Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Flight School XXI

This research examined the effectiveness of the U.S. Army's Flight School XXI (FSXXI) flight training program in comparison to the previous (legacy) flight training program. The primary focus of the research was whether or not FSXXI produces graduates that are more proficient, and subsequently become fully mission capable pilots in fewer flight hours than graduates of the legacy flight training program. A 2X2 repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the readiness level progression rates of graduates of the FSXXI and the legacy flight training program. These data were supplemented by an instructor pilot survey and a cost comparison. It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the FSXXI pilots and the legacy pilots, and in each of these cases the number of hours required for FSXXI graduates to become fully mission capable pilots was lower than for legacy pilots. Additionally, there was no difference between instructors' perceptions of FSXXI and legacy pilot aptitude for the CH-47 aircraft, but there was a difference for the UH-60 aircraft. The cost comparison revealed that legacy training is substantially less expensive than FSXXI training for both types of aircraft. These findings are discussed in relation to the existing research in this area, including experiential learning and Kolb's learning cycle.