Above: TPS
commandant Col
Charles Webb
straps in as his
student gets
comfortable in the
front seat of this
F-16D.
Frank Visser
Left top to bottom:
The school uses a
handful of T-38Cs
for its flying
handling qualities
work.
Jamie Hunter
TPS has access
to F-16s that are
loaned from the
416th FLTS.
Frank Visserengineers and navigators it remains
a strict requirement. In addition each
pilot, engineer or navigator needs at
least one recommendation from a senior
commander — something especially
powerful if they’re a TPS graduate.
Each year, a class starts in January and
finishes in December. The second class
begins in July and runs until June of the
following year. The whole course takes 48
weeks and can be divided into two blocks
of six months. There’s a one-for-one split of
students to instructors.
TPS kicks off with some classroom
work and check flights in the main types
flown here, before the students work in
the realm of aircraft performance and
handling qualities. The second half of
the course focuses on systems and a
qualitative evaluation program. This block
contains a field trip to assess a variety of
aircraft types, which ultimately leads to
final graduation. The 15 main elements
of the course contain 21 scored academic
exams, of which 19 are individual exams
and 38 graded reports (31 written and
seven oral). The main flying part of the
course takes in 85 flights, which are
flown in some of the school’s ‘airborne
laboratories’.
The average class comprises nine pilots
and a remotely piloted air system (RPAS)
pilot, eight or nine engineers and one or
two combat system officers (CSO). The
CSOs are respectively navigators, weapons
system operators (WSOs) or electronic
warfare officers (EWOs).
It’s standard to have a few non-USAF
participants in each course. For example,90 March 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
88-93 USAF TPS C.indd 90 19/01/2018 11:05