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First IFS class not 'business as usual'

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Mike Hammond
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
PUEBLO, Colo. (AETCNS) --  Like at many unit headquarters, someone at the front desk greets visitors as they walk in. What's unusual about Detachment 1 of the 306th Flying Training Group is that "someone" is the manager of a Best Western hotel.

The oddities don't end there -- not by a long shot. The dining facility is the hotel's breakfast area; hotel staff cooks hot breakfast meals, while contractor-provided caterers provide lunch and dinner during the week. The commander's office is on the second floor, down the hall ... just another hotel room converted into office space.

Air Force and contract information managers scramble around the hotel's closets and ceilings to provide and maintain the all-important network connections. Private security guards patrol the grounds to keep trainees safe.

The trainees here are the inaugural class of the Air Force's new Initial Flight Screening program -- a course designed to determine prospective aviators' aptitude for success in Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training. With all flight training, lodging, meals, facilities, and equipment provided by contractor Doss Aviation, the 15 students didn't just check into a hotel when they arrived, but a decidedly different way of screening pilots for the Air Force.

"What makes this program so appealing is the standardization of the training experience," said Maj. Bryan Lee, flight commander for Detachment 1. "When this program is fully up and running, all pilots, navigators, and combat systems officers will have gone through the same course of instruction -- either here or through the Air Force Academy, which has a very similar course."

As the first class adjusts to the rigors of military training and the experience of flight instruction from the unusual setting of a hotel, Doss Aviation has contractors hard at work renovating a 200,000 square foot facility at nearby Pueblo Memorial Airport. The facility, expected to open in December, will in a very real sense be a "mini-Air Force Base," according to Det. 1 commander Lt. Col. John Tomjack.

"When complete, the facility will have a guarded gate at the entrance, 195 lodging rooms, administrative offices and classrooms," Colonel Tomjack said. "It will also have all the details one might expect at a real Air Force Base -- a gymnasium, chapel, auditorium, dining facility and even a barber shop!"

Until then, the students will gain 18 academic hours of flight instruction from the hotel conference room and be transported to and from the airport for their 25 flight hours. Colonel Tomjack, Major Lee, and the staff members of Det. 1 will provide an introduction to life as Air Force aviators and continued instruction in officership. 

The course is slated for roughly 40 calendar days of intense training. Despite the unusual setting as the program begins, the common goal of the Air Force and Doss Aviation instructors here will remain unchanged -- to send highly qualified and motivated students on to SUPT and careers as future Air Force flyers.