. Every SNA who meets the minimum performance level in each stage will complete. However, Strike aviation isn't a perfect fit for every student pilot. For FY-00, the Intermediate attrition rate was 6.6% and the Advanced rate was 6.3%. Of that, almost 1/3 of those students terminate training due to medical issues, DORs and other non-aviation related issues. The good news is that in FY-00, 80% of the Advanced attrites and 60% of the Intermediate attrites had flight performance trends that still supported transitions to either Maritime, Helo or E2/C2 pipelines. Incompleting the Strike syllabus does not necessarily mean that you won't fly another aircraft or not get your wings. Many factors are considered to determine the best next step in the event of incompleting the Strike syllabus. While requesting a change to the SWO community is an available option if you don't complete Strike, redirection to surface warfare is not a given.

You can expect 6-10 events a week with about 3-6 of those events being flights. This is, of course, all dependent upon the stage of training you are in. For example, SNAs are generally limited to 1 FAM a day in both Intermediate and Advanced. On the other hand, flying 2 Weapons sorties in one day is not uncommon. As your expedience level rises, your ability to take on more in a day also increases. Except for rare instances (CQ detachments and cross countries) there is generally no flying on the weekends.

The T-45 Intermediate program consists of 60 flights and 55 SIMs. The Intermediate time to train is 28 weeks. The T-45 Advanced program has 73 flights and 18 SIMs. The Advanced time-to-train is 26 weeks.

Instrument training plays a big part in both Intermediate and Advanced. The FAM stage leads to solo flight. After FAMs, the rest of the training focuses heavily on formation flying, night flying and Field Carrier Landing Practice. After the Form stage in Advanced, the syllabus shifts to a more dynamic flight environment including: Tactical Formation, Night Formation, Air Combat Maneuvering, Air to Ground Weapons Delivery, Low-Level Navigation and Carrier Qualification.

It depends on each TRAWING's production requirements and your Primary performance. Special circumstances for orders to either Meridian or Kingsville may be considered by your Student Control Officer.