If for no other reason, to meet people to fly with. Aside from that, being able to fly an airframe effectively in a mission is a pretty great feeling. I wanted to be able to fly in missions and to actually be an asset to my squadron.
In the beginning, I jumped around airframes that I had purchased without actually getting to know any of them. Even if I had learned any one of those airframes, I wasn’t really able to fly effectively with any of the groups I had found because of my lack of knowledge in airfield communications, formation flying, and weapons employment, carrier operations, air refueling, missile evasion, etc. I wanted to fly the F/A-18 and do all of those things and more.
So, can you make one training class to do all that? Probably not. There is so much that new pilots go through in the Cadet Flight program just to be ready to fly their chosen airframe. Can a pilot come in fresh and pass the Cadet Flight requirements? I have yet to come across a pilot that breezed through the Cadet program without issue. That said, I would assume the majority of people that would seek out training are the people that have not been trained elsewhere or are new to DCS. Taking that into consideration, it made sense to split the training into two separate levels; Cadet Flight and Advanced Flight. There are basics of flight, basic communications, introduction to airfield patterns, navigation without modern device assistance, formation flying, and other items that need to be taught to pilots before they could get into more advanced topics. Could a pilot come in fresh and pass the Advanced class checkride? There are many pilots out there that could, by flying in their chosen airframe, and perform a good portion (if not all) of the Advanced Flight checkride requirements without Cadet Flight training, absolutely. It does happen and those pilots are welcome too! Going straight to Mission Ready Pilot is possible.
Are there other benefits to training? Sure! Most pilots new to DCS do not generally know anyone when they start off. Some find it difficult to find other pilots to fly with. Joining any training program will usually get you a small group to fly with during class and it almost always expands to flying after class as well. Without a doubt, what is learned in class must be applied in practice and who better to practice with than your current classmates? I have met some pretty great people during training and I still fly with most of them today. Training is worth it just for that reason alone!
Lastly, our servers! We have six dedicated DCS servers running 24/7 that are available before, during, and after training. Want a specific mission? Just request it and we’ll do what we can. Without a doubt, what is learned in class must be applied in practice and who better to practice with than your current classmates? I have met some pretty great people during training and I still fly with most of them today. Training is worth it just for that reason alone!
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