Positive Naval Flight Instruction

This project aims to demonstrate how to apply principles of Positive Psychology to Naval Aviation Flight School in order to increase student performance, enhance instructor effectiveness, reduce time to train and provide a more resilient pilot to the operating forces. The United States Armed Services train their pilots better than any nation in the world; telling them that they need to change the way they are doing business is a delicate task. The Naval and Marine Aviation Flight School produces excellent Marine and Naval Aviators. There is, however, a difference between training someone to be a military professional and training someone to be a pilot. Of course the armed services want a hybrid pilot, who has both aviation skill and is hardened for the rigors of military life, but the blurring of what you are training to in flight school undermines both military and aviation aptitude. Students operating unfamiliar machines in unfamiliar and unnatural environments require an atmosphere that fosters positivity, curiosity and enthusiasm, combined with encouragement to get the most out of the experience. While screening for competence, desire, and grit is important and needed in military aviation, it does not necessarily promote learning in the cockpit. I believe we can make a better distinction between screening for military aptitude and teaching aviation skills. The experience as a student pilot is engaging and exciting but realistically more a test of grit and dogged determination than aviation skills. I believe fostering a passion for aviation through positive interventions will lead to better pilots, who learn faster, are safer and create a more enthusiastic and resilient environment that better prepares them and their squadrons for deployments and hardships.