<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!!
Review: As a future naval aviator, a found this book to have great insight into the life of a student naval aviator. After speaking with former students, I found this book to be extremely accurate. The author does a terrific job in following all aspects of the training in detail from the point of view of different students.
Rating: 
Summary: Great work, but where's the rest of the pilots?
Review: As a pilot in the United States Coast Guard, I find it odd that all the "glory" and media is given to the "Hornet" and "Tomcat" drivers which are a very very small part of naval aviation. Myself and many of my classmates who graduated from flight school at Naval Air Station Milton--the base where the real pilot training goes on--had the grades required to go on to the jet 'pipeline.' But as a 'Coastie' that option is unavailable due to the fact that the Coast Guard has no tactical fighter aircraft. This is fine with most coasties because they don't desire to fly tactical aircraft. We rather enjoy the rescue and counter narcotics business. No "Top Gun" for us, but "Baywatch" is a more popular show anyway. The beauty of the book is how it depicts the trials and tribulations of the students going through training. Most of my friends from training say it was the, "hardest, yet most enjoyable year they ever spent." After all, they got to wear a green sack and get paid to fly. I just wish more would have been said about the hundreds of people who are outstanding pilots who went on to fly helicopters, C-130s, or E-2/C-2s (which also land on and get shot off carrier flight decks). Also, the book overlooks the fact that many navy "bubbas" get the grades to fly jets but are not allowed to due to, "needs of the Navy." Just let it suffice to say that the book is a fine portriat of life in navy flight school, but ANYONE who wears the, "wings of gold" has accomplished a major feat and deserves the same recognition as the real life, "Maverics" or "Icemen" of the fleet.
Rating: 
Summary: Top One?
Review: Beyond a doubt, this has to be one of the better books I have read on the training of Naval Aviators. Having myself once aspired to earn the wings of gold (I can no longer because my eyes went bad on me), I was obviously interested in the subject material. However, it could have been presented in a more logical fashion. The stories of individuals, though interesting, were not appropriate, mostly because they were not long enough. Had he spent time with the same individuals through their entire training, it might have helped developed their place in the story a bit more. It would appear that Mr Waller is attempting to emulate Thomas Rick's MAKING THE CORPS, but he is not successful. On the whole, it is still a worthy attempt and is in truth deserving of three and a half stars, but that category is not available. Worth the read. While you're at it, get Tom Clancy's CARRIER for life in the fleet.
Rating:
Summary: Whatta Great Book!
Review: I can't say enough good things about this book 'cept short of joining the Navy to try and be admitted into their flight program, this is the closest you are ever going to be inside a fighter jet cockpit. Waller's writing style brings depth and personality to naval flight training. A splendid book recounting the trials and tribulations of becoming a naval aviator, not just a fighter pilot. Here, here. Semper Fi,
F.Lee
Rating: 
Summary: Very poorly written - a mess!
Review: I don't know how this book got as good as reviews as it has, except that it came out quite a few years ago and maybe there weren't other books of its kind out there. Read Bogeys and Bandits instead, or even Iron Claw. I just skimmed through this book and it was still a chore to read it. The author throws in a new character every chapter, without giving the reader any idea who this person is. We follow the character through one segment of training, getting dunked in water and having to free yourself from your restraints or something similar, and then we never see this character again. I was struck by how each character he chose to follow was a PC character (a rare lady pilot or black pilot), while he complained bitterly in his book about how post-Tailhook PC-ness was ruining the Navy and causing loads of pilots to quit and go work for the airlines instead. Also, I was offended by his overuse of the word "bimbo." There's an entire chapter devoted to slamming all the "bimbos" who party with the pilots in Florida, as if we should feel sorry for the pilots! This after he writes about the Tailhook incident, pilots groping ladies shoved down a hailway, and explains how this behavior was considered normal in the historically raucous and crude Navy, until one female pilot complained and the story broke in the news.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!!
Review: Reading the book the 1st time captivated me.
