Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 4/27/2009

Question
QUESTION: My son is finishing TBS shortly and is going to Pensacola for pilot flight training school.  He already has finished his IFS training (25 plus hours).  Just wondering what is the attrition rate for students at API school and beyond. Would think it is fairly low since they want you to succeed and the student wants to succeed

ANSWER: Aviation Preflight Indoctrination) at NAS Pensacola has a failure rate of approx. 80%.  Very high, but that's because the Marines want only the very best.  If he survives API, it'll only get tougher in Primary, and then even worse in Advanced.  But obviously it's possible because there are a lot of Marines out there walking around in flight suits.

I have a good friend who is a Marine pilot.  He began in helicopters and later transitioned to the Harrier jump-jets.  He loves it and says he can't ever imagine doing anything else.

Please give your son my congratulations on being selected as a pilot.
Colonel H

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QUESTION: wow!!! 1 in 5 make it thru API (6week course) Is that correct?  Well, he is well prepared and doesnt give up. Any insight that you can share on making it through API would be appreciated.  A college class mate of his 2 years ahead of him flys helo (think cobra) out of calif.





ANSWER: Ben,
That's correct, only about 20% make it through API.
The syllabus consists of 177.5 hours of academic and survival instruction crammed into 31 days of training, challenging students both physically and mentally.

Colonel Hayward, my Marine pilot friend recommends a site on the Internet posted by a Navy pilot that contains a good overview of what is expected, complete with study guides, etc. and tips on how to make it through API.  You can find it at:
http://www.bryanweatherup.com/gouge/API/index.shtml

Is your son planning on flying helicopters also?  If so, I envy him.  I love helicopters, especially the Cobra.

Captain Eason, my Navy buddy, thought he'd get to do Search and Rescue ops but instead spent most of his flying time in helicopters doing drug interdiction ops in the Caribbean.  He'd fly his unarmed HH-3 Sea King into a suspected area and draw fire while a Marine AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopter was waiting just over the horizon out of sight waiting to move in for the kill after the target was located.  Sounds like fun, huh?  (Think guinea pigs or sitting ducks.) Lucky survivors like him usually only fly for a short time and then get a desk job.

If I'm flying a helicopter I want to be in the Marine Cobra with lots and lots of guns, weapons galore.

I wish him well.
Colonel H






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QUESTION: Thanks for the information.  He wants to fly Osprey or Helo's I think.  Sounds to me , most of the API is more physical and stamina , with some "dont panic" observation disqualify tests.  I really have a hard time with how they can eliminate 80% of these outstanding young men 6 weeks into a program. after all the pre-tests , Physical, asfab, eye, flown to Pensacola for flight measurements etc,passing OCS, passing TBS and then not clearing API. WOW..

Is there 0ne area or several areas that the 80% do not succeed and what are they if you know.  This is my last question, and wont take up anymore of your time  Thanks

Answer
Ben,
The hardest part of API, or at least that causes the most failures, is weather.  Sounds simple, but it isn't.  He'll need to know things like cloud formations and what they mean to a pilot.  He'll learn the difference between the Troposphere, Tropopause, Stratosphere,  Mesosphere and Thermosphere, and which altitude generally is smooth with excellent visibility and has very little resistance to flight.  Also how temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and precipitation affects flight.  He'll need to know about the dangers of wind shear and icing, the average lapse rate, specific heat, and how to convert unfamiliar Celsius temperatures to familiar Fahrenheit in his head.  The differences in mean sea level pressure and station pressure.  Pressure Gradient, Indicated Altitude, Calibrated Altitude, Above Level Ground Altitude, Pressure Altitude, Density Altitude, Barometric Pressure, and Isobars.  I could go on an on but I think you get the picture.  Before each flight Flight Operations will provide all this data to the pilot, usually coded in numbers, and he has to determine what this means the weather will be like along his route and at his destination.  Flight Ops only gives a pilot the data.  It's up to the pilot to decide if his flight is a "go" or "no-go."

These things can give experienced pilots fits, and sometimes absolutely overwhelm beginners.  But it CAN be done, I'm living proof.

I don't mind answering questions, that what I'm here for.  Any more, just ask.  However, you'll probably have to start with a new question because this system will automatically cut you off when it thinks you've had too many follow-ups.
I wish him well.
Colonel H