PEACHTREE, Ga. -- On a wintry 27-degree morning, Jan. 21, 2026, a student pilot walks out to an ice-covered Cessna. They are geared up for their solo cross-country flight, an important milestone in their four-month training.
Columbus Air Force Base, alongside other U.S. Air Force pilot training bases, has partnered with the United States Aviation Academy to streamline and innovate the pilot training process. The goal is to reduce timelines while equipping student pilots for success in Undergraduate Pilot Training, or UPT.
“USAA is using our proven Private, Instrument, and Multi-engine Add-on courses to prepare our IPT (Introductory Pilot Training) students for a lifetime career in aviation," said retired Col. Angie Faulise, USAA military operations site lead and retired U.S. Air Force pilot. "In the first few weeks, we equip them with the fundamentals and confidence to fly an aircraft solo, and shortly after that on a solo cross-country. Once they’ve mastered flying a single-engine plane in clear weather, we teach them to fly on instruments in the clouds. Finally, we train them in a two-engine, complex aircraft at higher speeds, preparing them to enter UPT where they will fly even faster with more complex mission tasks. In 139 days, our IPT graduates earn three FAA certifications they will have for life.”
U.S. Air Force pilot training bases send student pilots to these civilian flight schools for a program named Introductory Pilot Training, or IPT. This accelerated program decreases traditional Air Force training hours with condensed FAA-approved hours under civilian instruction, significantly reducing the timeline required to reach the flight line.
“Pilot training has never been faster or more efficient. Innovations like IPT have allowed us to strip away redundancies and increase our training bandwidth, all without a significant expenditure of resources,” said Chief Master Sgt. Christopher Tanner, 14th Flying Training Wing Operations Group senior enlisted leader. “We're creating world-class pilots smarter and leaner than ever before, and we’re meeting that goal without compromise."
IPT innovates over previous training by establishing a common ground that prepares student pilots for their return to UPT. Pilots graduating from IPT earn their private pilot license, instrument rating, and multi-engine rating.
By partnering with civilian flight schools, student pilots are introduced to diverse flying environments and weather conditions that challenge their resiliency and help them grow as pilots without compromising military standards.
“It's a thrilling experience but really intense. We are on a tight timeline," said 2nd Lt. Ashton Boxley, 14th FTW student pilot. "There's no time to watch TV maybe on the weekends but usually we are in the books trying to study procedures or what my next flight is going to be. My instructor in particular understands what it takes to be a military pilot. He has never been in the military, but he understands. So, he keeps us tight to military standards. He'll say, 'I know that this is our standard, but we are going to go tighter.'”
The U.S. Air Force’s decision to partner with civilian flight schools innovates and streamlines undergraduate pilot training by establishing a baseline set of skills that U.S. Air Force instructor pilots can refine and hone to become even more lethal in the field.