Customer Reviews

Air Warriors: The Inside Story of the Making of a Navy Pilot

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Talk about your Walter Mittys. Waller has a heck of a deal going here. He has written books about commandoes, submariners and now navy pilots. As a writer for first Newsweek and now Time, it's no wonder he got to fly with the boys and girls in the back seat of F-18s and dive in nuclear subs. OK, so maybe I'm just a teensy-weensy bit jealous. Waller, who wrote The Commandos after observing the training of special forces soldiers, reports on his intimate experience with the training program for navy pilots in this latest book. He was granted permission to participate in the pilots' grueling training regime in order to produce this absorbing behind-the-scenes account of the physical, academic and psychological tests endured by pilot wannabees. It's almost as good as being there as Waller takes us through the grueling "Helo-Dunk" test where students are dumped in a pool in a helicopter body. Because helicopters are top-heavy, they flip immediately when forced to ditch in the ocean, and the navy discovered that if pilots were prepared for the fear and darkness they had a much better survival rate - of course, almost anything was better than the close to zero survivor rate they had had before. Students wear blindfolds and lose points if they try to shove anyone out of the way in their haste to make the exits.

Grading of all their tests is excruciating. Everything is graded on a curve that is generated against their fellow students to compute the average. "Students were graded not on how well they did, but rather on how well they did compared to other students. The numerical scores a student made on each test were totaled up, divided by 1,000, then plotted on a bell curve against the scores of the past 300 students who took the test. Competition between recruits is thus intense and just one bad day can ruin a recruit's chances. The difference between the trainee who was number one in one of the classes and the trainee who was number fifty in class rank was a mere two points."

Air combat is vastly different than it was just thirty years ago. Today everything is done at vast distances, and the rule is that if a pilot hasn't eliminated the enemy plane within sixty seconds, he should run away because his odds of survival fall drastically. The systems on an F-18 require the sensitivity of a piano player, and landing on an aircraft carrier at night - read the chapter "Practice Bleeding" for a very realistic account of the fear and skill involved - commands minute movements of the hands and eyes to constantly detect changes in altitude, angle of attack, and speed. For the first landing on a carrier, there is no instructor in the back seat. It's "too nerve-wracking. The instructor would be too tempted to grab the controls and pilot the aircraft himself." It is just too dangerous. The students have to concentrate so hard on what they are doing that many forget their names and plane numbers.

Despite the dangers, the navy has drastically reduced the number of accidents by emphasizing safety. Hot-rod pilots get thrown out immediately for stupid stunts. Nevertheless, the most extreme strains can come from stress on family relationships when the pilots are gone at sea for long periods. Two of the students Waller followed were married to each other. Both became F-18 pilots, but navy regulations prevented them from being assigned to the same squadron, so they would be lucky to see each other for more than six months every twenty-four. Waller also discusses the changes in the navy after Tailhook. The older sailors hate what they consider the PC mentality while the younger ones seem to have adjusted well, but it has made dating in bars really difficult because of the ban on officer-enlisted personnel fraternization. Unless in uniform, many officers won't go near an on-base, mixed enlisted/officer club for fear of asking out an enlisted woman and risky severe censure.

This is a really stunning book. Absolutely fascinating.

Found the book provided a keen insight into the mindset and fears that the men and women who want to fly jets go through. So many times we hear about fighter pilots being egotistical but this showed the underlying feelings of studying, qualifying and carrier landings. With the details provided on what is involved with flying these high tech machines, it is easy to feel the stress that exudes from this book.

As a former US Navy attack pilot (A-6), I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Naval aviation. Contrary to popular fiction (fueled by recruiting propaganda, of course), the job and lifestyle of the Navy aviator is not best described in what you see in Top Gun or on the Discovery channel.

The Fly Navy experience as much about failure, visceral fear, and emotional ambiguity as it is about Maverick getting laid and bending around at the speed of sound. I am particluarly impressed at how skillfully the author captured the gut-wrenching grind that the attrition (errr training) program is all about.

This book gets 5 stars in its category and 3 stars for general literary merit. For those interested in this genre, I also recommend "Iron Claw", written by an actual EA-6 aviator.

