The chequered history of the US Air Force's flight-screening programme for pilot candidates has taken a new turn, with bidders lining up to provide an introductory flight training (IFT) service for 1,300-1,700 students annually.
The USAF has been using flight training schools to perform flight screening since October 1999, when it abandoned use of the Slingsby T-3A Firefly trainer following a series of uncommanded engine stoppages. In-house flight screening was replaced by outsourced introductory flight training, which prepares students for specialised undergraduate pilot training on the USAF's Raytheon T-6A Texan II turboprop trainer.
From February 1994, the air force took delivery of 110 single-piston T-3s costing $32 million from UK company Slingsby, but three aircraft crashed, killing three instructors and three students and the aircraft were grounded in July 1997. In 2002, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was selected to provide introductory flight training at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA), using Diamond DA20-C1 piston singles, 28 of which are now in use.
Last year, under the IFT programme, the USAF launched a competition to centralise flight- screening services at a single location. Responses were submitted in November, with a shortlist of compliant bidders expected to be announced soon and contract award planned for April. The contract is for an initial six months, followed by 10 renewable annual options. Boeing has selected Big Spring, Texas and Lockheed Martin Craig Field at Selma, Alabama.
A source close to the contest says the solicitation is for essentially the same specification aircraft as for the USAFA, but with reduced performance requirements at higher-density altitudes. Some bidders, including Lockheed, are offering the DA20-C1, with at least one - possibly Boeing - offering the Cessna 172, the source says.
Source: Flight International
