TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Providing the foundation for future F-22 Raptor pilots at Tyndall AFB rests on the shoulders of 18 individuals.
The 325th Training Support Squadron’s Training and Development Flight, or DOT, ensures the content of the training, as well as the systems and equipment used to teach the Air Force’s newest Raptor pilots are current and effective.
Approximately 50 students a year go through this courseware. Out of the 883.64 academic hours B-course students need to complete to become proficient in the F-22, more than 68 percent of them are spent with the courseware and simulators maintained by the DOT.
“For every Raptor driver that passes through the 325th TRSS and the 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall, DOT signifies the beginning and the end of their training, and everything in between,” said Lt. Col. Brian Stahl, 325th TRSS commander. “From your initial enrollment in formal training, to the end of course critique after graduation, there isn’t a moment of F-22 education not managed by the syllabus, informed by the courseware or supported by the systems management experts that DOT provides.”
The flight is broken up into three major areas: training development, Graduate Training Integrated Management System and contractor surveillance.
The Training Development section develops the syllabus and courseware for Tyndall’s F-22 pilot students. The section includes educational technicians who collect the information needed for the courseware, graphic designers that create interactive learning experiences and illustrations for better understanding of that information and programmers to put it all together.
“The courseware in the electronic workbooks and the classroom is extremely important,” said Marty Hendrickson, 325th TRSS F-22 instructional systems specialist. “Because of the integrated nature of the F-22, the pilots have to be able to visualize what’s happening on their aircraft. They have to understand the systems because if there is an emergency where one of those systems goes out, the pilot needs to know how that will affect all the other systems.”
The new F-22 student pilots begin their academics by working on interactive electronic workbooks. They then go to a classroom setting to learn from actual instructors. After that, they get hands-on virtual flying experience with simulators.
“It’s a three-phase learning process so we hit all learning domains,” said Tony Williams, 325th TRSS instructional systems specialist. “Some people learn better by reading, some learn better by doing and some learn better by seeing and hearing. We hit all of those learning cognitive domains so that everyone has the best opportunity to learn the material.”
The flight is also in charge of the management of the GTIMS, a program that oversees all aspects of pilot training, and the contractor surveillance team ensures that all of the training equipment such as the simulators are up to date and functioning properly.
“Every Raptor pilot is built from the ground up by a dedicated group of individuals whose sole purpose is ensure the most realistic and relevant training possible,” Stahl said. “In the background are the DOT professionals who take care of each and every detail of that training, ensuring that future pilots lucky enough to fly this aircraft receive the same quality education that past and current F-22 drivers received. It is in our motto… ‘Training for War.’”