Civil Path to Wings Program (Air Force Reserve)

In an effort to cure the pilot shortage within the Air Force and specifically the Reserve Component, the Air force is implementing a new program called the Civil Path to Wings Program. This program is targeted at civilian pilots who already have experience in aviation, and build off their existing skills to train more Air Force pilots.  Accepted candidates with prior commercial aviation experience would enter UPT at one of three points based on the outcome of a Competency Validation conducted by the Air Force.  These candidates would either attend UPT 2.5, skip the T-6 syllabus and be inserted into the T-1 track, or attend a fundamentals course prior to their assigned Formal Training Unit (FTU).  In any case, these candidates are only eligible to fly crew aircraft within the Mobility Air Forces (MAF), Special Operations Forces (SOF), or Command, Control, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR) aircraft throughout the Air Force inventory.  The hope is that this would be another way to help expedite the pipeline, produce more pilots per year, and decrease training costs while producing more qualified Air Force pilots.   

Civil Path to Wings Requirements:

·        The basic eligibility requirements are as follows:

Sponsorship by an AFR flying unit.

A current PCSM score. See the Guidebook Section “Pilot Candidate Selection Method.”

Minimum commercial certificate with MEI

Minimum 500 hours total fixed-wing/manned flight time (or an additional 250 hrs after

Comm/MEI)

Minimum ~100 hrs in the last year prior to validation

Maximum possible multi-engine aircraft under IFR in the National Air Space 

Qualification determines training:

WELL QUALIFIED, you will be scheduled for an Air Force Initial Flying Class 1 (IFC1) flight physical. Upon certification of your IFC1, you will be scheduled for a CPW class where you will bypass UPT Phase 2 (T-6s) and proceed directly to UPT Phase 3 (T-1s), possibly as early as June 2021.

EXTREMELY WELL QUALIFIED, you will be scheduled for an Air Force Initial Flying Class 1 (IFC1) flight physical. Upon certification of your IFC1, you will be scheduled for the Air Force Fundamentals course (possibly as early as June 2021) and then proceed directly to the Formal Training Unit for your sponsoring unit’s aircraft.

*AFRC UFT Guidebook (Jun, 2022)

For more information, and to read the rest of my article, go to the following link:

https://bogidope.com/upt/the-state-of-the-upt-pipeline-2021/

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