I felt the author (in a heavy handed way) spent too much time discussing the social aspects of women and Naval Aviation, post Tailhook. What I expected (given the title) was a more thorough discussion of the Making of a Navy Pilot, regardless of gender. Even though the author has no apparent aviation background, a better, more technical job could have been done. This book clearly addresses pilot training from a social commentary point of view.

Living in the shadow of Naval Station Pensacola and surrounded by the strips of runway used daily in the training process I thank the author for his introduction to the people and the programs that we see and hear only as low flying aircraft.If you have ever had the hair on your arm stand straight up when you watch the Blue Angles perform I recommend you read this book to see how the elite got inside one of these 6 aircraft. May not be a literary masterpiece, but is a pretty well researched report on what I find to be a most entertaining subject.As a result of reading this book I will seek more of the author and more on the subject matter.

Reading the book the 1st time captivated me.
After visiting my friend at NAS Pensacola during his flight training and speaking to actual SNAs and SNFOs, I decided to read the book again... WOW. He is RIGHT ON the mark.

This is an absolute MUST read for anyone hoping to pursue Naval Aviation. Probably the most MOTIVATING book i've ever read.

BRAVO ZULU Mr. Waller.

I've been interested in military aviation all my life and this is a book I've been waiting for. For the first time it gives the "nuts and bolts" of aviator training. It's the first time I've read a book that tells the reader in detail about the hurdles one must pass in order to win wings. I never really understood the art and science of military flying and what is expected of a proficient student pilot. While the author has no axe to grind I found one detail he mentions facinating. When new female aviators saw the "scorecard" (my term) for carrier landings kept in a unit's ready room they immediately said that is something that will have to go. Great! By all means we don't want a military with messy competition where someone's feeling might get hurt. We want want one were, like in Lake Woebegone, everybody is better than average and girls are graded on a curve.

A MUST read for anyone headed in the direction of Naval Flight School.

The author has chosen an interesting style of writing by featuring 30 different people in 17 chapters (plus the Epilogue). It keeps the material fresh and interesting by thowing fresh faces into the mix with each chapter. The material might have bogged down had it followed one group through the whole training process. Additionally, this style of story telling gives you a broad spectrum view point. Needless to say it should be a truer version of reality.

I found the last couple of chapters dragging a tad, but it's a minor fault. It matches the point in training as well. The pilots near the end of their training and begin to look out towards earning a living flying for the Navy.

Early on the threat of washouts is high. In fact one cadet has his life's future hanging in the ballance, all dependent on if he can do 42 pushups or not. This sort of hair trigger drama is completely missing by the time the pilots get around to night landings on carriers. They can still fail, but they aren't going to be thrown out of the cockpit all together. By that time they're pilots... By the end of the book the drama comes from the sheer danger of what they are doing.

I'm not sure who the ideal reader would be. All the basics are covered, so it's not going to leave anyone behind. Similarly a Navy pilot isn't going to be too enthralled here. It's mostly the thrill of seeing inside the process of becoming the pilot of some of the world's highest performance planes. Few of us will actually get to sit in that seat, but we can all enjoy the fantasy of what it would be like. In this regard the book is truely first rate.

Highly recomended to anyone headed towards flight school. Here's what they're about to do to you... and ways that you can pass or fail....read the book... d'uh!

The one real flaw here is that the story follows the path of the glamor boys, and girls. The ultimate goal here is to fly F/A-18 Hornets. Cadets that get dropped along the way.. such those assigned to Helicopters!!!... are never to be seen again. We have ZERO idea what Helicoter training, or tranporter training, etc. is like. Even Harrier training... zip on that. SO there are blind spots in the coverage, but then people are going to buy the book looking for the glamor jockeys. A more accurate title would have been... Air Warriors ; the Inside Story of the Making of a Navy F/A-18 Hornet Pilot.

If that's what you're looking for, you've come to the right place!

As a future naval aviator, a found this book to have great insight into the life of a student naval aviator. After speaking with former students, I found this book to be extremely accurate. The author does a terrific job in following all aspects of the training in detail from the point of view of different students.

I can't say enough good things about this book 'cept short of joining the Navy to try and be admitted into their flight program, this is the closest you are ever going to be inside a fighter jet cockpit.

Waller's writing style brings depth and personality to naval flight training. A splendid book recounting the trials and tribulations of becoming a naval aviator, not just a fighter pilot. Here, here.

Semper Fi,
F.Lee