Article Title
Analysis of the Effectiveness of Army Helicopter Flight Training
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the U.S. Army's new helicopter flight training program, Flight School XXI (FSXXI), in comparison to the previous (legacy) flight training program. The goal of this research was to determine whether or not FSXXI produces graduates that become fully mission capable pilots in fewer flight hours than the legacy flight training program. Readiness level progression rates of graduates of FSXXI and the legacy flight training program were compared to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between the two programs. These data were supplemented by an instructor pilot survey and a cost comparison. The frndings suggest that there was a statistically significant difference between the FSXXI graduates and the legacy program graduates, and in each of these cases the number of hours required for FSXXI graduates to become fully mission capable was lower than for legacy pilots. Additionally, there was a difference between instructors' perceptions of FSXXI and legacy pilot aptitude for the UH-60 aircraft, but there was no difference for the CH-47 aircraft. The cost comparison revealed that legacy training is substantially less expensive than FSXXI training for both types of aircraft.
