Col. Kevin B. Schneider, USAF

INTERVIEW

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A command pilot with over 3,000 total flight hours and 340 combat hours in the F-16.

A participant in four combat deployments to

Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

A member of a Special Operations Task Force

conducting operations against the “highest priority enemies of the United States”.

And a keynote speaker at this year’s event.

Colonel Kevin B. Schneider entered the United States Air Force in 1988 and earned his pilot wings as a distinguished graduate from Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT), the school that he now commands. It hosts thir-teen NATO nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. He was rated as the outstanding graduate from F-16 Weapons School Class 96AIF and later honoured three times as the recipient of the Weapons School F-16 Division's outstanding instructor pilot award. Here he talks exclusively to Defence IQ about the ENJJPT, and looking to the future... >>

INTERVIEWER RICHARD DE SILVA

So what do you see as the chief benefits of training international pilots together in one forum like this? The main benefit is that the forum allows for an exchange of ideas. Aviation, especially military aviation, is continuing to evolve at a fast pace. No organization can afford to be static. Being able to openly discuss ideas and concepts provides opportunities to improve how each do business. The quick practical example is to point at the entire syllabus (to include T-6, T-38 and IFF). As for specifics... the emphasis on advanced formation sorties in both the T-6 and the T-38 may be the best example. For the most part, the students sent by the ENJJPT partner na-tions will go on to fighter aircraft assignments. As a result, the partners have pushed for the inclusion of fighter-centric skill sets in the fly-ing training. This push has resulted a lot of tactical forma-tion flying (in both the T-6 and T-38 UPT syl-labi) and advanced formation flying. Students in the T-6 learn how to recognize and ma-noeuvre around an adversary's turn circles. This skill set will later be expanded in the T-38 syllabus. In addition, we also expose the stu-dents to heat-to-guns exercises and guns tracking exercises in the T-38 syllabus. All of this is the result of partner requests --trying to maximize training and establish combat skills early in a student pilot's training. Are there any issues with language barriers - and how is this managed, particularly when it comes to codewords or situational aware-ness calls?

Sir, how is the ENJJPT program structured, and what would be a typical routine for a pi-lot in training at Sheppard? Does it differ much from AEJPT (Advanced European Jet Pilot Training Programme) or other active programmes? I’m not familiar with the specifics of AEJPT so I’m hesitant to make a direct comparison. But as for ENJJPT...the undergraduate pilot train-ing programme is 55 weeks long. Students begin with approximately four weeks of ground training (academics, aerospace physi-ology, simulators, etc.) and then transition to the T-6. They will spend about six months fly-ing the T-6 aircraft. During this time, they are still receiving academics and getting instruc-tion in the simulator). A student receives 118.5 hours of flight training while in the T-6 phase. Next, the students transition to the T-38 and they will fly that aircraft for about five months. Just as in the T-6 phase, students will receive academics and simulator training as they go through 98.5 hours of flying training in the T-38. The ENJJPT T-6 training syllabus begins with basic pattern work, spin, and stall training, emphasizing pitch and power settings, pa-rameters, and decision making skills. Stu-dents normally solo the aircraft after 14 sor-ties, accumulating approximately 18 flight hours. After that point they are introduced to basic and advanced aerobatics, instrument navigation and flight procedures, low-level VFR navigation (at 500' AGL), and 2-ship for-mation. Their T-6 training culminates with 2-ship low level familiarization training. The syl-labus has each student programmed for 85 total sorties, resulting in approximately 119 hours of actual flight time. They receive 52 hours of simulator training, and 223 hours of classroom/ground training.

English is the language of aviation and all students and instructors that attend the pro-gram must have acceptable language skills. It is the responsibility of each of the ENJJPT partners to ensure that the instructors and students meet the language standards. On rare occasion, we have had a student who struggles with the language transition. When that happens, we temporarily pull that person out of training and focus on getting their speaking and comprehension skills up to standard. Some of the ENJJPT partners have established an English immersion pro-gram with a local university. This has been highly successful.

INTERVIEW

Let’s talk tactics and standards. To what standard does ENJJPT train pilots and does this cause any conflict with other estab-lished national standards? The main advantage of the ENJJPT program is that each of the partners has a say in how we train. This is not a US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme with international participation — this is an international pro-gramme and each partner nation gets a vote. The syllabus (we have actually have a total of six) and the standards are >>

Wingmen at ease: Two USAF T-38 Talon aircraft escort a USAF T-38B over Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. PHOTO: Tom Steele, CIV USAF

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