You’re a high school graduate, thinking about joining the Navy in hopes to pursue your dream of becoming a pilot. You’ve kept your grades up all throughout high school, being a straight A kid, hoping to raise your chances of being accepted into the Flight Academy. A few weeks earlier you had filled out an application to submit to the Academy, and only a few days later you had received the call that you had been accepted. Great, right!? But this is when the nerves kick in.

You will now endure a challenging 2 years at the school. Learning how to pilot some of the most technologically advanced aircrafts, flying simulations in training, learning top notch maneuvers from the best of the best and much more. But don’t be fooled, only few cadets actually make it through the two years and earn their wings. Are you second guessing your decision to join the Academy yet?

No? Good.

Some of the most highly qualified Aviators will be teaching you through your time here. It will be challenging but you’ll learn to push yourself to limits you have never endured before.

So, my question is, are you cut out for this?

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About the Flight Academy

The U.S. Flight Academy is still fairly new to the game, this being about its 6^th year. The Academy sits on roughly 120 acres of land, all fenced, with multiple buildings, campgrounds, courses… you get the idea, all in which you will use during your training. New students wait in the registration building roughly 5 miles off campus, where they’ll be shuttled to the Academy after making sure paperwork is set to go. The first building you shuttle to is the Headquarters or what some like to call the Camp Hall, being the second largest building on campus. 2 out of 5 sides of the Headquarters is almost completely made up of glass, letting lots of natural light in. This structure is quite uniquely shaped making it quite pleasing to the eye really.

Off a couple acres is the “tent ground”, this is where students will train at some point throughout the year. This ground will be made completely out of tents which is where the cadets basically live for about 3 weeks while they train. A couple more acres off lie a few of the training courses where a lot of the harder action takes place, one of the trails lasting close to 45 minutes long. Next to these courses sits about 15 acres of wooded land, trails interweaving through the thick shrubbery where lots of the running goes down, hills, mud, and all.

Though this school year may seem almost unbearable, it’s not all work. Every few weeks a Field Day is hosted, sitting on another 10 acres of open land. Here, games like football, soccer, baseball, and ultimate frisbee are held for all to play a friendly competition. This allows the students to loosen up a bit and get a break, a great time to socialize with everyone. . . Going back to the main camp area- Next to Headquarters lie the dorms which consists of two or so buildings, plenty of room for everyone. Each dorm you will share with a buddy who you may or may not have interacted with before. Each of the rooms consist of 2 beds, small dressers and desks, a bathroom which lucky for you, has a shower, and plenty of other storage drawers under the beds. You won’t spend a ton of time in these rooms as you’ll almost always be outside training or doing some sort of other activity.