U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. –
Cadets in the Air Force Academy's Airmanship program will now train in state of the art sailplanes, as the first TG-16A glider touched down at the Academy July 8.
The new fleet of training and aerobatic gliders is valued at $4.8 million and includes five new aerobatic gliders and 14 basic trainer models that will replace the aging TG-10 Trainers currently in use.
"These are exciting times for the Air Force Academy and the soaring program," said Lt. Col Richard Roller, 94th Flying Training Squadron commander. "Over the next year, we'll transition 100 percent of the basic as well as the aerobatic fleet over to the new aircraft."
The 94th FTS basic trainer and aerobatic glider fleet will increase from 17 to 19 aircraft, and the German-made TG-16A's larger wingspan and greater glide ratio will provide a performance increase over the TG-10s. The 94th also has a fleet of five TG-15 aircraft used for cross country soaring, but these aircraft will not be replaced by the TG-16.
"One of the reasons we're replacing the aircraft now is that we ran into a problem with the service life of our aerobatic aircraft, the TG-10Cs," Colonel Roller said. "Basically, the manufacturer thought we were flying the aerobatic gliders in a manner different from what they had expected, so that cut the service life in half and the aircraft started running out of flying hours pretty quickly. So that we could continue to keep our aerobatic team, something had to be done."
In order to ensure a timely transition to the new airframe, a team of experts from Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, Tinker AFB, Okla., Air Education and Training Command and the Air Force Academy worked together to make the new acquisition possible. And according to Colonel Roller, the acquisition time was basically cut in half to purchase the new aircraft.
One particularly unique aspect of the Academy's glider program is that it is entirely run by cadets.
"We have staff officers and civilian personnel to mentor these young cadets, but it's entirely run by them," Colonel Roller said.
"We have the youngest instructor pilots in the Air Force teaching the youngest, most inexperienced people, some of which who have never been around an airplane or an airport in their life"
According to Colonel Roller, the soaring program sets leadership as the priority. "We're giving them the opportunity to accept full leadership responsibility for this program," he said.
Enthusiasm is another important trait the program instills in cadets, said Colonel Roller. "We're flying airplanes at the Air Force Academy, for goodness sake."
Cadets who participate in the soaring program may also take part in aerobatic and cross-country competitions across the country, Roller said.
"It's very important for these cadets to realize how good they really are," Colonel Roller said. "They're national aerobatic champions many times over, and they're competing against people who have motors on their wings. They are also flying hundreds of miles on cross country tasks after only a 2,000 foot tow."
With the program's success, comes a lot of interest from distinguished visitors to the Academy.
"We get a lot of DVs who come down here to the airfield to see what our cadets are doing and to understand the leadership in action," Colonel Roller said. "And when they see a cadet teaching or giving an orientation flight or even performing an aerobatic demonstration, they're really wowed by the amazing talents these young people have."