After visiting my friend at NAS Pensacola during his flight training and speaking to actual SNAs and SNFOs, I decided to read the book again... WOW. He is RIGHT ON the mark. This is an absolute MUST read for anyone hoping to pursue Naval Aviation. Probably the most MOTIVATING book i've ever read. BRAVO ZULU Mr. Waller.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: Talk about your Walter Mittys. Waller has a heck of a deal going here. He has written books about commandoes, submariners and now navy pilots. As a writer for first Newsweek and now Time, it's no wonder he got to fly with the boys and girls in the back seat of F-18s and dive in nuclear subs. OK, so maybe I'm just a teensy-weensy bit jealous. Waller, who wrote The Commandos after observing the training of special forces soldiers, reports on his intimate experience with the training program for navy pilots in this latest book. He was granted permission to participate in the pilots' grueling training regime in order to produce this absorbing behind-the-scenes account of the physical, academic and psychological tests endured by pilot wannabees. It's almost as good as being there as Waller takes us through the grueling "Helo-Dunk" test where students are dumped in a pool in a helicopter body. Because helicopters are top-heavy, they flip immediately when forced to ditch in the ocean, and the navy discovered that if pilots were prepared for the fear and darkness they had a much better survival rate - of course, almost anything was better than the close to zero survivor rate they had had before. Students wear blindfolds and lose points if they try to shove anyone out of the way in their haste to make the exits. Grading of all their tests is excruciating. Everything is graded on a curve that is generated against their fellow students to compute the average. "Students were graded not on how well they did, but rather on how well they did compared to other students. The numerical scores a student made on each test were totaled up, divided by 1,000, then plotted on a bell curve against the scores of the past 300 students who took the test. Competition between recruits is thus intense and just one bad day can ruin a recruit's chances. The difference between the trainee who was number one in one of the classes and the trainee who was number fifty in class rank was a mere two points." Air combat is vastly different than it was just thirty years ago. Today everything is done at vast distances, and the rule is that if a pilot hasn't eliminated the enemy plane within sixty seconds, he should run away because his odds of survival fall drastically. The systems on an F-18 require the sensitivity of a piano player, and landing on an aircraft carrier at night - read the chapter "Practice Bleeding" for a very realistic account of the fear and skill involved - commands minute movements of the hands and eyes to constantly detect changes in altitude, angle of attack, and speed. For the first landing on a carrier, there is no instructor in the back seat. It's "too nerve-wracking. The instructor would be too tempted to grab the controls and pilot the aircraft himself." It is just too dangerous. The students have to concentrate so hard on what they are doing that many forget their names and plane numbers. Despite the dangers, the navy has drastically reduced the number of accidents by emphasizing safety. Hot-rod pilots get thrown out immediately for stupid stunts. Nevertheless, the most extreme strains can come from stress on family relationships when the pilots are gone at sea for long periods. Two of the students Waller followed were married to each other. Both became F-18 pilots, but navy regulations prevented them from being assigned to the same squadron, so they would be lucky to see each other for more than six months every twenty-four. Waller also discusses the changes in the navy after Tailhook. The older sailors hate what they consider the PC mentality while the younger ones seem to have adjusted well, but it has made dating in bars really difficult because of the ban on officer-enlisted personnel fraternization. Unless in uniform, many officers won't go near an on-base, mixed enlisted/officer club for fear of asking out an enlisted woman and risky severe censure. This is a really stunning book. Absolutely fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: good material, poor writing
Review: This book cuts through all of the "Top Gun" hoopla and tells you what it's really like to become a Naval aviator. The author follows a number of pilot trainees as they go through pilot training from beginning student flights right up to qualifying for carrier night landings. The emphasis is on flying jet aircraft, but for most people that's what defines Naval aviation. The author also gives good insight into Naval culture in the post-tailhook era. I found the book enjoyable. Even though I'm not a pilot or a miltary buff I enjoy reading the inside story about how things are done. My only negative comment is that some chapters could have been shorter. The chapter on dogfighting really dragged and I finally skipped the last third. But all in all it was an interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Know more about the training of a Navy fighter pilot
Review: This is a very good book from Douglas C. Waller. He puts us in the pants of some naval aviators he interviewed during their mission in being a navy fighter pilot. He follows some students in their preparation at Pensacola base in Florida, describing all the obstacles being a figter pilot poses in their way. He takes us through all the steps, describing why they have to go through that, and what is the relation between the exercise and the real life. I recommend it for people who want to be a Navy fighter pilot and wants to know more about all the requirements. A problem in Waller's writing is that he talks too much about the life of the student, not enough on the training itself...
Rating:
Summary: An excellant book for the casual reader and career guide
Review: Waller gives an EXTREMELY good account of what goes on behind the scenes in Navy training. His writing is perfect in depth and informative. You actually start having feelings for the characters (all real people). And while I was going from the chapters on the T-34C training to the chapters on the T-45 training, I actually did not want to shift to a new set of characters (Waller has a new set for every set of chapters). I also gained A LOT of valuable info on the US Navy training and I will hopefully one day follow in teh footsteps of the people Waller has described.
<< 1 >>
|
