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Application Process for Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT)
After a year of working in the Air Force some things became clear to me. Other Lieutenants were wishing to get out of the service because of their poor jobs and the way the AF sometimes handles new officers, but I wanted to stay but not in the same position. I truly wanted to be on the using end of the Air Force or the operations side not the support side. I was in the Air Force but did not feel like I was or at least deserved the same recognition as those who were in Iraq and Afghanistan. My wife didn’t understand at first why I wanted to choose a job, such as pilot, that would take me away from her and the girls when I already had a good job. I prayed…and prayed. Her heart changed (God at work). She came around and supported my dream of becoming a pilot.
I applied without my private pilot’s license in March of 2003 and was not selected. My physical had an error due to a technician in optometry but I got this corrected and submitted the amended physical prior to the selection board. I found out months later that my package never actually met the board because someone in the personal section never updated my selection status- ultimate frustration. I began the expensive work of getting my private pilot’s license in the summer of 2003 at Robins Aeroclub. It was thrilling but trying because I was proceeding at a fast pace while working full time. I was awarded my license in Dec 2003 and reapplied to pilot school in Feb 2004. My scores were very competitive and I was sure I would be selected. In addition, 2004’s board was selecting 150 pilots from current active duty personnel, one of the highest numbers in a while. Amanda and I mentally prepared ourselves for a quick pick and move but it wasn’t to be. I was selected as an alternate. I was truly crushed. I still believe my scores were much better than other selectees but politics is always in play. Many people asked me excitedly about my being picked but I had to tell everyone I wasn’t selected. I knew I still wanted to be a pilot and had to press on. I applied for a waiver and took the AFOQT a 3rd time and by the blessing of God’s hand aced the pilot section and scored high in the other sections. I reapplied in Dec 2004 for the Feb 05 board. My scores were extremely high and my current job experience put me in the company of operational folks at McGuire AFB. I trusted fully in God, knowing He was the one who got me to this point. I was on a TDY to Tonopah, AZ for a test our unit was conducting and one morning the Director of Operations (DO) of our squadron came to my door and told me the good news. I didn’t know what to say. After three applications and 2.5 years I had finally been selected. I knew who to thank. I have been all the more focused and determined to do very well at pilot school. God is blessing me in this path and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been assigned to the Columbus Blaze in Mississippi with a class date of 1 Nov 05.
Medical Flight Screening (MFS) @ Brooks City-Base, TX
21-22 Jun 05
What a place. In applying for a pilot position, everyone is required to undergo a military class IA physical. This is pretty grueling but the last major hurtle is the flight screening at Brooks. Typically, this is a one day physical in Santonio, TX at Brooks City-Base, where you are given personality/IQ tests, receive a heart ultrasound, get body measurements taken and get a “digital map” of your eye made. See the UPT/AF Links for more detailed info about MFS. The morning of the Jun 21, the bus came to our off-base hotel and picked us up. We arrived at the clinic and began the personality & IQ tests. These test won’t disqualify you from pilot status but they give a baseline to your personality in case later in your career you have an accident that affects your brain. They will use your tests to access if you are the same mentally. Secondly, we had our body measurements taken to ensure that we will fit into the cockpit. Third, we had the ultrasound of our hearts taken. They have you lay on your side and have multiple monitors attached to your chest. The technician uses the equipment to measure different tissues in your heart and observe the flow of blood through your four chambers. The final test was a map of your cornea to determine any elements of future blindness or diseases and determine if surgery has been accomplished in the past. (You are allowed to have had PRK done but you do have to disclose this and bring additional medical documents). Well, the medical screening was done but when 80 percent of the other UPT students had finished and left, I was still there. Here is the story: when I originally received my Class IA physical in Nov. 02 while stationed at Robins AFB, GA I initially failed the depth perception test in the Flight Medicine department. I went to optometry and passed the OVT-type depth perception test, thereby passing my physical. Well, when I arrived at Brooks, they wished to do further test to explore this mark on my physical from almost three years ago. They proceeded to put me through five additional depth perception tests that I will probably never again see in my life. I failed 2 of the 5 tests given. I was seriously sweating bullets. I began to think of other career paths I would like to take but I began to pray and remember who got me here in the first place. The doctor determined that I need a slight prescription in the right eye. This mismatch between my two eye visions was degrading my depth perception abilities. He built some glasses and I passed all of my depth perception tests. I felt better and breathed a sigh of relieve when he gave me the passing form. God was continuing to answer these prayers “yes.”
Other stories I heard were slightly disturbing about Brooks and the medical field. One patient going through the flight screening had been misdiagnosed by the doctors concerning a heart discrepancy. She was a 1 Lt before she was able to get the paperwork corrected and go to UPT. She originally had a pilot slot coming out of the Academy. Another patient actually had passed the medical screening before and moved to Columbus AFB and lost his pilot slot three days before his class began due to a abnormal heart condition they found while looking through his records. He finally was able to reapply after spending some time in the Security Forces career field.
Last thoughts; some hints on passing some of the physical tests. Do not have any discrepancies in your records when going to Brooks. Try to get any tests reaccomplished at your base. This will cause you less headache because when Brooks personnel perform a tests they are THE people in the Air Force for flight physicals and they will find anything that is wrong. When trying to pass the depth perception tests, there are some hints that will greatly aid your passing. First, there is no time limit to the tests so verify what you are seeing correctly before responding which circle is closest. Secondly, the test is made up by five horizontal circles with one being closer to your eyes. Depth perception requires depth differences on both sides of the object so circles 1 and 5 cannot be the choices since they do not have circles on the other sides. Third, slightly move your eyes/head side-to-side and this helps the changing distances to distinguish the correctly answer. Lastly, blink you eyes to see if the correct answer “pops” out at you. If you do need glasses, get them. I will be required to wear glasses when I fly. After UPT I will be allowed to wear contacts while flying.
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