Naval aviator (United States)

Naval aviation pilot (NAP)

Until 1981, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps also had a small number of senior enlisted personnel trained as pilots. The last U.S. Coast Guard aviation pilot retired in 1979. Such individuals were referred to as "naval aviation pilots", colloquially "NAPs" or "APs".^[3] The since retired NAPs also continue to have a professional organization known as the "Silver Eagles",^[4] which remains informally aligned with other naval aviation professional organizations such as the Association of Naval Aviation, the Tailhook Association, the Maritime Patrol Association, and the Naval Helicopter Association (the pilot wings worn by NAPs were identical in design to the naval aviator insignia worn by commissioned officers. The silver eagle title was a reflection that the rating badge on their uniform had a silver eagle).

Naval aviation cadet (NAVCAD)

The U.S. Navy still has an unknown number of senior officers on active duty in the regular navy or serving in the navy reserve who were originally accessed as naval aviation cadets (NAVCADs). These individuals entered service via the NAVCAD program during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s when the program was reinstated following a hiatus of over 20 years. NAVCADs were non-commissioned cadets who were required to have a minimum of 60 college credit hours to enter flight training (rather than the bachelor's degree normally required for entry into the flight training program) and were accessed only through the now-defunct Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) program. Upon completion of AOCS, NAVCADS would enter into flight training and upon successful completion of training and designation as a naval aviator would be commissioned as officers with a reserve commission in an active-duty status. After completion of their initial operational flying tours, they would receive an assignment to complete their bachelor's degree. NAVCADs who failed to successfully complete flight training were contractually obligated to enter fleet service as undesignated enlisted personnel.

The last civilian applicants were accepted into the NAVCAD program in 1992, and the program was finally cancelled on October 1, 1993.

Introductory flight screening (IFS)

IFS is the first step to becoming a naval aviator. After passing a medical screening, all new flight school students are enrolled in one of five civilian flight schools near NAS Pensacola. For those students requiring IFS, they will complete 2 weeks of ground training and around 14 hours of flight training in single-engined general aviation aircraft. Coast Guard students complete 25 hours of flight training. A student must solo and pass the FAA private pilot knowledge test. IFS screens a student's flight aptitude prior to beginning the Navy training syllabus and is waived for students reporting to NAS Pensacola with a private pilot's certificate or better, or those United States Naval Academy midshipmen who have completed the powered flight program.

Aviation preflight indoctrination (API)

Notable dramatization of API/AOCS, in media: An Officer and a Gentleman

All SNAs start at the "Cradle of Naval Aviation", NAS Pensacola, Florida. API classes consist of Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard SNAs, student naval flight officers, flight surgeons, and foreign exchange military pilots. Students receive four weeks of classroom instruction in aerodynamics, aircraft engines and systems, meteorology, air navigation, and flight rules and regulations. Following academics, students spend two weeks learning land survival, first aid, physiology, and water survival and egress. Following the end of academic instruction, API students hold a social event known as Flight Suit Friday at the Mustin Beach officers club. From that point onward, the students are authorized the wear of flight suits (with service-specific garrison cap) as their daily uniform instead of Navy service khakis, Marine service Charlies or Coast Guard tropical blue.

Prior to its disestablishment, Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) at NAS Pensacola incorporated the entire API syllabus into the nominally 15-week AOCS curriculum. AOCS students were commissioned only after they completed API requirements.

Naval Introductory Flight Evaluation (NIFE)

In November 2020, The Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) combined IFS and API into a singular program. As of today, NIFE is the new first step to becoming a naval aviator. All prospective SNAs begin the course with the API academic instruction, involving aerodynamics, flight rules and regulations, meteorology, navigation, and aircraft engines and systems. Following successful completion of the academic portion and Flight Suit Friday, SNAs will begin the IFS portion of the course, conducted with civilian flight schools at either Pensacola Regional Airport or Jack Edwards Airport in Orange Beach, Alabama. Students will complete approximately 10 hours of basic flying and will mimic the expectations needed to succeed in primary flight training. Upon completion of a check ride by a CFI, students will spend a week learning physiology and water survival and egress before graduating and heading to primary flight training.

Primary flight training

Following NIFE graduation, SNAs are assigned to Training Air Wing Five at NAS Whiting Field, Florida or Training Air Wing Four at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, where they learn to fly the Beechcraft T-6B Texan II (JPATS). Primary teaches the basics of flying in approximately six months and is divided into the following stages:

• Ground school (aircraft systems, local course rules, emergency procedures)
• Contact (takeoff and landing, limited maneuvers, spins, emergency landing pattern (ELP), emergency procedures)
• Basic instruments (common instrument scans, generic instrument flight procedures)
• Precision aerobatics (aileron roll, loop, Cuban eight, barrel roll, wingover, split S, Immelmann, cloverleaf)
• Formation (basic section flight, cruise formation flight)
• Radio instrument navigation (VOR, holding, ILS/LOC, PAR/ASR, RNAV)
• Night familiarization
• Visual navigation

Advanced flight training

Upon successful completion of primary flight training, SNAs are selected for one of five advanced flight training paths: Strike, E-2/C-2 (Navy only), multi-engine, rotary, or tilt-rotor. Selection is based on the needs of the military service, an SNA's performance, and an SNA's preference. Previously, students were given the option to select tailhook and trained in the T-45C before learning if they would continue in either strike or E-2/C-2.

• SNAs selected for the strike pipeline complete centrifuge training before reporting to NAS Kingsville, Texas or NAS Meridian, Mississippi. Intermediate and advanced strike training is conducted in the T-45C Goshawk at VT-7 or VT-9 at Training Air Wing One, NAS Meridian, MS, or VT-21 or VT-22 at Training Air Wing TWO, Kingsville, TX. This syllabus is the foundation upon which all future tailhook aviators begin to build their experience. The strike pipeline fills fleet seats for the F/A-18C/D Hornet (USMC) and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (USN), EA-18G Growler (USN), F-35B Lightning II (USMC), F-35C Lightning II (USN and USMC) and the AV-8B Harrier (USMC).
• Student naval aviators selected for the E-2/C-2 pipeline (USN only) at the completion of primary flight training report to Training Air Wing FOUR in Corpus Christi, Texas, for multi-engine training in the T-44C. Upon completion, students will report to Trawing One or Trawing Two to complete a syllabus that culminates in T-45C carrier qualification prior to reporting to VAW-120 at NS Norfolk, Virginia.
• SNAs selected for multi-engine training are assigned to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, for training in the T-44C Pegasus. These SNAs move on to NAS Jacksonville to train on the Boeing P-8 Poseidon, MCAS Cherry Point or Miramar to train on the Lockheed KC-130, or to their destined stations for Coast Guard SNAs. Previously, Navy SNAs assigned to the E-6B Mercury were sent to Vance AFB, Oklahoma, for training in the T-1 Jayhawk.
• Those selected for helicopter training are assigned to NAS Whiting Field, Florida, for training in the TH-57B/C or the TH-73A Thrasher.
• SNAs selected to fly the MV-22 Osprey and the CMV-22 Osprey after primary flight training are assigned first to NAS Whiting Field in Pensacola, Florida for abbreviated advanced helicopter training and then to NAS Corpus Christi for multi-engine training in the T-44C Pegasus. With exposure to both helicopter and multi-engine flying, the SNA has a diverse background to transition to tilt-rotor aircraft. Upon earning the Wings of Gold, SNAs will head to either VMMT-204 at MCAS New River or VRM-50 at NAS North Island to learn how to fly the Osprey.^[6]