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When I was a student at UPT, I never realized how
big a part a flight commander plays in your performance on the flight line.
I always thought of him/her as just another one of the IPs with more paperwork.
Part of that is definitely true except there is so much more to that person.
It wasn't until I became a flight commander at Moody that I recognized the full
extent of control this position entailed. I wish I knew this info when I
was a student eight years ago.
I've mentioned this in another page but I'll repeat
it here. Your flight commander's ranking will account for 20% of your
final grade. To give you an idea how important this is, the academics only
count for 10%. Your emergency procedure quizzes (EPQ) are worth 5%.
All your daily ride scores are worth 25% with the total of your checkrides
counting 40%. A ranking in the bottom third of the class could move you
from being in the top three to somewhere in the middle of the class.
So, what goes into a flight commander ranking?
Here's a quote directly from AETCI 36-2205:
5.13.3. [The merit system] is an overall assessment of the student’s
airmanship, capability, officership, and potential. It includes the flight
commander’s assessment of a student’s ability to complete follow-ontraining,
flying skills, officership, leadership, teamwork, and attitude. Flight
commanders will consider every facet of a student’s training when assigning
ratings; officership (bearing, discipline, punctuality,etc.) is not the sole
basis for assigning this rating.
As you can tell, this grade is extremely subjective
and depending on the flight commander, he or she may use a different metric.
However, I can speak for about 4 or 5 previous flight commanders and what we
looked for was the student's professionalism throughout Phase II and how much of
a team player the individual was in their class.
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Do they go out of their way to help the weaker
students?
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Are they a leader in their class?
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What does their classmates think of him/her?
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Are they good officers both on and off duty?
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Do they go above and beyond what is expected of
them?
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Do they handle their basic responsibilities well
(i.e. is the student's gradebook in order)?
The Flight Commander doesn't make this evaluation in
the blind. I always seeked inputs from the flight's IPs. I also
conducted peer evaluations to make sure that I wasn't off base in my
observations. During my tenure, I had an occurrence when the IP's student
rankings were way off base from the results of the peer evals. I weighed
the results equally and made adjustments to the rankings appropriately which in
turn caused a specific student not to get their first choice.
Another crucial item your
flight commander controls is your IP assignment. In case you didn't know,
your personal IP will be your biggest advocate and mentor during your time at
UPT. He/She will help you keep your gradebook in order (VERY IMPORTANT)
and will guide you in a way to avoid the pitfalls in Phase II. Your IP
will also help you focus your studies on what is important for your next sim or
flight.
Lastly, just like all the other flight commanders in
UPT, I had high standards for the students in my flight. In general, I
hated doing extra paperwork. This meant that I didn't look favorably at
the student if they were responsible for the infraction. Tardiness was
inexcusable as well as being unprofessional in the flight room. One of my
duties was to check every student's gradebook every three weeks and if it was
out of order, then that individual was in for some rough times. If you
haven't heard this before, you don't graduate UPT, your gradebook does. If
the flight as a whole performs poorly, then everyone is in for rough times since
you just made life difficult for all the IPs. On the other hand, if the
flight performs well, certain perks are given such as taking the class off
formal release or turning the beer light on at the end of the day. The
climate in the flight room depends on your flight's relationship with your
flight commander. Just remember this, if you start off in the hole, it's
hard to claw your way back.
If you have any suggestions or questions, please sent them to the
webmaster or check out the
message board..
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