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My name is ENS Ben Orloff. I started API in June 2006 and classed up for Primary at Whiting Field (VT-6) in September of 2006. My roommate, ENS Jennifer Albert, and I were very frustrated with the gouge that was available to us. Everything seemed very poorly put together, or out-dated, or both. So, in the absence of any gouge that we were comfortable using... we made our own! What is compiled here are the study aids that we have been using to help ourselves through flight school. Because we're in VT-6 Shooters, everything here has a very Shooter/Whiting perspective to it (sorry everyone else).
So how well did it work? We're really not sure yet. We've just finished Forms and are in the middle of RI Ground School. However, we haven't been attritted (or kicked out) of the program yet so we must be doing something right.
The gouge here was written for our benefit and has really helped us get through the program (especially the pre-solo Fams).
Briefing Guides
We put these together so that we could have all the information we needed for a flight/sim brief in one place. Instead of trying to cram using the FTI, FWOP and NATOPS, these provided a single location for most of the pertinent info required for each brief. I would HIGHLY recommend studying from the Pubs themselves and using the briefing guides as a secondary studying and cramming tool.
Google Earth
It seems like everyday people are finding new uses for Google Earth. We found one too: Course Rules! The file contains bookmarks for airports, borders for areas and routs for inbound and outbound course rules. Remember to study from you FWOP, but this helped us figure out WTF "the second dirt road past Point Delta" looks like.
Blue Brains
To use gouge in the cockpit or not to use gouge in the cockpit? That is the question. As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it. Compiled here are printable cards to place in your knee board as helpful... "reminders" when you have a helmet-fire during in the middle of executing a spin.
NSS Calculator
We've all heard it, "Don't worry about your NSS. Just do your best and everything will work out." That's all well and good, but I for one would like to walk into selection day knowing if I'm in the ballpark for a 35 or a 65 NSS. This excel spreadsheet is the best I can come up with for calculating one's raw NSS (your NSS before it has been adjusted for the bell curve). No one really seems to know how a student's Navy Standard Score (NSS) is calculated (or if they do they don't want to tell us), but this is a good way of taking your individual flight grades and turning them into SOME indication of how you're doing. Does it work? Is it accurate? I have no idea. I'll let everyone know how close the program's prediction came to whatever I get at the end of Primary.
RI Forms
These are Word and Excel templates for the DD Form 175 Military Flight Plan and Jet Log. The Flight Plan is nice if you want to type them up to look nice. The Jet Log takes your inputs and automatically calculates things like Groundspeed, ETE, Fuel Burn and so on.
The reason we did this was to make some CURRENT gouge for us to use. If you find something on here that is wrong or has become out-of-date, let us know so we can change it and get the best gouge out to those who need it: YOU.